Catherine

I was able to determine that this is an avenue worth pursuing. As opposed to "just" trying for a payment plan -- which is what I've done for everyone else who has come wanting an OIC the last however many years. So I've sent him off to dig up financial data. From what he _tells_ me, he assets are nothing but a 7-year-old car with many, many miles on it, and his clothes and watch. Ex-wife has everything else; no investments, retirement plan, cash-value life insurance. Alimony & child support set by court based on _former_ earnings, now cut by 25% in this economy but at least he still has a job. Thanks for the info; I'll see (once I have the financial data) if he can get something from employer about documenting cut in pay.

ATX has the form as well; I was hoping for advice on presentation rather than documentation. But thanks. Catherine

I have a client who came for advice on a sizable outstanding tax liability, and after discussion and analysis he's a good candidate for an offer in compromise. He's someone who actually would _like_ to pay it all -- just can't manage it. A payment plan would require about $1,000/month more than he has cash flow to support (after current taxes and court-required alimony, child support, and child medical payments, and absolute bare-bones living expenses for him). Another case of lawyers make out like bandits, and a guy trying to do the right thing goes slowly under. Sigh. But I haven't touched one of these since before they messed with the rules a couple of years back. Any advice for someone whose knowledge is both outdated and rusty? I offered to send him to a local colleague who specializes in OIC's and told him how long it had been since I'd done one -- but he wants me. Thanks, Catherine

Don't see why not. But try the 990-EZ first. Lots of times smaller groups with hopes/dreams of growing bigger want the schedules of donors etc on file because as they grow they need those records -- and if it's not on the tax forms, it's usually near-impossible to dredge out of history. A friend who does lots of non-profits was telling me about this just a couple evenings ago on the phone. Don't remember as much as I should because it was late and I was tired at the time. Catherine

The TRX-Pro TX product for $699 says the exact same thing as it did before, when I was assured it was the ATX product. Now -- so far as the ATX discount goes -- for me, it would be $111. Not a deal-breaker. However, CCH will NOT promise to have ATX for anyone, NOR will they refund your money if they, for whatever reason, decide to NOT produce/provide/sell ATX for the 2009 tax season. Is it likely that they cancel ATX? I don't believe so. However, to give them over $1,000 of my money, now (for them and not me to use for almost a year), with no recourse later, to save $111, makes no sense to me. Your mileage may vary. ATX is a great product. For Eagles Ridge -- get a demo version and play with it over the summer. If the $111 (or less for 1040; it's only a 10% discount) will really make that big a deal to you --> then go look at TaxAct by Second Story Software. I used it for years before I switched to ATX. It's a fabulous program and I left because I needed too many business returns, part-year and non-resident individual returns -- and at that time, those returns were a major weakness of TaxAct. They have since improved mightily, I hear. And yes, it's easy to get frantic. Ask me how I know this. All the more reason to take a deep breath. Nothing here is life or death -- or even happiness. Ultimately, you can do a good job for your clients and make a decent profit for yourself using any one of a half-dozen or more programs, which will all work pretty darned well for you. Catherine

Hang in there. They may be under a "confidentiality" agreement until it is settled. What's the rush, anyways? It's not like we need our 2009 software TODAY. We'll know in plenty of time to buy directly from CCH if need be, and with TRX's written guarantee (which CCH, by the way, will NOT give), any money you spent will be refunded if they can't provide you with ATX. Chill! Or are you _trying_ to stir people up? I do note that all these frantic-sounding notes are from new community members. If you're legit -- go back and re-read (or read 1st time) some of the older TRX-related posts, take a breath, and calm down. If you're just making trouble -- get outta here; we don't need you, we don't want you, and it won't work.

Thank you. I certainly did!

Hope that your dad improves soon, bstaxes!

Thank you, taxbilly!

My husband's is bright blue. At yesterday's match, when I brought mine out to the line, a guy from another team said, "Oh look -- it's the Easter Egg guns!" So someday maybe we'll get two more -- a bright green and a bright orange, for Fiona and Gwen. And all go to matches together! :P

No extra points for purple, and it doesn't hang over my desk, despite how pretty it is. When we're not at the range, it lives locked in its' case.

Two sighter shots, then 20 more for record. All standing ("offhand" is the term used). The team is six people, and the course is fired over 2 hours and 18 minutes. Two people take turns at each numbered target; shooter on the right, then shooter on the left -- so there are three sets of two. We each take a turn shooting, coaching (keeping track of our teammates progress and helping with sight corrections if needed), and scoring (official tracking for another team). Gwen (and Fiona, back when she was younger) scores targets int he target pits. Those are concrete bunkers, and the targets are run up on frames to where you can see them. Watch for the dirt puff behind your target, pull it down, put a spotter (for the scorers and coaches) in the shot hole. Put a paster (adhesive sticker) over the old hole. Hang an orange disk in the spot indicating the score (X, 10, 9, etc), and run the target back up. Repeat 131 times. Rifle is a White Oak "Space gun", .223 caliber. More details later -- they're calling me to go out for ice cream. First things first! OK; I'm back -- and the ice cream was great. I believe the rifle is based on an AR-15 but am not sure; my husband is the local expert. It's a semi-automatic but we only fire single shot in matches. It has match-grade sights and isn't eligible for CMP matches because of all the changes made to sights etc. My rifle was made to fit me, with a shorter barrel and stock than is "standard". I believe it comes with sets of weights for both stock and barrel, so you can configure it to the weight and balance you want for maximum stability. Catherine

Hi all -- There was interest a while ago in my shooting competition. So posted here is a photo from May 2nd, our 2nd rifle match (this morning's was the last). If you look carefully, towards the right, you'll see tiny little rectangles -- those are the targets, 200 yards away. Our team was going for #7 that day; it's the last one that can be seen on the right. The black center actually measures 13" across. In the sights, it looks like a pindot. My husband bought me my beautiful purple rifle for my birthday a couple of years ago; I hope someday to shoot it as well as it deserves.

Well, it just seems that replacing a $29 "Peerless" brand bathroom faucet with a $3300+ Jado swan-sculpture faucet with crystal knobs would be hard to justify as a "repair". So it's definitely the hoity-toity/mucho bucko part that pushes it over the edge for me. And again, that's not saying you have to replace junk with more junk! But "repair" does become "upgrade" at some point. Catherine

I concur with Wayne -- the cause of the work was a leak; fixing the leak restored functionality and prevented further structural damage. Expense. Now if your client had replaced a standard Delta faucet with a hoity-toity high-end model, put in new ultra-spifferific high-end counters to replace ye olde cultured marble, added full body spray steam units to the shower, and stuff like that, then you'd have to split out the needful repair versus the upgrades. And I'd say even replacing a cheapo faucet with a mid-grade sturdy one is still repair under the heading of "why waste money putting in junk?"

:bday: and have a terrific day!

Send flowers first? Then when you approach her she'll think kindly of you? Or maybe even call _you_ for help?

:bday: and have a great day!

:bday: and have a great day!

I was willing to sign up with TRX early because of the money-back guarantee, in writing. With CCH, the discount is not enough to get me to sign up months ahead of time with no guarantee that my money comes back if they do not produce the product I ordered. It's as simple as that. Catherine

Very cute. But, KC, where on earth do you find the time to FIND all these things?!?!?! I am in awe of you.....

I was wondering if that was my next step. In my copious free time...... Thanks!

Did any of you who downloaded Chrome have a problem with importing bookmarks and settings? I now have Chrome but am not using it because every time I try to import those items (from Firefox), it hangs up. I've tried several times, including logouts and reboots. Still hangs. TIA, Catherine

Have a TERRIFIC day, Gail!

Wise advice, Medlin Accounting! On another forum I read, a guy in California a couple of years ago walked into his office mid-tax-season to discover they'd been broken into overnight and ALL of his office equipment had been stolen. No client files, fortunately. What saved them was he did a backup last thing every day to an external drive and took it home with him. They lost one day getting in new machines and loading software and setting up the printer networks. I signed up for online backup within a week of reading that. Would have done it even faster but I took some time to investigate vendors. But I should review my retrieval procedures. Catherine