Catherine

Dear Lord, watch over Don and KC. Help them in this hour, and bring them healing. Let them know they are surrounded by love, from us, and -far more importantly- from You. Amen.

Wonderful!! Bet it took a long time to get something so elaborately and perfectly "homonymed".

Dear Former Client, Enclosed are all your documents and papers, along with a letter withdrawing from our tax preparation engagement. I recommend that you look for a preparer who specializes in real estate professionals. I will say that you certainly did flummox me; never before have I requested information on major expenditures (in order to determine if they were expenses or depreciable renovations), only to be told, "I don't think you need that information." Once I can understand - and I explained on the phone exactly why I need the information requested. Twice and more, though, and I have determined that you were correct in the first place. I do NOT, in fact, need any of the requested information -- because I will NOT be doing your returns. Good luck and good bye; here's your hat what's your hurry. Don't bother sending me any referrals, either.

Now THAT'S a funny thought. Thing is, though, Mass state requirements are tighter than the Federal ones. So they ran afoul of their own rules only. Ah, well.

These are folks contracting TO Mass, so the state is unlikely to investigate and penalize itself.....

As far as those horrid long columns to click individually for non-business, filer/spouse/joint, and now the new form codes, I do what ATX strongly urges you NOT to do. First -- SAVE the return and turn OFF auto-save. (That last saves your bacon if something goes wrong.) Second -- UNprotect the import or detail sheet or wherever your data is. Third -- Now you can fill in just like a regular Excel spreadsheet. If you are satisfied, you can save the return, turn auto-save back on, and you're good. If something goes wrong, just quit WITHOUT saving and all your edits go away. This method is more than a little nerve-wracking and takes time -- so I don't use it until I get to the many hundred trade clients. Under a hundred, I click each stupid frimping *&%$# box. Catherine

Jainen's right that it's the state labor people who cause the most grief. Frequently state rules differ from the Fed rules, too. For example, in Mass, they are _much_ more strict -- so strict, in fact, that they were running afoul of their OWN rules and forced a whole slew of independent contractors working for them to form corporations or lose their contracts. I've also seen companies hit with very heavy fines when the state determines those contractors were employees.

Wow, Kathryn -- sounds like a REAL winner of a client! -Please- tell us you handed the bozo his stack of papers as you showed him the door. Or at least doubled/tripled his bill...

I had one lady take a hissy fit over my leaving off her middle initial (which wasn't on the prior-year return self-prepared, or ANY of her various forms). Oy. Get a grip, people. The IRS wants your MONEY, not your name. That's in next year's reg's to be issued...

Credit for tax paid to another jurisdiction is on Form Y (combined form X, Y, Z under the Mass forms). It's almost but not quite 1-for-1. Look for the worksheet (one of the detail pages) and don't forget to put the correct state ID on Form Y. Send a message or reply here if you need anything else and I'll help.

CUSIP numbers, and the F/S/J and type of sale columns, too. Clicking through every one of those gets old _fast_. I have found that it's a bit quicker to go bottom up rather than top down, as the box-fills are a bit bigger than the box and fill _down_, covering the click area for the box below -- but that doesn't happen in the other direction.

The clients I am talking about either have very small children (so child credit is NOT outgrown), or grown children. NOT the lack of MWP credit either -- go to the Comparison, page/tab 2, and look at lines 43 (taxable income) and 61 (total tax; BEFORE payments and credits) -- then all the way to the right; percentage change from prior year. I'm seeing line 43 go up X%, and line 61 go up ~2X%. Over and over.

Thank you!! I _had_ scrolled down -- but not far enough, apparently. I love this board. Catherine

Has anyone else noticed this? On my comparison with prior-year sheets, I am seeing, over and again, taxes increasing (by percentage) substantially more than income. Client after client -- total income up 4%; taxes up 11%. Income up 12%; taxes up 27%. Income DOWN 5%; taxes UP 7%. No matter what kind of income (including unemployment) -- tax is going up, and in a higher percentage. This is specifically NOT including bracket creep cases, either. Catherine

Sorry, folks, you are ALL missing the point. Hahn1040 -- there is NOTHING IN the "Detail" tab. The Import Sheet tab has NO WAY to adjust term!!! The ONLY choice I have is to put in a KNOWN WRONG purchase date to "force" long-term treatment where that term is correct. THAT is what I am frustrated about -- that I have to introduce KNOWN errors because there is NO facility for adjusting term when using the Broker Statement Import Sheet. I have, in this one return about which I am typing, 77 transactions that I have to go through carefully and introduce errors into a good couple dozen to get correct tax treatment. Plus I had to go through one by one and click on the "Form 8949 Box", "Transaction Type" box,. and "FSJ" box to make correct entries there; there is no way to tab or auto-fill those. So that was another 231 entries I had to make manually (and the Transaction Type and FSJ boxes I have asked ATX/CCH to help with for several years now).

Anyone know how to do this? (Under the heading of "it should be easy BUT NNNOOO, the programmers couldn't do TTHHAATT.") Client has 74 Schedule D transactions. Was able to get an Excel file, saved it as csv type, imported it to Schedule D/Form 8949. For a whole _slew_ of transactions, the term is wrong. Whenever date purchased is "various" the program FORCES short term. I have the list; I know which are short term and which are long term. BUT there is NOWHERE to make this correction on the import sheet; nothing is on the detail or input pages (where you CAN select the term), and of course CCH is closed. Am I going to have to go line by line and invent a purchase date more than one year before sale for all the long-term transactions? Can I hit somebody in the programming department? At least make THEM sit here and fix my transactions (that's actually better; it will hurt more and last longer and TEACH them something)? Anyone have any magic for me? <-- Up to you to decide if this is me, or what I want for the program/programmers. TIA, Catherine

Don't forget the issues involved when employers decide to be nice and pay the employee portion of SS/Medi tax: that amount gets added in Box 1 (but NOT Box 3 and Box 5) of the W-2.

Dear Client: "Cash in Lieu" still needs reporting on Schedule D. This is NOT cash you found in the loo. If you don't understand the term, perhaps you should consider having a little chat with your financial "advisor".

For a number of years I used Target Insurance (placed through The Hartford). Switched a couple years ago to Traveler's. Got quotes for increased coverage and they had a somewhat better rate and guaranteed it for a couple of years. $500/year but I have tons and tons of coverage including for legal bills.

Got a standard answer for this one -- "Topeka, Kansas." They don't like the answer - they asked the wrong question. Folks in Kansas may want to substitute "Nome, Alaska" or some other far away location. It has always astounded me how the shortest questions require the longest answers. For example, "How do you do payroll?" Or, "What _is_ AMT?" (Quick answer: alternative MAXIMUM tax.) Catherine

Dear Client, For the nineteenth time, I do NOT know how to fill out the financial aid form for your sons' private school. I understand that the financial advisor who sent you to me is not in his office today. (He is probably hiding in the closet from your endless calls; he has already apologized profusely to me for sending you here.) However, that -still- doesn't make me suddenly able to help you with the financial aid forms. I truly cannot understand -why- the financial aid administrator at the school doesn't want to help you, either. It must be one of those mysteries. And not even that fact makes me suddenly able to assist you (for free!) with those forms. Have a great life. Preferably far from here.

I have a client (was from MA; moved to WA, now works in CA but lives in WA - yoikes!) who keeps getting letters from CA demanding an amendment we've sent them, in full, TWICE. Called with the last letter and they said to ignore the letters as they are auto-generated. One more letter, though, and I'll be back asking for hints from CA preparers on how to get them to process what they have already been sent!

Yes, fill out CP letter, fax it with Schedule D plus whatever other written explanation you think pertinent. That should do it. The IRS will eventually inform the states -- up to you whether to wait for the state letter or pre-emptively send an amendment. In Mass, when the change means MORE tax will be owed, I advise waiting. But that's because the amended return people do NOT share information with anyone else, and are super-slow at processing the returns. Easier/less stressful for client to wait for letter and send right back with already-prepared amended return and note. Then it gets processed right away and there are no extra letters sent automatically when you keep telling the state the amendment is already submitted and in process and please go talk to that unit. 'Cuz you can't submit twice; that is even worse.

And in target shooting, the most common problem that causes bad shots is the loose nut behind the trigger. :P

Rita -- I love you. I _really_ needed that laugh.