Catherine

Remember, years ago, when it seemed everyone had one of those "Baby on Board" signs in their cars? A woman I worked with at that time had a different sign: "Ex-husband in Trunk" and she had a crappy old tie that dangled out on one side...

Printouts from the Bursar's Office can be a huge help here - I demand them from all my clients with education expenses. (And they're getting better about actually getting them for me, too.)

Thanks to Eric for the latest round of improvements to our beloved forum! I like the new "like" button with choices. Sometimes we do want to express something other than simply liking, and now we can! I must say, though, that when I came back from an early afternoon appointment and it all looked different, my first thought was to wonder what had gone wrong with my computer while I was away...

I prefer "small boulders" myself.

You can also take the 529 plan money as taxable income - sometimes paying the income tax and then getting the credit works out enough better to make it worthwhile. If that was done, you'll also have to show the taxable income on Line 21 from the 529 plan distribution.

Sympathy! Here in Mass. we have the other side of that woe. Tiny little groups that qualify for the 990-N (postcard) can't use it: Mass. public charities report (required) *demands* a 990-EZ accompany it.

Amen!

One crucial question before your final decision to take this client: do you have a nice big desk with a goodly and comfy space underneath it? Big enough to hide in for a while, with your jumbo-sized bag of Skittles (or snack of choice), when it gets overwhelming? If not, refuse the engagement!

Pull the wage & income transcript? No state info... just federal. But federal affects her visa more than state anyway.

Over the years, I have fired more than one client when I became convinced that the information I was getting could not be trusted. I am NOT saying these clients were crooks! Some of them were in over their heads but refused help; others just overwhelmed. Also computer crashes with no backups, shaky paper records, and no time/unwilling to take time to re-create. We've all seen multiple reasons. (And the ones you just don't trust - the ones where you count the toner cartridges when they leave.) You are putting your professional reputation at risk, and taking a chance on nasty preparer penalties. If you decide to take it on, get a BIG retainer, start from scratch with original records, and work your way forwards. You might also work with a tax attorney from the start (getting them to hire you to do returns gives *you* privilege as well as protects you; your work will be submitted under the attorney's aegis). If the prior preparer's machines were seized, starting with an attorney might be a good move even if all the records are pristine. If they went after the preparer, they are going to scrutinize the returns he prepared.

And stops CO from trying to prosecute some poor dumb schmuck who sells one single $500 item to CO in a year.

I would recommend against using your address. The USPS does still have "General Delivery" but authorized pick up agents might be an issue. I believe (but don't quote me on this) there is a limit to how long they will hold mail before it is returned to sender. The UPS Store bought Mailboxes Etc some years ago; they have boxes for rent by the month that give a street address with unit number. That might be a low-cost option if your client does not have friends she trusts to accept her check(s) for her.

In Massachusetts, you are required to pay employees within seven days of the end of the pay period. Earlier is fine; later is not. The odd thing to me is that direct deposit pay is usually available earlier than paper checks; it is one perk to tempt people away from paper.

You might want to talk to your bank and see if they have someone they recommend. Or at least will play nicely with. Silly to do tons of research and decide, say, on the Verifone product - only to find that your bank doesn't accept payments from them.

Sounds like one of the smart phone swipey options will work well for you, then. PayPal, Square, Capital One's SparkPay, QB's GoPayment, PayWare Mobile from Verifone, Chase Mobile Checkout, and SwipeSimple are some of those out there.

ROTFLMAO!!! I just KNEW this board would take my aggravation and make me laugh instead.

I use PayPal on my web site, Drake e-pay from within the tax program, and QuickBooks otherwise. I only take 5 or 6 credit card payments a year so it only makes sense to use a per-transaction service. No smart phone, so the little swipey readers are not useful to me.

Then they need to start putting fax numbers on the stupid letters. Instead, they give phone numbers (sometimes plural) and say to call for a number if you need to fax in a response. So professionals tie up the lines looking for a frimping fax number, only to get disconnected by bad phone systems. the phone maintenance people are the ones needing a spanking. If they're going to hang up on people, it should be immediately , not after three quarters of an hour or more.

THIRTY EIGHT-plus minutes on hold listening to that miserable aggravating muzak the IRS torments us with, to get a recording saying "Due to technical difficulties, we are unable to answer your call at the present time. Please try again later." Click. Excuse me?!?! You couldn't have said that within the first TEN minutes? I don't often yell into my phone, but this time I did. Don't recall using any potty-mouth words but I won't guarantee that, either. I'm so mad I could kick someone into the next county right about now.

Ultimately, the only way to keep the shareholders happy is to keep the customers happy. That said, a small product line (like ATX) may be down in the noise for that purpose. Sigh.

I agree with you on this. They have had several years working on this already; the information the judge wants should be available within a week. Maybe two if he wants pretty copies, arranged in date order and bound.

I booked it home from the office in time to pull out my grandfather's welding glasses and see maximum occlusion (~63% here) and boy oh boy was that ever neat! Jack - save me a parking spot!

NOT intended to be political. I think it is the IRS' duty to prove they have taken steps *not* to be used as a political tool, by ANYONE. They have enough legitimate work to do, and not enough people to do it, as it is! Judge orders IRS to respond by October 16

Hey, @Jack from Ohio the Drake live stream feed is here: Drake live stream solar eclipse

There is usually an initial fee which will include X number of returns (for Drake, that number is 15 returns of any type). After that limit, you get charged an additional $Y per return filed. They do it that way because they still need to set up their servers to deal with your ERO submissions. But yeah, they all have the option. Lots of offices use lower-priced software for most of their returns, and then use PPR high-end products for the really complex returns that come in.