Catherine

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.

I have a fondness for hardware, too -- but I like the ones that go "BANG!". I keep hoping for a cannon for the front yard....

I think you are correct and the W-2 is wrong. Pre-tax payments lower taxable wages but not socsec wages or medi wages.

Joan feel better!! I am *not* looking forward to the root canal I will be having tomorrow afternoon -- but I would rather that than have my back go out! (Plus it's a front tooth so only one root.)

I had an older couple as clients for years. First time they came to me (in response to an IRS letter; as I recall, the IRS turned out to be wrong...) he had calculated their estimated tax payments (by hand) to within $16 of their actual final tax bill. They are both gone now but I remember them fondly.

All my elderly clients provide me with detailed lists of medical and charitable payments, neatly listed and totaled by hand without calculators. There is never a mistake.

Nah; those were the folks a couple of days ago looking for cheap fast last minute returns for FAFSA filings.

Dear Client, When you sell stock that is spun-off from or merged with another stock you own that was itself acquired from a spin-off, I can NOT figure out basis for you without ( a ) the date you bought the original, ( b ) the number of shares you originally bought, and ( c ) if you have sold any in the interim. If you can only narrow the purchase date down to a 6-month range because you are missing statements, I will use the *lowest* historical price during that time frame. I will charge you through the nose for this work. Instead, why don't you either track and provide your own bleeping stock basis (c'mon; you both have advanced degrees in sciences, I KNOW you can figure this out), or at LEAST do the online research on the spinoffs and mergers and give me the best source data you can? Or I can just use zero as the basis....

I would still call the police. Some of these scum have called in fake "murder in progress" calls to terrorize people for NOT paying. Calling the cops at least makes it far LESS likely that they send the SWAT team out to your house because of the "hostage situation in progress."

What IS it today with people with Indian subcontinent accents calling and looking for walk-in tax prep for FAFSA forms done immediately? Only today!?!?

Do you have caller ID? She could answer any unknown callers by saying, "Gould's Morgue; you stab 'em we slab 'em!" Or she could just think of doing that.. sometimes it's almost as much fun without the possibility of saying that to an IRS agent.

Only thing I can think of is HRB did not include any of her earnings; just added an extra exemption to the return.

and this one

While it is never any of the folks who use that phrase, I have a number of people who come awfully darned close to the same amount to charity year after year. With receipts to back them up.

Shared by a friend: A little boy was doing his math homework. He said to himself, 'Two plus five, that son of a bitch is seven. Three plus six, that son of a bitch is nine....' His mother heard what he was saying and gasped, 'What are you doing?' The little boy answered, 'I'm doing my math homework, Mum.' 'And this is how your teacher taught you to do it?' the mother asked 'Yes,' he answered. Infuriated, the mother asked the teacher the next day, 'What are you teaching my son in math?' The teacher replied, 'Right now, we are learning addition.' The mother asked, 'And are you teaching them to say two plus two, that son of a bitch is four?' After the teacher stopped laughing, she answered, 'What I taught them was, two plus two, THE SUM OF WHICH, is four.'

Janitor Bob, your assumptions are correct. Only amounts exceeding the distributions are eligible for those various deductions and credits. I always report on a Line 21 worksheet and then back it off on a second. As Rita B said (I think it was her) in another thread, even though the worksheets don't transmit it gives *you* a memory trail of what you decided and why. Plus you can always print the worksheet for the client. We all have clients that want to know "where did you put this?" and you can point to the worksheet as proof that you didn't forget something crucial.