Catherine

Why else do you think I picked him?

We got in under the wire! Phew! Thanks again, KC.

tell the 17 year old to claim the 18 year old then sit back and watch the fireworks

You have been given two alternatives for sending in returns and each has its own merits. If you decide to send all of them in together, I recommend "sandwiching" the returns with two pieces of printed paper - both sides printing facing OUT. Text should be in the biggest darkest type that will fit the page, and be something like "Forms 1040 for FOUR years enclosed - 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013" - and make sure each individual return is binder-clipped together so pages cannot be mixed. I have done that, and it seems to be the best way for them not merely to process the return on top and ignore all the others.

Again I can NOT thank you enough. I was very confused last December when I went to renew and all the verbiage said "4, 5, and 6" were the ending numbers up for renewal; my records said it was time. I was going to try again this coming Nov/Dec -- except I would not have gotten that far as my status would have lapsed in (gasp!) March!!

THANK YOU!!! I tried renewing in December and got a message that I wasn't due for another YEAR - but I am in that class.

Hi Joan -- If she files MA part-year or non-resident they pretty much don't care; the Schedule HC does not get submitted with a Form 1 NR/PY. MassHealth (and ALL the other state-involved plans) does NOT send out the form 1099-HC that all "civilian" plans are required to send. The insurance card and the client's word of when covered is the substitute, for the most part. Sometimes you will see a determination letter that says when coverage started - but I've never seen one that states when it ended. No form is available online to my knowledge but she could try the Health Connector (MA state health ins site) to see; that site has been shut down periodically lately and I forget why. Don't know about the automatic requalification as of Dec 31; I know they want to see annual MA tax forms but that's not 'til April; perhaps they assume 'til then? Hope that helped.

I just posted some pictures to my facebook page; I believe they are public, so anyone can see them. https://www.facebook.com/catherine.white.796/media_set?set=a.10203734001613513.1073741829.1322420821&type=1&pnref=story

I concur!

So far here we've got us an ANSI standard winter snowstorm/blizzard. Windy, much stronger gusts, about 20" but hard to tell for sure because of all the blowing and drifting. The wind is scouring the (very small, light, fluffy) flakes off roofs. I did have some fun watching some idiot woman driving despite the travel ban. She got stuck (several times!) in her 2WD car on my poorly plowed, deceptively uphill street. A couple of plow drivers got her unstuck and on her way. Couple of teen boys came by asking if we needed help shoveling (they came by last year too and did an excellent job with some nasty gloppy heavy snow). I sent them to an elderly client around the corner who really needs the help. His children usually come but they can't get here until after the travel ban lifts. Nantucket has 12.000 homes without power. Another 1,000 elsewhere. They're still getting gusts over 70mph out there. Probably no more than 45mph gusts here. The wind is a dull roar. A few plows are going by occasionally. We're just taking it easy. More as appropriate.

I will check in as I can, assuming we have power tomorrow. If we do lose power, we have a fireplace with a clean flue, a good bit of burnable wood, and ways to heat food as well. We surely would not worry about stuff in the fridge and freezer; in extremis it could be packed in clean trash bins filled with snow. Thank you for all your good wishes; I am sending them myself to friends and family members who live closer to the coast and on Cape Cod.

Here is a NOAA satellite image of the developing storm. http://www.nnvl.noaa.gov/MediaDetail2.php?MediaID=1667&MediaTypeID=1

whee-ha! just a couple of isolated flakes here at the moment (snow, not people ) but that will change later this afternoon and evening. 20" - 30" expected with gale winds (hurricane force at the coast). http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=42.43812686236589&lon=-71.23451975248378&site=all&smap=1#.VMaH5P7F-a8

We took down the flag out front (but not the one out back as it's much harder to get to; we'll cross our fingers on that one). Local farm stand has a sign that they will be closed tomorrow. My office will be closed tomorrow. My Tuesday accounting client has cancelled. We'll hunker down and do our best - thanks for the good wishes!

Because my husband won't agree to move to NH.

Not acceptable, says the state of Massachusetts. File cabinets and desks must have locks; ALL client files must be in and locked whenever you are away. They do NOT care if you are the only one in the building, or that you are locking the door to your office while you dash to your car for the second load of office supplies from staples that you left for later, or that your office is locked. Plus encryption on ALL disks and drives. Plus NO ssn's on paper copies. Plus password-protected pdf's of ALL documents on CD's given to clients. The usual one-size-fits-none regulations: what might make sense in a huge company with cubicles does not make sense for me and vice-versa. The intent is to "prevent" identity theft. They could have merely said, "if someone's id gets stolen and it's traced to you, you're dead meat" and let me (and all others) figure how to protect the data. Instead, they have to micro-manage every paperclip.

I belong to NAEA and NATP. Certificates (along with my EA certificate and one other that I don't recall off-hand) are up on the wall in my office. Along with a gorgeous photo of me with my kung fu double broadswords.

The taxpayer is cash basis. I will issue a 1099-MISC to the vendor. However, I think the expenses are invalid as deductions as those three checks (one big, two tiny) are now too old to be cashed; they were all written in March 2014. But I will dump that portion of the problem into the tax accountant's lap and let him wrangle over it. Many thanks to all! I was thinking myself around in circles and now think I have it straight. As usual, the way I first thought before I started second-guessing myself into confusion.

The offer stands -- and I can pretty much guarantee that you would NOT be the most disorganized client I have, by a substantial margin. The worst? Therapists. Universally horrible/clueless/utterly disorganized with money. I have never had a therapist client who has *not* been through bankruptcy AT LEAST once. (edited for spelling error)

Very good point.

LOL -- the vendor in question, in this case, is the tax accountant. I would *hope* he reports all his income!!

Go to ebay. Buy a new, registerable, version of Office that is two or three versions old, for small money. You're golden. I still run Office 2003 on my home office Windows 7 machine. For the new office/new machines I bought Office 2007 - brand new and registerable! - from ebay for like $45.

Got it in one. And to Pacun -- nope; those check stubs are in the check ledger (paper! ye olde desk checks in a binder).

Standing offer from me as well and I DO know about taxes in Maine. (fyi, Eric)

One I've never seen before. Small partnership. Three checks written over the course of the year - all in the same month -- never cleared the bank. BUT the vendors all got their money. It's like the bank paid the checks but never charged them to the client's bank account. The client will talk to the bank and see if they have a clue. What I'm left with is a dilemma: one vendor gets a 1099-MISC. He *got* the $1400 or so bucks in that "uncleared" check but my clients never "lost" the money. (The other two checks were for less than $150 total; not an issue.) So do I include that amount that the vendor really DID get, on his 1099-MISC? Or not, since my client has no out-of-pocket for that amount? Or send a 1099-MISC but tell the client it's not a deduction on their return (that I don't do; just their pre-tax accounting as their guy doesn't use QB) because they're not out the cash?