Catherine

States - forgot about those! Whole slew of states - MA, RI, NH, CT, NY, NC, NM, ME... lots of NR and PY returns. Have to watch NY to stay under the 10-return limit. Added another this year but also lost one; client gave up a NY consulting gig as he's too busy. So I'm still under with a bit of wiggle room.

Ok -- GREAT news. It got itself into a snit with the "sleep" mode and I had to do some hi-jinks with discharging capacitors. Booted fine and hardware checks out OK. Will run some more advanced diagnostics late this week. But it all seems to work fine now. Phew!! I did spend the morning in "safe" mode extracting all my files so I could work from the other machine if need be. And I learned how to back up and restore from networked drives using Drake so that's good too. Oh, hallelujah! Thanks for the prayers - they certainly helped!

~165 returns not including the early-season W-2s and 1099s. Complex individuals and about a couple dozen mix of trusts, partnerships, and small S- and C-corporations. I rarely have a return under 60 pages. Some go over 100. This year's assistant was only good for document scanning and filing (which was still a huge help). Last year the kid from Accountemps (with a totally useless master's in acctg; couldn't read a balance sheet or P&L, and only learned to reconcile a checking account because I taught him) was up for properly printing out a pdf'd return, keeping the single-side and duplex pages split right. OTOH, Drake's printing is so fast that wasn't nearly so bad a problem.

My grandmother used to say, "Cuando Palma pioggia, Pascua e bella" which means, "when it rains on Palm Sunday, Easter will be beautiful." However today had both rain and sun, so I'm not sure if that means good weather next Sunday or not...

"The wages of sin are death, but by the time taxes are taken out, it's just sort of a tired feeling." -- Paula Poundstone

Pam -- prayers for your husband (and for you as well) for a full and speedy recovery. I have a new one to add to the mix today: at 1AM, my computer crashed and standard restart did NOT work. Was too exhausted to try safe mode and haven't had the courage to try yet. I had to give a talk today (timing was horrid but I wasn't in charge of the schedule) so was planning to take today off anyway but I am more than a tad bit concerned about what happens in the morning when I try to restart the problem computer (my MAIN one, of course!) in the morning. In the meantime, I have clients whining about "do I need to make a payment?" (gee, shoulda asked me TWO WEEKS AGO when I filed the extensions you requested) and "I didn't get an email that my state return was accepted" -well Drake doesn't send an automatic email with state returns, just federal -- and those records are on the other machine. It will all wait until I get that machine up and running. Fortunately I can file my last remaining extensions over here on this machine.

THIS one I can answer: "Why are there interstate freeways in Hawaii?" It has nothing to do with travelling between states. It means the highway meets the specifications for the Eisenhower Insterstate Highway System in terms of grade, width, height of overpasses, tightness of curves -- -all so that they can be used to transport ICBM's (Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles). It's a standards designation from the height of the Cold War.

I am ............................relieved. Two ready-to file's left, both to be picked up Monday. Six extensions ready to go but waiting for 8878's or bank info for payments. Phew! I can go give my talk tomorrow afternoon (yeah, I know, timing is horrid but I didn't set the bleeping/frikkin date) without being utterly frantic. Hallelujah!

Cutting board and small hammer (with the screwdrivers in the handle) lives on the conference table all season; great for flattening recalcitrant staples including new client's prior-year returns. Can also be used as a small child toy (on the floor) - they love banging things. Penknife in top drawer of each desk, for the envelopes and packages that come sealed to within an inch of their lives. Pliers to join the crowd; too many broken staples pain-stakingly pulled by hand this year as in any one instance that is faster that way than going down to my toolbox.

So save the sign for the meeting a couple of months from now; don't include it with a sympathy note.

File extensions, send a sympathy card, and include a note that you will contact them in a month or six weeks to finish up.

Happy Birthday, KC!!!

Ouch!! Should we ask what brought about this public service announcement and how long you will take to get back the use of your finger? My main stapler problem has been periodic bending of the big heavy-duty ones before they get through the paper -- on one side only (and the side is not consistent so it's not the stapler). Then I get to spend several minutes wrestling with the mucked-up staple, dismembering it (they're brittle) and extricating the mortal remains without ruining my nicely-printed return. Sigh.

I had a return extension yesterday that the state rejected. I left it be, to deal with today. Never got there -- DRAKE support called ME to let me know the state (only) rejected the extension (some stupid spurious character in a state field), and wanted to walk me through fixing it. WOW.

Happy Birthday ATX Community Forum with special thanks to Eric and KC!!!!!!

Reminds me of the old joke - Why is Oklahoma so windy? Because Kansas blows and Texas sucks. The map bears it out!

Wore out. Took an hour and a half this afternoon and ripped & shredded paper - mainly envelopes (requests for donations) and magazines that have piled up since mid-Jan while I've been too busy to deal. Tripped over the pile one too many times, plus just could NOT face those tax screens for one more minute and needed a break. Now for a snack and back to it -- if not refreshed, then at least having done *something* that felt useful that was not taxes!

Guy emails me this morning looking for a new copy of his 2011 return. Still owes almost $1,000 in back accounting, bookkeeping, and QuickBooks work, some going back to Feb 2013. Told him - by email - sure; ONLY upon prepayment of $40 for processing and mailing the prior-year return - and BTW, unless you start making payment arrangements on this past due amount, it goes to a collection agency next month. So far haven't heard back. Fine with me! But I'll still send him to collections....

i also want them to show up when they say. Delaying lunch because wife calls to say, "He's on the way and will be there in 10 minutes" and he shows 50 minutes later is NOT acceptable. Then the lady who promised to call before she came did not and I heard the car door as I was finishing my last bite of my much-delayed lunch. then they guy who unexpectedly arrived with 8879's when I was in the bathroom trying to fish an eyelash out of my eye - durned near stabbed myself with my own finger when the bell rang. Argh!!

Some of these "beware of your tax preparer" scare-monger articles also mark as "errors" using a 1040 instead of a 1040-A or 1040-EZ. Well, I don't like those short forms and don't bother with them. Far as I'm concerned, it's not an error; it's a choice. An error would be using a 1040-EZ for a non-eligible return. Garbage.

If there is ever a query, send the IRS the decedent's cemetery's address. Include the plot number...

I copied what I posted directly from a continuing ed class I took about a year ago, specifically on the tax treatment of ESPPs, ISOs, and RSUs, presented by a specialist in those areas. I have referred to that book and its worksheets dozens of times. No AMT income until the year the stock is sold. For ISOs only. ESPPs and RSUs get different treatment. Half the battle, sometimes, is figuring out *which* of these you have from the paperwork presented. Got some this year with the option grant and exercise dates complete gibberish -- and I mean gibberish; one date was given as 8./00/3772. With the period after the 8.

ISOs are odd beasts. NO income included when option is granted; when option is exercised; and no payroll taxes are assessed. ISOs get reported on Form 3921 (lucky you, it seems your client gave that to you). When the stock is eventually sold, the difference between amount paid and sale price is capital gain or loss. Nothing earth-shattering so far. When an ISO is exercised and sold within the same tax year, there is NO AMT preference. When an ISO is exercised and held to a future year, any excess of the sock's FMV over the option price must be added to the AMT taxable income for that year. There is an AMT basis adjustment that piggybacks on this. But if your client did not SELL that stock the same year (ad it sounds like he did not), then you have no AMT taxable income until the year of sale. Warning him about this future concern may help him decide how much to sell and when. Good luck!

You're welcome, Rita, for the expression used. It really does fit, doesn't it? I have one client -- intelligent woman, otherwise -- who plays STUPID every year about every aspect of her taxes - until she gets her review copy, at which point she has (WRONG!!) suggestions for a dozen or three items. So then she needs placating and explanations. Then she goes back to bone-stupid with signature pages. Instructions from me clearly state SIGN AND DATE the signature forms and return them to me for e-filing. So this year she does that, PLUS sends back the signature pages of her federal and 2 state returns, signed, "in case I need those too" along with some other garbage that was completely unnecessary. What did she NOT send -- payment. (That came separately, a day or two later, WITH of course a copy of my bill as if I don't know what the bleeping money is for or what I charged her!) whimper whimper whimper Whimper

Beautiful!