Catherine

Thank you! This assumes, of course, that we have TIME to read newsletters.

You just have to complete a "ghost" 8878, because otherwise ATX won't create the e-file. At least mine won't. Grrr.

This may be a question for the lawyers, as I don't know any specific state rules for either of those states. However, it certainly seems to me that the estate is not an IL estate but rather at MI estate. MI has a claim under their laws for estate tax due to them from one of their citizens. Why should it matter to them whether the trustee is in MI, IL, or Timbuktu? My guess is that brother gets to amend, and your client goes on extension until the estate errors are fixed.

The proper DC is assigned WHEN the e-file is created, and not before. That one caught me, too, so the next time by I read the little blurbs that flash by more closely.

The Ohio Project The link is to the home page of th is group: The Ohio Project is a grassroots effort of Ohio citizens to bring a proposed state constitutional amendment to Ohio's November 2011 ballot in order to preserve the freedom of Ohioans to individually choose their health care and health insurance.

I found a TIR (tech info release) from 1989 talking about how military pensions ARE taxable since they are NOT contributory. By deductive logic, then, I have a non-taxable pension here. Has anyone else noticed how one can look fruitlessly for an answer for a --lloonngg-- time, and then find it within a few minutes of posting a query? Catherine

Goose named Maria

New clients -- retired couple. One has a pension (1099-R says "Statement of Annuity" across the top) from the US Dept of Labor. I think I've got the taxable Federal amount calculated correctly -- gross distribution minus employee contribution. However, I find _nothing_ that states this pension should be free from _state_ income tax. Yet the prior-year preparer did _not_ include this as taxable. The history these folks gave me show a number of communications from both the IRS and the state over the last few years on various mistakes that have been made, so I certainly don't take what they did as necessarily correct. But neither did the state ever say, "hey, what about that pension income you didn't report?" If anyone here knows anything about US Dept of Labor pensions/annuities and the state income status (taxable/non-taxable) I'd be very grateful. The MassDOR site is next to useless in searches (at least, I've never found the trick to getting useful results out of their search engine). TIA, Catherine

Check the date and time setting on your computer, as ATX takes the date stamp from your machine. If the internal battery gets weak, that can go wonky. It can also be re-set by accident, by trojans, and other causes.

Free?!?! I like free! I have access to a program that will do the conversion, but it costs money -- and we're talking several _hundred_ trades. This program has also given me some errors this year and I'm a little reluctant to use it on this client's accounts this year.

Saw this back in mid-March but didn't realize the final chord started at 3:14. Great catch, Kea!

Actually, it's on the ceiling next to the charitable contributions number that people find.

Silly me; I just read the instructions for Schedule A. Guess whose brain is starting to sizzle lightly? or is it ?

Page 13 of Pub 502 gave me the answer -- yes, airfare is deductible. Thank you Rita!! Catherine

Glad to hear it has gone well for you!

Had a client with inherited and gifted mutual funds. Fortunately, she is a long-standing client and came to me after she sold last fall, with all the printouts she could find/look up/scrounge. I figured the fund basis on all of them last fall and charged her a pretty penny for it, and was very glad this year to have that done and ready. Another client has a managed account and trying to get an electronic copy of the data from them is like getting the Fed to stop monetizing the debt. They keep saying it's not possible (?!?! - are they nuts or just incompetent) & offering me pdf's of the current account status (with realized AND unrealized gains), which is useless. Or faxes of the end-of year statement (122 pages, and I already have TWO copies thank you very much). Yes, I could send the whole kit and caboodle with a Form 8453; can you imagine the mess I'd have to straighten later, after the IRS tries to go through and match up 122 pages of mixed accounts by hand? Plus the state? Catherine

Is _travel_ for medical care deductible? There is a line on the Sch A Medical worksheet for _local_ travel -- but what about airfare? I have a family who paid for a very good but out-of-state rehab hospital for an adult child (actually, out of state was recommended to them as being material to the child's recovery for complicated reasons). We've got the itemized hospital bill, etc. But the parents were required to fly out there for a mandatory family session for a week. I have the local transportation fees (parking, rental car etc) and lodging (limited to $50 per night per person) -- but the worksheet and the instructions are silent on whether or not the airfare is deductible. Anyone here know? TIA, Catherine

Client has a vacation condo in FL that gets rented out. he now tells me that Collier County and Naples City are looking for tax forms to be filed for last year (and this one). ATX has nothing recognizable. Can anyone here help me figure out what forms need to be filed, and where I can find them? TIA, Catherine

You don't count for ganging up on, Lynn. Try harder next year. ;)

So, do we get together after 4/18, find, and then gang up on this guy? :lol:

Julie -- SO glad you are safe.

Paid $3.699 this morning, although last night (but not in _my_ car) I saw $3.659 per gallon. The place on the way home from church is the cheapest one that I go by regularly.

Yes, I see that option -- however, this taxpayer wants to send about 20% of what is owed and get an agreement for the rest -- so it looks like we'll have to send a check and then follow up with a paper request. Thanks, though!

My daughter (now the proud owner of three guinea pigs), sent me this: Sooty the Guinea Pig

$3.69 to $3.79 here in eastern Massachusetts. Think I'm going to be doing a lot more errands on my bicycle this year.