Catherine

The folks with the Fingertip Tax Facts -- I used it this morning with a client to answer a question. She loved the little thing so much she wanted ordering information to get one for herself! I thought folks here would be amused, since so many of us bought them.

It's my Gwen's 24th birthday today!

Oh, you split it ALL out. Gross, basis, what was spent for qualified ed exp's. Make sure you take a look at the possibility of using *taxable* portions of the proceeds to qualify for ed credits; often worth far *more* than tax savings on earnings.

Thanks, @Elrod - she outlasted her younger sister (my husband's mom) by about a year, and was 96. She had a good, long run. But she was a sweetheart, and she is missed.

May I just say that I absolutely DETEST having to amortize bond premiums on tax-exempt bonds because (unless the client has been one for a LONG time, AND you get purchase details as well as a total) you NEVER have enough information to do it right. Grrr. Don't get me started...

Line 21

I have enough trouble taking time off during the SLOW season! Although we are going to Missouri next weekend (25/26) for a memorial service for my husband's aunt, who passed away last fall. Not sure that counts as vacation; fly down, service, fly back. Ugh.

@RitaB - is it also OK to kill the clients who call your assistant before dropping off papers, hand them to the assistant, call the assistant when they get back home to make sure the assistant still has them, and then call YOU the next day to make sure YOU got the papers from the assistant? If so, I'd like to lease a piece of your back forty for a client who desperately needs a Rita-hug.

Ice everywhere here in MA, on top of the foot of snow we got on the 14th.

You can drink with a fishin' buddy!

Yes, like a sale. I forget which boxes mean what and have no examples to hand (they're all at the office, where I am NOT; my poor husband just got in from snow-blowing and looks like a drowned rat), but I can get those to you later if you need/want. The forgiven debt *should* come later on a 1099-C and if the person is lucky that will come sooner rather than later. Those can show up YEARS afterwards, when the poor schmuck is no longer insolvent and then they have COD income and a tax bill.

Just please note it is different IF they are called on-duty "for the duration" of an emergency. For example, a nurse client of mine was called in, in advance of a big snowstorm (not today's!) to be working/available for three days. On her "off" shifts they made a hotel room available for sleeping, bathing, etc. And gave the nurses so called in a meals allowance. Had they not been given a meals allowance, I can see the cost of those meals - where they were stuck due to employer mandates and weather - as being possibly added to a 2106. That is a hugely different situation from dinner break on your regular shift, though.

It's late and I'm tired so I did NOT go through all your numbers, even in my head. But in general, as long as you make taxable income the source of payments, you can take the ed credits. Who gets them and refundable or not is in the details that I'm too tired to parse out.

Bursar's Office printout of charges and payments (with dates) for the year.

And we can celebrate Tau Day in late June! Vi Hart explaining Tau: Vi Hart on Tau (link to you tube video)

That is *exactly* what I am doing - slow-motion work on easy returns. Tomorrow (Monday) will be spent pulling together stuff to work on at home Tuesday, as we are supposed to get a blizzard with a 1/2 feet of snow. Which reminds me, I need to set up auto-respond so people will know. And I hope that YOU feel better, too! I am definitely doing better but I'm not back to normal by a long shot.

SO sorry, Joan!

Can parent treat the money as a gift and then deduct the taxes themselves?

As long as they see it on the Schedule A, they *never* make the connection to the "itemized or standard deduction" on pg 2 of the 1040. It makes them content, and saves me TONS of time explaining things they already have their minds (wrongly) made up about. Print the Sch A!

And he is probably too big to put over your knee and spank, too. Worse yet - he might not be too big, but would enjoy it! (ick) Candidate for a Rita hug?

I have a lady (real nervous nellie) who has called twice a week for a month either talking my ear off or leaving long rambling messages with ZERO information. She dropped off some missing papers - put them IN my assistant's hand - then called me the next day to "make sure I got them" (no, my assistant used the paper as rolling papers because we now have medical marijuana here in MA and if YOU aren't a valid reason I don't know what is... but I digress, and I'm not serious about that). Her bill is going up $5 for EACH phone call. Now, the crazy lady who calls several times a week - we're lucky. She calls the trustees of her special needs trust (you see, she really *is* crazy) several times a DAY. They just pay our fee, knowing there is a hazardous duty portion tucked in there. And *we* are grateful not to them *them* dealing with her daily calls.

I did this for a client a couple of years ago; she took the money to buy a new condo, and re-deposited it on Day 58 (or was it 59?); close but still inside the window. While everything was fresh, I wrote the CP2000 response letter and had pdf's of all the support documentation. When the IRS letter showed up, I opened the document, put on the current date, printed the whole kit and caboodle, and off it went. Solved. I wish we could write ahead for all these issues when everything is fresh!

I have my annual mid-tax-season nasty cold, and would be happy with a Friday where my fever went down and stayed down...

Get a printout from the Bursar's Office of actual charges and payments in 2016 to see what really happened. I have seen several 1098-T's with NOTHING in Box 1 but scholarships listed - but the Bursar's Office statement clearly shows charges for tuition and other fees, scholarships, and payments. Those forms (in my experience) have a tenuous connection with reality.