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I feel for you, Catherine. I've been fighting a terrible sinus infection for over a week now. My husband keeps saying I need to go to the doctor but my question is WHEN exactly am I supposed to do that. I don't have time to wait in the doctor's office just now and I'm pretty sure they would laugh at me if I suggested they needed to work around my schedule. I also moved my office out of my home this year so I can relate to that as well. Hope you feel better soon! Hang in there.

That's what I thought, Pacun. I told him he needed to have receipts and documentation to prove greater than 50% support. He is talking about bringing them to the US in 2015 to live with him. I assume he would then qualify for all the benefits afforded to taxpayers with qualifying children at that point (i.e. child tax credit, EIC, HOH filing status). Thanks for your quick response!

My husband and I, both self-employed, participate in Good Samaritan health care sharing ministry. It is my understanding that the monthly share amounts paid are not deductible anywhere - not on Schedule A or as self-employed health insurance. If your client makes donations directly to Good Samaritan for sharing unmet or unpublishable needs then those amounts would be deductible as contributions on Schedule A. Participation does however qualify the taxpayer for an exemption from the health insurance coverage requirement. If anyone knows or finds anything different I would sure love to know about it.

I have a client who is a resident alien with a valid SSN. He sends money back to Mexico for the support of his two young nephews and he wants to claim them on his tax return this year. He has the completed form W-7 and required documents for both children. According to what I am able to understand we simply paper file the return this year with the Forms W-7 attached and the IRS will issue ITIN numbers. Do I simply show the two children as dependents on the 1040 as nephews who lived with taxpayer 0 months and leave the box for US Citizen or Resident alien unchecked? This is my first experience with this so I appreciate the help of all you who have done these returns. Is there anything else I need to do/know? Thanks.

Dear Client, Yes, I know that you are a used car salesman and your time is much more valuable than mine. To that end, let me save us both some time and tell you that yes, I am quite sure child support is not deductible (even if all your buddies are doing it), and regardless of what your employer told you, the shirts, ties and khaki's you wear to work every day are not "specialized" clothing and therefore not deductible, and oh, you were also grossly misinformed by whoever told you that the 5 miles you drive from your home to work every day are deductible. They are not. I also seriously doubt that your cell phone is being used 100% for business since in the short time we've been in this interview you have used it to a) call your wife, b ) text your church's treasurer for info about your charitable deductions, and c) look up your babysitter's address. I am painfully aware that you do not want to "take it up the tailpipe" from the IRS as you so eloquently stated. This is not my first rodeo. I will do my best to make sure your return is done accurately and in a way that best benefits you within the limits of the law and tax code. Give me a little credit here. Geeez! That is all. Thank you and have a nice day.

I am going to be way up this year but that is attributable to the fact that I moved my office out of my home this year to a highly visible location downtown. Most of what I've done thus far are new returns. My regulars just started rolling in last week. It could get a little tricky in the next few weeks.

I think I have read something about this somewhere but I'm tired and I can't think so here goes.... Clients have a son in his first year of college and they qualify for American opportunity credit. Expenses were as follows: $3985 Tuition and $3625 Room & Board. Student received $3832 in scholarships and grants and the rest was paid partly through a student loan and partly by the parents. Can scholarships and grants first be applied to room and board which would then leave qualified education expenses of $3,778 for purposes of figuring AOC or do the scholarships and grants first have to be applied to tuition?

The tools in my case were all purchased in 2015. The taxpayer is a young man fresh out of college in 2013 and just started this job in 2014. And while some of the items are small things there is a purchase of Snap On tool box to the tune of $4,500.

Taxpayer is a diesel mechanic who purchased approximately $6,000 worth of tools which are used and stored at his employer's location. Can I deduct these as an employee business expense on Form 2106 or do I need to first use section 179 expense on Form 4562 which passes through to the Form 2106?

I'm a little irritated that I'm not showing up on the list (AFSP) but I don't have the time or energy to address it right now. Also a little odd that other preparers located in the same town as me appear on the list as being 80 miles away!!

Okay. My 2013 software has been populated with all the 2013 returns but none of them will open. I get this message, "The return you've selected cannot be opened. Please restore a previous version of the return and try again." Obviously, since they won't open in the 2013 program, they won't rollover in the 2014 program. I am SOO frustrated. I guess a lengthy call with support is in order. Thankfully my old system is still up and running so until everything is resolved I can rollover on the old machine, export and then import onto the new computer. Aaaarrrggghhhh!!

After several days of barely restraining myself from throwing my misbehaving computer out the door I finally ran out of patience and just purchased a new system. I have reinstalled all my software but now I am unable to restore the 2013 returns in the 2013 software so that they will show up for rollover in the 2014 software. Anyone have any experience with this?

Got tired of waiting. Released them all and transmitted. Time for a nap!

I haven't gotten a Federal ACK all day. Wondering if I should just go ahead and release all of these state returns that have been held and transmit them? What are the rest of you doing?

You mean you can't do those things? Now I'm depressed, too.

I have a small flame thrower sitting inside my door that was used many times over the winter to melt off my walk. I'll admit it's been tempting to use it to get rid of a few particularly annoying clients. I can send it over if you like.

Had a simple one to do at 10 this morning. Three pickups at 10:30 a.m., 11:00 a.m. & 1 p.m. Got my own extension filed in between and all my filing done. One more to pickup at 3:30 this afternoon, a quick run to the post office and the bank and I will be done. Then it's on to a nightmare of an estate tax audit that I convinced the auditor to extend the due date on to April 30th, and payroll tax returns, and non-profit returns, and extensions...... Thanks to all of you for providing many much needed breaks over the season. I always hang out here while I'm waiting for returns to open, close, transmit, etc. Your advice and support is invaluable! Gina

I've had a weird year as well. A lot like yours actually. Really busy beginning and then a period of time spent scratching my head wondering where everyone was, followed by "Holy cow, where did all these people come from!" I've gotten a new call as late as today! I try to do as few extensions as possible. I know it stretches the income out a little longer but I am so over it after April 15th. I still have non-profit returns due in May and a few fiscal year filers in June and that's quite enough. That being said, I will have more extensions this year than ever before as well. I think I will be instituting a fee increase across the board next year and I'm already implementing an extra fee for those who saw fit to wait so late this year. They can complain if they want but I don't really care. Sorry about the flies. They are so pesky! I don't know who said that a brutal cold winter helped decrease the insect population for the next season, but they totally made it up! The wasps are starting to buzz around here and we killed a snake in the yard last Thursday!

It was nearly 80 here yesterday and we are supposed to have a rain/freezing/snow mix tonight. Hopefully this will be last of it!

Why do we drive on a parkway and park on a driveway? Why do banks charge you more of what they already know you don't have when you overdraw your account?

I am a one-person shop and this year I will do right at 300 returns which includes approximately 40 fiduciary and non-profit 990/990-PF returns. I'm not sure how many more I could do without some serious help. I tried hiring my 15 year old to do my filing but at this point I'm not convinced he knows his ABC's

None.

I have one client who brings me a jar of homemade horseradish every year. I don't even like the stuff but I just smile and say thank you. One of my Ohio clients brought me some buckeye candy one year. Now that I liked!

Amish couple shows up at my door today. He has two 1099-MISC and some stockyards tickets for the sale of livestock and a 4029 SE exemption. Wants to know how much he and his wife can make before they have to PAY. I ask him if they have children (duh?) and he says 3 but none of them have SSN's. I tell him he should go to the local SSA office and apply for SSN's for his children and we can file the return showing SSN's have been applied for. He says he needs a copy of his tax return right away to take to the bank so he can borrow money so just do the return without the dependents. Federal return -0- due but owes state $200 (which I tell him would also be -0- if he were claiming the kids) Then asks if I can just forget the livestock sales. Uh, NO! Elected to pay the state tax so he could take his copy and run to the bank. ARRRGHHH!!

I just enter the date they signed it.