Catherine

I (mostly) solved the PJ's problem by getting my little office a mile from my house. Why "mostly"? - Because some folks still show up at the house to drop papers off.

Only exception would be if the legalities *finalize* after the turn of the year. Then they are required to file as married (joint or separate). Here in MA divorces are not final until 90 days after the judge signs off. So an Oct sign-off means final in Jan.... and one final year of married filing.

Thank you, @JohnH for the reminder of how they work and the excellent examples. I will spend some time this week working up a couple good ones for myself. Hmmm..... have to be home for a couple of hours Monday overseeing installation of a carpet runner on the stairs, and I have Drake on this computer. That could be a good time to develop them - then I can email them to myself at the office.

cPaperless's "Signature Flow" is excellent. Encrypts, confirms identity, e-signatures, then automatically returns to you all validated. Fee is only per-signature so it's worth signing up for even for 2-3 clients (unlike some services that charge a hefty monthly fee plus a per-signature fee). I have out-of-state clients, travelling clients, or folks who don't have convenient access to scanners or faxes so while they can *get* a file share document with no trouble, they can't send it back to me easily. I'd rather pay to have their sign's than have them go to a self-service fax place where the chip SAVES their confidential information (name & ssn) for heaven only knows how long and with heaven only knows who gets access.

I saw The Who in Worcester some years ago. *Fabulous* show. Remember your earplugs!! Having them meant I could enjoy the music rather than end up with a three-day headache and ringing ears.

I agree with both Judy and John - except I printed the ACA guide to paper as well as saved to desktop. Sometimes it's easier for me to grab paper than to open up yet another window on my monitors (perhaps if I go to three....). However - @JohnH do you have any macros to share? I had one last year for MA-specific health forms (annoying, aggravating, repetitive things) and for a couple of other items but - not being used to writing macros - they took me a while to figure out.

OK -- When Fiona (older girl; now 25) was in 3rd grade, her teacher came in one morning and told the class, "You all got a perfect grade on yesterday's homework because MY puppy ate YOUR homework." Much hilarity ensued - probably particularly on the part of the parents who heard the tale (tail?) later.

Jeepers creepers.

So far, history does not record. So tell us, @RitaB -- how much of a hissy fit DID she throw?

Ethics and sincerity: once you can fake those, you have it made... Seriously - thanks for the link. But my problem with most "ethics" courses is that anyone NOT ethical can fake their way through them - and the ones who are ethical don't need them. UMass Tax School has a guy who does this portion of their annual tax school and he's very good: he shows where the slippery slope can start between helping long-standing clients and going too far. Usually using situations that sound normal until you add in a very believable twist. Sometimes left-out details that one would not usually think to ask a long-standing client about - then he goes through the clues that should get you poking around some more.

My husband and my older daughter get those. OUCH!!!!!

SSHH!!!! Do NOT give bozos like this any ideas -- they will take it as a serious suggestion!

On a related topic, in our copious free time we should go through every post that @RitaB has ever made and extract all her gems. We could put 'em in a book to sell to fellow accountants and get her into that higher tax bracket she talks about!

Rita, have I told you recently that I LOVE you?!?!

I am finishing up 1099's and W-2's for clients. One drop-off so far (self-employed and he owes me stuff so I haven't looked at it yet). The one other appointment I had postponed as he has NO documents yet. Three clients with partial documents sent in (my assistant, his fiancee, my younger daughter). Lots of engagement letters coming in. Lots of questions from business clients. A few QB files have arrived for business clients - haven't looked at them yet past getting W-2 and 1099 info out of them. We don't have Dec bank/credit card statements (mainly the latter as they are not month-end but mid-month dates) to finish recon's yet so no point. Personally I am thrilled that the season is starting a bit slowly. Gwen (out of college, working, but living at home while saving money for her own place) came down with mono late last week and I have reverted to mom-nurse as she is too exhausted to do much of anything for herself. Indications last night of the acute phase winding down, thankfully. Poor kid; she has been SO sick. My last year's notes show lots of papers starting to come in the first week of February but I have had no calls yet from those folks. Don't have notes on when people called to make those early appointments, though.

I lost it at "Lots of Things" myself. No dog, though.

at this

Exactly. My reading of the IRS rules is that if one employee met the test, you owe on all. (Plus we had the whole issue of she would have been easily over the $1900 had she not been out sick for two weeks.)

Well, exactly. There are two employees. One earned well over $10K; the other just under the $1900 limit. I am getting errors through AccuWage *and* the SSA online entry system both, because of this $1800-wage-earner. So what can I do to file these &^%$# W-2's?

I have a client who has household employees (nanny x2). No problem with first employee but second one - who started late in the year - did NOT work as many hours as had been anticipated so her wages were under $1900 for the year (by just over a hundred bucks). However -- we had been withholding socsec and medi tax anticipating that she *would* have wages over $1900. Can't pass the Accu-Wage testing due to those withheld taxes. Also can't enter W-2 info on the SSA site; same issue. What to do? Put in $0 socsec/medi wages and taxes for her and have the client pay her the withheld amounts? Or is there something else?

I am SO with you on this one!! Play the &^%$# muzak and SHUT UP with the interruptions. If my call was important you would answer it and not hang up on me after an hour. Until then, I can get on with something else while waiting far better without the constant interruptions.

I have also seen families torn apart contesting wills. (One reason I recommend to all clients who have specific wishes to get a good attorney on board and do everything through trusts: cannot be challenged after decease nearly as easily/successfully.) Any way you slice it, this is going to be hard on your folks and then/also hard on you. All I can reiterate is get a good attorney NOT connected to the family on their side to fulfill THEIR wishes, and tell the whiners to go suck an egg. (If you wish to add specifics such as a salmonella-infected egg, that is your prerogative.) Like SFA mentioned, whatever is received is a gift that did not have to be given to them. If they can't see it that way they need to be spanked. With adults it is usually better to do that verbally (the ones who need it most would probably enjoy it given physically, so let's not go there).

Glad to hear that YOU are doing well. Your clients will either train this guy or find someone else. If they try to blame you - fie on them! None of them would blink before walking away from such a strenuous commitment when faced with a life-threatening illness.

When the girls were little, I used to use the phrase "boy cow poopies."

And the Bryl-Cream, too! Blech!