Catherine

Great comments, all - but the electron's charge is negative... sorry, my inner nerd had to point it out.

My very best wishes that EVERYONE here has a wonderful Fourth of July with friends, family, burgers, sparklers, and more. Be safe and enjoy! "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, and among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their Just powers from the consent of the Governed..." This country remains the ONLY ONE, EVER founded in the entirety of the world's history, on the principles that sovereign power resides in the people, and that the purpose of government is to protect those rights given to us - not by a government document (which could be overturned by another document), but by God Himself (Who can never be overturned). How unutterably privileged we are to have been born here and/or to have made this country our home. Read the entirety of the Declaration out loud with your family some time tomorrow. The signers pledged their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor. We can take ten minutes to read the bold statement of treason (going against the King) and heresy (Georgie Porgie was also head of the official Church of England). Not even our burgers will be on the line. National Archives transcript Discussion of the preamble

At least electrons are cheap (and I've heard tell they're easy, too - but I wouldn't know about that - some of you guys might be able to chime in, though).

business as usual...

Thanks Joe/Abby! I *have* to dig out my camera and get my pictures uploaded here.

My hairdresser will certainly be kept - she's my daughter. Plus she works for a place that employs her, so she gets a W-2 with tips listed. Very few pay cash tips in her shop, and she tracks those.

Your link did not come through; can you please re-post? Thanks!

Get one with the EIN then and make sure the topic line says payroll taxes and a second line says Civil Penalty. Else you could find yourself able to talk about tax issues but not about penalties. They tend to be super-fussy about those trust fund tax issues.

One of the reasons we always highlight the "This is your total tax" line rather than the refund (or balance due) line. We point it out as "this is what they get to keep" because that's the important part. We call refunds "this is the amount you loaned the feds last year" and balance due is "this is what's left to pay" - always focusing on total tax. We almost never have anyone complain about the refund amount. (The few that do are clueless and we had one this year complain about the "smaller refund" that was several thousand HIGHER!)

Isn't that the standard joke? The two-line tax return: What did you make last year? Send it in!

I just LOVE this way of putting it!

Lynn has a great idea - there may be a state standard, so check it out and charge that amount!

Good luck, Edsel! We just prepared returns going back to 2013 for someone; fortunately beyond the limit for EIC.

The Massachusetts return is now FOUR pages that are each 2/3 blank. Only the middle third has ANY information other than name. It is a royal PITA. So don't hold your breath.

I'm with you, @rfassett - that's what I was trying to say. It's just a more-summarized summary. Overdue, to my mind. The 1040 has been masquerading as a standalone, and unless your return is dead-simple (one W-2, no interest, dividends, gains, or doggone near anything else), it's not, and hasn't been that for decades.

The one I saw had income information below the signature section. It's like they put all the demographic info and signatures in one spot, and then all financial details below.

It basically turns the 1040 into even more of a summary page. Everything pertinent is on worksheets and subordinate forms and schedules. Meh.

I set all my Drake printers to pdf, and still use Windows 7, but I will certainly check all my settings. Thanks!

Thank you, thank you, thank you Rita for hosting! It was SO wonderful to meet everyone and I had a blast. I do have at least one picture with Edsel once I get it off my camera. More to say, but of course I came back to about three crises... gotta deal, then I can gush about how marvelous it was. Those who missed it, missed a real treat. We need to do this again, for sure.

I much prefer a consumption tax; "The Fair Tax" book by Lindzen & Bootrz makes a great case. No tax on income at all; one embedded tax on sales of new items (clothing, houses, cars) and not on subsequent sales. Monthly "prebate" for lower income people. Done. It also gets all the "grey market" people. No, no one is going to charge the tax on drugs or hookers - but when the dealers buy gold jewelry and the pimps buy fancy cars, they pay their share of tax on those purchases (which don't get caught on an income tax form).

Thanks, Lion! I looked all over on the NY site (plus some goggle (sic) searches). Never found that. I'll bookmark it for any/all NY clients.

He is really going to be missed. I hope they can control the pain for him. They can't for everyone.

NY State. Not available. Direct debit only, and that only with e-file. We could not e-file her because as part of their "security" to e-file you need a document number from NYS on some card or other. She lost it. It would take a long time to replace, while interest piled up.

Of course not! That fat is THEM and their cushy benefits. So what else would they do but threaten the items that get people riled up to stop the cuts? It's all self-serving. D, I, R - doesn't matter.

One millennial owed tax. Told her to send a check with payment voucher; her response was "I'm a millennial; I don't have checks. Now what do I do?" LOL. She got a bank check, because she didn't want to pay the credit card fee. And she's going to get checks.