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I had considered adding the feature. From the development angle, it's the kind of thing I'd have fun building. I'm a big fan of automating tedious/repetitive/boring tasks, or just things I would tend to forget. And from a user perspective, it's something I would take advantage of too. But I don't know how I would communicate the addition of the feature without making it sound like I'm asking for money. So the anxiety of that situation is the reason I haven't added anything like that. I think I will now, and blame @Catherine for its implementation

You, Black Bart, should repent for choosing to ignore my cute cat-train derailment gif and continuing down a dark and dangerous path.

I am VERY happy to take the "blame" (and to share it with JohnH) for a good deed!

Well, you just posted almost this exact thing back in mid-May and no one had much to say about it then and you also took exception to the comment about anyone's list (from members here, at least) being rather biased and arbitrary which I happen to agree with. After all, most of the active members here prepare a limited number of states on a regular basis, of sufficient volume, and/or with a number of years of experience with those states to even be able to rate them with any sort of valid criteria, and you yourself listed only 10 states, not all of which you have direct experience with. I would venture a guess that some of the members here may not have ever prepared 10 different states in their entire careers, let alone have current experience worthy of commenting on each of them, or have had the need to interact directly with the state agency for any reason.

GIF stands for graphics interchange format and appears as an animated image in a post. I posted the one of the kitty derailing a model train hoping that posters wouldn't continue to derail the Land Percentage topic, but you apparently missed my point and posted off-topic there too, so I ended up moving all the derailing posts out of that topic and into this one. Clearer now? Sorry, I was trying to be cute/funny with the kitty gif and my post here above. Guess that didn't work out too well. Edit - the gif was in Abby Normal's topic "Farmers, corporations and FUTA". I was mistaken for a moment since it was the second topic this week that derailed that I had to move posts. I was trying to be more gentle than my usual cracking of the whip and yelling at people. Sigh, sometimes nothing works and it's hard to find a happy medium or balance. It's coming up on Halloween so you all can just picture me in my usual witch costume.

Eric: Along with Catherine, I'll add my name to the list of those asking you to set up the option of a recurring donation to the forum.

The consensus appears to be that you are absolved, my son. Go and sin no more.

Mwah hah hah!

Yeah, she's quite the rabble rouser. Signed, A Rabble Rouser

Good Luck with that one. CA does not abate penalties. They will tell you they do for reasonable cause, but in practice it rarely happens. As far as getting the tax amount correct, they will listen and adjust to the right number if you prove it to them. Let us know how it goes. Tom Modesto, CA

Well, I know ignorance of the law is no excuse and I sure am sorry about it but I don't have any idea what a "gif" is; much less how to derail one. Is it anything like those PDF things (I can't find them anywhere either)?

I'm the culprit who committed the derailing offense on the original thread. I apologize for having started down that rabbit trail since the question remained unanswered at the time. I'll plead "off-season antics" in my defense.

Ain't it the truth? I swear they stay up nights dreaming up the most unlikely of possible scenarios to illustrate anything. They'll say something like "a part-time exchange student from Bora-Bora who designs software during the week and picks fruit on weekends is an HB-1 non-resident alien who also sweeps out the premises of a non-profit organization nights for amounts which vary according to the phases of the moon. The amount of his earnings subject to {whatever} is..."

Thank you Judy for posting something that was necessary to be said. Some discipline from a few members would make this group more professional. Certain members who post here absolutely turn me off the to point where I don't even enjoy reading the posts because they have become more political and social rather than educational and professional. I came to this board because a member who occasionally posts here provided this site on a professional association chat board and was looking to find another group from which to learn from - even though I don't use the specific software that brought the group together.

That is what I figured. Seems harsh... another related party trap I guess!

Catherine's post helped lead you astray.

@JohnH - don't apologize! Over the course of time, I have learned TONS from rabbit trail discussions. Instead, thanks to @jklcpa for splitting the thread.

In addition to the ridiculously-defined circumstances presented by Black Bart, there are an abundance of cross-references to other regs, such as: a part-time exchange student from Bora-Bora who designs software [described in reg 1.2637-4(i)(6)]during the week and picks fruit on weekends is an HB-1 non-resident alien [described in reg 1.934-18(viii)(12)(a)] who also sweeps out the premises of a non-profit organization [see also reg 1.436-7(xii)(2)(j)(iii)] nights for amounts which vary according to the phases of the moon. The amount of his earnings subject to {whatever} is... They assume we can open 15 windows just to research the question, which may have been as simple as: "Are unemployment benefits taxable?"

YES! And then you have a perfectly normal questions left completely unanswered.

No... Not really. I lived way to long not appreciating what I had. I try every day now...

Above posts were moved out of another topic to keep it from derailing further.

To wit: This year CT, with no announcement, decided that every state resident who receives a pension will automatically have 6.99%withholding for state income tax unless they fill out a new W-4P. That rate normally applies to singles making $500+k and couples making $1m+. So now everyone who gets a $20k or $11k pension will give CT 6.99% and only get it back if they file a state return (or correctly fill out the form). We have had probably a few hundred calls from clients asking how to fill it out. I worry for those who don't make enough to file returns and have no one to call, so they throw the envelope from their pension place in the pile and soon see their small pensions diminished; they may not even know to file next year to get the confiscated funds refunded. The W-4P was also changed so that most folks can't understand it. It used to let you enter a code for the withholding table to use OR spaces to enter how much you want withheld, either a dollar amount or percentage. Now you can only enter a code (the form comes with four pages of instructions and a bunch of tables, like any nontax person can wade through that). I am convinced that the state made this move explicitly to extort funds from people who don't normally have to pay state income taxes or maybe just a little. Now the state is grabbing a lot and they will have to jump through hurdles to get it back. I am angry about all the time it took up to answer all those calls but even angrier about what they are doing to retirees, especially those who need every dollar they get just to live.

The city of Kansas City bills people for made up stuff all the time. I have way too many clients who just pay to make it go away.

And the movies! Holy Cow! @BLACK BART I absolutely love that.

My kids and I were talking about this Sunday afternoon. Erin is going to make sure our church debt is paid. That was sweet then it went downhill from there because I warned her she has to spread the tithe around to lots of organizations and hide out the rest of her life because - you know - it would be awful with all the moochers coming out of the woodwork. We'd all have to move and change our identities. I don't know why you think I'd freak out Donna...