Catherine

Not sure if employer is required, or if employee has to fill out a form saying they are exempt. 

Lots of people go work in DC for very limited times, and are considered non-resident guest workers not subject to DC income tax. However, any tax withheld they want refunded is mail-in forms only - they don't make it easy to get refunds. The Tax Book or QuickFinder may have details for you. I have one lady who works in DC for a week every year, they withhold like $50 in tax and she can't be bothered to reclaim it by mail.

15 hours ago, Sara EA said:

I had a client who

If you read what I wrote, it was that "the possibility of depreciation being taken diminishes substantially." I also had a client who did it correctly on their own. Exactly ONCE in over 25 years. But the ones who stare at you blankly, ask "what's that?" and have no recollection of it.... it's a fair bet to say it was never calculated or deducted.

4 hours ago, cbslee said:

In the back of my mind I am wondering,

Sometimes the best you can do is the best you can do. Question the client, see whatever older returns exist, and go from there. If the client had self-prepared returns, the possibility of depreciation being taken diminishes substantially; they don't understand it so they ignore it. 

On those occasions I do answer a suspect call (frequently the caller "ID" comes up as a town's name - with the wrong area code or exchange) I'll answer with, "Who's calling and what do you want?" which the robo-program can't handle. On the very rare occasion that it turns out to be a real person I want to speak to, I'll just mention I thought it was the umpteenth robo-call of the day. We then usually have a lovely mutual grump-fest and enjoy the empathy. 

A good start. Personally, I'm about ready to push for televised public hanging of the heads of the companies (not [at least most of the] poor drones in the call centers trying to make a living).

I have had one monitor that developed a single-pixel-wide green stripe. It was well over ten years old, and perfectly functional as long as you ignore the stripe. I did retire it simply because it was an oddball size - kinda too wide and too short all at once.

8 hours ago, Elrod said:

Other than the glasses... looks like Catherine..

What is astounding to me is how much he looks like his mama looked when she was born. Same rosebud mouth, same nose, same hair, same just-wanna-pinch-them cheeks. Mama had more eyebrows.

quick FYI after a couple of days I'll delete the picture. 

My younger daughter and her husband today gave their toddler girl a baby brother. The handsome little bruiser clocked in at just a hair over NINE pounds.  Mama and son are doing well.

Because there are thieves, and they don't give the bleep. Sometimes I hate people in general.

My sympathies to your wife for her stolen efforts and fabrics, and your niece for not getting something made for her with love.

I sent a birthday card, years ago, from central MA to south-eastern MA. About a hour or hour and a quarter's drive away, about a week before the day in question. The card arrived nearly a month late, postmarked Schenectady NY, with boot-prints on the envelope. 

We still chuckle about it. 

I'll be doing four hours of training for the CT group Lion is involved in, on September  20th. Don't know what they'll be charging, but you'd have a minimum of two friendly faces there. 

There's also the New England IRS Rep conference at Mohegan Sun in November. https://irsrepconference.com/

Comes under the heading of "nothing works anymore" and if the payments are re-mailed (I'd include a copy of the "undeliverable" notice, for the IRS to see) they'll get through. Most likely the one competent person in the local USPS office was on vacation or out sick and the others just returned everything. Or someone in a bad mood decided to mess with the people paying his salary and benefits by getting them on the bad side of the IRS.

On 7/6/2023 at 2:20 PM, jklcpa said:

My most recent hobby that I really, REALLY enjoy and that is quite addictive is shooting sporting clays (aka clay pigeons to us older folks) with shotgun, and I've also learned to reload shells to complement that. I usually shoot in a group with my husband, brother, a friend, and sometimes other family.

My hobbies too! Not sporting clays, but target pistol and rifle. Tons of fun, and (unlike basketball etc where your knees are done by age 30) you can keep getting better into old age. 

Refund should go to the estate, and the executor/trix can then direct the refund to whomever it should go.

Many thanks to both Eric and Judy.

The few times I've done that, I've treated the payment of P&I as a refund of prep fees. Plus I give a discount on the next year's return (if I want the client back).

Does this lack of response mean no one wants it, or that everyone is away?  I'll give it a few more days, then it goes in the giveaway pile.

Pay tax, pay interest, do not pay penalty. Call with client or wait for POA. 

Put "penalty abatement, civil penalty" on the line below the 1040 on the POA. Include at least a year before the trouble started and one year after (2019-2024).

My girls gave my husband a gag gift of a USB pet rock some years ago, for his office. He recently found it with a bunch of things he brought home when he retired, and it's time to re-gift the rock. 

If anyone here wants it, they can have it for postage (it will fit in a small usps priority mail box). They still sell them brand-new, for double or triple the postage price. We have the original box and instruction manual.

Apparently, the people most confused by it were upper level managers and IT. 

I had a bit of trouble with worksheets, too, when I started back in Feb 2013. Once you get the hang of it, they make a lot of sense. Use the search box in the lower left to go to the entry for any form you want, such as 8829 or Schedule E. That will bring you to the right entry page.

On 6/8/2023 at 1:31 PM, mcbreck said:

Now the IRS sends a letter requesting the penalty and the client thinks I should have to pay it because somehow it's my fault and they pay too much in taxes.

Quick answer is "no." Long answer is also "no." After that, the response is "no, and please leave."

On 6/14/2023 at 8:48 PM, Sara EA said:

If you've been to Boston, you will be amazed how they have removed the "r" was every word and still manage to communicate (Pak your ca in Havad Yad).

They then take all the discarded "r's" and insert them in spurious places. "pahk ya cah on Warshington Street." 

On 6/15/2023 at 8:54 PM, Sara EA said:

In WI, you will fairly often hear "you guys" instead of y'all.

Guys has largely been re-defined as a sex-neutral term in the northeast, going back several decades. It would never occur to me that addressing a group, "hey, guys!" would be seen as any different from a southerner saying " hey, y'all pay 'tention here!"

I grew up just south of Boston and do not have the accent somehow. Growing up I constantly got, mostly from other kids but sometimes grown-ups, too, the query, "How come you talk funny?"
 

whack a mole gif