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And this week's winner is ... Catherine!

I hired a part time reparer a couple of weeks ago. I had to leave earlier than her yesterday so I explained that the front door lock was just a button in the knob and she would be able to lock it and still leave and have it locked behind her. She thought I meant the door to my office not the main door to the whole office. She locked my door with the key safely tucked away in my desk. I have spent half the day trying to take the door off it's hinges so I could get back into my office.

I am so glad they TRY (even tho they get it wrong as Rita said) to tell me what the forms are. You know I have never seen any of those forms before.

It is called bureaucratic creep (with creeps). They have to justify their positions, so they keep inventing things for people to do, such as writing 87 pages of regulations on how to pack and ship potatoes. Budgets, instead of starting from a zero basis each year, start from the prior year and add a growth percentage to it. When politicians talk about cutting spending, they are talking about cutting the Growth, not the amount spent from the prior year. Most of that additional spending is for hiring more bureaucrats and inventing more unnecessary things for them to do.

That's why the clients that drop off the paperwork with a phone number where they can actually be reached (or even better, an email address!) are my favorites. Watching them open their mail and try to puzzle out what they have, and remember what they should have, while amusing is a HUGE waste of time. I can slit it open and throw away the envelopes in half them time, and I probably know more about what they are missing than they do if we have done their returns for a year or two. On the other hand, if they were good at this stuff they would not be paying me the (cough, cough) big bucks.

I like to use various for all 1099-DIV and other for all K1s because it makes it easier to tie the 1116 totals to the DIV detail screen and the K1 detail screen. So I never enter the actual country. And it's faster to do it this way.

A deserving win! Huzzah!

Only problem is if they are missing one and then the CP2000 letter comes with a whole list of "missing W-2g's" then you have to go one by one to find out what is missing. I know from experience. Input all now.

With that many, it is reasonable to do a total per casino source.

I had one guy say, "Oh wow, what a coincidence. The lady I've been emailing at Jr's school is named Bursar."

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Group every year. Have never heard a peep from IRS. The IRS just checks that the total reported is => W2Gs filed. Scan the W2Gs in case you get a matching notice, and run a tape twice to be sure of your number.

also marking the complete box on return manager also hides the complete return so you can see at a glance who is left to complete.

If you input the date on page 2 of 1040, the date is locked on all forms. The complete box is not needed to lock the date. Using the complete box in the e-file manager, allows me to sort by complete and incomplete when marking e-files to transmit. Using the complete box in the Return Manager, prevents any changes to the return, by putting up a verification box that you intend to make the changes, before it is closed. It is a great safeguard when reviewing or seeing what certain changes may do.

I've also seen OC Other Countries on lists, as well as Various.

Drake provides a potential looksee for 2018 based on information from the 2017 tax year. The outcome is assuming the tax cuts and job act would be in place for 2017. What I have noticed is for folks to be careful how they use this. The child tax credit always shows the new increased value. But, if a child turns 17 during the 2018 tax year, the calculation does not take that into consideration. Everyone needs to advise their client that is a potential and explain the differences. Other words, don't take the bottom line as comfort zone of what next year looks like. I have been telling client's that I would need to do a full estimate to give them a more accurate picture.

The garnishment should be a payroll deduction, the same as taxes, tax garnishments, union dues, 401k's etc. Since it is coming out of the employee's paycheck, there is no expense to the employer, so they are 100% wrong to be issuing any 1099.

Can I interrupt this thread to say that education credits are the biggest time suck of my entire practice? They NEVER remember the Bursar's Statement. I have copies of a sample statement in my top drawer and pull one out as soon as I see the 1098-T. It's as if I pulled a unicorn out of my, ahem, left ear. The second biggest time suck is: "This is my W-2 (it's a 1099-R), this is my husband's W-2 (it's a 1099-R), this is my pension, this is my husband's annuity, this is this, and this is that, and here is my bank interest, I don't know it's enough to count (yeah, if you bring it to me it's going on the return), BBFB. (Blah, blah, freakin blah.)

I guess it is not adjusted income, therefore the $4,100 will be the amount to be considered. Thank you for your help. Yes, I also wonder what it will be next year but I will find out in May, after tax season.

Today's email from a client let me know my fax line was out of order, I called the fax and indeed the line went to a recording, 'the number you have dialed is unavailable , etc.'. I called ATT support and they answered. Within 40 minutes the fax line was working again. So, I let the client know and she went to Home Depot to send the fax (hers at home is broken). Second email stated the same as her first - the line is out of order. I called the fax number and the fax attempted to connect. I again let her know the line is working and confirmed the number. whereupon she said they tried several times without success. No idea what is going on but my guess is it's a combination of issues . Now I am home waiting for the landscaper to go over her plan for my gardens that died in the January freezes.

I think they just hate us. The whole 'sometimes you use the 'the' and sometimes you don't' is totally... INSANE! I much prefer rules with no exceptions in my office.

Only if you have that option set. I don't choose that option out of fear that one will be marked complete that is not done and it will slip through the cracks.

I have not had any questioned by the IRS when I have grouped a lot by casino as long as I have the fed ID#. It has been at least three years since I have done this and so far, so good. Thank Heavens, I only have a couple of customers that gamble that often.

And if it won't take "Various" take a good guess from the name of the fund or stock. For anything "Emerging Markets" Brazil or Thailand is a good guess. For a "Pacific Rim" fund Japan or Korea. Extrapolate from these.

Judy, Catherine & Terry, Thanks for the tips. Between right clicking on the client's name in the client manager and the efile reports I will figure it out. After 20 years of looking at the ATX Efile Manager and scanning the columns looking for exceptions my mind wasn't adapting very well

Exactly! I'm not using that schedule at all and would rather print out a 2018 projection. When I prepare a projection, I also like to use the comparison feature from within the tax planner section that is a good summary and starting point for the discussion, and it shows the effective and marginal rates. Unless it is a very basic return, I usually also print the projected 1040 and maybe Sch A too if there are significant changes from the prior year.

Another way is to right click on the client's name from the personal client manager and then click on search EF database. I find this a bit quicker to do.

Checking the one on the return locks the return completed date, so if you ever have to reprint, the date will be right. I haven't tested whether you have to check the day you finish or not, but that's what we always do. Haven't discovered any implication of checking the completed box on efile manager, but we do it anyway.

One couple, each with a separate office in the same house, whose businesses started at different times. One person with a single home office, who moves during the year and the office sq ft percentages are different. I'm sure there are other instances as well.

It's probably not necessary to amend. If an estate closes shortly after its year end and has less than 600 income, it doesn't have to file a return.

It needed to be a separate 'form' because one home office might split to multiple 8829s. Glad to help!

Sometimes the obvious hides on us. I've never been a fan of that extra home office worksheet. Liked the old input directly to the 8829. Anyway - thank you!!

It is Billy Mummy who played the part of Will Robinson. Now I'm dating myself.