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Great pictures, excellent photography. I grew up in the foothills of those mountains. I still enjoy seeing them when they first appear in the distance as we drive back home for family visits. The Blue Ridge and Great Smoky Mountains are beautiful.

Thanks very much for posting this, Abby. What a great recap and awesome pictures to boot! Looks like it was a fabulous time.

I've nicknamed Karin, SoNot Normal, which, if you knew her well, you'd know is perfect. We left MD last Thursday and made it to Crossville, TN by dinner time, despite my transmission groaning up that last long grade to the top of the Cumberland Plateau. The day was overcast, but we like to travel with cloud cover so the sun isn't heating up the car through the windows. The mountains are always a pleasant sight to us flatlanders. Along the way, we stopped in Abingdon, VA and had an excellent Turkish Coffee. I had them make it with half the sugar they normally use and it was perfect for me. We stayed at a lovely AirBnB on a golf course in a quiet resort area near town. Our host, Brian, gave us a nice tour of the area to get us oriented. I think I got more disoriented, but it was nice to know what was out there. I had an excellent and reasonably priced steak and some craft beers at Spike's, our first night there. It was a great surprise after our long drive, because it looked like a dive bar from the outside, but it was so good, we went back the next night for more. We were pleasantly surprised on Friday to find a great coffee shop in Crossville, and a very good, reasonably priced lunch in town, too at Forte's. (I'm going to stop saying 'reasonably priced' because everything was so cheap compared to back home.) On Saturday, we took the big swan out for a spin on Lake Dartmoor. It was a bit breezy and the wind pushed the boat in circles a few times, but we made it back to dock eventually, and got in almost an hour of very pleasant exercise. I have to buy a pedal boat. I'd much rather pedal a lake or creek than deal with cars on a bike. The seat's more comfortable too. Saturday afternoon was the gathering at Rita's, where I and others survived a Rita hug. Those who haven't survived can be seen here: After much laughter, joke telling, feasting (thanks for the great food Rita & others!), and some really terrible corn hole playing, the group decided to try the Japanese restaurant Rita had recommended, and the laughter and story telling continued into the night, over another great meal. I had some excellent sushi and sake to round out the day. Very cool sake decanter with an ice chamber so the sake doesn't get watered down. On Sunday, Crossville was closed for church, so after discovering that the Quaker meeting was defunct, we drove to Cookville for coffee and then hiked a mile to see the Burgess Falls (more pleasant exercise - I did not gain any weight on this trip, which is always a good thing!). So cool that I accidentally captured a rainbow in that pic! While at the falls, a storm rolled by and one thunderclap sounded way too close for comfort, but we had no choice but to hike back out through the woods. SoNot's fitbit registered 6,000 steps and 20 flights of stairs! Our final dinner in Crossville was another round of sushi. We took the scenic route back through the mountains to Asheville, both to have a relaxing drive and to be gentle with the transmission. There were several scenic overlooks along the way, and we stopped at most of them. Spent the night in Asheville, NC with my nephew and his family, and had lunch downtown before heading to Durham, NC on Tuesday to spend the night with a client who had moved away. They had emailed me two weeks before the trip to thank me for my help and said, 'if you're ever down this way, we'd love to have you spend the night'. And I replied, 'well, as a matter of fact, we'll be by there in two weeks'. I bet they weren't expecting that! We got back to MD yesterday, early afternoon, well rested and still smiling from all the great times we had! Thanks again to the lovely Rita for hosting all of us wackos and allowing us a chance to meet and get to know each other better! I will remember this trip fondly for a very long time.

After so many years of using ATX and other forms based software before ATX, seeing the $ amounts that I expect to see on the the same lines year after year helps me as I work me way through each return before I actually perform a detailed double check. These changes will lower my productivity next year, because I will have to take more time.

That was great, so descriptive I could taste the steak and beer, heard the water going over the falls, and felt my stomach grumble after thinking of sake. This is what fond memories are made of, simply perfect. Sounds like SoNot is a fun travel companion, being so agreeable to the busy schedule you kept her on. Really wish I was there, so glad you all, I mean Y'all were able to do this.

I don't know, maybe I'm being cynical as some people are pushing the postcard size to satisfy their own reasoning to portray simplification, when in reality I think it will cause more complications, more likely for us and the taxpayers than them. I guess we still have to wait as maybe they need to test run this. Let's hope they come up with true simplification or adjustments that make it easy, but I have no faith in them whatsoever.. Couldn't they just leave the 1040 as is and just omit and add what is necessary? Familiarity seems to be what people like, at least for us mature people. No, that would be too logical and sensible, they need to put their approval stamp on it for their egos and for everyone to think a postcard idea (like that is tax reform) is better than a letter size, we shall see.

I can't claim originality. I got it from Jerry Mealer many, many years ago.

A year after NY added pages, CT simplified from 2 pages to 4. But, add pages if your have CT AMT, EIC, credits for taxes paid to other jurisdictions, ES, etc. And, CT threw in a page of instructions, which is silly if I'm e-filing their returns. And, a second page of instructions if there are ES payments. With tax "simplification" my job is secure!

The camera on my pixel 2 phone is pretty amazing. And I finally got the hang of taking panoramas. I want to print this one and hang it on my wall.

Isn't that the standard joke? The two-line tax return: What did you make last year? Send it in!

After reading in the back of the subpoena that a bill was expected - I did away with the discount offer! Thought mentality of people are different. I was fine with $.59 per page for a relative of a partner of my firm. That partner declared he's going to send him an additional bill for 3x that amount.

I spoke with an independent third party attorney who said it's basically the honor system. He said to include a bill and hope they pay it because it's not coming out of their pocket book. I don't see a state figure but do see one for medical records at $.59 per page. I like the 25% discount idea - don't know why I didn't think of that. I will 100% include an additional postage fee.

I am beginning to see this "postcard" as a huge income opportunity. All the people that will try to do this, using DIY software, and either get totally confused, unable to complete it, or send it in wrong and receive a notice, will need someone to "fix it."

Perhaps you should explore a travel blog. I so wish I could have been there, your photos are amazing!

I'm with you, @rfassett - that's what I was trying to say. It's just a more-summarized summary. Overdue, to my mind. The 1040 has been masquerading as a standalone, and unless your return is dead-simple (one W-2, no interest, dividends, gains, or doggone near anything else), it's not, and hasn't been that for decades.

Am I missing something? Are we not still going to be e-filing these things? And many of the software packages are already schedule driven. I am just failing to see the big deal. The post card idea is nothing more or less than a summary of the tax return information of the supporting schedules, in my opinion.

The 990-N is called a postcard filing and processed electronically. However it is merely informational and for instances where 990-EZ is not required. I don't see a postcard working for a federal individual income tax return.

I haven't seen the IRS publicize the time element involved in reading and learning the tax law and then reading the instructions to fill out the forms.

Like Ron & Catherine, I've had trouble seeing what the problem is as well. There are so many unused lines on the 1040 for most taxpayers, and it really isn't comprehensive in any meaningful sense. Better to populate the main form with info from supporting schedules. I'm sure there will be tweaks they should still make, but overall I think it's a good idea. I suspect that tax preparers (Drake user, for example) who are already accustomed to using data input screens will not find this problematic. They don't depend upon seeing the 1040 on their screen to achieve data input in the first place, so sub-schedules and distributed input is already more natural to them. It appears that the new 1040 layout actually forces one to become less dependent upon "Forms Based Entry". Maybe that's one reason there's so much angst about it on this forum. And of course as Ron said, at the end of the process you're going to be e-flinging the return anyhow.

How about a per page charge ($1.00 - $1.50 per page, for example), discounted by 25% if the bill is paid within xx days? You choose the per page charge, amount of discount, and number of days as you see fit. (Unless your state has a standard along the lines Lynn mentioned)

Lynn has a great idea - there may be a state standard, so check it out and charge that amount!

Here in Louisiana I think the court allows for costs up to 50 cents a page.

About 8 years ago, Ohio simplified from 2 pages to 4. 2016 they added more worksheets/attachments, so now the common return has been simplified to 6 pages. Some "not so informed" salesman, sold the State scanners to read the "simplified" forms. It is so smart, it cannot read a duplex page if the second page is "upside down."

Missouri went from 2 pages to 5 pages last year.

Colorado went from one page to six pages in the last few years.

MD went from 2 to 3 and now 4 but really didn't add that much. I prefer compact but easy to read. The trend in computers is more spacing resulting in more scrolling. I'm looking at you, QuickBooks!

It is a big deal, because they could just have eliminated the alimony and the DPAD adjustment lines at the bottom of page 1, replaced the exemption line with the 20 % PTE Deduction at the top of page 2 and left the rest of Form 1040 unchanged. Then added 1 new form to calculate the PTE Deduction instead of creating 6 new supporting forms ? What a waste !

The Massachusetts return is now FOUR pages that are each 2/3 blank. Only the middle third has ANY information other than name. It is a royal PITA. So don't hold your breath.

It's not 'postcard sized', it's half a page, which is stupid. Just make it one page! And since we efile everything, this is an exercise in ridiculousness. I'm hoping the software companies will be smart enough to print it on one letter sized page and not two pages that are half blank.

Hopefully, the AICPA and all the other organizations, along with the tax software companies will fight this ridiculous move. And it's a big deal because we should not have be subject to these changes. As a preparer, I can only see this slowing me down. As a taxpayer, it's a tremendous waste of time.

It is a very large opening for scammers. Nothing else.

This is simply a scam so politicians can push the false perception that taxes were simplified, when they were not.

This is a solution in search of a problem. This is totally nuts, just so some ******** can hold press conferences, pat themselves on the back, wave around a postcard and tax about tax simplification.

From Journal of Accountancy: Many of the items reported on the 1040 will be calculated on various new schedules, which have also not yet been officially posted. These schedules include: Schedule 1, Additional Income and Adjustments to Income, includes items from lines 10 through 37 of the 2017 Form 1040, such as business income, alimony received, capital gains or losses, and adjustments including educator expenses and student loan interest expense. Schedule 2, Tax, includes items from lines 44 through 47 of the 2017 Form 1040, such as the tax on a child’s unearned income (commonly called the kiddie tax), the alternative minimum tax, and any excess premium tax credit that must be refunded. Schedule 3, Nonrefundable Credits, includes items from lines 48 through 55 of the 2017 Form 1040, such as the foreign tax credit, the credit for child and dependent child care, the education credit, and the residential energy credit. Schedule 4, Other Taxes, includes items from 57 through 63 of the 2017 Form 1040, such as household employment taxes, the health care individual responsibility payment (the individual mandate), the net investment income tax, and the additional Medicare tax. It also includes a new line for reporting the Sec. 965 net tax liability installment from Form 965-A — a form that does not yet exist. Schedule 5, Other Payments and Refundable Credits, includes items from lines 65 through 74 of the 2017 Form 1040, such as estimated tax payments, the net premium tax credit, and amounts paid with an extension request. Schedule 6, Foreign Address and Third Party Designee, provides taxpayers who have a foreign address a place to list their country, province, and postal code (formerly these appeared on page 1 of the 1040) and provides all taxpayers with a place to list information for a third-party designee who can discuss the return with the IRS. The draft Form 1040 and the new schedules also refer to various existing schedules, which presumably will continue to exist in updated form. These include Schedule A, Itemized Deductions, Schedule C, Profit or Loss From Business, Schedule D, Capital Gains and Losses, Schedule E, Supplemental Income and Loss, Schedule F, Profit or Loss From Farming, Schedule H, Household Employment Taxes, Schedule SE, Self-Employment Tax, and Schedule 8812, Child Tax Credit. On the other hand, Schedule B, Interest and Ordinary Dividends, Schedule J, Income Averaging for Farmers and Fishermen, and Schedule R, Credit for the Elderly or the Disabled, are not mentioned on the new form and schedules. A line exists for reporting the earned income tax credit, although Schedule EIC itself is not mentioned.

You will have to do a policy allocation that he and mom can agree on the % and then he will have to pay back his portion of the allocated subsidy because he is insured through his employer. You will have to refigure moms and have to decide if you will have to amend. Not an easy thing to do. I have had this for the last two years.

Will there be a "long form" in addtion to this postcard, or is this it with the use of subschedules for the many items that appear to be missing like Sch C and passthrough income? It does, however, have the line for the QBI deduction, just nowhere to enter the income side! It also has no lines for Sch D, 4794, Sch E income, state refunds, or other income.

As with any change, adapting will take time. In the case of the new "postcard" 1040, I anticipate the coming tax season to be very challenging. Time will tell if it will become routine, but a quick review of the forms JKL includes above makes me think more people will initially seek to have their returns prepared by a "professional" versus completing it by themselves.

Correct, dependents don't get the new full standard deduction. From Rev Proc 2018-18 on the IRS site: I found it on this page on IRS site. Scroll to the section for "Income Tax" and look for that Rev Proc that contains the inflation-related amounts.

I see the box "someone can claim you as a dependent." Does that mean dependents don't get the $12k standard deduction? We must await all those technical corrections they say are coming. By this time of year I've usually taken a chunk of CPEs, but this year I'm taking the advice of smart folks on this board and waiting until IRS figures out what the heck congress meant, congress to clarify and amend what they meant, and it all gets translated for us.

The one I saw had income information below the signature section. It's like they put all the demographic info and signatures in one spot, and then all financial details below.

And here it is without the 6 supporting schedules

It basically turns the 1040 into even more of a summary page. Everything pertinent is on worksheets and subordinate forms and schedules. Meh.

I have many more pictures to post. I will put up a picture of the group with all the names, so everyone can know who we all are. I have to reduce the file size, in order to have enough room. I have pictures of Edsel as well. A special posting for the back 40......

Thank you, thank you, thank you Rita for hosting! It was SO wonderful to meet everyone and I had a blast. I do have at least one picture with Edsel once I get it off my camera. More to say, but of course I came back to about three crises... gotta deal, then I can gush about how marvelous it was. Those who missed it, missed a real treat. We need to do this again, for sure.