Catherine

People here in MA started panicking after the big blizzard in '78 when the whole state was shut down for a week. I don't get it, myself -- we all have plenty of food in the pantry or cabinets (although possibly not people's favorites - whoopee). As far as the shovels go -- they do break! We replaced a bunch of them after last winter that were well past their "use by" date, and this winter bought another because the one we leave out front for the front walkway has a crack in it. One of these shovelfuls and it's going to let go, and then we'll need the new one that's waiting.

Jack -- My web site file share portal has a place for "public" documents -- I can set up a file and access there. PM, email or call if you want to use that route.

Keep in mind they don't get snow and ice very often and do NOT have the equipment to deal with it. What would be insignificant here in the northern states is a huge deal in places where there are no highway dept piles of sand/salt mix, no trucks to spread it, no plows on stand-by...

Ah, the standard accounting answer -- "it depends!" What was their standard fee? $30? $40? Then the amount over that IS a donation. If their standard fee was $80, no donation. You *might* be able to make a case for the entire amount IF they put in writing that there was no fee for this pet adoption, and gave you a receipt so stating as well as a separate donation receipt. It would be an aggressive stance, probably subject to disclosure. For what tax benefit? $20 less overall tax? This one probably comes under the heading of "not worth attempting" (unless you thought of doing this years ago, in which instance this case is all theoretical, right?).

Because I just love all the posts people make here on the forum. http://www.funnyjunk.com/funny_pictures/3308657/I+LOVE+THIS+POST

However, non-pet-acquisition-related donations of food, bedding, toys, cat litter, etc., to shelters IS a non-cash charitable donation. I have some clients who donate bags of dry food etc. every year to the shelter where they got their pets some years ago. It's a special trip to the pet store, with register receipt and thank you from the shelter.

Slingshot and a pebble.

I am reminded of the wonderful Bill Bryson book, "In A Sunburnt Country" where he discusses the various dangerous items in Australia. Animal, vegetable, mineral -- land and sea; the hazards are extensive. He in fact makes up quotes from the should-be-real-but-hasn't-been-written-yet book, "Things That Will Kill You Horribly in Australia -- Volume 19." It's a great book (Bryson's, not the one he references, lol).

SO much fun -- love the snowy faces!

Spreadsheet gets updated once or twice a day only (twice in the busiest times). It's actually a nice (but quick) *break* from plowing through returns and gives me a sense of progress to see cells filled in and colors change -- and then I know whose return to tackle next, who to "ping" for the info requested last week, etc. My assistant puts in the very basics - date papers arrived, date scanned, etc. I tried the routing sheets and they got separated too easily. I do have several places returns go -- brand new in a file drawer for scanning; in progress next to my desk; ready for pickup over by the conference table.

My client copies are all duplex printed. First to PDF! Then I pick pages (cover sheets, letters, signatures all go single side). Major annoyance last year was not being able to move the order of pages when printing a return - ended up having to print in smaller "bites" of sections I wanted, then sort afterwards. My assistant gets that job!

I have a spreadsheet I use, and the client's line is color-coded by what's going on: received papers, untouched; in progress; waiting for documents; etc. (Have given copies of this out before; if you - or anyone - would like that spreadsheet drop me a note or post here and I'll send it along.) When I know there is one TYPE of item I am looking for, I flag that item in the return as estimated, either in the input screens or on the forms page.

I have a client who was horrible about not getting W-9s from contractors, and no matter what I said they kept writing checks. I changed their QuickBooks vendor "check payable" line to print, "No more checks until TIN obtained!" Got a call from them the next week when they went to print out yet another check to that vendor.... the office manager didn't know how to change it back (tee hee). She learned, and started getting W-9s from everyone. Mostly. We still occasionally find missing TINs from (for example) a new plumber called in once in January and then again much later in the year. If fewer than 25% of the 1099s have a missing TIN, you can still e-file the 1099s. Tell the client to expect letters from the IRS on all the missing TINs. Frequently that warning is enough to get them to hunt down the contractors. If not, telling them they must immediately start backup withholding of 28% usually kicks their behinds. They do NOT want to do that work, argue with the contractor about "underpayments" and quickly decide getting the W-9 is easiest, fastest, safest for them.

Over the years I have found that if I proof-read too soon after finishing a return, I see what I expect and not what is there. So now I leave at least two days between completion and proof-reading. I use an online indexing software (Gruntworx) that takes all the originals and puts them in a pdf with all w-2s together, all 1099-int, etc. Together with Tic, Tie, and Calculate (an Adobe Acrobat add-on) I can put check-marks on every item entered, mark pages as complete, put cross links from one page to another, etc. So when I go to do my proof-reading, I go back down the list of all the documents in the pdf. I also check the notes I made during the interview, and with the breakout lists from the prior-year return. Lots of my emails to clients read, "Last year you had bank interest from Bank of America and Metro Credit Union; this year all I see is Metro. What happened to your BOA account -- any interest; closed it; other?" Still, things slip by; sometimes me and sometimes the client. I've had more than one pickup where the client said some variant of "But where is my X?" and my response is "What X?" And when we go back through the original docs given, it's not there. One person noted above a W-2 coded to the wrong spouse; I did that a couple years ago and also missed the "overpaid" socsec credit. Last year, missed some unemployment (not much, thankfully) that was coded for the right state but did NOT turn up on the state return - I think that was an ATX programming problem as it was relatively early, before lots of the glitches got fixed. But I still missed it.

The kid is brilliant!!

Wigs or hairpieces, if solely for the job? Theatrical grade makeup (nothing that can be purchased in a non-theatrical store)? Business cards? Dance lessons?

Read these "reviews" -- they are horrifically, hysterically funny in a slightly disgusting way. Be prepared to laugh out loud, and don't be snacking. Review #2 is my own particular favorite (also the shortest). http://slightlyviral.com/beware-sugarless-gummy-bears-on-amazon-com/

For #5: http://www.graze.com/us https://naturebox.com/ better than that 14-oz bag of Skittles sitting in my desk drawer...

I never got the whole idea of #3. It's like trying to make a string longer by cutting off one end and tying it to the other -- doesn't work! Figure out when YOU are awake and alert (and sometimes with a correction for least likely to be interrupted!) and make those your primary hours. Forcing yourself to get up a oh-dark-thirty when your brain doesn't engage until mid-morning just wastes good sleeping time. Another piece to that is, if you're having a horrendous nap attack, twenty minutes zee-ing out might mean a productive rest of the day whereas "fighting" that nap attack means four hours of shoddy work that will need re-doing tomorrow! (Of course I learned that the hard way, several times, and need remedial lessons on a far too regular basis.)

How about "Rvierdance" on ice skates, then? http://youtu.be/wzlcVKFVWVI by Jason Brown; his free skate

amazing girl http://distractify.com/default-category/a-shy-9-year-old-girl-takes-the-stage-these-people-will-never-forget-what-follows/

An ad done right -- and the ad part is only the last couple of seconds.

My first response is "It depends" closely followed by inquiries about the complexity of their returns. I have noticed over the years that folks will *always* say they have a simple return -- then show up with 300+ stock trades and two rental properties, and be ticked off that my in-person price is higher than what was quoted by phone. So now I won't give a price until I see last year's return -- but will say that I don't compete on price and that my return prices have run the gamut from a low of $150 to over $1,000 - depending on how complex the return is.

oops I hate when that happens.

So today we got into the mid-50's and had torrential rain with thunder. Just a couple days ago we never got out of the single digits. I think my thermometer is getting whiplash from these swings!