Catherine

Joan -- sympathies on your kitty; I hope she recovers quickly and fully!

I just set up an auto-respond to my email - copy below - and I am considering adding Judy's "piecemeal means bottom of the pile" idea, we'll see how badly people tick me off today. Dear Client: Please be assured that you have *not* been forgotten, and your tax returns are in progress. However, if we took the time to respond to each email from clients "just checking in" we would be unable to finish anyone's returns. In order to expedite your own returns, if you receive an email from us with an information request, please read it carefully and respond only once with all the requested information. Piecemeal and/or incomplete responses slow down your returns considerably.

Went to a Passover Seder at my church tonight where the pastor is a Messianic Jew. Wow, did I learn stuff there! Anyone interested I'll tell them all about it after 4/15. Will definitely be at church early Sunday to practice for the Hallelujah chorus. Work on Sunday -- probably not. No appointments *definitely*. I've been trying really hard to set aside this one day every week.

I find myself in the same boat as so many folks here and doing way more of ^this -- not replying yet. What really fries me is the carefully bulleted (like * not like "bang" - with my hobby I feel I must specify lol) list I send out -- and get back one or maybe two of the five or seven items listed. Thank you for answers to items a and b; I am still waiting for answers on c, d, e, and f. Thank you for answer e, I am still waiting for answers c, d, and f..... et cetera. Or the emails that say, "I don't have this yet, just thought I'd let you know," -- I don't CARE. Send me the info when you have it and other wise LEAVE ME ALONE so I can get something DONE!!!! Argh! What a season this has been.

I always do anyway (and don't charge), 'cuz it starts the SOL for the year. Takes me less than 5 minutes per; federal only and no e-file with no taxable income.

I still have clients that use ledger paper and their records are some of the best I get. Why is it that people who can NOT balance a checkbook think they can run a business and do the bookkeeping all by their lonesome?!?!

Volunteer coaching or possibly transporting referees or coaches or others needed for the game. Else nope.

I have actually seen W-2's identical from one year to the next! My husband and a couple of others are volunteer coaches for the MIT Collegiate Pistol Team. But due to weird rules they must also be "employees" of MIT. So they $600/year each (which all of them then donate back to the team, as the coaches' salary comes out of the team's account). $0 fed withholding, the same $29 for state withholding, the same socsec/medi... every year, for each of them. VERY odd circumstances.

Jack -- deepest sympathies to you and to your friend's family. Travel safely, my friend.

2012 just about did me in, too. Took the leap and frankly, when I go back to ATX (that I loved SO much) for whatever reason (lots of that this year with 3115 issues - all my notes are in the program as comments) I find the format is not as wonderful as memory makes it, and I am astounded at how long it takes for some portions to load - and that is NOT with the 2012 program!

A couple of years ago I had a kid who wanted tax experience work for me. Had a Master's in Accounting. Too dense to pour sand out of a boot with the directions printed on the heel. This year (actually, last September; I wanted a chance to vett him first) I hired a kid who was a math major. Never finished his degree as he ran out of money, and wanted something that at least started as part-time while he figured out what his next steps were (laid off from his last job). He is *fabulous*. Works hard, understands everything the first time, asks questions that shows he has been thinking, and almost never makes the same mistake twice (and most of his mistakes are where *my* instructions were lacking or ambiguous). God willin' and the creek don't rise, he will take over my business in 5-8 years. So think outside the box. Take a chance on someone without the "right" degree (or even any degree) if they (1) know math, (2) understand they know NOTHING about the tax business, and (3) are willing to learn.

Many have said that the 1041 is the weakest part of the Drake package. Can't say I disagree with that assessment -- but I'll take it over the missing fixed assets, update issues, and corrupted backup files that folks are reporting as continuing issues with ATX this year.

I didn't get one either and now I feel all left out! Pout.

Thank you, Elrod!

15 unusual sets of animal friends; multiple pix of each. LOVE how the eyes are so similar in #4. http://fellowshipoftheminds.com/2015/03/27/15-unusual-animal-friendships-that-will-melt-your-heart/

Hi folks -- NO rush on this one; I'm putting these folks on extension. Couple inherited oil and gas interests from parent of one of them, and this is the first time I am seeing anything this complicated. There are three companies that sent 1099's for royalties. Withheld tax in ND. Severances and depletion and all kinds of arcane weirdness in page after page of spreadsheets and listings. After 4/15 but before I attempt this one, I would like to read me a good primer on how to deal with this. So when I go back to all these documents, I have some idea of what I am looking for and how to treat it once I find it. And yes, I already have the IRS pub's downloaded to their file. What I want is something that makes sense, not IRS gobbledygook. Thanks!

Still have no desire to chew; it's all too much effort. So I had a chocolate frappe (that's milkshake to you folks outside New England) for lunch!

Watch for corrections to basis, too. Many times one of the addendum pages on the K-1 has corrections to basis that need to be incorporated.

I had a client once say to me, "I don't think you need to know that" and I handed his papers back to him. Told him "You're right; I don't need to know that, because I am not doing this return. I do NOT ask unnecessary questions."

My assistant just left, the pick-up clients aren't here yet, and I am enjoying a quiet office myself. Root canal went fine but I still want another nap and don't feel much like talking. At least I can think now! Couldn't last evening.

Microsoft will occasionally send you a "warning" that your update settings need to be changed. Microsoft WANTS you to update automatically. I do not and never have - it's the first thing I change. Too many times one of their "updates" breaks something else. I wait a day or three and make sure there are no reports of "latest update causes Adobe Reader to become non-functional" or whatever. THEN I deign to install. So when you make the change and then see that message - ignore it.

I had a *wonderful* nap for a couple of hours and took it easy tonight. No tax work; I finished reading a book in beta (out for edits and commentary but close to done) for someone, added my final comments, and sent it off. And I also had the most delicious cup of tea and slice of well-buttered toast this world has ever seen. Ready for bed now! Tomorrow is going to be a long day.

Want to share the secret? I have one on my to-do list where I might need to do the same thing. Thanks!

And I survived my root canal but need a nap before I look at *anything* to do with taxes.

I tell my clients that I will *not* rush to finish their return just to make the deadline; that I will take the time to do it right and if that means an extension then that's what it means. I've had a few clients who worried it would make them more likely to be audited - they calm down when I tell them a return that has been properly prepared does *not* increase the chances -- rather the other way around! This year, anyone who fusses will also be informed of ( a ) delays due to all the %$#@ snow, ( b ) delays getting papers *to* me because we were all too busy shoveling and recovering from shoveling, and ( c ) my unexpected mid-season dental work. Anyone who gets in a huff can go somewhere else next year.