Abby Normal

I've heard repeatedly that calls carry much more weight because calls take more time and people to handle, so they get noticed and are harder to ignore.

Win 10 is not inevitable. If I had to buy a new computer, I'd go with 8.1, which is what all of my computers are on now. It will get you more used to 10 since 10 is largely based on 8.1, but you'll avoid all the issues of 10. They haven't released the 18 requirements yet, but I doubt they'll change at all from 17. Always try to exceed the best requirements. And, definitely go with a solid state drive (SSD) over a spinning hard drive (HD). You'll see here that ATX has recommended 8.1 over 7 for several years now.

We'll just have to explain that they've been lied to. It's not a post card, it's not even post card sized. It's a gimmick that changed a familiar 2 page form into an unfamiliar 8 page form, so your fee will actually be going up. Be sure to write your congressional rep!

It's definitely an increase in pages... with a lot of white space. Paper companies are happy.

The IRS can't be bothered to look in the 941 bucket to apply payments from the 944 bucket.

I positively get a charge out of electrons.

I'm never going to print most of those. Only an idiot could turn a 2 page form into 8 pages that are mostly white space and brag about it being an improvement. Paper companies are probably drooling over how much more paper they will sell.

Add the NOL Worksheet form and enter prior period NOLs on the NOL Summary Tab. Do the same for AMT NOL Summary.

Isn't that the best thumbnail ever.

The worst part for software developers is that they now have to spend time rewriting the basics and will have less time to implement real improvements. This is a solution in search of a problem.

You wish. Everyone I've ever taken on as a client has never bothered to print out the return, and they ask, 'can't you get a copy?'

The IRS recently redid their site and the search on this page is pretty good: https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/prior-year Just type '2010 1040 instructions' since that's where the EIC table is.

The camera on my pixel 2 phone is pretty amazing. And I finally got the hang of taking panoramas. I want to print this one and hang it on my wall.

I've nicknamed Karin, SoNot Normal, which, if you knew her well, you'd know is perfect. We left MD last Thursday and made it to Crossville, TN by dinner time, despite my transmission groaning up that last long grade to the top of the Cumberland Plateau. The day was overcast, but we like to travel with cloud cover so the sun isn't heating up the car through the windows. The mountains are always a pleasant sight to us flatlanders. Along the way, we stopped in Abingdon, VA and had an excellent Turkish Coffee. I had them make it with half the sugar they normally use and it was perfect for me. We stayed at a lovely AirBnB on a golf course in a quiet resort area near town. Our host, Brian, gave us a nice tour of the area to get us oriented. I think I got more disoriented, but it was nice to know what was out there. I had an excellent and reasonably priced steak and some craft beers at Spike's, our first night there. It was a great surprise after our long drive, because it looked like a dive bar from the outside, but it was so good, we went back the next night for more. We were pleasantly surprised on Friday to find a great coffee shop in Crossville, and a very good, reasonably priced lunch in town, too at Forte's. (I'm going to stop saying 'reasonably priced' because everything was so cheap compared to back home.) On Saturday, we took the big swan out for a spin on Lake Dartmoor. It was a bit breezy and the wind pushed the boat in circles a few times, but we made it back to dock eventually, and got in almost an hour of very pleasant exercise. I have to buy a pedal boat. I'd much rather pedal a lake or creek than deal with cars on a bike. The seat's more comfortable too. Saturday afternoon was the gathering at Rita's, where I and others survived a Rita hug. Those who haven't survived can be seen here: After much laughter, joke telling, feasting (thanks for the great food Rita & others!), and some really terrible corn hole playing, the group decided to try the Japanese restaurant Rita had recommended, and the laughter and story telling continued into the night, over another great meal. I had some excellent sushi and sake to round out the day. Very cool sake decanter with an ice chamber so the sake doesn't get watered down. On Sunday, Crossville was closed for church, so after discovering that the Quaker meeting was defunct, we drove to Cookville for coffee and then hiked a mile to see the Burgess Falls (more pleasant exercise - I did not gain any weight on this trip, which is always a good thing!). So cool that I accidentally captured a rainbow in that pic! While at the falls, a storm rolled by and one thunderclap sounded way too close for comfort, but we had no choice but to hike back out through the woods. SoNot's fitbit registered 6,000 steps and 20 flights of stairs! Our final dinner in Crossville was another round of sushi. We took the scenic route back through the mountains to Asheville, both to have a relaxing drive and to be gentle with the transmission. There were several scenic overlooks along the way, and we stopped at most of them. Spent the night in Asheville, NC with my nephew and his family, and had lunch downtown before heading to Durham, NC on Tuesday to spend the night with a client who had moved away. They had emailed me two weeks before the trip to thank me for my help and said, 'if you're ever down this way, we'd love to have you spend the night'. And I replied, 'well, as a matter of fact, we'll be by there in two weeks'. I bet they weren't expecting that! We got back to MD yesterday, early afternoon, well rested and still smiling from all the great times we had! Thanks again to the lovely Rita for hosting all of us wackos and allowing us a chance to meet and get to know each other better! I will remember this trip fondly for a very long time.

MD went from 2 to 3 and now 4 but really didn't add that much. I prefer compact but easy to read. The trend in computers is more spacing resulting in more scrolling. I'm looking at you, QuickBooks!

It's not 'postcard sized', it's half a page, which is stupid. Just make it one page! And since we efile everything, this is an exercise in ridiculousness. I'm hoping the software companies will be smart enough to print it on one letter sized page and not two pages that are half blank.

Hopefully, the AICPA and all the other organizations, along with the tax software companies will fight this ridiculous move. And it's a big deal because we should not have be subject to these changes. As a preparer, I can only see this slowing me down. As a taxpayer, it's a tremendous waste of time.

This is simply a scam so politicians can push the false perception that taxes were simplified, when they were not.

And thank you Tom for your great humor and kindness. Tom is also a very fun guy. And Catherine is fun size, and very fun to be around too. Everyone was great, really. And it was super cool to meet you all... sorry, y'all. Personally, I had a blast! And I survived a Rita hug! Was also pleasantly surprised to find good coffee and sushi in little ole Crossville. And, man are the prices reasonable!

Ditto, ditto and ditto.

I remember the short form being half a page... in the 70s. But I only print on letter sized paper.

It seems silly that they say to count home office because it is also simultaneously used as your main residence, in most cases, so you would enter zero for number of days not used as principal residence. Right?

I'm told this is the biggest attraction in Crossville.