Catherine

Thanks for the link and I'll keep them in mind for the future. What I tend to do with PeachTree is get last year's new, unregistered Accountant's version on ebay for $30 - $40. Just picked up Accountant version of '09 that way about a month ago and really should get around to installing it. Haven't installed QuickBooks 2011 yet, either, for that matter.

Thank you for the reminder!! I backup (on-site and off-site) regularly but have not tested the "restore" feature. Perhaps I should do that _today_ and ensure it works.

I'm with Gail, especially her last sentence! I post on three or four different tax forums (this one being my favorite - shh! don't tell the others, they'll feel hurt), and have never had any trouble skipping the topics (tax and non-tax) that are not of interest to me. As long as things are labelled reasonably well, it's not a big deal to me. This forum has the wonderful position,-color,-and-icon coding showing one immediately which topics have new postings. Yes, the list gets long in the thick of tax season. But during the thick of things, there are very few non-tax posts - we're all too busy trying to keep from drowning in client paperwork! It's mainly in the off-season that non-tax topics sneak in. The one change I'd recommend is to remove the four-letter limitation on searches (maybe you've already done this, Eric - I haven't been searching in a while). Most of us put in states with the two-letter postal code, and if one needs help on a Pennsylvania form, one can't search on "PA" alone. I'd also like to "own up" here are possibly being the instigator of the birthday wishes. There were a number of birthday wishes that went by a couple years ago -- but no one posted on my birthday. And I pouted online. Shortly thereafter, taxbilly took on the task of greeting everyone on their birthday. But perhaps we can agree that everyone has been publicly wished a happy day at least once, and possibly that further birthday greetings be sent as private messages instead. Catherine

Thank you, GeorgeM -- this looks like a useful site! Happy New Year to all.

Let's go back to basics, folks. The blame rests squarely with the Wilson administration and its' co-conspirators in Congress at the time, who wrote and then pushed hard for the ratification of the 16th Amendment. The income tax, according to Wilson & Congress, would only apply to the extremely rich, and only at rates of 4%. Of course, once it was legal, in just a few years the rates skyrocketed to 70% and the citizens caught in its' web became durned near everyone. And it gave the Federal government its' first big hit of spendable cash, to which they are now addicted. And like most addicts, they don't care where their next fix comes from or who gets hurt by them in the acquisition. Unlike most addicts, they can create their own drug - and leave us with the pain of a) enforcing their rules, and b ) becoming enslaved to the government in perpetuity to pay for their insatiable spending. Now, how's _that_ for getting the conversation roiling, chuck?

What a wonderful thing to do -- and what a beautiful job your students did!! You should all be proud of yourselves. Thanks for sharing the video. Catherine

And an early "Happy New Year"!

Merry Christmas to everyone!

Hope you have a VERY

Well, it can also save somebody the embarrassment of "your charge card was declined" or "your download email bounced - did you change addresses?" Just sayin'.....

I "friended" KC on Facebook quite some time ago, and the last time (couple months ago) that folks were concerned I checked in with her there. She stated that she is taking some time away from taxes to rest and regroup, but will be back come the new season, and thanked folks for worrying about her. She's still active on Facebook, so I know she's doing OK. Haven't a clue about jainen, however. Catherine

Hope you have a VERY

Hope you have a VERY

Hope you have a VERY

Hope you have a VERY :bday:

Hope you have a VERY :bday:

Hope you have a VERY :bday:

Hope you have a VERY

Hope you have a VERY

Hope you have a VERY

Was just in a seminar today that addressed this. For CONTRIBUTIONS, start date of the 5-year period is 1/1 of the year FOR which the FIRST contribution was made. So 1st contribution made 4/1/10 for tax year 2009 would have a contribution date of 1/1/2009. For CONVERSIONS, EACH conversion has its' OWN start-of-the-five-year date, also considered to be 1/1 of the tax year of the conversion. So a conversion on 4/1/10 would have a conversion date of 1/1/10. So your taxpayer should NOT over-withdraw into his less-than-five-years-old conversions. Catherine

Hope you have a VERY

Hope you have a VERY

US citizens are required to report (& pay tax on) their worldwide income every year. Lots of expats get caught on this when they want to come home and realize they owe umpty gazillion $ in back taxes (and decide at that point to drop US citizenship and stay wherever they are, permanently). Your TP will file a 1040, but it will have to be submitted on paper (see just below). The dependents need ITIN's; submit a W-7 for each of them with corroborating documentation. The whole kit & caboodle goes to the ITIN unit, which will assign ITIN's, add those to the paper 1040, and then submit the 1040 for processing. Read the instructions for F 2555 closely, and don't forget the housing exclusion/deduction sections. As for currency - you are supposed to use rate as of date paid. Easier for a person paid monthly than one paid weekly. I use www.x-rates.com for historical currency conversion rates. IF (and that can be a big if) the rate didn't vary too much during the year, an annual average will suffice. However, there are some currencies that have big swings against the dollar; for those doing an annual won't help and you might have to cleave it finer than that. Don't forget the F-bar form either, for reporting foreign bank accounts! Catherine

Hi folks -- I've looked and can't find the answer - someone here must know. Client has an IRA that contains some non-deductible contributions (basis known), AND money from a Keogh that was converted. Client is considering converting at least some of this to Roth IRA. Question is, to get the percentage of non-deductible money, is the original Keogh contribution used, OR the value when they were rolled into the IRA? TIA, Catherine