Catherine

_Excellent_ response, Jack -- and one I can certainly learn from!

Latest press release about a Mass. Supreme Court filing http://www.lc.org/index.cfm?PID=14100&PRID=1433 as well as a note smuggled by Justina to her parents http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/04/15/shocking-note-apparently-penned-by-justina-pelletier-to-her-parents/

On another board, someone has pointed out a couple of times that if you double your fees and lose half your clients you'll get the same money for half the work. I haven't had the courage to go *that* far. Then there was the story of the guy with the real, problem-PITA client. $1,250/year for a business return and they drove him nuts with calls and questions and more. So he followed the advice and doubled their rate. $2,500 and they still royally annoyed him. $5,000 and they irked him. $10,000/year and they're his favorite clients! And they pay - no questions asked, and timely.

Rita you are welcome to come here for a visit!

Silly Gail! If one of my clients ever gets me THAT riled (impossible; I would fire their ass and toss 'em bodily out the door long before) I would want the pleasure of using all the nasty things I learned in 15 years of martial arts study. Hands. Elbows. Feet. Knees. Joint-locking. Fan. Flute. Spear. Tee hee. (Can you see the results here of someone who was always really tiny and who got beaten up by the bullies at school far too often, and who decided, "Ain't gonna happen again, no way, no how!" -- Haven't had to defend my self since about 8th grade but if I ever do *I* will be the one walking away at the end.)

My husband won't move. Grrr.

You have to input it yourself. On the EF info page. For the most part it is the first four letters of the "main" name. So "The Mary Jones Estate" would have a name control "JONE" while "93 Main St Realty Trust" would be either "93" or "93MA" and "QuikBucks Corporation" would be "QUIK."

Unless it's an emergency (by MY standards, not merely a lack of planning ahead), I will do NO taxes the rest of this week. Cleaned 1/4 of my kitchen and put away the heavy comforter, and there are plans to bake scones later. Ate lunch leisurely, and I may take a nap later. Didn't realize until yesterday how exhausted I am; leaving my regular Tuesday accounting client I was so tired I was dizzy. Came back and napped and felt better.

Yes, the thank you video as well. A class act, all around!

Time lapse video snippets of a young girl, from birth to age 14, taken weekly by her dad. The really interesting part is in the toddler/preschool years, where, in various weeks, you can see echoes of both the infant and the young woman-to-come in the small child. http://www.kutv.com/custom/viral/?wap=0%2F/

I gotta do that, too... my letter currently says ALL info received BY March 20th, or you can _expect_ an extension. Too many people race to get me one or two items thinking that "holds their spot" and it does NOT. I won't bill extra for extensions (since they help my work flow), and my assistant sends an email to everyone unheard-from at the end of March asking (1) are you coming back and if so (2) shall we e-file your no-info extension or have you mailed in something yourself? But putting in the part about not paying the late payment penalties or interest is good.

I got my card last week; yes, it was really nice! Plus a _$400_ discount for renewing early... I'm just waiting to decide if I want the CD too.

and this is why I like all my extensions and returns in days ahead of time... TECHNICAL INFORMATION RELEASE 14-4 Filing Extension for 2013 Personal Income Tax Returns The Department of Revenue (Department) is issuing this Technical Information Release for filers of personal income tax returns. This TIR announces a 3-day automatic extension of the filing deadline, until midnight, Friday, April 18, 2014, for Massachusetts personal income taxpayers to file their 2013 personal income tax returns and to make the accompanying tax payments. This 3-day automatic extension also applies to personal income tax extension requests and the payments accompanying such requests. Recent technical issues in the Department's electronic filing systems may have affected the ability of a small number of personal income taxpayers to timely file and pay their taxes. (These technical issues are unrelated to the so-called "heartbleed" virus. Electronic filing through commercial software programs has not been affected.) Accordingly, the Department is extending the filing and payment deadline until midnight, Friday, April 18, 2014, for all Massachusetts personal income taxpayers filing their 2013 annual returns or making extension requests for their 2013 annual returns, whether such filings are made on paper or electronically. This automatic extension applies only to taxpayers filing 2013 Form 1 Resident Income Tax Returns and 2013 Form 1 NR/PY Nonresident/Part-Year Resident Tax Returns, extension requests associated with those returns, and to the payment of the tax amount due with those returns or extension requests. Extension requests that are accompanied by no payment, or by payments of $5,000 or more, are still required to be filed electronically. This automatic extension of the filing deadline does not apply to any other tax types. Further, this automatic extension does not apply to personal income tax estimated payments for 2014 personal income tax, or to personal income tax withholding returns.

I would send them all, now.

Nothing is even as far as budding yet.

KC, where did the article come from?

My phones are forwarded to Ruby Receptionists and will be until the end of the month. Hoorah!

We have beautiful springs here in the NE. And if we're lucky, they happen on a weekend when people can enjoy them. I think ours for this year was yesterday, though. Tonight and tomorrow we go back to winter briefly and then I'm sure we'll go back to alternating between freezing and broiling, until we stick to just broiling.

Well, that's what they want 'em to think. We get them back, years later, after they've gotten the IRS notice about that mutual fund "exchange" (=sale/purchase) their broker talked them in to that they didn't report.

Well, I missed it by 2 minutes because I I had my mouse hand on a stack of papers, it went numb, and I stopped to shake it out. Ah, well. So now I can move on to my non-tax payroll clients, depositing the checks folks have paid me over the last week, paying the golks that pruned my trees two weeks ago, and the like. I *will* be here over the "off" season - see you all 'round and good luck finishing up!

My prediction: 8:55AM today. Last client dropped off their 8878 through the mail slot last night. I need to check my email for the "yes use the bank info from last year" note, enter the signature date, and push "go!" It's only not yet done because I am hanging here at the online water cooler instead of opening my email.

I saw the moon before the eclipse as the cloud cover was getting heavier. Will look up some pix on the internet today. Yes, Lion, it was getting warm in my office too - so I tried to open the window and the maintenance crews were out in the neighborhood with those frikken leaf blowers. Anytime the phone rang I had to close the window. Grrr. Today mild with rain, tonight cold with snow. Spring in New England!

Nope. MA return _always_ allows the personal exemption. Make sure you fill in the MA Schedule HC (health care). He probably did not get the 1099-HC but if he has his insurance card you can get the company name & subscriber number off that, and I have the EIN's of all the MA-approved insurance companies.

Took tech support, too -- but the engineer in me understood the issue.

My "vacation" is to put the phones (back on) forwarding to Ruby Receptionists, and spend part of the day catching up on chores, part in my garden, and part sorting accumulated detritus. Will do that for a week or two. We actually take a one-week vacation every year. Bought a time share up in Stowe VT in the early 80's and have been going just about every summer since. Great vacation spot.