Catherine

Good luck recovering from the stones! My husband just went through that in mid March. Just awful; you have all my sympathy!

YOU get the PIN. You need info from your prior-year return, so it's you and not someone making up a number or who stole basic info. No return can be e-filed with your ssn without that PIN.

Here's a new article that claims we think better when standing. http://phys.org/news/2015-04-feet-literally.html

We should ALL get those IRS-issued e-filing five-digit PINs. I got them for my family; prevents your ssn from being used by others. http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/Electronic-Filing-PIN-Request

Tom, you are absolutely right and there is absolutely NO consequence to f*@%ing over people's lives, finances, and life plans. They DO hire for "diversity" and *are* protected by unions and it seems the only criterion NOT utilized is competence. And that problem extends far beyond universities but there does seem to be quite a high concentration in that environment. And it cascades; the competent people leave in disgust because of all the remediation and extra work that falls on them. The best can always leave, so those left behind exhibit a lower and lower overall level of ability.

Hope your weekend is better!

I have a day care lady whose former preparer did not take any depreciation on her house/place of business. My plan is to put it all on 3115 this year as a section 481(a) adjustment. She is still in business. Don't know if that helps answer your question - but you'll at least know you have company!

Ditto and likewise! My daughter got sent an official (but generic) "information on graduation logistics" email from her school -- replete with grammatical mistakes a 7th grade student should not have made. Neither of us was impressed. No, I take that back -- we *were* impressed -- just not the way they would have wanted us to be.

Wonderful!!!!

Congratulations, Elrod! Please stop by for a chat with us; we will miss you!

Sure did; I agreed with Senator Bernie Sanders (VT; Socialist party) on something today, too.

There is a difference between being able to *navigate* and being able to *tolerate* institutionalized idiocy mixed with incompetence. I have NO patience for that kind of crap; there are far too many important things I should spend my time on.

Anyone interested will find all *kinds* of worthwhile reading on the subject of college costs at market-ticker.org. Just put "college" in the search box on the right, sit back and read the fireworks.

Ditto for me; CWU for W-2's and 1099's. QuickBooks for accounting/bookkeeping unless the client wants Peachtree/Sage50/whatever they're calling it this week.

so here are some oldies but goodies. http://www.hrtwarming.com/these-are-actual-exchanges-that-took-place-in-courts-6-is-priceless/

Oh jeezel luizel do NOT get me started. I am SO sick of the KSC entrenched bureaucratic incompetence!! Thank heavens Gwen is graduating next month as I have just about HAD it with them.

I have sent clients those e-file ack's for extensions and had banks REJECT them -- but they'll take the 4868 with NO proof of filing. They are drones looking to check a box; do NOT ask them to think because for the most part they don't know how.

GREAT commercial, Rita!

The important part is that, when asked point blank, the leasing party LIED. I still think that is unconscionable. And deceptive. And if my clients ask about buying versus leasing, I will make sure to point out that there WILL be a lien on their property for the duration of the lease. I also note that when my husband and I were given the spiel about solar panels (being pushed by our town), there was NO mention of a lien on the property. We chose to buy - and apparently were the FIRST people this company had dealt with that bought instead of leased. I wonder how many of them will be *very* unhappily surprised when they go to refinance or sell?

The point is, if they are flat-out stating "this is NOT a lien" -- but it actually IS a lien, then THAT is deception and fraud. And the entire POINT of posting this was so if clients ASK US we have yet another data point for them to consider.

Eric, THANK YOU for taking such good care of us!

Very true. But not for pricing a return based on the complexity of the return. Perhaps MDEA is guilty of nothing more than slightly sloppy speech (and aren't we all, at times?), actually meaning depending on how complex that EITC return is. I certainly have seen some (W-2 income, no kids) that were WAY simpler to deal with than others (SE income, kids, and more). The simpler ones did not cost as much as the more complex. So, MDEA, Bulldog Tom makes a good point and perhaps you need to do some thinking about some aspects of your pricing structure. Or not.

Have had folks try this before -- lots of paperwork with NO result whatsoever. (And in the most egregious case I know of, the "agent" is still working for the same firm - and still shafting people - more than a decade later. I know it's *supposed* to work, to have an effect, etc., but it doesn't.)

My dental hygienist had a tale of being snookered into selling mutual funds to buy into an annuity. Rep told her it was an "exchange" so they were totally blind-sided by the capital gains. I did not have the heart to tell her that the annuity was probably a sucker's bet, too (knowing what I know of her situation), that made tons for the rep and won't do her much good at all. Plus transferring future capital gains to ordinary income tax rates; ugh.

I have no idea if this is some new scam -- but at least you could check the address to send to and see if it is a known NJ taxation dept address. If it is, it's far more likely to be legit. But I would recommend to any of my clients to hold off sending unless/until they can confirm with the state. My two cents' worth, ymmv.