Lion EA

My out of the box website by CCH's Site Builder has a lot of built-in Financial Tools for Loans and other topics, such as this Amortizing Loan Calculator: http://www.dollarssense.com/financial_tools.html Maybe the above or one of the other tools on that page would meet your needs for free. PS I agree that Excel has some handy templates that you already own. Check them out before you spend money.

This morning was interesting. In the hour we were in church, the sleet coated everything with ice. We couldn't go down the church stairs. We went through the basement and up a shorter flight of stairs that was partially under the building so less slippery. Then, tried to find as much snow-covered grass as possible to walk on to get to the ice-rink quality parking lot. Going up my steep hill was a real challenge also. And, everything, roads, church property, everything, had been nice and clean and dry and sanded and cindered and "ice melt"ed before church began. After, even the handrails were ice covered, so you couldn't get a good grip to hold yourself up from falling. My yard now has a shiny sheet of ice over the snow. I'm really glad we have a gravel driveway and not blacktop coated with ice.

He's already organized as an entity with his secretary of state, right? So, just the 2553 to elect to be taxed as an S-corporation. If he wants to incorporate, then he has new paperwork with his SoS and with the feds, but that wasn't what you were asking. General Instructions A corporation or other entity eligible to elect to be treated as a corporation must use Form 2553 to make an election under section 1362(a) to be an S corporation. An entity eligible to elect to be treated as a corporation that meets certain tests discussed below will be treated as a corporation as of the effective date of the S corporation election and does not need to file Form 8832, Classification Election.

For Federal, the LLC files only Form 2553 to make the election to be taxed as an S-corporation.

Taxed: check to see if your software printing has a checkbox or other setting to mask the SSN when sending to a printer or .pdf file. It's really fast. I print all client copies with SSNs masked to have fewer copies out there with SSNs.

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.