Gail in Virginia

I am not sure anyone changed their mind about the security or lack of it in email, but it is an interesting discussion nevertheless and I feel like I learned somethings from the posts, both pro and con. And it was at least a civilzed discussion, which i think we need more often!

As long as he remains a US citizen, he will pay US taxes on his worldwide income regardless of where he lives as I understand it. And that would seem to me to include 401(k) distributions.

I have only used the per diem for truck drivers when they are away from "home." I don't know if it would apply to someone who works in the same place every day, even if they fall under the DOT rules. Maybe someone with different experience will post to your question.

We will all miss KC, and not just for her tax knowledge! But I know she will not regret the time she spends with her husband, and I hope she will stop by to say Hi once in a while.

It's not just KC - I haven't seen taxBIlly for a while either. i miss both of them and hope they are all right, just too busy to "play" with us.

I don't have a Square, but my hairdresser does and uses an iPad instead of a smart phone. Those of you with tablets and iPod touches may be able to use those for accepting credit cards through Square as long as you have an internet connection wherever you are accepting the card.

Me neither! Although I am starting to feel like one with all of the questioning we are expected to do to satisfy due diligence...

I believe that was 2009 but I am not sure. Memory can be a tricky thing, and all these tax season have started running together - one doesn't stop before the next one begins!

I can't remember seeing any posts from Taxbilly in some time. Does anyone know if he is okay?

Jainen is right that one of the seven tests for material participation is past participation. But depending on how long he has been unable to actively participate, if his daughter has been doing all of the work for the last six years he might consider filing a Farm Rental schedule, form 4835. I would at least read the insttructions for that farm if it has been several years since he was able to actively participate and see if that meets the situation.

Too True! I lost one of my jump drives this fall when I gave a presentation for the local Edward Jones clients, but fortunately I had nothing on that drive but power point presentations about taxes. I do have a couple that I used for client data, however, and I have been even more careful of those since losing the unimportant one.

The easiest way I have found is from within the e-file manager, select the rejected return, click on E-file in the upper left corner, then choose Display SElected E-file Rejection Errors from the drop down menu. This will open the return with a box at the bottom that shows what the problem is. Once you have fixed the problem (assuming it is fixable) you can then create the e-file again and move on to the next problem. Hope this helps.

We have always provided printed copies to our clients for them to mail to SSA when we prepare their W-2s for them. We usually ask them to hold them for a couple of weeks after they hand out the employees' copies in case someone suddenly remembers that they changed their name this year or moved. We have always given them red copies, and a 9x11 envelope for mailing because the W-2 forms say "DO NOT CUT, FOLD OR STAPLE." Is this really necessary? I hate using these big envelopes and paying extra postage, especially for the smaller employers who only have three or four pages total to put in the envelope. But I like not having to remember to go back and e-file everything, and instead putting it onto the the employer to get these filed. Anyone have any experience with what happens if you fold (gasp!) a Copy A W-2?

Does he qualify for Free File from the IRS? If you are already familiar with taxes and know your way around a 1040, it might work. I have only used it to show college students how they can file their own returns, but I know my aunt used to use it to do her return until she missed the long term care deduction and started paying me to do her returns.

If it is a gift, then it would all be reported on a gift tax return and would only be taxable if the brother has exceeded his lifetime exclusion. But when you give something in exchange for something, it is not a gift. It sounds like rather than a life lease, the term you want is life estate. And that would give her all the rights and responsibilities of ownership until her death when it would transfer automatically to the owners set up when the life estate was set up. And that would leave it in her estate. However, I have never heard of anyone "selling" their right to inherit. They don't really have ownership of anything until she dies, and if they should predecease her for some reason they will never have ownership of anything. So Pacun might be right and it might be more of a gift since you can't really sell something that you don't own. I have not ever seen this, so I can't really say that I have an opinion, and I think you are going to need more than someone's opinion - you are going to need some kind of cite because I think someone is going to be unhappy no matter what you do. The question is whether it is the brother or the sisters. Good Luck.

Thanks, Jack. I will be in touch after tax season. I would have to be in emergency failed mode to try this now.

Okay, Jack, you have me worried. We are running on a Server 2003 environment and have not had a problem with 2010 or 2011, But we plan tentatively to replace the server next spring/summer. Are we going to have difficulty restoring our data from those years when we change machines? I guess there is no point in borrowing trouble.

I think you are probably officially the last one for this year; if you want to be first, you have to wait until midnight Jan. 1, 2012.

This is an interesting thread. I just signed up for ProAdvisor for the first time. We paid the $749 price, which was less than the cost of the accountant's version of the software plus the accountant's payroll subscription ($395+399.95=794.95). For this we get the software, the payroll subscription, the phone support, free online backup (which we probably won't use), free remote access to our clients (2 unattended, and unlimited attended) plus we can accept credit/debit cards through Intuit using a smartphone swiper they provide at no charge for 23 cents a transaction plus 1.61%, with no charge per month. I don't know that we will use that either. I agree that I don't like to pay such a high fee for the software and payroll, but so many of our clients use it that I don't see a way to not buy QuickBooks, and if I have to buy it anyway I hate to buy something else to use in house even though I am sure there are better programs out there. But I would have felt a little better if I had gotten the $549 price.

What beautiful pictures! Thanks for sharing! And a Merry Christmas to all of you!

Merry Christmas, everyone! i hope everyone's health holds up through another tax season, and that the spouses all get well and stay well also!

Several of us are members of NATP, and the benefits of membership have been discussed on this forum before. This is a fairly recent discussion (if the link works) I just did a quick search on NATP, but it seems to me like I remember an older discussion. I personally appreciate the weekly emails and the monthly periodicals that discuss tax issues. Most of the professional organizations, such as NATP, NAEA, etc. offer similar emails and publications. For me, it just reminds of things I haven't used lately or teaches me about areas that don't have much impact on my practice (yet!) and lets me view other positions on tax law and how to run an office. It sounds like you have been offered a good deal on membership.

WOW! I cannot imagine the effort just in getting this glass harp tuned, much less keeping it that way and playing such a complicated piece on it. What a beautiful sound and sight. Thanks for sharing!

A belated Happy Thanksgiving to all of you! I have so much to be thankful for, and am thankful for my refrigerator stuffed full of yummy leftovers from yesterday!

Same applies to Virginia as all of the other posters. It has been my experience that the system is heavily weighted in favor of the employee. A local contractor "suspended" an employee for three days for drinking on the job. The employee did not come back to work but instead filed for unemployment. The contractor contested it and said the employee could come back to work but would not be allowed to drink on the job sites. The employee go unemployment because of a hostile work environment. Now the contractor's rate is about 3 times what it would be if he had no claims filed against him. The original determination is done by phone; in order to appeal, the contractor would have to spend a day driving to and from Richmond to appeal in person, plus whatever time the actual appeal took. And even if they appeal, odds are not good that the employer will prevail. Employees can file regardless of the situation and it is then up to the employer to demonstrate that they were dismissed for cause.