Lion EA

Talk to CCH's small firm group that now includes ProSystem fx to see if their small biz pricing on Pro fx could work for you. You could try Justin Lenow Solutions Consultant US Small Firms Tax and Accounting 214-622-4773 O 601-955-92463 C [email protected]

Congratulations! Keep visiting us -- to help or to laugh at/with us or to reconfirm your decision to retire or all of those! Godspeed.

One of my MA clients just became a PY MA and PY CA client. I (yes ME) will also need chill pills to get through the tax season!

Yes, the SALT gets added back to compute AMT on 6251. But, then the AMT gets compared to regular tax, and only the highest results. For instance, my typical clients with about $50,000 in SALT that would save them about $16,500 at their regular tax rate of 33%, have about $9,500 in AMT added to their 1040 due to the AMT top rate of 28%. Even with AMT, they have a tax savings of $7,000 due to SALT -- in 2017. I'm in CT with many NY clients and a few MA and PA and CA and IL and.... 2018 is not going to be pretty.

Passthrough entities, such as partnerships and S-corporations, that pay the tax on the passthrough income. Supposedly to help even the playing field with the new, lower 21% top C-corporation tax rate.

NY did that a few years ago, so CT had to follow the next year.

It was fillable in my Chrome.

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f941.pdf

I think the CCH is per form and not per person's signature, but again, I haven't used it yet. I have it because I know I'll need it at some point. When I complete a return, I have check boxes to send it to eSign, to the portal, to print, etc., for the client's copy.

I have the free license for CCH's eSign, but haven't used it yet. I think it's about $3 when you need authentication (Form 8879) and maybe $1 if you don't (engagement letter). I have it on hand just in case, because I don't pay anything until I use it. Then, a monthly invoice. See what your software offers.

I think depreciating the wrong amount for two years is an impermissible method and can use Form 3115, but I haven't had a client need that so haven't researched it. You've done a good job with IRS info. And, you're being a good person to explain your results to your client and her new tax preparer. If the new preparer is filing the returns now, you can wash your hands of it; you've done all you can do.

Form 3115

https://timbertax.org/

I noticed a big jump in paper price at Staples not long ago. Did they have advance knowledge of the new Form 1040?!

A year after NY added pages, CT simplified from 2 pages to 4. But, add pages if your have CT AMT, EIC, credits for taxes paid to other jurisdictions, ES, etc. And, CT threw in a page of instructions, which is silly if I'm e-filing their returns. And, a second page of instructions if there are ES payments. With tax "simplification" my job is secure!

Stay out of Rita's back 40 !!

Taxpayers can create an account to pay NY balances due &/or estimated taxes: https://www.tax.ny.gov/pay/ind/pay_income_tax_online.htm They can also mail in a money order to NY, if they don't have a checking account.

I set my young clients up for direct debit, just like many of my clients of all ages. And, I give them the link to Direct Pay, too. HRB is not my competition. CPA firms are my competition, but I'm less expensive than they are. I'm still pricey, but don't have their overheard with OIH. More importantly, I offer service 24/7/365. Me, not the intern in the back room doing all the work while the partner only signs. Even my millennial clients appreciate service. They have no desire to learn a skill they'll use only once/year and won't improve their resume! I sometimes have to go all maternal on them, but they thank me for it !!

Judy, I'm getting hungry, too!! Rita you're a gem. I'll have to get to TN after getting my hip replaced, herniated disk fixed, etc. It's maintenance, maintenance, maintenance! I'm also missing Appalachia Service Project this summer in KY and WV. A group photo with names would be fun, too.

HP printers are my workhorse printers since my first that hubby still uses now (HP PCL 4 or something like that). Have three HPs in my office currently, all years old: large color laser, small very fast black only laser for tax returns, and an all-in-one color inkjet for when I need a stand-alone fax or glass-plate scanner (my workhorse scanner is a Fujitsu). Never had an HP break down; every HP printer I've ever owned is still in use by my business or my family. I have had to throw out a couple of Brother printers.

Local library with volunteers?

Uber. Hey, how about Danbury, CT, for the NY/CT-ATP two day seminar every December?! Ethan Allen Hotel has nice rooms.

True the SS deposit each month is fun. I even used some of my IRA money as a QCD to my church this year and will take the rest later this year. My trainer is great at stretching, as is my rehab guy, I want the yoga gal to teach me more, and I have the stretches as a video workout on my phone. Thanks for pushing that; I do need to stretch more. My rheumatologist was holding out for spinal stenosis while all the other doctors said hip. Last visit, he'd been at a seminar and took a class from a radiologist on lower back and hips. He examined me (for what's been at least quarterly) and said he changed his mind; not back, make hip replacement appointment. So, I thought all doctors are on same page. But, I had an appointment with internist to explain all the test results, medical jargon, etc. He was the one who sent me to hip surgeon in the first place, so I thought we'd be making that appointment; but he said the weakness shouldn't be from the hip -- sent me to the spine specialist. Spine guy said symptoms suggested disk, but MRI from almost five months ago didn't show that. New MRI, and it showed the herniated disk! It's so frustrating, because I thought we were all on the same page finally. But, it's back to the drawing board. But a herniated disk AFTER December does explain why I went downhill so fast this year. And, I am almost three inches shorter than I used to me. I thought it was the dowager's hump like my mother, but when I dug out a came from 30 years ago as I got weaker, I realized it's my lower back that's compressed because the cane was 2 1/2 inches too tall now! If I'd gotten my hip replaced last year, I wouldn't be having double trouble this year. But, I was OK last year, a little slower and some trouble sleeping since I used to sleep on my side, but doing everything I always did. I'm not one to have surgery until there are no other options. I've never had much: tonsils out as a kid and tubes in my ears as an adult. A lot of people my age and older at church, so I'm seeing what can be done. Hubby had both shoulders replaced and bounced back fast. All the good ideas and wishes help a lot.

Latest MRI shows herniated disk L2/L3 pressing on a nerve that runs down my left leg. X-rays show no cartilage in my hips, arthritis in both hips and lower back, with left hip the worst. So, It'll be a hip replacement at some time, just now sure where in the list of procedures. On prednisone for a couple weeks, but can't keep it up long since I'm type 2 diabetic. I guess next is a cortisone shot in the spine. I also have a script for rehab. Taking all those supplements. Using ice at night and heating pads during the day and those disposable heat wraps all the time (Steve orders them by the case from Costco). Extended release pain reliever at night. Getting more sleep. But, using a cane now for balance. And, other equipment; looking like a retirement home in here. Friends see me and loan me canes and walkers and... Chiro and massage. Have the name of a good acupuncturist and good yoga teacher for "real people." Even have a client with some magnetic machine to realign my electrons or something; she uses it on her horses and me and other people too, I think! This is getting very time-consuming. And, I turn 71 so am old. But, my grandmother lived to 103. I want to strengthen muscles before hip replacement, and hopefully lessen pain so I can rehab. My sister fell during rehab, so Medicare stopped paying because she wasn't getting better every day. She remained housebound, because she couldn't get up her steps. But, at least her hip pain was gone! Thanks for everyone's thoughts and suggestions. I keep adding them all in to the mix. Doing all the less invasive things before I think about surgery.