kcjenkins

:bday:

Jack, you may be in an area with unusually stable power, but the rest of us who live where there are even occasional power outages have to take them into account. The truth is that every time a computer which is in use has a sudden loss of power, it does really bad things to the working parts. Since Deb has had numerous such situations, clearly she has a problem that needs to be protected against. So this time, your advice, which is normally very good, really stinks.

Deb, a UPS is an absolute necessity. And they are much cheaper and better than they used to be. But every time that you are getting a shutdown, your computer is DYING. And it's will go suddenly, and you will be devastated. RUSH down to Office Depot or whatever you have, and buy one TODAY. And then start thinking seriously about getting a new computer, to back up the one you have now. Because every one of those power shutdowns has aged it seriously. And it will not give you much more warning than it is already giving you, with this problem with the clock.

Thank you for giving us the feedback, I never knew that either.

Yep, I think that was it! Thanks Bob. That place was so good I've wanted to go back to Elko just to eat there again. It's also the only place I ever visited where they had 'mountain oysters' in the grocery store as a routine item. And no, I did not try them! :P

The question is just so vague that I would not know where to start, Laurie, to answer you. Could you give us some details? We'd like to help, but your question is almost like someone asking "My car won't start, what should I do?" It's just too unclear for us.

Hey, there is a great Basque restaurant there, that serves meals family style. Excellent lamb and delicious veggies. Wish I could think of the name of it.

And don't forget the 'I can write off my TV because I show potential Amway downline folks how they can get one just like it free if they sell enough........."

What IS clear is that we will NOT be able to continue using the 4137 in such cases, where the employee disputes that he is subject to both halves of the payroll taxes. And yes, this does ask a lot more information than doing that called for. Clearly, they want to get all that info 'up front', so to speak, rather than having to contact the t/p about the situation later. But frankly, using the 4137 was only done, in my practice, when the client had either already left the job, or did not care if he got fired over doing it. Because I always warned him about that, and then let HIM make the decision whether he wanted to file the 4137 or to file a Sch C and pay the extra taxes and keep the job.

I agree.

First, she needs to get a new attorney. Seriously, this is a legal issue rather than a tax one. And it is state-specific. And if the attorney does not know something as simple as how to set things up to access the bank account, she needs to find one who does. It's a matter of state laws, so I'm not going to try to answer in detail, as I have no idea of those laws. But in general, the first question is 'did he have a will'? If not, she is going to have to go to court FIRST, to get herself appointed executor of the estate. Then she is going to have to advertise for creditors, etc, before she can spend a cent of his money. And she is going to have to keep good records of everything she does, because she is going to have to report to the court on everything. I'm praying for her that he did have a will, and that it was updated or made after the marriage. But odds are bad on that, in my experience. Dee, I understand you want to help her, but honestly, she NEEDS a good attorney right now. Tell her not to be penny-wise and pound-foolish and try to use a young, inexperienced attorney for this one. Or it will all end up going to lawyers anyway, most likely.

I know there is at least one that will pull from the parents and kids, but I don't remember which one. Just remember that it costs 10K+ and it is not worth that much to me to have that feature, since I don't do that many of them.

Laura, this just proves you are human, not that you are bad. Give yourself some forgiveness here. Stop beating yourself up, it was an honest mistake. Just don't use the 1040A any more. I'd amend the 06 now, so that you stop interest running on it now. And I would ask for abatement of penalties on all the returns, based on the fact that it was the preparer that made the error. This is almost always given in such a case. Then you pay the interest, even though in fact you should not be responsible for it, since the client had the use of the money, not you. But it's a public relations expense to you, rather than an issue of fair or not, IMHO.

I think the reason the IRS is doing this is that they do not like the fact that filing a Sch C gives the worker the ability to deduct expenses that, if put on a Sch A as 'employee business expenses' would not be deductible, or would be reduced significantly. Plus it slows down the 'cash flow' since even if the worker pays the same exact total tax, if it's through a Sch C he only pays in quarterly, instead of the money coming in every month or sooner. When dealing with large amounts, that 'timing difference' becomes a big issue. And even though the individual amounts may be small, there are a lot of small businesses, so the accumulated total each month is significant. This form is clearly designed to be a 'heads up' form to direct Compliance Officers to the businesses that pay workers as IC's.

I find that the thing that many small businesses are really concerned with is simply the amount of paperwork that having 'payroll' requires. They simply want to write the workers a check, then at year end, they don't mind totaling those checks and telling the IRS who they paid, and how much. But they don't want to be 'free labor' for the government in doing all the withholding, reporting, and paying in, all for the government's benefit. And then hit with penalties if they goof up on any of those reports. Plus, it's not like it's just a few reports. It's often monthly payments, to both federal and state, plus unemployment reports, plus, as you say, Workers Comp, maybe other insurance, required vacation pay and sick pay, in some states, etc, etc, and so forth! They just don't want to have to do all that extra work that does nothing for their bottom line. That, in my experience, is the real issue for many clients. Big companies have 'payroll departments' and no choice but to spend that money. But for the little guy, it's usually time taken out of HIS time. He's not even worried about the money, usually. He'd happily pay the worker a larger amount, if he could, by doing that, not have to do anything else except file a 1099. He'd pay more to the worker, then let the worker take care of his own estimated tax, insurance, etc.

I'm not certain, but I think she is here as Cajun Sue. At least that is who I'm assuming she is. I could be wrong, tho, because she did not fill out any info in her profile, not even gender. Still, I doubt it's really Bob. You could always click on Cajun Sue's member name, and send her an email asking her if she is Suelcla.

No, but he has the cutest daughter you ever saw!

I have asked a few of my personal friends "from ATX" to join us if they care to. And I am posting this poll to do two things. One, to ask that the community treat them as friends, and appreciate that they may, from time to time, be able to contribute some insight that benefits us all. And two, to let our members vote on whether they think such members should be 'identified' in some way? Recognizing, please, that if you do want that, it might keep them from being free to share with us news that might be valuable, for fear of losing their job.

Monkeyman is a friend of mine and Eric's with ATX connections, whom I invited to join us. He's also the person who has been passing the word of this site to users who call about the loss of the community board. Please be nice to him.

That is a good link. Thanks for sharing it with us.

Yes, I tried that at my house, but it would have taken me putting in a tower 30 ft tall! :rolleyes:

I am certain that you are supposed to withhold by work state, not home state. Otherwise the work state could be ignored, and that is something that no state will accept. For the second, some states may require it, many do not. You just have to ask the state involved, and they will happily tell you what they require.

I don't know what the problem is, but it's not the age of the child. You can get the credit while adopting a minor child of any age 0-18. I think you must have a typo somewhere on the adoption credit form.

It is quite clear looking at their various links that they are not updating their site at all well this time of year. I hope that is a temporary problem. I'm sure most all their energy is going to writing the new programs, at this time of year.

:bday: