Lion EA

Thank you very much for all your help, Catherine.

I have a client with a daughter in college in OH who works a bit there. What a lot of work for a small income, small tax refund, and small I-can't-charge-enough-for-this prep fee!

Thank you Catherine. Mother gave me that number and now feels it is the subscriber number with -03 at the end for daughter as mom's card has that number with 01 and hubby's card 02. Do you have any Aetna clients? Is that worth a try? I realize it's the Aetna administering the Pepperidge Farm Employer-Provided Health Insurance Coverage and in CT, to boot. But, parents' return stands alone. And, daughter had a tiny bit of MA w/h that I won't feel bad if it's held up for any reason. One of those pulling teeth clients. Just got her vesting/basis info for stock sales. Original appointment, but wouldn't leave documents. Document package at a later date but items missing. Info dribbles in. And, they wanted to come in today to review. Made them an appointment for Saturday to review AND sign. I'm going to print and have everything ready for their arrival and hope they are done with they leave, no new info please! Well, I will wait until Friday night to print. I need to finish this.

I'm working on it. I don't take calls unless I want to/caller ID. I don't answer texts via text; I email them back. I return calls and texts by the next biz day via email, but I do return emails the same day to keep clients emailing. I'm sitting here now returning emails and other messages via email. When I first went out on my own, used my cell for biz until I got an office line. Just about weaned all clients off cell when a few regressed to texting me on it. And, a few knew me socially before becoming clients, so have my cell or even home # programmed into their phones; harder to break them but I always return calls from my office phone, or more often email, and tell them I don't answer my house phone during tax season. And, I don't return biz calls from my cell or text. I return emails to try to keep them emailing. I return calls by the next biz day, but usually via email and not phone. The just checking messages get a short No or Started or You're missing cost or.... via email. Just returned an email now with a "preparing returns in the order received" email which I want to put on auto-respond. I do respond to everybody. But, I seldom pick up the phone for anybody! I don't have staff, so I'm the one that has to keep clients happy enough to pay my prices. Sara, your gal I would NOT have answered. I would've waited for her to upload her 1099-R to my FileShare and emailed her or maybe called her when her return was done. I do email clients that I received their documents, because they are nervous about their tax info/SSNs getting lost or stolen, so I would've emailed her when I received her 1099-R. Hubby schmooses with my clients, so I don't have to take the time, when he does pick-ups and deliveries for me. I even have him deal with signatures in the front hallway to keep clients out of my office. He was a teacher for 37 years, so maybe I can put him in charge of client training.

Mom received 1095-C covering her, husband, and daughter with MA income. It's Employer-Provided by Pepperidge Farm, Inc. Mom says coverage is under Aetna ID W 1690 43628. Is that a TIN? And, I still need a number that goes with the daughter alone from her own insurance card? Or, is the W 1690 43628 that? I don't charge these people enough.

You have a good husband. Go get a hug from him.

That's why I would use that form &/or the disclosure form to report that you know what was reported to your client may have errors but you are matching the documents provided or you are making adjustments to report what you believe is correct instead of matching the documents. You have to prepare the return the way you feel is right, and have the client agree with whatever type of disclosure you suggest. Or, don't prepare.

There's a form # for when you don't agree with how something was handled from a PE to your K-1. Let your client make the call, but as has been said, get their signature on your written advice.

Client just dropped her documents through my mail slot. Not many drive by; I'm in the boonies. In winter weather, NO one drives up my steep hill; but we had an early spring. Hubby put in a doorbell, so now a few ring the bell and wait instead of dropping and leaving. I might have to take out the doorbell !! I'm trying to learn to ignore the bell like I ignore the phone. I have the phone set at two rings to give me time to look at the caller ID and decide if I want to answer. My voice message says, "by the next business day." I'm really training people to use email. I answer email almost immediately for real questions or information; last thing at night for those checking on my progress. But now, more and more of my young clients are texting me. My cell phone is usually in my purse in the bedroom or in the back seat of the car when driving. So, I don't always notice those messages until the next time I go to use my cell; I have to start looking at that twice/day. I do have it sitting in my office now.

Rita, it is worth every penny to have caller ID even if you have to string the wire yourself from town! If I didn't have caller ID, I'd let EVERY call go to voicemail. I'd listen to them twice/day and choose when I wanted to return each one. Oh, and I'd turn the ringer off, too.

What changed by $231,000? Do you have a trial balance or statement of cash flows? I don't use ATX, but I would have to list a Description if I had numbers in the Other assets section. Do you have something checked to auto-balance the BS? It's not a section I've used, so I'm not much help. Can you go back one more year to see if you spot a trend?

If it showed up in his W-2, he already paid ordinary income tax rates on it, and you add it to any out-of-pocket cost to get his basis. Are you saying he paid $20,000 cash plus $30,000 was on his W-2? Then, his basis is $50,000.

And, I've been coordinating with dad who's been paying online, not wanting direct debit, so all prior year's payments were made electronically on time. Hope grandfather calms down now.

OK, found the form on the TN dept. of Revenue site under Hall Income Tax Forms, and it is the Form INC 250 that we've been filing. Wish they used consistent terminology! I'm OK, right?

I've been filing a TN INC 250 for this little boy and his investment income. But, grandfather says his daughter told him we need a Hall income tax return. Is that the same as the TN INC 250? Grandfather seems to think the Hall is something other than what we've been filing and is concerned about penalties for not filing.

Auntie gave grandfather a link to a Hall Income Tax Return that I should be filing for the grandkids: http://www.tn.gov/assets/entities/revenue/attachments/indincguide.pdf

So I do taxes for a little boy, TN resident, that his CT grandfather hired me to prepare because he's the investment banker that makes the money. (Granddaughter might be over the filing threshold this year now also.) Just been a couple of years, and I thought I was fine, e-filing and everything. Now grandfather's daughter/boy's aunt told her dad about a dividend tax for residents of the State of Tennessee for amounts of $1,250 or more. Grandfather just asked me if the grandkids are liable for the tax and if we have any penalties. What did I do wrong?! Auntie is also a TN resident and an editor/researcher and highly admired by her dad. I think my stock just fell in his eyes. And, I charged him peanuts because he's a loyal member of my husband's choir and takes us to the Met Opera annually. Help!

It's OK. We understand.

I enter forms as is, even if wrong, usually. I make adjustments on other entry screens, check boxes, whatever, to make the return reflect what it should -- in this case F5329 entry if he should pay the additional 10%. But, as Possi says, you need to ask your client questions to see what might fit. Did he leave employment, for instance?

Thank you, Catherine. I was hoping it was simple when all-year coverage. I'm going to email daughter and mother to get her insurance card info.

I have a college student (dependent of clients) who worked while at BU and earned $750 with MA w/h. She's covered under her parents' insurance plan; they don't have their 1095-B yet. I've never filled out Schedule HC before. It asks a LOT of questions. All CT residents. Help!

Can they make IRA or SEP contributions to lower AGI?

He's family. You're going to grieve. Let it out. You can vent here. We've been there, done that, and empathize.

I love to use FileShare on my web site. But, I'm amazed at the people who try multiple times to download and call me for help. Had an engineer earning high six figures at a major NYC hospital try eight times! A lot of my young clients don't have printers, just show pictures of docs on their laptops or phones, so go to Staples to copy or call me for an extra copy. As much as I hate to waste paper/toner/etc., if I hear them talking about refinancing or FAFSA or something where they think they'll need a copy, I print an extra while I'm assembling their return to save my getting a call at an even more inconvenient time. Thank goodness I get more and more clients to try FileShare each year.