Lion EA

Gee, I'd like to be that coherent when I'm NOT on morphine! Good work. With us aging baby boomers, we'll need your advice more and more, I'm sure.

Lock all your condiments up and maybe the raccoon will move to a neighbor's house with more up-scale brands.

You have to be smarter than the raccoons to make them go away. And, they're very good with their hands/paws. We had one that took apart our Weber grill to get inside to lick the grate. Do you know you have to buy a special tool to re-attach the vents the raccoons took off?! And, they work well as a team. When we filled up the holes they dug into a cat kennel with large rocks, I came home late one night to have my headlights shine on a group of raccoons working together to lift the heavy rocks and pass them bucket brigade style away so they could re-enter the kennel and eat the cat food. It made me especially mad when they took the bungy cords off the garbage cans (put on to keep the raccoons out) to dump out the garbage but take only a bite out of everything and leave the rest strung out all along the driveway when I was expecting the Welcome Wagon lady. And, taking one bite out of each ear of corn and each tomato and throwing the rest away made my husband so mad that he pulled up everything from our garden and threw it in the forest to dry out saying if we can't eat it then no raccoon can eat it either. Call that trapper for your attic critters.

Mike, I'll put you on my prayer list also. But, I'm sure you'll find that teaching IS one of your strong points. Just pretend you're typing a response to our queries. You've taught us much. Thank you for your willingness to share. I know your students in May will appreciate that you're stepping outside your comfort zone to share your knowledge with them. The peace of the Lord be with you.

The IRS applies the tiebreakers when two or more taxpayers claim the same dependent. If the eligible taxpayers can agree on which one of them will claim the QC, then the tiebreakers never come into play.

I have LIKED Amy's picture since she appeared. And, I'm so old and fat that I post a picture of my stepdaughter. But, please don't let someone with a name like Booger offend you. It's just nice to have any picture at all to recognize -- oh yeah that comment is from _________ and she/he knows the topic of clergy/restaurants/kiddie tax/whatever or tells a good joke or... Most people around here have been civil most of the time. And, most of us were stressed by the end of the season.

Mine is my stepdaughter in the UConn marching band; she's since switched from flute/piccolo to baritone horn.

You tell him the tax consequences of his choices and let him decide. Maybe he expects higher income in his new business and wants to depreciate to use the expenses over time. He certainly seems optimistic with the equipment he bought. By the way, if he owes $12,000 he should adjust his withholding at his $103,000 job for 2008.

take income at the kid's lower rate and use the education credit or deduction against the parents' higher rate income

And, sometimes it's Mary Wenck down the street who's open on Tuesdays from 1-4 p.m., but "come before 3 p.m. to avoid the school busses" !! Gotta be an old-fashioned patronage job, right?

4 a.m. is getting more common than I wish. But, as I get older, I do collapse sooner. I've told my clients they can call between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m.; although, those who know me well know the p.m. time is for my husband's benefit -- the teacher who gets up early. With my home office phone only in my office, colleagues who know me call me later knowing I'm sitting here working. I've been trying to get up at 8 a.m., in office reading email and returning calls at 9 a.m., and really available by 10 a.m., but I probably won't get up until 9 a.m. tomorrow morning to make up for 7 a.m. this morning with an assistant arriving (still training her in hopes of a better season next year) and a client picking up. I function OK if I'm in bed around 1 p.m., but less sleep has my eyes dry and burning and me very, very cranky. This was easier when I was with a company and we kept each other awake and on topic during those late nights. When I'm by myself and my husband's asleep, I really want to stop working -- and too often do! I hope to manage my time better next season.

through 15 October

They're all public, sounds too general to be special

This east coast gal is not sleeping much lately.

You need a client who's a nurse, or a massage therapist...

CT also accepts the federal Form 1310.

If the son can be claimed by someone else/dad, even if no one else claims the son, the son can NOT claim himself.

Well, you were just lucky that UConn had their best players out for the month with injuries! At least the Lady Huskies made it farther than the UConn men...

I worked for a chain that discouraged extensions, even though I was in a premium office open year round. So, unfortunately, my clients have come to feel they can NOT extend. Now that I'm on my own, I would prefer to spread them out throughout the year. Especially THIS year. With Congress voting new tax laws in December for the second year in a row, and the IRS not accepting AMT-related forms until 11 February, and my having a week of three funerals including one out of state at the end of February followed by a sinus infection, and learning new software...well, I'm trying hard to explain extensions to many more clients than ever before -- and, hopefully, than ever again. This year I had less than two months to do all the work I usually do in 3 1/2 months. I'm trying not to be too exhausted to function well, but that means many are going on extension. I didn't help myself by not making a software decision until December, but I'd thought I was going to use ATX which I already knew; then the sudden death of their board make me take a closer look at their weak diagnostics and other issues that were going to have a higher priority on my own than they had when part of a chain preparing a few business returns. I know this is just temporary, and that I'll be much higher on the learning curve next tax season. But, have you noticed that no one's returns get simpler over time; everyone's tax life becomes more complex? So, it's hard just to keep up with the same ones without putting in more research time each year. Oh well, I lost a few but am meeting my financial goals. Back to work.

I had a retired New York Bell worker who got phone service and had those codes.

Then you've got to be careful of condensation!

Was it a job-hunting expense?

a K-1 from a fiscal year estate would go on the son's return for the year the K-1 ENDS, so you don't have to wait for a 2008 K-1 to prepare his 2007 individual return. listen to all the other stuff, though, and talk to the lawyer...

Who cares? It's April and you have better things to do. She'll pay $ to get copies from the IRS. And, $385 for FIVE years. And prior years at that, where you have to pull out your old software and research materials for tax law changes. Have a sheet on hand for just such occasions listing a few fees, including $100/year copying charge for prior year returns. Tell her you'll get then out of storage as soon as her check clears, or she can bring cash...

Schedule D transaction with dates flipped? Short sale not coded correctly?