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https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-treasury-announce-families-of-88-percent-of-children-in-the-us-to-automatically-receive-monthly-payment-of-refundable-child-tax-credit

I really see this being a nightmare for divorced parents who take turns claiming the dependent. And for the tax preparers who need to know how much they got during the year.

Just what the IRS needs, more stuff to do without the resources to do it!

We have been in VA about a year a half and love it. The people are genuinely kind, real southern hospitality, and it is beautiful here in the Shenandoah Valley. Real estate taxes are less than a quarter of what we paid in CT, gas is cheaper, utilities and insurance are less, roads are in great condition, state budget is healthy. Housing is expensive though, and we aren't in the beltway. Our son lives 40 miles away in WV. It too is a beautiful state with low housing and property tax costs. You can get any environment you want there--mountains, plains, rivers and lakes. I don't know why it hasn't been discovered by the masses yet. What is neat about both states is they have history everywhere--castles, plantations, revolutionary and civil war battlefields, underground railroad sites, canals that existed before the rails dominated. Take some vacations this year to explore potential new home sites. Looking at the zillions of returns we have on extension, and all those state returns that will have to be amended after the late federal changes, it looks to me like another tax season that will never end. This one will hurt more because last year we couldn't go anywhere even if we had time; this year we sort of can....

I located the toggle. How it got checked is a total mystery.

If you like TN, you might like the area of Virginia I live in. This is a beautiful state to live in, and I especially like the views of the mountains that we have, plus I am close to Smith Mountain Lake. And after this past tax season, I will make you a good deal on my tax business.

I've been around for a few years but I'm Irish and stubborn so have rarely asked for help. I'm also a one woman band here so rarely chime in because (I apologize in advance) I read daily to learn yet have little time to help. Unfair to all of you that I take yet I don't give. I learn something new every day from each and every one of you. I've done taxes since 1987. I remember peeling the label off and sticking it to the blue form at the kitchen table. I went computerized with a software called Pencil Pushers and I loved it but it went away. Then I turned to Lacerte. Too expensive so I switched to ATX which led me here. The debacle of 2011 sent me back to Lacerte but I'm grateful my short time using ATX introduced me to this incredible group of people. I lost my partner in 2018. Not my business partner but the man I simply adored so 2019 season was a shit show. Sorry if I'm not supposed to say shit. I work from home. Every single day people came in and asked "where's Eric?" I had to say "dead." 2020 was business as usual until it wasn't. 2021 has been the worst I've seen in 33 years. No one in my office. Meeting in the driveway. I won't even list the insanity of the government because I've been here daily. I know you know. I guess this post is to simply say thank you for getting me through another year. Thank you for sharing your knowledge. Your struggles. Most of the time you were helping others but you were also making me feel less alone. Going forward? I'm probably downsizing because I'm old and I'm tired and I'm furious to have done such hard work for so many years only to have them make my life and my job harder. I wish all of you a week on the beach with your family. Or the mountains. Or wherever. Most of all - I thank you. From an old woman in upstate NY who's been doing taxes way too long and still trying to do her best. My sincerest thanks

The view of the Sierra from Verdi is what made me want to move! Having fast internet was my only restriction on where I could live. I ended up losing about half my clients & picked up a few more, but since I no longer have a mortgage it doesn't matter. I'm a desert rat so the wide open, bleak landscapes just make my heart sing. A pox on all you that prefer green humidity to the desert!!

Actually several years ago I declined to take on young lady, a daughter of some long time clients, who was sharing custody with her ex spouse. I just don't have the necessary experience and expertise to deal with these issues. It's consumes way more time than I can bill. In recent years as a one person office, I have decided to stay within my limitations. In addition I don't do Estate and Trust Returns or any nonprofit work.

I used ATX until 2012, after which I switched to ProSeries. I like the number of forms available with ATX, especially the payroll module (which I still buy separately but without all the state functionality that I used to have.) ProSeries does a great job on multiple states - better than I remember ATX being. Somethings are not as intuitive as I would like. For example, I do a couple of FBAR forms and I find it hard to remember each year how to print them and how to efile them. On the whole, I have been satisfied but I would probably not have left ATX if I were not running in a multi-user server environment.

Here's more information than you probably wanted to know: "There have been important changes to the Child Tax Credit that will help many families receive advance payments starting this summer. The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) of 2021 expands the Child Tax Credit (CTC) for tax year 2021 only. The expanded credit means: The credit amounts will increase for many taxpayers. The credit for qualifying children is fully refundable, which means that taxpayers can benefit from the credit even if they don't have earned income or don't owe any income taxes. The credit will include children who turn age 17 in 2021. (Important difference from the old CTC.) Taxpayers may receive part of their credit in 2021 before filing their 2021 tax return. For tax year 2021, families claiming the CTC will receive up to $3,000 per qualifying child between the ages of 6 and 17 at the end of 2021. They will receive $3,600 per qualifying child under age 6 at the end of 2021. Under the prior law, the amount of the CTC was up to $2,000 per qualifying child under the age of 17 at the end of the year. The increased amounts are reduced (phased out), for incomes over $150,000 for married taxpayers filing a joint return and qualifying widows or widowers, $112,500 for heads of household, and $75,000 for all other taxpayers. (I wonder whether the reduced amounts are still available with the higher phase outs) Advance payments of the 2021 Child Tax Credit will be made regularly from July through December to eligible taxpayers who have a main home in the United States for more than half the year. The total of the advance payments will be up to 50 percent of the Child Tax Credit. Advance payments will be estimated from information included in eligible taxpayers' 2020 tax returns (or their 2019 returns if the 2020 returns are not filed and processed yet). The IRS urges people with children to file their 2020 tax returns as soon as possible to make sure they're eligible for the appropriate amount of the CTC as well as any other tax credits they're eligible for, including the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). Filing electronically with direct deposit also can speed refunds and future advance CTC payments. Eligible taxpayers do not need to take any action now other than to file their 2020 tax return if they have not done so. Eligible taxpayers who do not want to receive advance payment of the 2021 Child Tax Credit will have the opportunity to decline receiving advance payments. Taxpayers will also have the opportunity to update information about changes in their income, filing status or the number of qualifying children. More details on how to take these steps will be announced soon. The IRS will provide more information about advance payments soon."

General Announcement: If you have kids, I ain't doing your return anymore. It's bad enough to have to do the 8867 for every return with a kid and a child tax credit or a education credit. A bigger pain when EIC triggers. But this is really going to be a nightmare!

I really haven't paid much attention to this issue since I have very few clients with young children. I assume there will be some impact on 2021 tax returns. If I receive any questions about it in the next several months, I will be very tempted to just say, "I don't know."

Hopefully, they'll be sending 1099-Gs at the end of the year. Clients aren't going to remember any of this at the end of they year.

The IRS deserves some kind of award for what they've done this past year and what they're still doing.

Get ready for the phone calls!

My vote would be for Virginia. Tom, you and wife should tour the state. It is beautiful and has something for everyone with its diverse georgraphy, climate, low cost of living in some of the areas, and very friendly people once away from the I-95 corridor. It is more blue-leaning than most of the others you've listed, but again, that is mostly in the metro area, and I don't think you'd be unhappy a little further west of that.

Yes have to agree after 44 years. Special thank you to Eric to keep this board open and running and Judy for watching our tone. Yeah we made it but at what cost. Everybody take a break. Extensions will keep most of busy when we don't wanna be. Me for one.

New grandbaby, due ANY DAY NOW!!!!! should keep me busy. I avae never had so many PITA clients as this year. Even generally good clients turned into client-zillas on occasion, and every referral client from existing good clients was someone - well, let's just say it's a good thing I live so far from RitaB, or her daisies would be super-fertilized this year!