Margaret CPA in OH

JB, that's even worse than mine! I think you have to try all combinations but check MFJ vs MFS first as OH residents. Then check WV to see if it allows filing status different from federal. Why can't these people just stay together in one place? I want my client to move to VA to be with his wife and stop confusing me!

I feel a bit hurt. I wasn't emailed or invited to renew. Or maybe I was just lucky! Yeah, that's it, lucky!

Thanks for the hints, folks. I tried all those things and more. I even used a tiny brush to try to clean between the wheel and the mouse case. Lots of cat hair came out but no difference in performance. I use the canned air to clean all the keyboard ridges with no change. More cat hair and the odd crumb but still a couple of sticky keys. Sometimes things, like ME, just wear out or want to quit. Like now -

Thanks, all. I just checked Pub. 721 and have more questions. The last previous return he actually filed was for 2005. 2007-2009 were filed from transcripts so not a lot of help there. I have emailed the attorney to ask for his intercession with the Office of Personnel Management as they refuse to talk with the guardian and the client is, as stated, an alcoholic with not a lot of memory these days. We'll see what happens. It turns out he has some resources with this annuity, another pension and an IRA but the nursing home is eating it up quickly. No medicare you know. Thanks again - wondering why I am getting slammed with these things now :wacko:

Linda, you do need to take a little time. There is never a good time to make that tough call for compassion but now is especially bad. My turn was 2 years ago. My heart goes out to you and all who loved Buddy. Take a walk and let yourself grieve...

Catherine, that sounds useful even though I have 2 monitors. Sometimes I wish I had 3. Maybe I'll try it out - later! My wireless mouse and keyboard both began pooping out (technical term) on me last week. Mouse ball not always rolling, keyboard keys not always reacting so I just got new both. The typing mistakes are unreal! But at least the keys work and the ball works. Just wish I could have waited until later but the issues were also making me craaaaazzyyy!

Stay tuned - I'll find out and let y'all know.

Windmill and cpabsd, thanks so much! Honestly, in all these years I have never had one of these (lucky, I guess!) and didn't even know about the bottom part of the input. I will have to ask the guardian and hope she knows. The client is an alcoholic but now in a nursing home so maybe some answers can be obtained. Thanks again!

Thanks, fmaderjr, for responding. This client is in his 70's so I think a long time retiree. Whether this is taxable makes, as you can imagine, a significant difference in his tax liability, a swing of $8000. It is believable that the $3404 is health insurance as the box states it could be insurance premiums. If the $35,987 is what he must recover over his life, this year alone would nearly match that. I still don't know what to do, though, and he is incompetent. His guardian brought the documents for return prep. There was $2600 federal tax withheld so maybe it is all taxable. All I can find is that the amount in 9b is used to compute the taxable part but no clue as to how to do that.

I will be happy to share the details when I see the documents so we all can discuss more intelligently with facts but it is interesting to learn from the back and forth here. Thanks, folks!

Thanks, Jainen, the 1099 is a good idea. I do still have to see the documents but feel better knowing there may be some small good come of this. The client will have to find another line of work, anyway. He still is not able to work from his accident and is trying to get disability of some sort. Now it's an insurance issue because the insurance agent led them to believe he was covered for accidents so he didn't pay for himself for worker's comp. Agent now denies. I suspect that these folks didn't read/couldn't understand the policy and didn't ask. They are really struggling with <$10,000 in income and 3 little kids at home.

Client is a postal service retiree. 1099R shows gross distribution of $32,148, taxable amount unknown BUT 9b Total employee contributions of $35987 AND box 5 Employee contributions/insurance premiums of $3404. I've never seen a 1099R with combined employee contributions shown as greater than the distribution let alone the taxable amount as unknown. Anyone out there with Office of Personnel Management Retirement Operations experience or have a client with a similar 1099R? Also, it shows state income tax withheld but no Box 11, state id. I think I can't efile without that.

MontanaEA, that is always the way I do mfs, even when they were mfj the prior year. It's still a pain in the backside but doing mfj first is some confirmation of the better option. The main issue is about the 'home state' when mfj is better. Again, not an issue this year but who knows in the future? And with their income and returns, I would like to keep them as clients! So I will just have the filer and spouse first on the appropriate state return and bill for the extra work. Thanks again!

Thanks, Pacun. I will look at the documents to see the description of the $7000.

I don't have the documents yet but a small contractor was paid only $3000 of an $8900 roofing repair job. This didn't even cover the materials let alone the sub to help. The client decided she didn't want to pay the balance, called another roofer who claimed the work was bad. She sued contractor, gave new roofer the job. Contractor lost and had to pay $7000 to client. I'm thinking the attorney fees are deductible but not the judgment, correct? Contractor then fell off another roof and has been out to work since May of last year but I still think he's out of luck on this. Thanks for insights.

Deep breath or three, big stretch, maybe some wine.... or whine, your choice. I hate that toner cartridge thing, too. At least I hope when you shred, you can recycle.

Hmmm, since you already know they don't qualify for ctc, can you delete and reenter completely the dependents, choose son and daughter appropriately and make sure that eligible for ctc is not checked? It does seem odd for such a change from one year to the next but we've had a couple of full moons in the last year.

This has been interesting because I am reading this as a monitor that splits the screen rather than 2 monitors. I have 2 monitors side by side and have had no problems whatsoever. Love it, wouldn't trade for anything, even a single large monitor. Think I made the better choice for me, anyway. Hope you get it figured out successfully later!

Thanks, grmy2h. I'll keep finagling with it. This is the first time I've had clients that are a married couple but legal residents in separate states. Fortunately for 2010 they are better off filing mfs for federal so required by Ohio so maybe when I split and do VA for her, all will be good. And I'll continue to hope mfs is the better option going forward! Or maybe he'll move to VA and find a job. Her salary from Booz, Hamilton is 50% greater than his AND they are paying for her to get her MBA from some prestigious university there.

Thanks, I did that, but it assumed that the filer was the VA resident so filer and spouse were totally backwards. That was inputting for 2009 to rollover. She was a part-year resident in 2009, full year in 2010. For 2010, I used the form you show and I switched the filer and spouse on the federal input trying trick it. It still carried over 2 dependents for self and spouse. It didn't calculate the spouse tax adjustment. I had to link the fields to make it work. Any other hints because I may be doing something else wrong! I also had to override the address for the VA resident. This is complicated as federal assumes folks live together when filing jointly. Go figure!

Go get 'em JB! The strong drinks, I mean!

Just curious, why would you be reporting transactions within an IRA? I never list cusip, just securities and shares. Finally, if these must be reported, have you tried to get a csv file from the brokerage firm? This was a discussion just yesterday, I think.

In 2009 spouse 1 took great paying job in VA, spouse 2 stayed in OH. VA allows MFS when federal is joint (I checked the instructions) although OH does not. Is there a way to change the VA filing status without overriding the many fields it would involve? Thanks

And besides, it's beer-thirty or vodka-o'clock _somewhere_, isn't it?

Silly Ken, you must have updated....