Gail in Virginia

My favorite - How old do you have to be to quit paying taxes?

GARDEN SNAKES CAN BE DANGEROUS... Snakes also known as Garter Snakes (Thamnophissirtalis) can be dangerous Yes, grass snakes, not rattlesnakes. Here's why. A couple in Sweetwater, Texas, had a lot of potted plants. During a recent cold spell, the wife was bringing a lot of them indoors to protect them from a possible freeze. It turned out that a little green garden grass snake was hidden in one of the plants. When it had warmed up, it slithered out and the wife saw it go under the sofa. She let out a very loud scream. The husband (who was taking a shower) ran out into the living room naked to see what the problem was. She told him there was a snake under the sofa. He got down on the floor on his hands and knees to look for it. About that time the family dog came and cold-nosed him on the behind. He thought the snake had bitten him, so he screamed and fell over on the floor. His wife thought he had had a heart attack, so she covered him up, told him to lie still and called an ambulance. The attendants rushed in, would not listen to his protests, loaded him on the stretcher, and started carrying him out. About that time, the snake came out from under the sofa and the Emergency Medical Technician saw it and dropped his end of the stretcher. That's when the man broke his leg and why he is still in the hospital. The wife still had the problem of the snake in the house, so she called on a neighbor who volunteered to capture the snake. He armed himself with a rolled-up newspaper and began poking under the couch.. Soon he decided it was gone and told the woman, who sat down on the sofa in relief. But while relaxing, her hand dangled in between the cushions, where she felt the snake wriggling around. She screamed and fainted, the snake rushed back under the sofa. The neighbor man, seeing her lying there passed out, tried to use CPR to revive her. The neighbor's wife, who had just returned from shopping at the grocery store, saw her husband's mouth on the woman's mouth and slammed her husband in the back of the head with a bag of canned goods, knocking him out and cutting his scalp to a point where it needed stitches. The noise woke the woman from her dead faint and she saw her neighbor lying on the floor with his wife bending over him, so she assumed that the snake had bitten him. She went to the kitchen and got a small bottle of whiskey, and began pouring it down the man's throat. By now, the police had arrived. Breathe here... They saw the unconscious man, smelled the whiskey, and assumed that a drunken fight had occurred. They were about to arrest them all, when the women tried to explain how it all happened over a little garden snake! The police called an ambulance, which took away the neighbor and his sobbing wife. Now, the little snake again crawled out from under the sofa and one of the policemen drew his gun and fired at it. He missed the snake and hit the leg of the end table. The table fell over, the lamp on it shattered and, as the bulb broke, it started a fire in the drapes. The other policeman tried to beat out the flames, and fell through the window into the yard on top of the family dog who, startled, jumped out and raced into the street, where an oncoming car swerved to avoid it and smashed into the parked police car. Meanwhile, neighbors saw the burning drapes and called in the fire department. The firemen had started raising the fire ladder when they were halfway down the street. The rising ladder tore out the overhead wires, put out the power, and disconnected the telephones in a ten-square city block area (but they did get the house fire out). Time passed! Both men were discharged from the hospital, the house was repaired, the dog came home, the police acquired a new car and all was right with their world. A while later they were watching TV and the weatherman announced a cold snap for that night. The wife asked her husband if he thought they should bring in their plants for the night. And that's when he shot her.

Wow! That is absolutely beautiful. I don't have any talent for such decorative landscaping.

I think it means Windows Server, Microsoft Office, etc.

I like this kind of post much better than the name calling. Thanks Catherine and KC!

Or perhaps a non-standardized 1098 that confused the preparer as to what type of interest they were referring to? Some forms can be confusing, and when banks/brokerages/etc are allowed to print and send in any format it can be easy to misunderstand what you are looking at sometimes.

As George Takei would say, "Ohm, my!"

I love it!

Hard to believe, but there is something that Jack from Ohio and Taxed agree on!

I can't address the specific question as I have not had foreign social security benefits on a return, but it is absolutely okay to override a field if that is the only way to get the return correct. Overrides do not in and of themselves affect the ability to e-file.

I think you are allowed to hang on to your work product, but you cannot refuse to return the paperwork the client provided you to prepare his return. And that is specifically stated in Circular 230, Section 10.28.

I don't see how we can encrypt the files we work with, unless you want to begin fresh every year by re-entering all of the personal data and previous year's depreciation, etc. ATX, or any other software I have worked with, doesn't seem to have a system for encrypting the rollover files from itself. I wonder, if upon discovery of any similar situation, we should go ahead and file identity theft affidavit's with the IRS and our state revenue office. While that would be a real pain for 500 clients, or the thousands that some preparers have, would it at least flag their files and maybe prevent some of the problems with false returns being filed?

Interesting that the park rangers in Death Valley National Park have had to ask the tourists to quit trying to fry eggs on the sidewalk: http://seattletimes.com/html/travel/2021380318_deathvalleyfryingeggsxml.html Apparently it leaves a gooey mess that they have to clean up.

Unfortunately, whoever was responsible for unilaterally changing tax law by setting that policy for the IRS will never be held accountable. I wonder what things would be like in this country if the laws already on the books were enforced as written. I don't believe it is possible to completely eliminate fraud, but we should not be encouraging it through policy and regulations.

They should have sent your client a list of what they want to see to do the audit, and it is pretty comprehensive. As for what they are looking for, my impression was they are looking for any contract labor that should have been treated as employees, or any wages paid under the table as cash. Therefore, they basically want to see all the employment records, corporate books and tax returns plus supporting documentation. Your mileage may vary.

Thanks, Jack! That was a great solution.

I am trying to help a client become compliant in his tax filings. Federal forms I can get from older copies of software or from IRS Website. However, I think that I need to file a Vermont return for the year 2000, and the Vermont Department of Revenue website only has forms back to 2001. Can anyone provide me with a PDF copy of the instructions and forms for a year 2000 Vermont individual tax return? Should be a simple return - one W2 and no other income. Thanks for any help.

I am not sure any amount of regulation works with some people. Wow.

It seems to be just COBbled together.

I suspect that this is just another way to get the partners to pay into social security longer and collect benefits later.

It was my understanding that we are required to have written authorization, including certain specified statements as to purpose and length of time, to provide tax return information to anyone other than the client. While many of my clients probably think this is a pain, they have gotten so used to privacy restrictions that they just accept that and come by and sign. Without written authorization, such as my form or a subpoena, I don't even acknowledge that they are my client.

I believe, since the business is an S-Corp, they could actually pay rent to the individual for the portion of the space used by the S Corp. Of course, appropriate documentation should be maintained, such as a lease, and a 1099MISC for the rent at the end of the year.

Thanks, KC! I love the one from Jay Leno!

Perhaps a solution would be to just have a separate forum devoted to all other vendors, and unless and until it became apparent that some particular vendor was dominating that forum leave it like that. I don't know how difficult it is to set up a separate forum, and I certainly don't want to cause Eric unnecessary extra work. I think we all appreciate all that he already does.

I am an EA, and I would refer a client to another professional if the area for representation was not one that I am familiar with. For example, I have never done a 1040NR and I don't have much experience with tax treaties. So I would probably have handed a case like this to an EA in our area that used to work for the IRS in their international division if he was willing to take it. I don't mind doing some research to prepare an unfamiliar form or even return, but in a representation situation where I am unfamiliar with the rules of engagement, I feel like the client is entitled to more competent representation. I have learned a lot reading this thread, but I still would not feel competent to take over representation on a case like this. I will be the first to admit that I don't know everything there is to know about tax law. IMO, there is just too much of it to know it all. And not enough hours in the day to do the research required for an area I am totally unfamiliar with.