Lion EA

35 years ago when I moved to this small town, I was told by residents to learn when to expect things like charge card statements so I could grab my mail as soon as it arrived on those dates. People were stealing various items out of mailboxes for sale to larger groups who probably sold bulk information to even larger groups. Strictly low tech, but some very high end items were purchased on neighbors' cards, loans opened in their names, etc. The only time our credit card was compromised was when we checked into a hotel and didn't realize until later that among all the paperwork we never got our credit card back. (There had been a lot of back and forth re rooms available or not and shuffling of paper and other confusion, probably specifically created to distract us.) It had already been used for a few small things (metro card, chinese food, maybe a movie or rental) by the time we called the credit card company that night. That thief probably did that a couple times each shift and hadn't been caught at it by sticking with small charges that might be overlooked on a joint card a month later when the statement arrived.

Happy Birthday, Jainen! Please stay here. I need you.

Wow! I need a few laughs in this busy time leading up to 15 October, while my computer monitors are failing, my son is suffering from severe anger issues, my ex is telling me to fix it as I'm the mother (my "kid" is 32 years old and married), and we're working on our church's main time-consuming fundraiser. Even the sick jokes bring me up for air and out of my panic. However, I laughed at that joke for an entirely different reason, didn't laugh at those that had been diagnosed as mentally ill. I laughed at the doctors that thought they'd made an accurate diagnosis based on one event in the woman's life! But, were proved wrong. Doctors are not God. Luckily they were proved wrong before the patient could be released. Now, I've offended doctors. Hopefully, no doctor is reading a tax board. But some of you have doctors in your families, so I do apologize. I remember going through a sick joke phase as a child, so it is easy to revert to that as a release valve in times of stress.

Been chilly but will be back to 89 + humidity on Wednesday. Thursday will be 68. September in CT. If you don't like the weather, just wait a couple of hours and it will change!

Take good care of yourself. Especially so you can hold that grandbaby!

Make sure you have some reason to use 10% for land. Around here, land can be as much as 100% as the building is often torn down to build a McMansion. A couple of recent tax bills had about a 50% value for the land in a neighboring town for residential property. Just CYA with documentation.

E-Help Desk. And your software e-file support.

They email me CONSTANTLY so I just delete them. I have enough options to NOT buy from annoying vendors.

But, then again you also WIN that same argument with yourself !!

Hubby lost his internet every time he was on the phone and blamed our router and me for moving my office within our house. Finally a techie he was complaining to asked him if it was a wireless phone! He now uses a hardwired phone and has wifi and internet all over our small house. I, however, am running out of desk space and have items closer together than they should be and get some feedback and static type issues. House phone, office phone, router, CPU, a rheostat type of switch to a floor lamp, a printer, but everything else on separate stands.

Whatever NAEA offers as a group plan, think it's by Calsurance. It was better rates than my former company. But, I haven't had to file a claim so can't comment from that direction.

Groan!

Ultra Tax is giving a sweet pricing deal to TaxWorks clients. Maybe you can get the same as a returning UT client. ProSystem fx has great pricing, especially with pay per return.

No, it took us a couple of hurricanes to finally reach a decision, so I'm anxious to get this generator installed. But, it's probably good news for the electrician who must be very busy!

And the electrician to install my generator hasn't called us back!

Hot, humid, overcast, and rainy. Made me feel better about working on trusts, estates, and partnerships with 15 September deadlines!

Amen, sister!

I want to take the standard deduction for donations.

National Association of Enrolled Agents IRS just--like 5 minutes ago--released final regs (covering some 75 pages) on the requirement to maintain minimum essential coverage required by the Affordable Care Act (and other laws). The final regs provide guidance to individual taxpayers on the Section 5000A shared responsibility payment (required for those who do not maintain minimum essential coverage). http://www.ofr.gov/OFRUpload/OFRData/2013-21157_PI.pdf www.ofr.gov

I didn't give you my 1099 for my IRA because they already withheld taxes from it (10%) so I don't have to report it. So why am I getting an IRS letter about that money?

I don't have to report income under $600, right? And the variations, such as $600 per client or $600 per check or....

I've worked with only one auditor who actually made sense to me, although many did make some sense of the law. (But, then the laws don't necessarily make sense to me; they're just the law!) I've worked with auditors who'd made up their mind before we met. I've worked with auditors who didn't understand the law and missed things, but in my clients' favor. I've worked with auditors that I had to explain the law to them, read the code to them, etc. I was not involved with that picky auditor, but there may be more out there, or more that can be that picky when they're having a bad day. I don't know if I would've urged a client to fight it, if that friend had been my client then or if I hadn't heard her story long after the fact. As for my friend, she returned to the screensavers as bundled with Windows and no longer personalized her screensaver.

A home office can be decorated, have decor. Even that very picky auditor did not object to pictures on the walls (just the photo of the grandchild as computer wallpaper). Plants would be office decor, even manufacturing oxygen for your clients and yourself as you work. And, the toy box for clients who bring small children along is exclusively for business use if you yourself do not have small children using it, your own children or children of personal guests. That picky auditor -- and it was enough years ago that I hope she's retired! -- did not object to anything used exclusively in business, just personal items that had personal use while in the supposed OIH, such as personal family pictures scrolling across the computer. Now, I took lots of clients into my living room a couple of years ago when my son married to show them the wedding pictures on my piano. But, I don't have a piano in my office. And, do note Jainen's explanation of two businesses sharing an office as something that can disqualify the exclusive use test.

You would have to ask the auditor to place your finger!