Catherine

I want to know where KC got the cool new emoticon!

It is astounding -- there are only a couple of inches, yet person after person after person blindly follows the path and very few try to cut across the ankle-deep un-shoveled parts.

That was wonderful!!!!

Massachusetts can (and sometimes does) reject an extension, after-the-fact, if they decide it wasn't valid for lack of payment at the time it was filed. So they add on more penalties and more interest... and I find it is being used more, as an excuse to steal more money from taxpayers.

Oh, like we have TIME to learn how to get things done!!! (Someone really needs to develop a sarcasm font, y'know?)

At least that is better than not being able to open returns without a non-existent password!

Something similar happened to me -- only with my TCC for transmitting 1099s. Got the number I have been using in 2008 and this year it didn't work. So I called and asked, and they told me that in early Feb I was assigned an entirely new number! That one now works, but (1) no one ever told me (didn't get a letter), and (2) no one knows what happened or why.

Post-meltdown HUGS!!

Went to a continuing ed class a couple years ago - guy specialized in OIC and bankruptcy cases. He said the same folks would come back every few years, in trouble again. One of the folks at the class wanted to know how he could stand to deal with the same problems from the same people time and again - didn't it drive him crazy after a while? He told us that the secret was not to see them as "perpetual problem clients" but rather as "walking annuities" and if nothing else stuck from that class, that phrase did! Attitude -- it's all in the attitude. (Or, at least, lots of it is in the attitude.)

Had a client last year who got me his 2012 1099-MISC vendor numbers in *November* -- almost a year after they were due to be sent out! I charged him triple my usual price, and put it on my bill as "1099-MISC preparation for calendar 2012, $100; additional fee for 1099-MISC preparation out of season, $200" except the numbers were higher than that. Am hoping that for 2013 he gets me the info by -oh, I dunno -- May? At that point, I'll just charge him double. Maybe still triple, depending on how annoying he gets or if I start seeing him as a "walking annuity" instead of a client.

I just read it, and I concur. Please pop over there and read!

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Thank you, KC!

bumping up the queue...

Homeowner's association, taxed as a corporation for various reasons, paid a couple thousand dollar fee as part of an application to be listed on the National Historical Register. The development was one of several designed by Gropius and built in the 1950's. Intangible asset. But is is amortizable, or an expense? It's not a license; it's not a trademark; it doesn't make the place more "salable" (in fact, it puts restrictions in place) -- but it's permanent (=multi-year use) and a couple thousand bucks.

My science training was showing: after my first guess at a rule, the first combo I would have proposed was a disprove combo...

My back has been in knots so I took an hour today to get a massage. THAT was a mini-vacation!

Think we've seen this before but it's still fun:

I think I heard the same joke back in my engineering days -- with an engineer in the spot the accountant holds in this version. Still very funny!

Here's the proper step-by-step procedure for dealing with this one: Acquire a brick. Give said brick to client, and recommend frequent application to head, until, say, August or so. Acquire a nice bottle of your preferred adult beverage. Hide under your desk and sip at the above beverage until the client and his brick are obliterated from your memory. Try again in August! Make the client bring you iced tea and cookies before you will speak to him.

Just remember: after you pull the pin, Mr. Grenade is no longer your friend.

Thank you both!

A chart, with circles and arrows and a paragraph explaining each step. That's what you need to tease this one apart. I'm with mcb39 on the "Huh?!?!" reaction.

For MA you can use whatever status works out best for the client. Not tied to federal. Always good to check, though, as some states are tied. A number of years ago I had a young couple who got married after being in grad school and working and having domicile all over the map. One federal and five state returns, some MFJ some MFS. Figuring out the overall least tax burden on that one had my head spinning in circles!

Thanks for posting the video, KC.