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I spoke with client and she remembers getting a correspondence from SSA to confirm her appointment. She had no appointment. She also thinks it's her ex wishing her dead.

Wow, maybe she's BAAAAACK! Won't she get the same response if she files paper? Still, that seems like the only option. File and pay, then carry your risen self to the SS office and scream "HALLELUJAH!"

You guys are all great on here. Look at all the caring responses here. I've been reading them so long my eyes are not focusing again. Ha - just kidding. I appreciate everyone's input. I have taken your collective advise and has scheduled an eye exam for next week. Hopefully it's just computer eye strain. It really makes you think about your eyes and how important they are not only to your work but all of your life. We take things for granted.

Welcome, @Patti in Upstate NY and @Alex if I forgot to welcome you earlier. We all know *exactly* what you mean, Patti, when you talk about the fools who somehow get to your door. Hope to see posts from both of you going forward. Posts slack way off come 4/18 but a few of us die-hards are still here. We perk up again in fall, die down a bit for the holidays, then we're all back in fighting trim come January. Poke around in the off season; someone will poke back!

Young clients - married couple with young children - withholding was way too low because job income increased substantially. Knocked out several credits (EIC, etc.), and no HI so penalties. Tried to talk them through what was different and encourage immediate W4 changes. Fast forward a few days: They have decided they are not going to file. They have been advised that they don't have to file every year, and that as long as they change their withholding this year, it will all even out, and they can continue to only file in some years. They will pay me for the return. Kudos for that offer. OH, AND he (the President) said it was okay. He is trying to help the working class, and this is part of it. I've had amazing conversations, but this was my first foray into the 'you don't have to file every year; only some years' thread of advice. ***Postlude*** - talked them down from the tree, and they are now making reasonable, rational decisions. 'They trust me'.

My eyes burn occasionally. I put an ice pack on them and/or put my face in front of the office vaporizer. We run the vaporizer most of the winter because it gets so dry and to avoid static electricity.

Talk about "forgiven!"

My floaters came on suddenly, and so many it was like pepper was all over the monitor. But I googled it, and it said nothing about being serious. A few floaters are normal, but if it's really peppering your vision, if you see lights dashing, see a doctor. You could have a retinal tear or a hole. If it looks like a window shade is lowering in your eye, go to the emergency room, your retina is likely detaching.

Never had this but Reject says; The primary SSN in the Return Header has been locked b/c SSA records indicate the # belongs to a deceased person. Now I know she's alive and well. She owes so do we file paper if not rectified after the weekend? She's only one on return. She better not be dead because SSA is sending her monthly checks and she owes me money.

I totally 100 % disagree, Form 3115 was designed to specifically to take care of situations like this. Not taking depreciation more than once is the choosing of an incorrect method. Do not amend File the 3115 and deduct all of the depreciation in the current year.

This one hit yesterday evening. Doctor; spouse is a doctor. Spouse has a W-2 job but t/p is self-employed. NEVER makes estimated payments and owes big time. We had his return finalized in a rush after getting the last tidbits from him because he was agitating for finishing. He came and picked up, brought signatures back next morning and left. We had not gotten around to e-filing him (phew) when we get an email saying "what was my SEP contribution?" SEP contribution/ --What SEP contribution?! First we had heard of it! Back-track dance commenced... and turned out to be a good thing. 'Cuz I did a stupid and entered the state 1099-MISC income a line too high, so it got double-counted, once on Sch C and once on Line 21 - and in the rush to finish for him, no one (meaning ME) caught it. We need new signatures; he was actually happy because his federal tax went down, and I (re-)learned NOT to let clients pressure me into rushing! I eventually found some time to wash the egg off my face.

Interesting, my local SS office will not make appointments. You walk in take a number and wait.

Either somebody at SSA made a data entry error, or there is some sort of identity theft/scam taking place here. If I were her, I'd pull my credit reports to see if something fishy is going on.

My eyes have been burning in the new office which is SUPER-dry. Plus it's an old building, so there's dust and Lord knows what else floating around being irritating. In my case, I know it's dryness plus too much screen time, because it's gone every morning, much less working at home (not nearly as dry), and worse if there are flowers around (pollen). Cold wet teabags (regular ansi-standard black tea, not the herbal or flavored stuff) is excellent for tired, dry, swollen eyes. Plus you get to lay back to keep 'em in place... Floaters are common with nearsighted people (back in my engineering days I used to watch them go by during particularly boring staff meetings) - but as Possi says, sudden increase or bright flashing lights is a warning sign of retinal tears. Or as BHoffman and FDNY say, optical migraines. I'll echo what the rest say: if it's better, watch it and take blink-breaks. Back when I was a materials engineer doing electron microscopy, I learned (the hard way, of course) about "raster hypnosis" where your blinks slow down to match time with the raster of the screen on a scanning electron microscope. A day of that and your eyes are tired, burning, gritty, and nasty feeling. If it's not HUGELY better, get thee to an eye doctor! None of your clients would blink (ha ha) about canceling a meeting with you if their eyes hurt; why should you take ANY chance of hurting your eyes for them? Put 'em all on extension now, and deal with them as you can, later.

i second everything Patti said. I don't post much here, but over the years I've come in for those nagging questions that a sole practitioner just needs to bounce off others. Or to help figure out what behind-the-scenes did I miss that isn't sending info to the form I know it belongs on. So thank you as always to Eric for having kept us all together when ATX kicked us out one April, and to all of you for your knowledge and senses of humour!

I'm actually not new - I've been reading this forum for years. At the end of every tax season I swear I'm going to join and donate and tell all of you how you helped me get through the last few months. Then I'm too tired. We're all tired. So that's not a good excuse anymore. I've done taxes for 32? years. On my own for approximately 28 of them and the hardest part has been not having anyone to bounce things off of. Well. That's not entirely true. The hardest part is the fools who walk through my door who make me wonder how they managed to find their way from their house to my office......... My biggest challenge this year was a client who I've had since day one. Two family rental totally gutted in a fire. Okay. What does this mean? How do I report? What is the impact? Involuntary conversion, right? Wait. Is there a casualty loss? OMG! Oddly enough - Bulldog Tom (who beat himself up for missing something on a return) gave me the answer in a post from 2015. Bless you Tom. And know that last year I finished a partnership return on 4/17 and forgot to e-file it. Yeah. Totally forgot to hit "send." At least the extension was filed on time and it was "only" two months late. I still suck as a preparer and I ate the penalty. Tom and all of you keep me sane. You make me laugh. You make me feel like I'm not alone. My sincerest appreciation

Nasty winter weather going on and/or expected. A foot of snow in South Dakota, blizzard warnings, huge temperature drops in OK, high plans travel difficult to impossible, snow sleet and freezing rain in the northeast. Stay safe out there! https://www.iceagenow.info/blizzard-warnings-for-six-states/

Wow! That looks like a winter sporting event to see who can stop the vehicle and avoid getting crushed. You have a beautiful backyard, no wonder you have big wine glasses.

This is what it looks like out my back window today...Northern LP Michigan. But we ain't got these folks problems.... I pray for those south of us with the tornado's and winds...To All..Be Safe..

the 481 is an ordinary deduction and the lower basis adds the same amount to capital gain income. the client comes out ahead on the rate difference.

Thanks. That made my day. Tom Modesto, CA

She will be calling SS on Monday. I wanted her to do a walk-in but she does work, and walk ins are available in Pittsfield MA if she can make it. I did consider ID theft too, but didn't mention it to her as I thought maybe SS # would be shut off, but your idea to pull the credit reports is a good idea so I will advise that. As Catherine mentioned, I did have her check her bank account and last deposit went in on 3/21, so the 4/21 deposit is crucial to her being dead or alive. My thought is also an input error somewhere in the SS bureaucracy. After all, nobody's perfect. My thanks to everyone for your responses, and for Possi making me laugh...more than once.

Good idea, @JohnH - but she also may need to go to the SSA (with an appt; they won't see walk-ins any more, at least not around here) with the reject notice etc and make sure they have not totally mucked up her account. There could be other problems lying in wait - including cutting off her checks, because after all she's deceased - not. It could also be that someone with a similar number did die, and the IRS managed to mess up entering that ssn.

That's interesting - this tax season I had a situation where a credit card company issued a 1099-C for a person who deceased in 2016.

I'm going to shoot from the hip and say you're ok to do that because he had constructive receipt of the money and gave it to the other bene. I'd advise him to actually take the distribution next time and write a personal check for the gift. And I'd have him file a gift tax return this time if it's over the limit.

Welcome! It is a great group of folks. So much so we laugh, cry, and more with each other and are grateful for this board (and Eric!!! Yay!) which enables us to bounce things off each other, support each other, know we are not alone. So glad you joined us!

Can't keep me sane, I have never been there....

Thanks. I don't do enough NY to be comfortable, and from what I hear they are almost as bad as CA ...

This is my virtual water cooler.

So I think she can use Mark Twain's line in her opening conversation with SSA - "The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated."

Almost choked on my coffee while reading @Possi's post. Thanks for the laughs!

Thanks, for your opinions. There more of a screwup than this which will post in another thread.

I think our Sunday and Monday in MA is no bargain as well. Feel bad for the runners in the Boston Marathon Monday, may be no new records set.

I don't follow what you are saying Sara. As I see it, he will not get the benefit of the depreciation which lowered his basis and increased gain unless he takes the 481(a) adjustment. The suspended losses recognized In the year of sale will not reflect the allowed depreciation. So how will he offset the increased gain from the allowable depreciation?

I thought I was unique having this problem. A lady came to me this year because in 2016 the Service notified her she was deceased ! Her husband died in 2015 and on filing in 2016 as single someone made a typo or something and showed her as deceased. She had to go to the local SSA office to prove she was yet alive and it took months to straighten it all out. The Service must have belatedly notified Virginia of her deceased condition so now she is having trouble getting her state refund for this year !

Welcome Patti (Alex already had his welcome wagon). I'm here only a few years and just reading the posts I've learned or reinforced so much knowledge that I couldn't be more grateful to the veterans residing on this forum. The humor and hearing about the trials and tribulations we all go through, that's just priceless.

Hi Patti! I'm a newbie too! This forum keeps me sane (or as sane as one can be, during tax season)! You're all wonderful, amazing people.

This is good to know about floaters. I have not seen any lights, but I have one that is so big that I have to really look at numbers carefully and straight on to make sure that I am seeing correctly. It sits right in the middle of my vision and just drives me crazy. I went to the ophthalmologist and she said that she will watch it, but that there's nothing short of surgery to get rid of it.

Done here too (well, except for that one 1120 extension I'll fill out on Monday). But since I'm scaling back, there's no reason not to be done. I have several corps and individuals on extension, but in most cases the ball is in their court. Looks like Mon and Tues will be payroll tax report days. Maybe we will head down to the beach toward the end of next week. Hope everyone has a productive and profitable end to this filing season. If you're still sweating the deadline, I feel your pain (for whatever that's worth).

I hope you feel better soon @schirallicpa. Definitely get some rest (and some sleep). Hang in there!

And you can have the floaters without the torn or detached retina. I have always had some floaters, but if they suddenly get worse I still RUN to the eye doctor for reassurance. So far it has always been nothing, but it is a classic sign of damage to the retina and should be checked out. Just like the aura you are seeing may be nothing but should be checked out. I consider those peace of mind visits.

Does this presumably deceased taxpayer still have a valid driver license?

Hi Patti - What part of "upstate NY" are you from. Tends to be a catch-all for anyone not in the big city. I'm over in western NY in Wellsville, NY. Not far from Olean NY - if you watched NCAA this year our Bonnies (St. Bonaventure) made it to the play-offs for the first time in forever.

Possi, don't you deal with a lot of military folks? The military clients I have had, have had POAs in place for the non-military spouses. If your couple is in two different states, perhaps your friend gave his wife a POA that includes allowing her to sign tax returns. If she filed their MFJ tax return (or even her MFS tax return claiming their dependent) then they already would have the reject if their child claimed his own dependency.

Amend 2014 NOW (few days, minutes left) to get refund from dep for 2014 (if any) // taken or not, if entitled you should now take on amend). Amend 2015. 2016 for dep. and tfinalize 2017.

Hi Gail, I think that's right because his standard deduction is only $3,100 since his parents are claiming him. Evidently all NY source income, they're pretty strict on that. BTW, Secaucus is in NJ, if it's NJ source income may be a different story.

I had something very similar happen to me over 30 years ago when I was the Controller for a Food Service Wholesaler, working too many hours, not enough sleep, ingesting too much caffeine. My situation was more intense because in addition to the eye issues, I was also pretty dizzy. Had my office manager call 911, went to the emergency room where they didn't find anything. Had a complete exam several days later by an internist who said I was fine. He said that what happened to me was an "aura" which usually proceeds an intense migraine, which i have never had. He told me that you can also experience the "aura" without the migraine. Get some rest and hopefully it will disappear.

That's pretty scary. It could be something as simple as dry eyes with extreme eye fatigue that's causing your eyes to not filter and process the light properly, especially since it was limited to the TVs and monitor (blue light?). If you have any environmental allergies that affect your eyes, that could also be a possibility with the higher pollen counts added into the mix, really anything that might irritate your eyes along with the fatigue. For example, if you've ever been swimming in a chlorinated pool at night and then see rainbow halos around lights, that can be from irritation of the cornea that may include some swelling. Do you wear contact lens that you left in longer than usual? I agree with both Lion and Possi. Try some drops and rest, but if that doesn't help, definitely get checked out. Please let us know if you are OK too. <3

A couple of year ago, I had floaters during tax season and let it go. When I started seeing darting lights in the outside edge of my vision, I saw a specialist. Turns out, I had a tear in my retina with 2 more coming, and 2 holes in the other retina. I hope you will see an ophthalmologist. Or a retina specialist.

Use those artificial tears type of drops (probably a saline solution). Close your eyes. Sleep. Blink. There are apps for your computer/phone/smartwatch that you can set to remind you to blink. When staring at a computer screen we blink less often. A lot less often. So, use an app. And, if it continued into today, please call your eye doctor and get in immediately.