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Showing content with the highest reputation on 05/31/2018 in Posts

  1. I may dust off my custom cutter and make some, but as an old (long ago, not age!) dough slinger, I only truly enjoy donuts I make... and they have to be hand rolled, cut, and fried, not put through a sheeter or any other automation.
    7 points
  2. I see you've put a lot of work into this Elrod. Glad to see you are busy in retirement. Thank you! BTW, all Cumberland Farm's coffee is 99 cents any size on any day. My favorite is Guatemalan Highlands or Farm House Bold.
    5 points
  3. Free Doughnut Day....Friday Dunkin’ Donuts: Customers will get a free donut of their choice with the purchase of any beverage on June 1. The deal applies all day to all participating Dunkin’ Donuts across the country. Krispy Kreme: The classic doughnut chain is offering customers one free doughnut all day at participating shops in the U.S. and Canada. Hungry doughnut fans can pick any item from the menu for free. Fractured Prune Doughnuts: Fractured Prune is offering one free OC Sand Doughnut — a glazed doughnut covered in cinnamon sugar — to each customers at all participating locations. Duck Donuts: All customers will get a free doughnut with any purchase at this chain, based in the eastern part of the country. Receipts for purchases on National Doughnut Day offer a coupon for a free half-dozen doughnuts with the purchase of a half-dozen, good through Aug. 31. LaMar’s Donuts: The midwest-based chain is offering a golden ticket to customers for free doughnuts — print or show it on your phone to get a treat. The offer excludes specialty doughnuts. Entenmann’s: Doughnut lovers can enter a contest to win free Entenmann’s donuts for a year. For those in New York City, the company will hand out free doughnuts in Times Square on Friday. Honey Dew Donuts: Customers can receive a free Coco Loco Donut with the purchase of any medium or larger size drink. Cumberland Farms: Locations in remodeled Cumberland Farms throughout the Northeast and Florida are offering a free doughnut with the purchase of any coffee or fountain drink from 5 a.m. to 10 a.m. Tim Hortons: The Canada and U.S.-based coffee chain will offer a free doughnut with the purchase of coffee.
    4 points
  4. MMmmmmmm..... .......
    4 points
  5. Ooh, ooh, we should do this, too!
    4 points
  6. Add Wawa stores to the list. It's a regional convenience store chain from PA down through DC and in FL now too.
    4 points
  7. Your client could possibly report the sales separately on his tax return (he has to to satisfy computer matching) and then nominee them to the recipients and issue each a 1099. However, this could open up a can of worms. Can you legally invest for others without some kind of license? I know that cryptocurrencies aren't quite regulated by the regulators, but investing for others sure is. Maybe he can report the whole thing on his own return, calculate the tax he had to pay on each investor's gain, and then gift the remainder to each of them. (Gift tax return required only if over $15k.) This situation underscores a major problem with the cryptos: Novices are catching the bandwagon, some losing their shirts, and some getting themselves into places they don't want to be like your client.
    4 points
  8. That's impossible, I'm from Brooklyn and you're from a state with a lot of fresh air. Practice your charm in the mirror and call tomorrow before the month is over.
    4 points
  9. Best news I've heard all day! You don't owe me anything, I'm sure you've helped me thru the years, that's what I love about this place. But if we ever do a northeast ATXCommunity meet and greet, we'll buy each other a drink from the top shelf.
    4 points
  10. We tend to have a few who forget the checkbook (or wallet) and send a check once home. If they forget, we send email reminders with the bill attached. However, when gearing up for the new year we will occasionally find one or two who slipped through the cracks. Those people get our welcome packet with a note that NO new work will be started until the prior balance is paid. Over twenty years, I've only had a few people stiff me, and for all of them I was glad to see them go. Although one lady came back almost ten years later, hoping I had copies of her daughter's adoption papers that had been lost (burst pipe? something; don't recall). She still owed $150 (a partial pay who stopped). I promised to look after she paid and I had payment through paypal in five minutes. *And* I found the adoption paper scans, too. She was thrilled. But I would not take her back as a client! (Not that she asked.)
    3 points
  11. I believe ATX does that automatically for you when you save the amended return, but I prefer it before the name so it shows in the tab at the top for open returns. Sometimes I'd have both the old return and the amended return open and it's easier to see you're in the file if it says Amended at the beginning.
    3 points
  12. FDNY you are certainly a charmer!
    3 points
  13. "But if this is going to be an ongoing arrangement, it sounds to me like they should form an investment partnership to hold all the money and report all the income and then each investor would get a K-1 to reflect their share of the gains or losses. But I know that is not helpful retroactively" I agree with Gail.
    3 points
  14. I always rename the amended return with 'Amended' included after the name. When rolling over, roll over the amended so the correct amended numbers are rolled over.
    3 points
  15. If you go with 2 files, prepend the name of the original return with something like ***OLD***. Then when you sort be name, these will be at the top, and easy to uncheck if you're doing some mass process. Most ATX users only rollover clients as they come in, until it's time for extensions.
    3 points
  16. Authorities on the Big Island have advised residents, "Do not try to roast marshmallows over the lava !"
    3 points
  17. This dog's closed eyes tells it all. Good dog.
    2 points
  18. Good ideas and also on possibly combining it with some CPE! Maybe a good tax course on the new law later in the year. NYC for this country girl may require some tranquilizer and a blindfold though. I, too, regret not being able to make Rita's in TN because there are lots of people here I'd like to meet someday, even give some a hug ... a real hug. lol
    2 points
  19. Why don't we wait until after Rita's and then see how much interest there is for another. I have a feeling there will be a lot.
    2 points
  20. And I thought you would never ask. I feel terrible that I can't make it to Rita's due to an ongoing obligation of care giving here in Boston, but I do travel monthly to NYC to visit Mom and the rest of my old crew. Had a reunion last year at the LaGuardia Comfort Inn and I thought it would be a great place if we ever got together. Maybe plan it when some CPEs are available. What do you think?
    2 points
  21. I don't think it can be considered a loan, since from the original post it doesn't sound like there would be an obligation to pay the loan back if the investment had lost money instead of making money. Nor was the documentation for a loan done stating when and how it would be paid back with what rate of interest. Sara's answer seems to me to be closest to what he wants to accomplish. Or pay the taxes himself, figure what the amount is that his tax increased because of investments for other people, and have them reimburse him. But if this is going to be an ongoing arrangement, it sounds to me like they should form an investment partnership to hold all the money and report all the income and then each investor would get a K-1 to reflect their share of the gains or losses. But I know that is not helpful retroactively.
    2 points
  22. I might call back and ask why some have gotten this and not others. I'm sure you have an account in good standing and willing to renew early. A little persistence should help. Good luck.
    2 points
  23. It worked! When my rep said that there had been an email blast offering the 5% from May 16 through 20, I found nothing from ATX during that spell in my Inbox, Spambox or Trash -- but several dozen other emails from ATX before and after. I was even more sure of the omission because I'd been vacationing that week and so had let emails from everyone except clients pile up -- and, yes, still haven't quite got round to cleaning out superfluous emails since then. (Props to Gmail's 15GB limit!) Rep put me on hold to 'see if [he] could still get that special discount' for me, and a couple of minutes later delivered! So, FDNY, what would you like as a finder's fee? I owe you.
    2 points
  24. I would say he pays all the tax as he will get the 1099B. He can give out the remainder to his friends and family and file a gift tax return, but this seems like a messy situation to me. He would have been better off just giving out his opinion and let everyone do it on their own. Contacting you before hand would have been the way to go. What if he lost everyone's money? He would be in the doghouse with family and friends with no way to pass along the losses, other than dishing out his tax savings.
    2 points
  25. Over the years, I am certain I earned more by extending credit that by having a firm policy against doing so. I'm convinced that the few losses were more than offset by the additional revenue, especially at times when I was building my business. I've always tried to let my business judgement take precedence over emotions & ego, and this is certainly one of those areas where it's easy to get the two mixed up. Now that I'm approaching retirement, my attitude is more along the lines of "Rather than work for free, I'd just as soon take the time off."
    2 points
  26. 1 point
  27. Ha! You're very kind MWright. I've had a lot of practice, it's how I get thru life and get things done. Keep smiling and be happy because life is too short to lose out on that extra 5% when and if it comes our way. Thanks MWright, you're a bit of a charmer too, I can tell! Bill
    1 point
  28. Alternately, you can just add the 1040X to the original file and not utilize the amended feature of ATX. That's what we do because we prefer to just have one file. The downside to doing this is you have to manually enter the numbers in the original column but we still prefer it. And, welcome!
    1 point
  29. You will select which ones to rollover. Yes - there will be two but you will need to decide which one you want to rollover. On another note, to make that process easier, you can always rename one of the returns.
    1 point
  30. WASHINGTON -- The Federal Bureau of Investigation is asking everyone with a home router to do one small thing: Turn your router off and then back on again. The agency issued a warning on Friday asking home Internet users and small business owners to reboot their routers to ward off a pernicious piece of malware called VPN Filter. The malware infects routers during the first stage of an attack that eventually gives hackers great control over the devices connected to the Internet. The malware has been linked to a group believed to be connected to the Russian military Research from Cisco's Talos security group, published last week, estimates that 500,000 devices around the world may be affected by the malware, including routers made by major manufacturers such as TP-Link, Netgear and Linksys. While the FBI recently seized a critical part of the network that runs this attack, the agency still recommends that everyone reset their router, regardless of manufacturer, to cast a wider net. Simply unplugging your router may not seem like it could do much for your security. But resetting the router sets this complicated malware back to stage one, said Ashley Stephenson of Corero Network Security. In its first stage, VPN Filter establishes a in a router, but it needs to talk to another part of the network to download the second stage of the attack. Now that the FBI has control over part of the network, routers trying to enter that second stage will send information to the agency instead of hackers, Stephenson said. Simply hitting the power button without updating their router, would still put users at risk, software experts warned. As a next step, they should download the latest firmware for their devices and change their password to further guard themselves against infection
    1 point
  31. FDNY...I agree. Since I don't have much gift tax experience, I didn't know if there was a way to accomplish what he is asking. Since he is going to receive the 1099, I assume he's on the hook for the tax. Regardless, it sounds very messy to me as well, on many levels.
    1 point
  32. Where to get Em...... https://www.elitedaily.com/p/where-to-get-free-doughnuts-on-national-doughnut-day-if-youre-craving-a-sweet-deal-9223225
    1 point
  33. Thank you Elrod! You're always looking out for your buddies! I marked my calendar.
    1 point
  34. Just to be clear, the "extra" 5% is in addition to the 10% offer for May renewal and usually, from what I hear, you can get the rest of the year. I'm going out to a big lunch today with the $82 I just saved.
    1 point
  35. On another board there was a thread similar to this. One guy over there suggested sending a letter to the client stating if they did not pay they would contact the IRS and ask to be removed as paid preparer. They also pointed out that that would cause the IRS to take their return out of the usual processing routine and could possible cause their return to be reviewed more closely.
    1 point
  36. At the bottom of my statements, I enter the following verbiage: "Pay Pal available: We can send you a statement via email which you can pay via PayPal if you prefer. Just call nnn.nnn.nnnn or email me at xxxx@xxx and I will follow up. If you can't pay all at one time, you can make partial payments." If they use PayPal, I just increase their fee the next year by double the PayPal transaction charge. If they don't pay, I forget about them. It was worth the fee to get rid of them. If they pay via PayPal but don't come back, it was worth the PayPal transaction charge to shame them into going somewhere else. It's silly to have to do this, but sometimes it works. I even have one client who earns over $250K but pays an average annual bill of just under $500 each year by sending me 2 - 4 PayPal payments. Some people just live their lives this way. You're not going to change them.
    1 point
  37. I have a few who won't pay until next year, but I'm slowly firing them. I really do hate begging to be paid. Once, when working for a small tax and accounting office, I had taken over the bookkeeping for a mechanic's business. I asked him where his "accounts receivable" info was. He said he didn't know what that was. So, I told him that was the account with details on clients who owed them money. He looked at me like I didn't have a head on my shoulders. Then he said, "Nobody owes me money. If they don't pay me when the work is done, well... I have their CAR!" So, if a client can't afford to get their taxes done, I do hold payments until their refund is deposited. But, I AM holding payments. That way, I have very few outstanding.
    1 point
  38. Call to offer to accept immediate, partial payment -- sounding solicitous about his/her current cashflow problem -- try for definite schedule of remaining payment but let it remain vague if client sounds reluctant to commit. After another month email and call again, if his/her better nature hasn't triumphed. I probably spend too much time collecting from people -- e.g., I have a standard over-30-day-due text to paste into emails, and I extra-scrutinize certain invoices before sending those to a dozen folks from whom I expect static -- but in the end collect very nearly all I bill. I've even had a guy suddenly pay after three *years* of no responses. Good luck.
    1 point
  39. Have you resent them a bill? About the 3rd mailing I add that if payment is not received within X days - the account will be sent to a collections agency. I don't send it but it gets the attention of those who suffer from distraction. If they don't pay, I assess it next season and demand payment for delivery. If they don't come back - I consider it a loss.
    1 point
  40. Ringers, what you described sounds correct. I don't have any with that exact fact pattern to check it out where the input must be completed for the 8863 on that input and on the 5329 if there is a 1099Q. Then there are the due diligence questions that are all combined on one "set" of screens along with blank "notes" pages that I've been tailoring to each client's situation in a Q&A format for my documentation. My clients' children who received 1099Qs didn't have any taxable portion so I had the 5329 and attached a pdf showing qualified expenditures and that no 8863 credits were taken that should reduce those amounts. They were also dependents on their parents' returns where any 8863 credits would phase out due to income thresholds, so none were claimed. I'm not sure if the # of years rolls fwd as Catherine describes. I usually make brief notes in the bottom large box on the "Notes" screen that I mark to print with the preparer's version of the return that I keep in electronic format, and any info in that bottom large box has been rolling forward to the next tax year. I just wish that section would be expanded to allow more characters of input. There is a similar situation that requires input on multiple screens for the 2441 also. Expenses paid are entered there and also must be entered on the dependent screen with the breakdowns by child also. It is not automatic. For all the other benes I've derived from switching to Drake, I can live with these that affect very few of the clients i serve.
    1 point
  41. Good States 1. Happiness 2. Positive 3. Blissful 4. Confident 5. Alcohol Induced Bad States 1. Dilemma 2. Poor State 3. Desperate Straits 4. Predicament 5. Alcohol Induced And of course the State of Affairs can be anything.
    1 point
  42. I guess I will have to suffer thru, we don't have any of those in our area.
    0 points
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