Lion EA

In the past when I would have a power outage (just installed a generator, so not a problem any more!!), I'd grab my external hard drive and laptop and go to an empty desk at another preparer's site or my chiropractor's office or even a town building providing storm shelter for us. My external hard drive is one of my regular back-up sites and is backed-up to each night. And, if I was expecting a power failure, I'd back up to it often until the power went out so it'd be as current as possible. If the failure was unexpected, I'd still have the external drive as of the last night and then a flash drive with my recent in-progress returns. I just would work off the external drive, not import or restore to the laptop's drive.

Epiphany is celebrated in my Episcopal church. And, my hubby taught in a neighboring small city with a growing Hispanic population, so covered Three Kings' Day in his choral concerts and classes. I stopped putting our tree up as we have been at my son's Inn since Christmas Day enjoying their tree and decorations. Growing up, my family tended to take the tree down the weekend after New Year's. In my first apartment I had little to no storage space so left the tree up until I could borrow a ladder to get it on top of the kitchen cabinets (artificial tree, obviously). More recently, real trees would come down the weekend after New Year's or sooner if dry and brittle. Live trees would go into the basement or garage and wait until the ground was OK for planting. Our artificial tree would come down after New Year's, but everyone would go back to school/work and leave me to undecorate the house. It was sad to undecorate. So, some years I would put up the tree only or all the decorations only except the tree to have less of a difference when I put everything away in January. Now, I do very little and enjoy the Inn's decorations. This year I put out candles and placemats and a few of my favorite picture ornaments. Our presents (unwrapped now) are still piled on the hearth with the new framed picture from our daughter (skydiving before & after!) and the new candlesticks made by my son and daughter-in-law on the mantle.

Look at the group plans through your professional organizations. I moved to the NAEA plan as cheaper than my former E&O insurance.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Yes, I have a NC client, and I had skimmed notices about tax changes. Any of you NC preparers up to speed on this and willing to share? Client forwarded me the following from his employer: Subject: Employee’s Withholding Allowance Certificate Form NC-4 EZ and NC-4 Attachments: (03a) NC-4.pdf (223 KB) (03b) nc4ez 2014.pdf (198 KB) Ultipro Directions for 2014 Tax Change.docx (103 KB) The North Carolina General Assembly recently enacted House Bill 998 which becomes effective for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2014. Taxpayers may no longer claim a personal exemption for themselves, their spouse, children, or any other qualifying dependents. Additionally, many deductions and tax credits that impact North Carolina withholding tax are no longer available for tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2014. As a result of this Act, all North Carolina employees must complete a new Employee’s Withholding Allowance Certificate, either Form NC-4 EZ or Form NC-4. The new form must be completed so the correct amount of State income tax is withheld for payment periods beginning on or after January 1, 2014. As required by North Carolina, employees who fail to provide Revlon with the applicable updated form will have their tax withholding status set to “Single” with no allowances. • Form NC-4 EZ: This form is suitable for most employees. Employees should use this form if: (1) they plan to claim the NC standard deduction and plan to claim no tax credits or only the credit for children, (2) they qualify to claim exempt status, or (3) they prefer not to complete the extended Form NC-4. Form NC-4 EZ can even be used by employees who plan to itemize deductions for personal tax filing. • Form NC-4: This extended withholding form may provide more precise withholding figures, but will require historical tax return information and estimation of 2014 income, deductions, and credits. Deadlines to complete: Option 1 - Log on to UltiPro to complete Form NC-4 EZ by December 29th Option 2 - Complete one of the attached forms and submit to the Human Resources Service Center by December 23rd.

I blame it on sunspots!

Agree completely with Michael. And, something along the line of time and knowledge (education?) needed to prepare a complete and accurate tax return for you. Or, something about lowest legal tax liability. Stress your time AND EXPERTISE devoted to them.

Explain it as the reason you're paying more in taxes is because your income went up. I use it for my proofreading. And, I use it whenever a client asks why their balance due is more. And, I use it when making recommendations re next year's W/H or ES, such as they'll lose a dependent or is your bonus going to be more or CT or NY raised their rates again or.... It's one more tool in our arsenal and not just numbers. It's what it can tell us and our clients that's important.

I don't use those programs, but I do have a tab where I can put info from last year into this year's return for new clients or flesh out converted info. I just type in what I want to. No need to go to prior year or actually prepare a return in a prior year. Handy tab to use so I can have the 2-year comparison for my own proofreading and to go over with clients.

My "kids" can be more expensive than parents with multiple states. If parents are willing to pay, I keep their rates down if parents' returns are expensive. If parents aren't paying and "kid" is, I charge full freight with maybe a loyal client discount.

You're the greatest, Eric! Wish you lived in CT as I'd hire you to be my IT guy.

Carnegie Mellon. Stepdaughter's engineer boyfriend graduated from Dartmouth. Michigan State has a large engineering school with lots of majors; the first college to have a packaging major, everything from wooden crates to the shell of the space shuttle. Bucknell or Lehigh or Penn, one of those graduated some engineers from my stepdaughter's group of friends. A friend of my son's graduated in environmental engineering from Princeton, which has a huge endowment and provides the largest scholarships to every student. A church friend's son is an engineer from Vanderbuilt (Tom: they have a lousy football team; UCONN has beaten them!). Lots of choices out there for your son. There are more similarities than differences. He'll find one that feels like home. A wreck for a mascot can be a deal-breaker. And, that's OK as it has to feel like home for four years and a place HE can be proud of for the rest of his life. My son chose a college based on the microfridges that came in the dorm rooms, I think! Although, he did eliminate colleges based on how well they answered his questions as opposed to speaking from a script, so he had his methods. Your son was perceptive to realize that loner students will not make a good network when he's out in the work world. Pick up a copy of Accept My Kid, Please!: A Dad's Descent Into College ... books.google.com › Family & Relationships › Parenting › General Take My Son, Please - New York Times Mr. Herman explores the far edge of sanity in a memoir released last month, ''Accept My Kid, Please! A Dad's Descent Into College ... written by a columnist in Westport, CT, about college searches for their boys. It'll ring true plus give you some huge laughs and help you relax.

The ride in the small plane was the scariest part of the day! Well, that and watching the solo jumpers drop out of the plane. My instructor did all the work, so I was just along for the ride.

Tell Patrick to keep his hopes up, but to apply to other colleges as well. The regular process will pit him against a different pool of applicants than early admission, so don't lose hope.

Thanx, Judy. I'm hoping my clients will like having a crazy tax lady, and that they'll be too afraid of me to complain about my fees!

My kids now think I'm badass, so it was worth it.

Those harnesses would be pretty uncomfortable naked. Not sure if you can access this link if you're not on Facebook or if you haven't friended me, but here are a few pictures: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10201999010238010.1268319812&type=3

Yep, me and my instructor in my first jump. It was my stepdaughter's third and my son's first. I was supposed to be celebrating my 65th birthday, but a couple of literal rain checks and scheduling the three of us working folks meant I was past 66 by the time we jumped in October. It was cold with the wind rushing past at 115-120 miles/hour; next time I'm wearing ear plugs and a stocking cap! I think this place (Connecticut Parachutists in Ellington, CT) closed in November for the winter. My stepdaughter's birthday present to me was the videographer who jumped with me and recorded it all, from suiting up with my kids to the smiles afterward: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKxp9APHBVw&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Does this help?

Go Green! But, CT's where I prepare taxes.

I put their documents in the left pocket, return which includes a privacy statement in the right, and anything they have to deal with (payment vouchers, ES vouchers, mail-in return, something for next year, something from a prior year to go home and put in that year's folder, privacy statement if I haven't handed it to them before, my invoice, etc.) outside on top to hand to them separately and explain what their action needs to be. I tell them they can file the folder away, but they have to do something with these papers. They almost always pay me on the spot. Some sit here and write their tax payment checks, put in the envelopes, and stamp them, so they can mail them on their way home. Some will stuff all that inside their folder to carry out, but at least I tried to explain to them that there is something they have to do!

Yes, Marilyn, I love those e-file stickers that the IRS no longer makes. I picked up the idea, perhaps from Catherine, of using two-pocket portfolios back when I started my own business. I use a different color each year; and it's helped me more than once on the telephone to be able to tell the client to look for a green folder or whichever color for that year. I buy them during Staples' back-to-school sale each year. I get "year" stickers from M&C, alternating between gold and silver. I have a lot of really fat returns, so also buy Staples' vinyl folders that hold a lot and get the best coordinating color they have. Sometimes, I have a business return and a personal return and maybe a couple of kids and even a trust. So, I usually have a "back-up" color if the client needs to tell them apart, light and dark green or yellow and orange. I tried the folders that you fold over and staple, but didn't like them as my returns got fatter. And, if I goofed, misaligned, whatever, and had to unstaple those really big staples, well that destroyed the folder. I do get compliments on my packaging.

Is a substantial amount paid within the last two years? You could get that back without an OIC. But, for the amount you say, your client may want you to chase an OIC or any other tactic. Lay out the expenses, timing, chances, etc., and let him decide.

Anything that takes my hands off the keyboard, especially taking my right hand off the number pad, does NOT speed me up. I too wish I could master more keyboard shortcuts and not touch the mouse. At a seminar, the preparer next to me used the mouse with his LEFT hand so he could keep his right hand on the number pad. He's right handed, but practiced with the mouse on his left during the off-season. Keep meaning to try that.

Just received this email this morning, so if anyone might need a 10-pack: To My Tax Professionals, If you would like to see CCH Research or have access to our online professional development (CPE, CFP, and CLE) please reply by email as the following popular seminars good for two hours of immediate CPE or CLE are coming up at the bottom as terrific way to get timely and relevant professional development before the end of the calendar year. We also have on demand self-study on over 330 courses enclosed that are as low as $240 for any ten courses which are up to (see this link for all 330 to choose from http://www.cchgroup.com/opencms/opencms/web/TAA/Microsites/learning-center/pdf/lc-matrix.pdf ) as they can be up 7 hours each. Let me know if you see any of these as useful or helpful and I would be happy to get you access for at least 20% off when going through me and some of our current promotions for the webinars and at least 75% off when subscribing to any of our self-study pick 10 courses or bundle libraries. Thank you, Tom PS. I have included three timely newsletters’ (latest issue complimentary) put out by other leading practitioners which are great for planning and running your firm more effectively. They are Estate Planning Journal, The Financial and Estate Planning Trends and CPA Practice Management Forum which is chock full of great ideas to serve your firm more profitably in 2014. P.P.S. If you are a current subscriber who is using RIA or BNA and are your anniversary date for your renewal is in the next 8 months then you really owe it to yourself to let me show you why 9 out of 10 firms that I show our tax or accounting research to like it better on our platform than on theirs and feel like we pull up more relevant answers than they do. The reason I say 8 months out is because if it something that you see as helpful CCH has a promotional program where if you did want have our content you could at no cost up (to 8 months) or till the end of your sub (whichever is greater) with an agreement with us as now is the time to take a look! Federal Tax Day - Current, I.2, IRS Releases 2014 Standard Mileage Rates (IR-2013-95; Notice 2013-80), (Dec. 9, 2013) Tax News, Journals and Newsletters > Federal Tax > Federal Tax Day - Current > INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE > I.2, IRS Releases 2014 Standard Mileage Rates (IR-2013-95; Notice 2013-80), (Dec. 9, 2013) The IRS has released the 2014 optional standard mileage rates that employees, self-employed individuals, and other taxpayers can use to compute deductible costs of operating automobiles (including vans, pickups and panel trucks) for business, medical, moving and charitable purposes. The 2014 standard mileage rate is 56 cents per mile for business uses (2013 - 56.5 cents) and 23.5 cents per mile for medical and moving uses (2013 - 24 cents). It remains at 14 cents per mile for charitable uses. For purposes of computing the allowance under an FAVR plan, the standard automobile cost may not exceed $28,200 ($30,400 for trucks and vans). The updated rates are effective for deductible transportation expenses paid or incurred on or after January 1, 2014, and for mileage allowances or reimbursements paid to, or transportation expenses paid or incurred by, an employee or a charitable volunteer on or after January 1, 2014. Notice 2012-72, I.R.B. 2012-50, 673, is superseded. IR-2013-95, 2013FED ¶46,591 Notice 2013-80, 2013FED ¶46,592 Sincerely, Tom Evans, JD, MBA Account Executive for Manhattan, Nassau, Westchester Counties, Upstate New York, & Western Connecticut Advising Professionals for over 14 years CCH Tax and Accounting North America 877 745 5393 phone and fax [email protected] December 10 Form 1099 Tax Reporting for 2013 and the Impact of New Tax Laws Effective 2014 Marianne Couch, J.D. December 11 Form 990 Update 2013 Jane Searing, CPA, M.S. Taxation December 12 Last-Minute Keys to Year-End Audit Success Alan W. Anderson, CPA December 13 Residency Rules in California: Tax Issues and Audits Kathleen K. Wright, CPA, J.D., LL.M. (Taxation), M.B.A. (Taxation) December 16 Tangible Property Regulations – Understanding Capitalization vs. Repair and Maintenance Eric P. Wallace, CPA December 17 FBAR & FATCA – The New Frontier in IRS Enforcement Eric L. Green, J.D., LL.M., Laura E. Pisarello, J.D., LL.M. December 18 The New 3.8% Medicare Surtax - Impact on Real Estate Investors and Closely Held Businesses Robert S. Keebler, CPA, M.S.T., AEP December 19 Ethical Issues for Tax Professionals James R. Hamill, CPA, Ph.D. December 20 Estates and Trusts Tax Law and Planning Update Steven G. Siegel, J.D., LL.M. (Taxation) December 27 1040 Individual Income Tax Forms and Law Update Claudia Hill, EA, M.B.A.