mcb39

Acer (or Gateway) also sells business machines with Win 7 upgradeable to Win 8. My new 17" laptop is one of them and my IT person who set it up says it is extremely well built. I never considered anything except IBM until Lenovo bought them out. Since then we have all been a Gateway family. Nowadays they are mostly made in China so a name, is a name, is a name. Take care of your equipment and it will generally serve you well. Neglect or abuse it and you will get what you deserve.

My Grand-daughter and her husband did extensive research. They purchased Electrolux front loaders and love them. All I know is that I thought an Electrolux was a Vacuum Cleaner. (Now, John, be sure to ask "What is a vacuum cleaner?) These young marrieds thoroughly research everything and then they go shopping with their facts and drive a hard bargain. I love it that we brought her up that way.

For 2012, I had a new i5 dual core with 3.GHz and had few issues. Win 7 Home 64 bit; 12 G ram (which was more than I needed). This year, I got a new laptop with i5, 2.8 GHz Win 7 Pro 64. However, I did beta testing with a Win 7 laptop with an Intel Pentium processor T4200 dual core with 2.0 GHz and 3 G Ram and had no issues. I expect to use all three of these machines for the 2012 tax season and don't expect speed problems. The reason for the new laptop is to replace the 2002 XP machine which is in perfect working order, but was having trouble processing difficult returns in 2011. So, you can see that a variety of different configurations can do the job. The biggest keys are maintenance and backup. Good luck with whatever you decide to do, but you definitely don't need to purchase the biggest and the best gaming machine to have a successful tax season.

Been there........done that. No issues; one more thing off the to do list.

Judy, I did mine from the link in the blog. No issues downloading or using. My system only failed on speed of Internet. Can't do much about that since the service I have is my only option.

Prayers here also. A dear friend of mine went through this last winter (double mastectomy) chosen for the same reasons as your wife. She is a Survivor. She has been back to work full time for many months now and doing extremely well both mentally and physically. May your case turn out the same.

At least part of it, if not all, was up last evening.

All of the ATX sites appear to be down. Just tried home and community. Neither will connect.

Thanks so very much. Also update 12.19 is working just fine on my Win 7 64 bit standalone.

I pick and choose the pages that I want for the interest of the client who will be filling out the Organizer.

It is amazing all right. But, I keep two running logs; as they come in and as they go out and the amount of the fee. My income is posted directly from that log. I always sort of assumed that if the return is e-filed, they can see how much you charged if they want to. Doesn't matter to me. I report all income and always have. The more I report, the larger raise I get every year in SS because I never paid into SS all of the years that my children were growing up. Someday I might actually retire, but at the moment I doubt it.

That's it in a nutshell. Some clients ask for them. I have one client who goes to Arizona for the winter and always wants the Organizer before he leaves so he can work on it. (Lots of investments, rental, etc. etc.) A few others ask for it every year. Some I use just for my own organization when clients come in for appts. They won't fill them out, but I do when we meet. Otherwise, when I send out my yearly letter, I give them the option. Often, it can be e-mailed to them. If they don't want it, that is fine too. In a one person office, you learn to know who wants what.

Was anyone able to find the Engagement Letter anywhere in the new download? It used to come along with the Comprehensive Organizer, I believe.

Does this come as a surprise to anybody? Deja Vue!

Which is all the more reason that tax preparers NEED to be regulated somehow. I took the RTRP and it was not difficult, but the anticipation would still be hanging over my head if I had not done it. Therefore, I have no regrets. Some of the stuff that comes across my desk makes me want to scream and there is no recourse to go after the preparer who created an erroneous return.

So, where does that leave us left-handers?

I have had two instances in the last month where four different techs worked on my computers with team viewer; addressed the issues and fixed them. They could not have been more cordial and gracious.

In addition to the $65, I also paid $95 and took a 200 mile trip to take a (then) mandatory test for a verification and registration that is now worthless.

I agree that I believe it will be back in some form and I also agree that it SHOULD be back.

My mom and dad never "paid" me, but they always paid for lunch, gas and special treats. They also gave me their car when they were no longer able to drive because that was the vehicle we were using for shopping, appointments, etc. This made them feel better about the situation. I knew I would have trouble with two of my brothers over it; and I did. In the end, my niece wanted to buy the car and I told my mom to sell it to her; which she did. These situations are difficult, at best. My heart still aches when I think about it.

Serious professional tax preparers get as much CPA as they can whether it is required by law or not. And, yes, 15 hours WAS the minimum requirement.

I got a bottle of wine last night! The work for the client was pro bono.

My take, also.

I tried facebook for exactly ten days; and only on my tablet. It scared the daylights out of me. I did find out that it is not that easy to remove your account once you create it. So glad I got out of there.

I agree. I certainly didn't get paid and I took care of both of my parents for over five years. I have three brothers and all of their remaining assets were split evenly four ways. As hard as it was, I will never regret it. However, when things got beyond them being able to care for themselves with supervision; they went to a facility. They passed a year apart at ages 92 and 90. Ten years ago and I miss them still.