Catherine

Congratulations!

WONDERFUL!!!

Hope you have a VERY

Very funny!!

To my distant friends, MargaretMort and bstaxes -- my prayers for full and speedy recovery, and for peaceful hearts in your families, to you both. Love, Catherine

Dear Client -- I called you two weeks ago to let you know your taxes are done. When you called back, for the first time, THIS morning, I was already fully booked for the day. I know you're in a hurry to get your refund and are now mad that I can't change my schedule to "squeeze you in" and that tomorrow isn't as convenient for you. Tough noogies. Sincerely,

Hope you have a VERY

Hope you have a VERY

I'll second Kea -- on my list for tomorrow was to file extensions, including a 1041. I'll hold off on that one.

I read it as a straight 10% commission question. Looking back more carefully, the first question should be -- WHAT is the total she's paying interest on, under what specific terms? $1,000/month plus interest -- if someone's charging her 10%/month (11% - whatever) -- there may be violation of state rules on usury. More questions to get the full story. But percentages depend highly on what direction you're calculating from.

Again, it's for the PAPER-filed returns (and don't forget the little "I do not want preparer to file my return electronically" checkbox!). They are read by machine and if the PAGE count doesn't match the coding, the Mass DOR folks have to pull it from processing and look at it in person. So you get to look at each form in the filing copy, count the total pages, and put in that number.

Seems to me the agents calculate it that way because it works better for them. 10% of product sold is 0.10 x (sales total). End of discussion. It's a standard problem of "direction" in reporting statistics -- going from a product failure rate of 1% to a product failure rate of 2% is a 1% increase -- it is also a 100% increase (doubling of the rate). The result depends on where you start, what direction you go, and at what you are looking. The careless, the unscrupulous, and the biased, can twist these to make answers that favor them (or their point). Which is why whenever someone presents you with statistics, you need to know where they started from and why they're using their chosen methodology. See a lovely little book entitled, "How to Lie With Statistics" Book link Should be required reading. When I was on my town's Finance Committee, we all read it; it was VERY useful.

The only help I can give on this one is the trick that putting a "." (a period) in the state field cues the program that the address is foreign.

It's not quite as simple as counting the e-filed forms; that page count serves a different purpose (and yes, it's a royal pain in the patootie). The count is required for PAPER filing, because all the information gets encoded in the 2D bar symbols on the pages, and those pages get read by a scanner (which helps explain the truly abysmal print format; no one actually has to READ those horrid forms). The first page includes the total pages in the return -- if they don't match, the return gets kicked out for further scrutiny. Sorry for the delay in response -- was out of the office most of the day. Catherine

At one point there was a trick to this. You put a "." (a period) in the state field, and that tells (told, anyway) the program that the address listed was out-of-country. I haven't tried it yet myself this year as I haven't done my out-of-country client return yet. Hope this helps. Catherine

Hope you have a VERY :bday:

Hope you have a VERY :bday:

George Bush (both versions) proposed deficit budgets. Nixon took us off the gold standard. Wilson (D) had his "League of Nations" but Teddy Roosevelt ® didn't care much for the Constitution, limited government, OR private property. WSJ article on TR The problem is rampant throughout BOTH parties. And quite frankly, since they ALL took oaths to "preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution" and have failed to do so, there are hundreds of politicians out there who should be removed from office (if they are still in office) and then tried for treason. You don't support a country by undermining its' basic principles. The local taxes ARE the purview of localities -- and should be addressed at that level. The eroding of the Constitutional limits on our national government has been going on for over a hundred years now. That's why I've recommended to you Professor Pestritto's books - here's a link to one: Pestritto -- but you can probably get them through the library as well.

Fabulous!!!

THANK YOU to Eric, KC, and everyone else, for ALL you do for us!!!

That is VERY funny!!!

Ditto and likewise.

IRS will delay April 15 deadline for many in Mass. March 31, 2010 01:54 PM E-mail| – + Globe Staff Victims of severe storms and flooding in Massachusetts may qualify for tax relief from the Internal Revenue Service; relief comes in the form of some IRS deadlines being moved back to May 11, including the April 15 deadline for filing 2009 individual income tax returns. President Obama has declared the Massachusetts counties of Bristol, Essex, Middlesex, Norfolk, Plymouth, Suffolk, and Worcester as federal disaster areas qualifying for individual assistance. Taxpayers who reside or have a business in the disaster area qualify for the May 11 deadlines in many cases, the IRS said. The IRS said its computer systems automatically identify taxpayers located in the covered disaster area and apply automatic filing and payment relief. Taxpayers in the disaster area who have not been severely impacted by the storm are encouraged to file by the traditional IRS deadlines. But taxpayers in these areas do not have to take any action to be eligible for the extended deadlines, an IRS spokeswoman said. Taxpayers in the affected areas will not be penalized for missing the traditional April 15 so long as they file on or before May 11. Collection activities by the IRS will also be suspended during that period, the IRS said.