Lion EA

I'm working all the time, but will attend church and fellowship time on Easter morning. Appointments only, and I've gotten better about letting the telephone go to voice mail. I listen to messages later and then return calls the next business day, or sooner. But, this way I know what they want before I talk to them and can try to control how much time I spend on the call. I really hate when Easter falls during tax season.

Yep, one I gave signature pages to days ago just emailed that the very long and detailed list of donations to Goodwill, well it's actually four different lists for four different dates to two different charities. But, she didn't give me the corrections to make. Limbo. And, some I thought I was going to finish are going to move over to Extensions due to all the emails, telephone calls, from everyone else. And, they won't be happy. But, I'm getting unhappy. And, a former IC from a biz client needs a copy of his 2013 1099 and didn't like the copy of the payor copy I emailed him on blank paper and not on the preprinted forms and emailed my client his dissatisfaction. Now the client's emailing me. I really am not going to drive up to that biz this week. Very unhappy. And, ate chocolate, but it just made me jitterier. Really not happy. And, my good halogen lamp that is great light plus heat this winter died. Hubby even went looking at Home Depot for a lamp for me. Kids came in from PA for a day and I was cranky; hubby told them I'm tired to not worry about it. I want another month to catch up! Or, I'm going out to the mailbox to meet Rita.

Does your assistant have a sister, or a brother, or even a dear friend? I'll pay her moving expenses!

I have some excess clients I'd like to send to Casey. I wish she/he'd email me!

If you were looking at UT, then look at ProSystem fx. I like it a bit better and was able to negotiate MUCH better deals. (Think Ultra Tax had bad problems last year and poor support, but haven't heard anything bad this year.) And, if you are interested in cloud-based, there's the cloud version Axcess from CCH which is very, very new so, hopefully, getting better every year. I'm out in the boonies so lose internet with some frequency (used to lose power, but finally installed a generator last fall, yea!) so haven't explored Axcess yet. My backups are are removable hard drives and not in the cloud.

Only if it'll be taxable. If the children have other income, then do the SS test (1/2 SS + all other income > $$ based on filing status. You know that test and can look up the specifics.) If SS is the only income, it won't be taxable.

Try a simple spreadsheet for her with as few categories as you can, including things like To Owner, Cash, New Equipment,.... Tell him to hire you quarterly to review her bookkeeping.

Did he thing the white/dark sneakers were other skunks?!

Venting is what we're here for.

I ate a baby bon-belle cheese, a huge handful of jelly beans, and two cups of tea. Kids are here for the evening from PA, so we're going out to eat. I'll try to have a salad, veggie, protein, and nothing too bad for me. We'll see.

No, not if a family member is a participant. As was mentioned, a volunteer coach would be a possibility. But, driving to watch your kids play, get them to practice, etc., is a personal activity just like driving them to play dates or to visit relatives. Clients sure get pushy this time of year!

And, sometimes this season, my clients!

You honor him by remembering him, remembering your shared times.

Hubby's from Harrisburg, so we'd visit Hershey when the kids were young. But, I love higher-end chocolate. Son and wife now in Starlight, PA, employed by the Inn at Starlight Lake and own the bakery, Hancock, NY. They're coming Monday but won't be bringing any baked goods as the bakery was closed for the winter and they're coming via Poughkeepsie and a food show and then NYC friends. http://www.innatstarlightlake.com/ http://www.thebakeryhancockny.com/default.html

Chocolate?! Now I really do need to know your location.

http://www.irs.gov/irb/2007-07_IRB/ar11.html SUMMARY: This document contains final regulations that state the rules relating to qualified amended returns by providing circumstances that end the period within which a taxpayer may file an amended return that constitutes a qualified amended return. The IRS uses qualified amended returns to determine whether an underpayment exists that is potentially subject to the accuracy-related penalty on underpayments. Among other things, these final regulations provide that the period for filing a qualified amended return is terminated once the IRS has served a John Doe summons on a third party with respect to the taxpayer’s tax liability. In addition, for taxpayers who have claimed tax benefits from undisclosed listed transactions, the regulations provide that the period for filing a qualified amended return is terminated once the IRS requests information related to the transaction that is required to be included on a list under section 6112 from any person who made a tax statement to or for the benefit of the taxpayer, or any person who gave material aid, assistance, or advice to the taxpayer. The regulations also provide that the date on which published guidance is issued announcing a settlement initiative for a listed transaction in which penalties, in whole or in part, are compromised or waived is an additional date by which a taxpayer must file a qualified amended return. DATES: Effective Date: These regulations are effective January 9, 2007. Applicability Dates: For dates of applicability, see §1.6664-1(b )(3). FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Laura Urich Daly, 202-622-4940 (not a toll-free number).

I'm warning my client not to be alarmed at an IRS letter. She did put the money back in about 30 days into the same IRA and has the E-Trade transactions printed out. Just not happy that there's no direct way to report an indirect rollover, a way that the return/worksheets show the trail. By the way, is "rollover" supposed to print in the margin? I wonder how I can make that happen. I am not charging enough for this return. I worked with one woman at HRB who did everything by hand in pencil first and then overwrote everything in the program. I like having a program that can provide diagnostics and help me out when I'm sleep-deprived. I lose that when I override, but don't see a way around that for an indirect rollover.

I have a similar issue in a different software. I'm reluctant to change the Form 1099-R as issued, change the code from 1 to G for my client. Doesn't the IRS matching system compare the information? Right now, I used an over-ride directly on the form; but I hate to over-ride, also. (Good old HRB had an easy solution. They had a drop-down menu off box 2 asking how much was rolled over. Sometimes I miss their program.)

You can get a list of EAs directly from the IRS for $35: http://www.irs.gov/uac/Active-Enrolled-Agents-Listing You can look up members for free at NAEA: https://member.naea.org/naeassa/rflssareferral.query_page?p_vendor_ty=EA

I'm sorry, Jack.

Hey, SFA, where are you located? I'd hire from your students if you teach. Heck, I might take your courses myself. Especially QuickBooks. I had an assistant when I started. High hopes. Single mom with first of three in college, so thought I'd have her for a long time. Day job in outside sales, but not very well paid. Took HRB Basic Course, but decided she could make more money as a Block receptionist (or whatever title they used then). She was in my HRB office then, and I admired her intelligence and practicality. She was good the first tax season at data entry, figuring things out, calling customers for information, even going out to my elderly to make sure they had all their documents to bring in. (She was very sloppy at assembling and filing; so I took back anything to do with delivering the product to my clients.) I gave her a huge bonus. Hubby often cooked breakfast on Saturdays. Treated her royally. By her second next tax season, she had a boyfriend who wanted to stay in NY; she lived in CT. Constant last-minute calls to miss work, mugged, car vandalized, kid sick in out-of-state college, mysterious surgery, more outlandish excuses each week; very sporadic attendance (she was only one night and Saturdays per her choice, anyway, even though I tried to start her with the three nights plus Saturday that she had worked at HRB). She did very little besides her own, boyfriend's, all her kids', and her best friend's returns, and a little data entry. I did get her back for an intense time before 15 October. Third tax season I did NOT contact her. She needed to retrieve info to help with the older daughters' financial aid, even used my fax machine to send. She moved to NY. A couple of years later, I heard from her again wanting info when her oldest was teaching English in Japan, or some international issue. I gave her IRS Pub. #s and suggested a US Council office. In the meantime, I had another potential assistant who couldn't start as soon my first year. When she finally was available, I started her with going to two different elderly clients to help them pay bills once/week or at least twice/month. She reconciled their bank statements, gathered their tax documents, caught a theft from a bank account by a former home healthcare worker and trafficked it through until the bank returned the funds to our client, organized a couple of my "shopping bag" clients, did some pick-ups and deliveries, and was good with clients. She was a bit messy, and I don't read her writing well, but she could organize a bag of papers with green ledger paper, pencil, and adding machine tapes. Even though HRB trained and an office manager, she wasn't really up to data entry and is never going to progress to complete tax returns. I lost my elderly gentlemen (one to an out-of-state home near his son, and one passed) but I still have my gal in a few times/year to organize the bags from clients and also to sort through our own documents (the shoemaker's children syndrome). A gal from church came to me wanting work. She did a lot in QuickBooks. Bright, managed a family business, and had been expanding her QB work on both PCs and Macs. I had a new client using QB Mac as well as several on PCs. Self-employed husband and two small kids and lived really close in my town. We talked about her doing QB for me and learning tax from me and taking over my business. I thought it was a great fit. Well, after a QB project or two, she got a job in a town with a very long commute with very thick traffic (something she was trying to avoid with two small kids) but it had benefits, especially medical that I told her I could offer in the future as our income increased but not at the beginning. Then I gave up on people! Trying to scan more and need to do the "flow" part more. Do have most of my investors' brokers giving me Excel spreadsheets to import. And, getting more clients to accept extensions (those that came from HRB were not used to extensions) to spread out the work load. Hubby does some deliveries and schmoozes my clients. I have a mail slot in my front door for drop-offs. Maybe hubby can learn the scan & flow.... I'm drowning. Every envelope I open up includes new things. College daughter now works in three states, spouse started a biz out of state, parents died and need returns done, between jobs for a few months so got really active in investment accounts, marital problems so having to go over everything twice, forgot to tell me they have a trust, grown son on a ship so here's his info too, didn't notice they withheld for a wrong state, etc. No one's financial life gets simpler!

You don't have to audit your client, so if he says he doesn't think spouse filed, then go with that and let him itemize. If the spouse did not file/had no income, can't he claim her as a dependent on his MFS return? One of the very few exceptions to not claiming spouse as dependent? And, if the major mess is depreciation, I agree to use 3115 instead of amending all those prior years. Unless you have other major reasons to amend anyway. Innocent spouse? Or, is it injured spouse? For back returns and current. Don't feel guilty if you don't have time to research the multiple problems for multiple years for a new client. Do what you can and let the rest go until after tax season.

By the way, YOU do not have to prepare amendments if they do not request it of you. You DO have to tell them what they did wrong and how they SHOULD fix it. I probably would put that in writing and ask them to sign it to CYA.

But, the Rev. Rul. that was cited uses the word "must": Marital status: effect of annulment or divorce.– Taxpayers, who were married during a taxable year and filed a joint return for that year, and whose marriage was annulled in the year following their marriage were single individuals at the close of their taxable year and must file amended returns. Other taxpayers, who had been married for 10 years, who determined that for income tax purposes it would be advantageous for them to be unmarried at the close of their taxable year, obtained a divorce in a foreign jurisdiction at the end of that year, and intended to and did remarry each other in the first month of the following year were married at the close of their taxable year for purposes of sections 143 and 6013 of the Code.

If married, you cannot amend from MFJ to MFS after 15 April. (You can amend to go from MFS to MFJ at any time.) If you filed with an incorrect status, you HAVE to amend. They have to amend to Single, or HOH if one of them qualifies. From CCH Tax Prep Partner (not sure if "may file" gives you an out or not: 1085Changing Filing Status After a Return Has Been Filed An election to file a joint return is generally irrevocable. Once a couple files a return, they cannot choose to file separate returns for that year after the due date of the return. However, there are a couple of exceptions to this rule. When a couple files a joint return but subsequently determines that they were not entitled to file a joint return, they may file an amended return to change their filing status to single or head of household, whichever is appropriate. This may happen, for example, if the person who presided over the "marriage" ceremony was not authorized under state law to conduct weddings or if the marriage was subsequently annulled ( Rev. Rul. 76-255).