Lion EA

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!

Did you try it with your left foot and left hand? Do you have to make the 6 backwards? My daughter's a leftie, so am curious.

It's still snowing here. Not as deep as predicted -- yet -- but blowing around. I too get power outages on blustery days and lose my internet and telephone, also. The perils of a home office out in the boonies. And, my husband the school teacher is home and constantly walking into my office while talking about whatever he just read on-line. He's thinking a delay on Tuesday. Oh goody!

I also suggest an estimated, conservative amount early -- to get their investment working for them. Then, when I complete the return, I can give them the exact maximum contribution.

And, I also read on the IRS site that an exception to the disclosure requirement for client signatures is gathering and disclosing ANONYMOUS AGGREGATE information on our clients. Does that then say that mentioning a single name (instead of the anonymous aggregate 100 clients) is against regulations? The IRS makes it sound that way. If we could mention our clients by name, then why don't we see lists of clients posted on the windows of storefront offices? My colleagues and I at a Block Premium office certainly had a few clients whose names would've been good publicity if able to be disclosed! But, that wouldn't be disclosure for the purpose of preparing and transmitting a return -- which is allowed. I guess a discussion with a former accountant could be necessary for preparing a return, if getting a depreciation schedule or other required information (don't we need signatures when the discussion is outside our own firm?). But, the OP just wanted to report his new client to his other employer or get permission or something like that, preliminary to actually preparing a return.

Try updating your program and forms and then recreating the e-file.

I thought I'd finally get around to e-filing payroll forms this year. Well, the one set of 1099s I had for a client, I gave him the paper forms to file. But, I did try my own set of W-2s for my company. I e-filed federal via QB from which they were prepared. That was quick and easy. QB had "beta" software for CT that appeared to have it all figured out, but I had an error I wasn't going to try to correct re the length of a field and other things I was not going to mess with. I used the CT site to type them in and e-file. Maybe next year!

Up here in CT the weatherman's saying 14 inches. Don't think I've seen 14 in one storm in all the decades I've lived here. And, my husband the school teacher is getting tired of snow days. I'm getting tired of having him around all day!