GeneInAlabama

I notice that M-M hasn't commented on the weather in Hawaii. Maybe he doesn't want to make the rest of us jealous, or could it be that he doesn't want 250 million people coming to Hawaii. Gene

Hi JB. Yes, home nursing care is deductible same as if in hospital or in a nursing home. Gene

Those are exactly my thoughts. I guess I am a little reluctant to express an opinion different from the rest of the pack. I know that is not the qualities of a leader. Gene

Thanks Taxbilly. Any help is appreciated here since I am a one horse operation. I don't have anyone to discuss tax matters with except on this board. Gene

We are having a cold spell here in Alabama. It hasn't gotten much above 90 in the last few days. Gene

Was that $890 for MAX? If it was, I sure got cheated. The $1,018.50 I paid was after the 10% discount. Gene

IT WORKED! Thank you Bart. I deleted the account and readded it and it works fine now. This is a good example of how life is, sometimes we overlook the simpler things and try to make the more complicated things work. M-M, I REALLY appreciate the effort you put in this, I learned a little more about how my computer works as a result of this experience. I am so thankful that we have someone like you on this board to help us with our computer problems. I sincerely appreciate the help I received on this. Gene

That's what I paid. This year it was $1,027.50. An increase of $9.00. Not bad. Gene

Thanks Bart, I'll try that. I hadn't thought about doing that. Gene

I am using POP3, but it has worked fine in the past. I have it set to leave a copy on server for 10 days. Both machines do use Outlook Express at the same time. Does that make a difference? I did set up my third computer here in the office today (2 in the office and 1 in the house) and set up my email accounts exactly like the others and it works fine. Just the main computer can't receive email but can receive. I have compared the settings dozens of times and looked for an extra period, a space where it shouldn't be, everything. All 3 computers are set up exactly the same except the last digits on the IP addresses are different. Can I arbitrarlly just change them so that they are the same, or do they need to have a particular address? I connected the multifunction copier, printer, fax machine to the new computer that I just set up and it is working fine now. Apparently, the only problem I have now is being able to receive email on my main computer. Gene

Yes, I am using Outlook Express and I do have it set to remove from server after 10 days. I wish that was the problem. By the way, I like your new name. Gene

When I said that I can't receive email on the computer in the office, I meant that I can't receive email on my main email account, the one that everyone sends email to me on. I have another account set up on the same computer with the same provider and set up exactly the same way and I can receive email on this account. I use this address where I am afraid that I will start receiving a lot of spam and I can easily change it. This whole thing is getting more and more confusing. Gene

Thanks Idiot (I don't feel right calling you idiot because you definately are not) for the response. My system seems to be very unstable. The computer in the house has started receiving and sending email but the computer in my office will not receive email now. The email accounts on both computers are set up exactly the same way. I checked the IP addresses on both of ther wired computers and one is 172.16.0.100 and the other is 172.16.0.101. The subnet mask on both are exactly the same. I can't get an address on the laptop. Does it have to be connected to the network to get IP address? For some reason it won't connect to the network at all now. On the two that are different addresses, do I change either one to the other, or does it matter which one I use? I don't know how to check for collision counts/bad packets and my printer doesn't have a test button so I don't know how to check that. I may just have to bite the bullet and have a technician come out again. I really appreciate your help. Gene

I worked as a tax auditor for a couple of years a long time back. The type of returns you described are the ones we started our training with and then moved up from there. You do NOT want to be audited by an inexperienced auditor. The very first audit I did was a woman named "Queenie". I was probably more nervous than she was. Gene

If you offered efiling and they refused it, then I think it would be fair to charge for straightening out IRS errors. I would warn them that filing paper is more likely to cause errors, but if they want to anyway, there will be an additional charge for straightening it out. I would charge by the hour or fraction of an hour if that is all it takes. Gene

P.S. After the last technician was here, I tried to set up my multifunction machine and can't seem to get the network to recognize it. I installed the driver and when it didn't show up on my list of printers, I reinstalled it again and got the message that the driver was installed and the computer would recognize it when it is connected to the computer. It IS connected to the computer through the network. Gene

About 2 years ago I decided to set up a network for my computers (big mistake). I have the main computer that is on my desk, another computer that my step daughter uses when working for me part time, and a third computer in my house which is a separate building about 30 feet from my office. I also have a multifunction fax, copier, printer on the network plus a laptop computer. The network is wired except for the laptop which is wireless. My main reason for setting up a network was to back up my work to the computer in the house so that I would have my work in 2 separate locations plus I wanted to share my satalite enternet between the computers. I had a licensed technician to set up the network for me, but he seemed to have trouble doing it and it took him longer than he seemed to have expected. He finally got it working (I didn't have the laptop at the time, so I didn't have the wireless part of the network at that time). From the beginning, I had problems with email. Sometimes I could send and receive email from the computer in the house and other times I couldn't. Eventually, I got to where I couldn't send or receive email at all from the house. I had a different licensed technician from a different company come out and he took out the router and put in a hub. That worked OK but not great until lightening ran in on my network and damaged 2 of the computers plus the multifunction machine and some other items. I had another licensed technician from still another company come in, and he installed another router that is both wired and wireless for the laptop. He also said that the computer in the house should be replaced because his experience has shown that when a computer is damaged by lightning, that you can fix one thing and something else will likely go out. I bought 2 new computers and set up the one in the house and finally got it where it will sometimes accept email messages but not send them out. I went in under accounts and set the account up with exactly the same figures that are on my main computer and on my laptop. Email on my laptop seems to work OK. Any help or suggestions anyone can offer will be greatly appreciated. I apologize for this being so long but I tried to include any information that would be helpful. I seem to know a lot less about computers than I did 20 years ago which wasn't a whole lot then. Gene

I had no problem with the four marriages but only three husbands, but I had to scratch my head for a couple of minutes about being survived by 16 descendants but no children until I realized that the key word was "suvived". Gene

Just today, I am doing a tax return where a client received over $12,000 in social security in 2006 and paid it back in the early part of this year. This thread has been especially helpful in this situation. Without having to look up the information, I know to count it as income this year and either take it as a misc deduction not subject to 2% or take a credit for it next year. This board is GREAT and I appreciate the wealth of knowledge that is available here. Thanks everyone. This situation is due to client taking early retirement at 62 and then having very high income all of a sudden. I was supprised that SSA allowed him to pay it back. Gene

Is this a trick question? Gene

If giggleing doesn't work, try laughing out loud. Gene

Kea, I VERY LOUDLY echo what Jainen said. Stay away from this one. Gene

The IRS is trying to discourage use of the form. They want everyone to pay electronically. It's just a matter of time. Eventually, there will be only one employee working for the IRS. He will have a giant button that he can push, and all the work will be done by a battery of computers. Gene

Pacun, why are you so reluctant to give out information? I can understand not giving the person's name, but why not come right out and say it was his wife, ex-wife, son, neighbor, whatever; and that they took the money out of the mailbox, out of the house ....... All the information you have given was dragged out of you. It seems that the only information you are giving is just enough to get a favorabe answer. No names have to be given. We don't know who the client is, so you can say what relationship the thief is without revealing any names. Names aren't improtant. Relationship is. Gene

Jainen, like I said in my earlier post, I highly respect your tax knowledge. I was just speaking from off the top of my head on what would seem logical. I KNOW the IRS is not logical, but you didn't give any basis for your statement. It wasn't my intention to give advice to the original post, I was just defending the fact that we sometimes ask dumb questions. I didn't say that we shouldn't deduct it on schedule A. I just said that I didn't understand why and asked why it should be done this way. To me, it wasn't obviously improper, but if I had had a case where money was repaid, I would have checked the rules before making an assumption. I don't REMEMBER ever having a case like this and I guess that is unusal because it doesn't seem like that unusual of a situation. I wasn't questioning your answer. I guess I got my feathers a little ruffled due to the harshness of your response and I'm sorry for that. We need to remember that we don't always know everything we SHOULD know. Having vast knowledge of something can be a handycap because it sometimes causes us to not have the patience we should have with those who don't. I don't usually respond in a negative way to things that I disagree with. Maybe this is just one of my bad days. Gene