Catherine

Under the heading of no good deed going unpunished... Former clients. Small S-corp, two owners, now fighting. One was the pro, the other did the books (incredibly poorly). One who did the books might have been skimming (after they became former clients). Will call them Pro and Books. I was brought in by Pro whom I knew from a civic group. When they came to me it was after the prior acctnt died. His balance sheet was totally mucked up (apparently he had mild dementia problems in his last years). Books gave me startup paperwork that did NOT support the balance sheet from the first year's return so I had to make corrections for prior-year errors. Then every year for 2 -3 years there was another twist on that first year. Books would say "Oh, I forgot to tell you about the loan from my uncle," or "Oh, don't you have the info on X; I thought I gave that to you?" etc. So every year I was making prior-year corrections as new info came up from Books. Pro never wanted to talk about the money side being too busy/didn't understand. Until Pro wanted to know why Books got to deduct loss on 1040 but not Pro (suspended losses). Told Pro that Books said Pro had no equity. Turned out not to be the case but I never saw one bit of paperwork on Pro's equity. I was *so* glad when they moved their accounting and tax work to a firm closer to their location, several years ago. So now Pro has agreed to let Books buy them out but Books is wrangling for less money than is right (says Pro). Pro tells me Books is trying to blame me for prior-year messes. Books has accountants (possibly) working for lawyers who want all my info on the case. But I got rid of all my hardcopies some time ago (about a year after they became former clients), and the password in my notes to the ancient QB files does not open them. My question is do I dare cooperate with Books' accountant firm, or do I hire an attorney pronto? If the latter, anyone here have any recommendations for someone in MA? I did speak with the accountant in very general terms (not using any client names) last Friday and have a brand-new, so-called "Section 7216 Disclosure" that in NO way, shape, or form, meets IRS requirements so I can stall on talking - for now. As a total side-note, the business still owes me something like $2K and Pro about $500. Should have sold my practice last year....

I don't install ANY updates (of any kind) between January 2nd and April 15th. On principle. Then I have all kinds of fun installing a zillion of them. Yes, I know, I should install the "critical" updates. But then I have to wade through the growing backlog of "you haven't installed THIS one yet!" messages.

Or a hug in your heart?

How silly! We all know that it is the barber's brother-in-law who is the FINAL authority on all matters of tax law.

From the "Britain's Got Talent" show. The link is to Big Geek Daddy; he posts all manner of interesting things. Another Kind of Blue

Or people are glomming on to the fact that they WAY overcharge. I've had folks show up here with an ill-prepared prior year hrb return and see the bill for close to $500 for a return I would charge ~$350 for at most.

For years (before we re-did the bathroom) my hairdryer was the bathroom heat. Just a couple of minutes turned it from an icebox to bearable. Ten minutes to toasty warm. But you couldn't leave it on; too loud!

Some of those were laugh out loud funny!

100C but 212F. It won't exceed that temperature as it there undergoes phase change to gas (unless you do weird things with higher pressure). Water at higher altitudes boils at a lower temperature, which is one of the reasons you have to make corrections in cooking times (especially for canning!) at high altitudes.

Hot coffee almost always is. Yes, common sense isn't very. [There are also strong indications that obesity (and its health issues such as diabetes) is strongly related to government recommendations/requirements to increase carbs and decrease fats (especially saturated fats). See Karl Denninger of market-ticker.org's many blog posts on the topic.] But by babying people too much you prevent them from learning whatever they are capable of learning. We used to learn about sharp knives by cutting ourselves as kids. Now as kids we don't learn (too dangerous! don't touch!) and then as adults sue the knife manufacturers. Same thing with hot foods/beverages. Starbucks and Peet's and the like use extremely hot water for coffee prep. Use that same water for tea and it's dangerous. One sip, once, from over-hot Peet's tea and I learned to approach with caution. If you order HOT coffee - anywhere - you should treat it as being hot. Perhaps McD's should have been more open about how hot -- but my opinion remains that if YOU order something hot, it's up to YOU to expect it to BE hot and to treat it as such. But then, I was raised by my Italian grandmother and had plenty of run-in's with the "what, are you stupid!" until I learned not to be.

How silly. When I get a cold drink I always ask for either zero or very little ice. No server, ever, anywhere, has objected to that (although sometimes in busy restaurants they forget). It's just too easy to scoop up too much ice. Open your mouth and say what you want; done. Here's a good place to "go public" with my Italian Grandmother Tribunal idea for tort reform. Before you can bring a lawsuit, you have to go before a tribunal of Italian grandmothers to present your case. If their response is, "What are you, stupid?!" with a good slap upside the head, your "case" is dismissed - permanently. If they add "And if everyone jumps of the bridge you gonna jump too?" then YOU pay damages. Only if they agree do you get to sue. End of frivolous lawsuit problem. (Side note: my nonna had a heavy hand; you did NOT want that slap and would take big steps to avoid one! Bless her; she was a good woman.)

If it goes this far (as in, they won't speak to you with a POA by phone), get a letter from your dad's doctor, too, stating his inability to speak and go in himself.

I think anyone who puts a freshly-made hot coffee between her legs and drives off, cover off, to add sugar and milk while driving *definitely* needs hospitalization. But not for the only-to-be-expected burns.

With all of the above caveats noted, there is often a way to do it. However, it usually involves very specific wording and other requirements. You must, must, MUST get a lawyer who is expert in the field to be certain it is done correctly.

$180 - $230 depending on if a state return was required. Possibly with a discount.

It also means you have to understand what you are investing in in ALL the ramifications. If you didn't understand, invested anyway, and then got hit with something you were not expecting, whose fault is that?

Always ask for the manufacturer's certification. *Those* you can (pretty much) rely on. "Pretty much" because the credits are limited and the manufacturer's certification means the cars qualifies, but not that any credits are left to claim. But without that certification, it's just a sales pitch geared to making you pay more for the car (after all you're going to get that lovely credit, right?).

I think we've all done that and just caught ourselves before posting. Maybe even writing the post - but not submitting it. Do I speak of myself? Nah! (well maybe)

Neither do I, which is one of the reasons I *refuse* to install W10. No choice; they stuff updates down your gullet will you-nil you and if those updates muck up your system it's too doggone bad for you. They don't care.

Except for a couple of grammatical mistakes caused by posting while distracted!

Blame it on the IRS' computers and tell your clients to ignore the letters. Unless, as with @BulldogTom (and I could think of a couple of mine with the same issue) you've been telling them for years to increase withheld tax and they don't listen to you.

Can't be done with the new regs. Send him back an email stating while that could have been the case years ago, but new regs come out for tax year 2014 and it is no longer allowed.

I won't leave you! This board is full of friends and almost-family. I will still do a few returns. I have been asked to teach tax CPE. I will expand the US Constitution classes I teach. I will be able to practice rifle "for real" instead of dry-fire in the basement as my only practice before the spring league matches (although I had a 186 with 4-X's last Saturday; if not a personal high then very close to it). We have friends in Australia who have been begging us for years to come visit - but it's not worth going for less than a month - so that will be on the docket. My husband wants to go to the Edinborough Festival again sometime, and that's another multi-week journey. None of those had been possible with both of us working jobs that don't allow us to be away for more than a week at a time.

Me too!

I got it from two different - and qualified - IT sources and it works the way computer software SHOULD work: quick, streamlined, does exactly what it claims quickly efficiently and without causing other problems in the background. Glad you got it installed.