Catherine

I'm letting my girls do their own returns -- on paper -- this year. Figure they should know how, and answering questions on TT isn't it.

No, I don't have that one. But I do have a _true story_ from long ago and the Providence RI police force, told to me by my old coach (formerly on the Providence police force) who knew the officer involved. The man was using wax bullets to practice in his basement, and wondered how hard they really hit. So he aimed at his own foot and pulled the trigger. Yes, he broke his foot. And no, his fellow officers never let him live it down.

It's been nasty here, too -- but not nearly as windy _this_ time (last blizzard came with 60mph-plus winds). Close to another foot (light and fluffy yesterday because it was COLD), and then sleet, rain for a while as a warm front went over us, and now freezing rain on top of it all as temperatures plummet with the warm front going back south of us. I'm cooking dinner _now_ so if we lose power with ice on power lines we will have had hot food.

Here is part one: Mini Cannon #1 and here is part two: Mini Cannon #2 only a couple minutes total

SO glad that you liked it. I just saw the topic line, and my imagination carried me off. Early February, around here, generally brings our heaviest snowfall storms (can you say "Blizzard of '78"). However, the days are getting longer and the sun has some warmth to it (when it's out, anyway). And in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, Canada, they are now getting actual sunrise and sunset (9:30 am and 3:00 pm, respectively), and it's -22F, so it's a balmy mid-winter day for them with no warnings or advisories. Puts it in perspective, doesn't it? Catherine

The heady joy of hot summer days cruising around the yard, feeling like an essential part of the extended family. The agony of the unseen stone hurled against tender cutting blades. The angst of the long, lonely winters, wondering if it's been forgotten -- or if summer will ever come again. Oh, wait -- that's not the "life of a riding lawn mower" you were asking about. Phooey. Pulling myself back from the screenplay possibilities -- OK, yes, I agree. Seven year general purpose machinery.

I agree completely. Even my pro bono's get an invoice with the price, and a discount to zero it out. The only ones I don't do that for are a couple of elderly couples with low income but high pride. And your last paragraph is why a half-dozen clients got letters stating 25% increases after a "complete re-evaluation of our fee structure". With any luck, I'll never hear from that group again.

I think we all do that. I have a couple of seniors on very limited incomes whom I bill at a reduced rate and then give my "senior discount" to -- but I double the discount. Saves their pride when they think it's a "standard" discount given to all in their age range. And there are a number of pro bono returns I do every year -- a widow with two children and similar situations. I get cookies and thank-you notes - those mean a LOT. Plus some that I tell to pay when they can. I've found over the years, though, that the people who come _in_ with a sob story in order to get a reduced fee are the ones who give a bad check and never make good on it. Likely we've all been burned that way once or twice. And there isn't enough money (that they'll pay me, anyway) to make some people's business worth the aggravation.

I've never had the guts to double _my_ fees, either. Although this year when I sent out my letters I warned most people to expect about a 5% increase, and a couple whom I'd been undercharging got 10% in their letters. A select number of PITA clients got letters that said a 25% increase (and I put that in BOLD type to get their attention). Since the PITA people by and large also fuss and moan about my fees (grrr!!!) the hope is that sends them running _elsewhere_ for this year.

Somebody on another forum pointed out that if you double your fees and lose half your clients -- you're getting the same amount of money for half the work.

Gwen has only heard from one college so far (Wells, in NY), where she has been accepted. So we don't know yet where she will end up. Gwen thinks football is OK but it's not a big family thing here. She does shoot with us on our Greater Boston Pistol League team, however, and on occasion lately has equalled or out-shot my husband. Takes after her mom in that regard.

Usually it's the first four letters of the business name. There are rules for assignment on one of the e-file worksheets. check the bottom tabs under the EF information page - it might be there.

Gwen didn't have a snow shovel in her hands for the purposes of the picture. She eventually shoveled the back steps (starting from the top); but just one shovel's width. We'll get more excavated tomorrow or Saturday. Yes, she's adorable (and as smart as she is cute). Almost 18, no boyfriend at the moment but I'm sure that will change when she heads to college this fall.

Almost!! Gwen, who is 5'3", is standing at the bottom of the steps that go to the back door. The picture was taken about an hour ago.

I am running into a problem I haven't had before this year's tax season. It is shaping up to be the 3rd snowiest January in Boston on record (with last night's storm we might have surpassed 1978 of Ye Olde Famous "Blizzard of '78" of song and legend). There was another foot here, more in drifts. The piles of snow around the driveway are now higher than the snowblower can throw more snow. The plow berm at the front walkway was twice the height of the blower and I had to beat (with my hands), kick, and stomp the snow down into piles low and loose enough for the blower to bite into them. I haven't even _looked_ at the back steps and walkway yet. The problem is twofold: how do I get clients in and out when the safe way is the back steps and there is no place to put the snow, and how do I work on taxes when I spend all my energy battling snow? And how on earth do you folks in the snow belt regions deal with this year after year after year? And now the question of what comes first -- nap, lunch, or the clients emails that I needed to send out two hours ago? Catherine

One of the things that I really loved about studying martial arts was that I could attribute every ache and pain and twinge to "well, that's the block I missed last night", "well, I over-stretched in the warmup", "well, maybe three-finger pushups _are_ a little too much". Now that I'm no longer doing that.... ah, well. But I have found that if I play my fiddle every day (even for 15 minutes) it really helps keep the flexibility and range of motion in my left index finger, where arthritis is trying to stiffen up the knuckle. In the movie "What's Up Tiger Lily" one of the characters says (in a Peter Lorre voice), "A leetle PPAAIINN never hurt ANYBODY".

Have a party anyway! I know someone who has been having an annual party for his 50th birthday for probably close to 20 years now. Not a "18th anniversary of my 50th birthday", but "my 50th birthday", every year. You don't have to count, but you should celebrate being here -- and even if we don't post a separate topic, we'll celebrate you being here, too!

I've never worked with Timberline, but the usual method is to get a good scan of the signature required, save it in the format the program will take (sized properly), then edit the check printing to add that file in the signature area. Worst case, you could gen up a document with ONLY the signature, in the correct place for a check, and run all the printed checks through a second time to get the signature. Have you tried the Timberline help files?

It depends on the bank. Some will reject an incoming deposit if the names don't match. Some will take incoming money going solely by routing and account numbers. Check with the bank.

I would also like to hear from Gold Key users if there are any in the group. As far as passwords go, I've heard two excellent suggestions over the years. One is the first letters of a phrase - very hard to guess. "Hold the pickles, hold the lettuce special orders don't upset us" becomes htphtlsoduu (which looks Finnish with a touch of Hawaiian). The other is a simple password with a different numeric code appended, assigned by letter, changed whenever you want. And you can keep the number codes with you - they're useless by themselves. For example, your simple password is "hello", and your numeric card looks like this: First letter:-> ABC DEF GHI 2nd letter: abc 9657 7402 8246 def 2964 6725 3841 ghi 1836 8453 6837 So your Bank of America password would be hello9657 your Geico Insurance password would be hello8453 Delta Airlines = hello6725 etc. and all you ever have to remember is "hello".

You could try calling the practitioner priority line and asking for the "Post of Duty" listing, I guess. The list Valeria posted is a couple years old at this point so I don't doubt there are facilities missing. Or you could try the Kansas City NO -- at least it would be the right state!

I've never given a client a "to keep" copy of the 8879 -- I'm supposed to keep it, in my files (and readily accessible), for three years. With MA's new confidential information rules, I can't even give clients a copy of their own TAX return with their SSN's on it (just X's) - and what use would an 8879 full of X's be to anyone?

I don't get my backups through VMSUS but I do have their tech support contract -- and they have been fabulous with that. In fact, i just renewed it.

From Valeria at the taxprofessionals Yahoo group: The people on the phone at the IRS that answer the where-to-mail-it questions are usually the new hires and they don't know how to find it. (It's under POD--which is short of Post of Duty listing.) It's the IRM list: 1.22.3.3.1 (12-15-2004) Street Addresses The street addresses to be used for administrative mail, bulk mail, service-generated requested and certified mail, or for deliveries of IRS initiated shipments by small package ground or air express carriers, for the Submission Processing Center are as follows; IRS Submission Processing Center 310 Lowell Street Andover MA 01810 IRS Submission Processing Center 4800 Buford Highway Chamblee GA 30341 IRS Submission Processing Center 3651 S IH-35 Austin TX 78741 IRS Submission Processing Center 201 W Rivercenter Blvd. Covington KY 41011 IRS Submission Processing Center 5045 E. Butler Ave Fresno CA 93727 IRS Submission Processing Center 2306 E. Bannister Road Kansas City MO 64131 IRS Submission Processing Center 5333 Getwell Road Memphis TN 38118 IRS Submission Processing Center 1973 N Rulon White Blvd. Ogden UT 84404 IRS Submission Processing Center 11601 Roosevelt Blvd. Philadelphia PA 19154

I purchased PGP but haven't installed it yet. It was on the list to do for this past weekend but life intervened and I never got there. With any luck I'll do it this week and t hen can let you know. The great thing about PGP is that even if your laptop is then stolen by someone who wants to steal the data -- they can't; it's encrypted. And all those email people insist on sending me with confidential information -- once they're on my disk, they'll be encrypted, too.