Lion EA

Did you hear that huge intake of breath as all preparers suddenly turned to their stacks of unfinished partnership returns?!

I'm going to use that one: $50 for checking with HRB, $75 for listening to your barber, mechanic, or neighbor's son.

And everyone seems sure that their paper losses mean big refunds this year. I need to learn how to explain why paper losses don't change their taxes, especially when the losses are in their IRA.

I always used to start my return early for all the reasons mentioned by others. It sat through the season, though, so I used it to test things for months. It was my dummy return. My daughter's first year in college she panicked about her FAFSA and insisted I complete our return early -- which I did, but that year only! Now my software includes sample returns of all types. The last two years I have not even started my return until after tax season. Wait'll next year, says the Cubs fan.

Yes to everything. I have about the same amount of clients, but they're more complex this year. Clients say their taxes are simpler this year because their investments lost money, but they have more complex situations now with sales and exchanges and sales they think are losses but had depreciation reducing their basis or capital gain dividends or.... And, since most of mine do have investments, the extended deadlines for brokerages to mail combined 1099s and annual statements until 17 February and for Merrill Lynch and some other financial institutions to 3 March means I have less than six weeks to do the work I used to do in 2 1/2 months! I'm exhausted and panicking. I have what used to be an LLC/partnership that is now an S-corp (can't pro forma all those assets!) and due Monday that I'm trying to get off my desk so I can try to move some of the personal returns off their stacks and piles and heaps and onto my desk. Thank goodness for all of you virtual colleagues who know and understand what's up this time of year and who can set me on the right path for research or preparation during my sleep-deprived times. I read ALL the posts. Thank you, everyone, for contributing questions and answers and moral support and humor.

That's it. And, I think they're due in March, or at least during tax season. Clients think you can do it for them, but only part of it is income information. The other part is asset information, savings, investments, retirement plans, etc. And, you repeat both parts for both the parent and the child, so unless you do the child's taxes also, you're doing extra work. But, you can mark that you have not yet filed a return and use your best guesses.

That means estimated amounts when returns aren't filed yet, not estimated tax payments.

FAFSA accepts estimates. Take it from a procrastinator. My return it now the last one I do, and it's getting later every year. Close to 15 October last year.

A very :bday:

Did he just have a baby with a funny name? Is he getting married?

Sale incident to a divorce has no current tax consequence. Basis stays the same in the hands of the now sole owner as it was the last day both of them owned the home. Only when now sole owner sells, will he/she have potential capital gain. New non-owner has cash instead of his/her share of home, just a property settlement. This is the simplified version; your mileage may vary.

Certainly start with HP and then ATX. Try the VMSUS folks. For a couple of years at Block, our ATX returns were painfully slow, pausing after nearly every page. We worked on it, the Block techies worked on it, the dedicated Block tech support at ATX worked on it. We used Brother printers and tried HP printers. Tried printing from server instead of workstations. Nothing changed. Other offices did NOT have our problem. I think our first year(s) with ATX, printing was normal. Later, Block bought TaxWorks and stopped using ATX and I stopped working for Block, so no recent history. But, sometimes, you just can't find the problem. Good luck.

I miss Jerry, too. Thanks for the explanation.

What does that mean, anyway?

I stole this one from another preparer who is very polite: IMPORTANT IRS CIRCULAR 230 NOTICE: To ensure compliance with requirements imposed by the IRS, this notice is to advise you that any federal tax advice contained in this communication (including any attachments) is not intended or written to be used and cannot be used for the purpose of (i) avoiding penalties under the Internal Revenue Code or (ii) promoting, marketing, or recommending to another party any transaction or matter addressed herein. IMPORTANT CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This e-mail transmission and any documents, files, or previous e-mail messages attached to it may contain confidential information that is legally privileged. If you are not the intended recipient or a person responsible for delivering it to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution, or use of any of the information contained in or attached to this transmission is prohibited. If you have received this transmission in error, please immediately notify us by reply e-mail by forwarding this to sender or by telephone at (203) 557-0909 and destroy the original transmission and its attachments without reading or saving them in any manner. Thank you.

A very :bday:

I try to get the freebies to be on extension. But, now son's girlfriend wants to fund her IRA with her refund. And, son was buying property so needed return for bank and couldn't wait. And, they live in another state, so research involved. And both son and daughter have amendments that have to be done by 15 April (they're for 2005) to get their refunds. And, son and girlfriend formed two LLCs with, I think, two members each! I'd put those off until after tax season, but I need the K-1s. Girlfriends parents own an inn and let us stay free, so saying no is too hard.

I see Medlin mentioned alot on these boards as thorough and inexpensive. Dennis Medlin speaks up from time to time. not sure on which board. I use QB just for my own company and get it at a discount as part of the ProAdvisor program.

But if you don't use your new upper level for business, you'll be depreciating a smaller percentage of square footage for business vs. total house.

I had a gal with three or more last names. We tried about three times until we used the one that matched the great computer in the sky.

I knew working from home had drawbacks. I found myself in the kitchen earlier with not a clue why. So, I went to the basement to put in a load of laundry. Before I sat back down in front of my computer, I remembered that I wanted to water my office plants so had gone to the kitchen to get the watering can. It's 1:15 p.m. and I've done little except return calls and e-mails. The one call I let go to voice mail ended up being my doctor who wants me to retake a blood test after a night of fasting. I'm going to be in great shape concentrating on returns after fasting two days this week!

KC has done everything!

Hey, Kerry, I know you guys are there for me. Starting to get calls about the returns I haven't finished yet as well as calls from those who want appointments, to drop off, etc. I'm more behind than I want to be. And, Merrill Lynch still hasn't mailed statements to some of my clients. Brokerages get extensions, but we tax preparers get no extensions unless we talk our clients into them. So, we have to do the same amount of work in less time. Car died, tooth broke, husband lost keys while I was with him so lost that day until we gave up looking and taxied home and located a neighbor with our door key. Daughter's jumping into the frigid Long Island Sound on Saturday to raise money for Special Olympics, so lose that day too to provide moral support and hold her dry clothes! Pretty much the usual tax season.

So, something funky is in the heading someplace? An unseen character. I'd restore all those fields and retype. Check on when to use or not to use "-" in EIN or "/" in date.

Well, you're switching a clockwise foot to a counterclockwise 6. So, when you switch sides, make sure you're still a clockwise foot... My husband the organist, who's fairly quadridexterous (if that's a word) thought he could do it but had to really, really concentrate. I saw his foot switch direction temporarily. Isn't it amazing what tax preparers can get distracted by in March!