Catherine

My husband and I went to a clinic run by Brian Zins and Andy ??? (I'm SO bad with names) of the USMC; my averages skyrocketed afterwards. He now terms himself my "gun-bearer" and talks about someday being as good as I am in pistol (I think we just need to do that clinic again). I hope to someday be as good as him in rifle; it averages out. Gwen may surpass us both. Fiona's not that interested. She'll have fun if we drag her out with us, but doesn't volunteer to come. But it's great to have a shootin' buddy to go out with. Y'know, 33 feet clear sight lines in the basement and you can have an airgun point. We know some folks who do 5-shot matches after dinner to see who washes the dishes! Catherine

The former (as in retired) rifle team coach from when I was in college retired "more" and went down south; he tried real hard to sell us his place up in NH; 100-yard range out in back, airgun range in the basement, separate building with 440V, 3-phase service for a machine shop..... it was very tempting but too far from where my husband works.

I am shocked and surprised that they would close it down just before the end of tax season! Oh, wait -- reset -- they've done this before. Any good folks over there who should be privately informed of our merry little band here? Catherine

Bet you had a nice bruise, too -- aka "recoil rash". Shotguns can sure kick hard, and those vests don't give much padding. But then, a bird hunter can be out for a whole day and only take two or four shots. WAY different from a trap or skeet set of, what is it, 20 in a row? The rifle I shot in '07 was a Colt clone of an AR-15, a .223 caliber high-power target rifle. For last year, my husband got me as an anniversary gift (our anniversary is today, 4/1; he wanted a day he wouldn't forget) something called a "space gun" -- another .223 high-power target rifle. It's got the most _beautiful_ hard-anodized bright PURPLE barrel and stock. And it's adjustable seventeen ways to Sunday so it fits even short me (5' zero") perfectly. The Colt, even with an aftermarket short stock, was still a little long in the reach for me. But Gwen (all the way to the right on the family picture) is just enough taller than I am that the Colt fits her perfectly. She decided, though, that rather than shoot on the team this year she wants another year of raking in the $$ for pulling/scoring targets. She was so happy last night, though -- in the local pistol team match, her score counted towards team total for the first time! And I think it was only her 5th or 6th match. She's already shooting, after just a few matches, as well as I did my first year in college. We're proud of her. She may make it to the National Championships on of these days. I did my senior year, 1980 -- they were also the Olympic try-outs (the year we boycotted), and my biggest claim to fame. Great thing about shooting -- you can keep it up long after most sports and keep getting better. It's all very Zen -- the competition is ultimately with yourself, to do everything as perfectly as possible every time. The black bulls-eye is about a foot across -- and at 200 yards through the sights looks like a pindot. Concentrate on the sights, breath control, steady trigger squeeze, ignore the mosquitos, or the cold, or the heat, or the ejected brass from the next point hitting you in the back - or the head, or your foot falling asleep. And do it again. And again. Twenty shots plus two sighters, standing in one spot, teams of 6, 2 1/2 hours for all six on each team to shoot in sets of two. Three matches every spring. We usually start in freezing cold (and snow!), and end frying in shorts under the heavy jackets. Lots of fun! Catherine Catherine

Isn't "Sundry' a strange name for a prince??

Bumping this up; still hoping to get some help on this one. C

http://mail.google.com/mail/help/autopilot/index.html Really cute gag from Google. Take a look at the blurb lower right, about both sender and receiver having AutoPilot ON. May all the gags you see today be fun! Catherine

I lost mine YEARS ago. Don't miss it and have never again had to worry about keeping track of it so it doesn't get lost! One less thing to deal with; I recommend it to all and sundry. Especially sundry. Catherine

Thank you! I've been fretting that while this _should_ go on the D, that with a 1099-DIV we'd get fussed at for not reporting the Box 8 amount on a dividend schedule. I'll proceed as you suggest.

Rifle season starts in April -- first match is Saturday the 25th. I'll see if I can dig up a picture of me on the line from last year. Got it -- I'm the one with the green jacket sort of in the right/middle. Don't think anyone would be interested in a picture of dirt from my garden, though! Catherine

Well, that's the thing. Liquidation proceeds are the same as the business sale proceeds. But the _basis_ for that liquidation is greater than the proceeds, so there is a net long-term capital loss. What I don't know is how to show the capital loss without then getting a letter saying "what about those liquidation distributions from the 1099-DIV?". Catherine

I had a momentary flash of brilliance and checked the "Where's My Refund" site for info. My folks' refund got direct deposited last Friday, so they can send payment in full per the letter. Nice to know I'm not the only one whose clients had letters with response dates of 4/8. Catherine

Yay taxbilly!! Catherine

Have a client who got a CP2000 notice for 2007. There was indeed income missed and the notice, as far as we can figure, is correct. So the notice has an amount of extra tax plus some interest. Before I have my folks send money in, how likely is the IRS to take this year's refund and apply it to the CP2000 notice balance? We're trying to get through this with as little financial disruption to these folks as possible. If they pay the whole amount and then their refund gets applied as well, then they have to wait ?? much longer to get money back, and what they get won't be direct deposit, either. OTOH, if the refund won't be touched, they should pay the total and not get any more interest hit. Any guidance would be appreciated. I tried calling and spoke with someone who was talking 120 mph in a nasty tone of voice -- and in the end wouldn't/couldn't tell me what I needed to know even though I have the "permission to talk with preparer" box checked on both returns (the '07 with the notice and the already-e-filed '08). Thanks. Catherine

Client received cash liquidation distribution from sale of midwest family farm (structured as S-corp). The letter accompanying all the documents clearly shows the cash amount distributed and the cost basis to each shareholder of their shares sold, and says that all this goes on the Schedule D -- which I agree with, and which makes sense. However, the distribution is reported on a 1099-DIV, Box 8, cash liquidation distributions. How do I tie this 1099-DIV in with Schedule D so that the cash liquidation amount doesn't get reported twice? In case this helps, there is also a K-1 Line 9 amount for net section 1231 gain. Thanks. I should be able to figure this out, but I'm fighting a headache today and anything that isn't automatic just isn't working. Catherine

Glad to help.

From the TaxBook: NY filing requirements: NY-source income and New York AGI (federal amount column from form IT-203) exceeds $3K if single/dependent $7.5K if single/NOT dependent $10/5K if HOH Does this help? Catherine

THANK YOU

Too close AND not close enough.... :blink:

Well, that was my first thought. However, it is NOT the IRA amount, but differs by $1246 (a pretty random amount!). And the TaxBook specifically said modified AGI for this purpose (passive loss) is AGI figured without deductible contributions to IRA's or the one-half of SE tax. (TaxBook page 7-12) So I think I'm still confused. Catherine

A much better way to do it would be to fund the 2008 IRA separately, and use the 2008 refund to fund the 2009 IRA contribution directly. Then all the 4/15 deadline hoo-ha goes away. And if you can't manage to get ahead that once, "skip" a year's contribution. If the money goes in on the same day, does it ultimately matter what year you _called_ it? It may mean no tax deduction that one year, and that will make a difference to some folks. But just once! Catherine

I have a Form 8582 Line 7 worksheet that is putting a number on line 27 for self-employed SEP/SIMPLE deductions. But this client has chosen to put $5,000 into a deductible IRA (not an adjustment for this worksheet), and NOT into a SEP or similar. If I go to they Form 1040 "figure your SEP deduction" worksheet, it is BLANK. But the worksheet hop-to takes me there like it expects something. I've tried choosing different SE retirement programs, and the number on the 8582 worksheet changes. But if I make the SEP worksheet blank, it doesn't delete the entry on the 8582 worksheet. I can't get rid of that entry without an over-ride. And then I also have to over-ride the "total adjustments" line 30 on the worksheet, too. Am I missing something like a checkbox here, or is this an actual program bug? TIA, Catherine

We're having the same storm but in a cold, windy rain. At least we don't have to shovel rain. It's barely 40F and feels way less than that between the wind and the wet. I was out talking to someone about doing some spring cleanup here (lots of branches down this winter and I have neither the time, tools, or strength to do it all myself). Despite a water-resistant coat, heavy boots, etc., I got thoroughly wet and my hands were icy. Hang in there, guys, spring will come. I saw crocuses while I was outside. Catherine

Check number of boxes entered. Enter number of checked boxes. Enter number of checkered boxes. Do nothing here. From the Jeff MacNelly cartoon I posted here a while ago....

Nothing reportable with facts as stated.