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Hubby thinks their robots dial many more calls than can be answered at any one time by their call center employees, counting on answering machines, etc. So sometimes you or another real human answers but, thank the Lord, no employee is available quickly enough to bug you and you have silence.

"Hello" is a word that activates the robot to put the call through to their live call center. Answering with "good morning/afternoon" leads to a lot of dead air.

And having a business logo put on the truck does not make all the mileage deductible because advertising. I don't care what the barber told them.

This is the explanation I was given by someone who used to work in a call center, basically. We always wait at least two rings before answering, and this usually means someone else answers before we do and gets the sales pitch, while we get silence. The no one there calls are annoying and time wasting, but not as much as the ones where the salesperson is actually on the line. I like Catherine's solution too. I used to, before the do not call list, answer my phone at home with "we do not accept telephone solicitations at this number." I think the formal language threw them off stride, because quite often they just hung up after that.

I have started answering no-caller-ID calls at home (and on my cell) with "who are you and what do you want?" because apparently if they start with "is this X?" and you say yes, that is then taken as consent to be called. If they won't start by self-identifying, I want nothing to do with them. Then I congratulate them; telling them their phone call has cost their company $20K when I report them to the FCC for calling a number on the do not call list. I generally don't get all the way through that before they've hung up on me... but it's still a LOT more fun than just hanging up on them.

The "Do not call registry" is a toothless, worthless, paper tiger with no enforcement capability whatsoever.

He can't depreciate AND use standard or actual. Depreciation, maybe SL as Abby said to give flexibility, is used with actual expenses. Standard includes a depreciation component in it that you will break out upon sale or trade-in. Business percentage only, for the vehicle, computer, etc. Usage logs and a mileage log will be important.

annoying phone calls........... Other annoying callers...........................

Well, yeah - but it still makes them hang up FAST. And I get to use an announcer's super-perky type of voice, too. Y'know, of the type that says "call before midnight tonight and get - for NO additional charge! - the Ronco combination turnip masher and diaper steamer - just pay shipping!"

Yardley, yes any expenses related to the Garage (including depreciation) must be claimed as a home office deduction on 8829 . even if it is a separate structure you will need to claim it on 8829. luckily if it is separate it does not have to be the principle place of business, although it sounds like it is anyways . PS: don't forget about the necessary part year allocations in the years he starts and ends the home office usage.

Does anybody know (for sure) what the deal is with those calls you get where no one answers when you say "hello"? It's not a hang-up; just silence until you hang up. A client told me it's an enhanced sales gimmick wherein a robo-computer calls and is programmed to distinguish between real (human) answers, no answers, and voice-mail answers. How they can do that, I don't know; since the automated systems at credit card companies frequently say "Sorry, I didn't get that - please repeat or key in your account number." Anyway, this guy says the idea is that the computer weeds out no answers/voice-mails and then later the talented, real salesfolk call the redacted list. That way they don't waste their precious time (just ours) on no-possibility calls and only have to work the live herd (us). This rationale sounds reasonable - I can't think of what else it might be.

https://www.irs.gov/uac/newsroom/irs-warns-of-phone-scam https://www.irs.gov/uac/report-phishing

I don't want a workaround. All the complaints here, also have a workaround. If ATX only made changes for things without a workaround, there would never be any changes. Workarounds take up time I could be using in profitable ways. Let us know how your campaign works out. Took over 10 years to get them to show e-file status on the return manager page. There was always a workaround that was clumsy and time consuming.

Vehicle - If you want to be able to switch between actual and standard mileage, you MUST take standard mileage the first year the vehicle is placed in service and you must use straight line depreciation. Inventory - areas used for storage are included in the home office square footage. The problem is the garage is probably not heated or cooled so your utilities proration will be overstated if you just let the 8829 do the math.

Just submitted the following in the Enhancements forum. Please go and add a comment to show your support or add your suggestions: Split Client Documents into federal and state so those who want state docs with the state forms can rearrange it. Show all letters, including those created from a blank template. I always have to check and uncheck letters in the print dialog because they are not listed in print packets. Some forms don't show in individual because they are tagged as business. For example, the MD Form 1. Sch C's that are an LLC need this form in the individual print packet. I'm sure other users can point to other forms that need to be available across all the packages. Expand forms to the page level so we can check or uncheck individual pages.