Catherine

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!

Many thanks to all!

That's what I figured -- but this guy is an engineer and instead of taking my word he's going to want chapter and verse from the IRC. They're like that (and I sympathize as I am loath to take anyone's word for durned near anything; I want to do the research myself). He's actually not "changing" preparers this year. He's been doing the returns himself for years, as he was instructed by the original guy who gave him the odd information on the suspended losses. Since he's actually shutting the business down this year, he now wants a pro to make sure he treats the losses properly. Hence my query, as I could find nothing that supported his position -- but also nothing in the IRC (as opposed to 1120-S instructions) that specifically dealt with treatment of suspended losses, in final year, by other shareholders. Most likely because there is no such animal.

My comment was a joke. We need someone (graphic design type) to develop two new fonts: one for humor, and one for sarcasm. Both of which are almost impossible to show any way but verbally!

Thank you, Margaret!

I did have one person claim very low tips one year -- and in that instance, it made sense. Client worked at a restaurant but was assigned to the drinks/soda/shakes prep area, there was a counter with two stools there that were rarely used. Drinks person also got paid minimum wage because the assumption was no tips at all there. But that was a rare, special case. And some tips were indeed claimed. So, has this topic now gotten hijacked? It started out as a twist on a poem and is now a discussion about tips, restaurants, and clients with honesty issues?

Well, I've asked for the paperwork to investigate how it was originally set up but don't have it yet. I have no idea how one person got stock with no investment -- possibly they had the connections to potential customers? Ideas but no know-how? Space to store parts? I do know that all the *money* put in was by my client, who owns 80-something percent of the shares. He has been claiming his percentage of the losses all along, but the other owner has NOT been able to claim losses because they had no basis. It seems reasonable to me that those losses could go "poof" as they are only claimable by the other shareholder, who still has no basis. Yet I have the client pushing hard on this information he claims he was given -- namely, that HE can claim those suspended losses in the closing year (and he has a point, it was his money) -- but I need chapter and verse before I will attempt that, and chapter and verse for HIM, as proof, if they are lost. And I can't find guidance. I'm pretty good at searching for some stuff, but every search I've tried gets me nitty-gritty on apportionment and basis et cetera but nothing about final-year treatment of suspended losses. Just to put it on the final K-1 and make sure the K-1 and return are both marked final. That doesn't help me with this suspended loss issue. Thanks to all.

New client has a small S-corp that has been moribund and he's finally closing it down. He's been taking his share of losses (~80+%) all along; other s/h has NOT been able to take losses as they had never put any money into the company so no basis. Client was told by original tax preparer, years ago, that *he* could claim all the unused losses in whatever the year the business eventually closed. I can't find anything in the 1120-s or k-1 instructions or Tax Book or irs dot gov that confirms or denies this. Can anyone here point me in the right direction? Basis is NOT an issue; every penny ever put in was his, and not the other shareholder's. TIA, Catherine

Growing up speaking Italian it would have been hard to avoid being able to trill an "rrrr".

I have two Brother printers I have been very happy with. Key for me is the ability to print duplex (double sided). Brother MFC-8840DN (multi-function, not made anymore) also faxes-scans-copies. Brother HL-4070CDW is a color printer but I almost never use colors for tax; those are limited to the net worth charts I do on request for some clients. The one beef I have with the color printer is that, since it is "Energy Star rated" it shuts itself down after x minutes of inactivity. So if you just need a page or two the older, slower, machine is actually faster as it is ready to go. It doesn't need to wake up, have its coffee, and check its facebook page and email, all before printing your page.

This is the first year in several that I sent out NO letters warning a couple of carefully-chosen clients about big fee increases. Managed to get rid of all the PITA clients who don't pay me enough to be worth dealing with them. That's a happy achievement!

I hold on to folks who move usually for a couple of years. Then, once they've established connections in the new state, they tend to move on. Just had one elderly client move on permanently. So every year I lose a couple. They get more-than-made-up-for by folks who send their brothers, mothers, sisters, the kids grow up and become clients in their own right.

My sympathies, Tom! We've all had "those" days -- perhaps this means that you are off the hook for the rest of the tax season.

Lion -- very similar to YakTrax! Highly recommended.

Yeah, but it's high summer in the Antarctic right now -- remember that!

Remember the Mass. laws and get some encryption on the drive...

Just ordered supposedly Brother original toner from someone called "InkyToner" through Amazon, at a completely reasonable price. However, 123inkjets has "compatible" toner for even less. Anyone have experience with either of these folks? Another recommended vendor? Some years ago KC recommended LaserMonks and I used them until they folded. The resurrected company (yes, there is a slight religious joke there) is NOT actually monks (folks who bought the name) and from what I've seen of them I'm not at all sure I want to do business with them. TIA, Catherine

YakTrax. Attach to the bottom of your boots. Any outdoor store (and some hardware stores) will have them. However they are NOT magic and if you put your weight where they are not, down you will go. Ask me how I know this... https://www.yaktrax.com/ and to mail order them -- always try Sierra Trading Post! http://www.sierratradingpost.com/s~yaktrax/?perPage=96 Who cares if they're last year's color? I get ALL my wool socks from these folks, too.

Did you wear your ice-climbing cleats or your skates to tackle the driveway?