Gail in Virginia

I have never had any desire to jump out of a perfectly good airplane - I am afraid of heights, so they will have to set the plane on fire to get me to jump out. But you go Rita! I understand it is an awesome experience.

I have never worked Black Friday either, and as a rule I don't shop that day because I hate crowds. But I am thoroughly disgusted with all of the stores that are now opening late on Thanksgiving day (8:00? not really that late). Can't they give their employees a little break? I miss the days when you had to plan ahead because almost everything was closed on Sunday.

Did anyone have problems with the EFTPS system yesterday? I tried to log on and could not.

A couple of points I would like to bring out. First, I think this post probably should be in the political section. Second, employers have been skittish about hiring and paying a decent wage for quite some time now even without Obamacare. Stocks are at record highs, CEO's are earning record salaries, and yet employment is not reflecting the improvement to the economy at nearly the same rate. The last statistic I saw about the difference between what CEO's and the lowest paid employee of a firm earn now as compared to 40 years ago really emphasize that. Finally, there is so much dis-information available about the entire healthcare plan that the results of a poll like this are not surprising. If there were not, things like the Jimmy Kimmel street poll where people approve of the affordable care act but are worried about obamacare would not be the norm.

I ran ATX's system requirement check, and every computer in our office, including the server, passed everything except Broadband speed. I am in a rural area, and we pretty much have to take what we get for broadband, and remember that it is better than when we had dial-up. I don't understand why i can stream a movie, but the internet speed isn't fast enough for a tax program to work properly (at least according to ATX.)

Maybe you could set it up as an online computer game, like World of Warcraft (or whatever it's called), and sell it as "fun", make tons of money and teach teenagers and young adults something all at the same time! Okay, maybe not, but I like the idea of charter schools or even home-schooled students using it. Way too many governmental hoops to jump through for private schools to go for it most likely.

I live in a rural area where I never got trick or treaters, so I participate in trunk or treat at church. The rain held off this year, so we had about 700+ kids come by our car! I love seein the costumes, especially the younger ones. I had one little girl that finally opened her bag but as soon as I put candy in her bag, she reached in and took candy out and put it in my bowl. She was my favorite this year.

It sounds like both you and your wife have a good attitude, and that can be so important. I will continue to hold you both in my prayers - sometimes it is as hard to help someone you love through this as it is to go through it yourself, from what people tell me. Please keep us posted as you have time, but the most important thing is to be there for your wife.

I don't see how they could try to match PTIN's to schedule C income. The returns I prepare using my PTIN are all income to the corporation. I don't have a schedule C, just a W-2 and a K-1.

I hope you are right about the testing for RTRP. But if it is several years before they get the program running, and they don't track CPE in the meantime, they very well might decide that the test has to be re-taken. I have not taken that test since I was already an EA, but I have several friends that took it, and at least one of them will probably get completely out of the business if they have to do it again. Not because she is incompetent or can't pass the test, but because she gets very anxious about tests and has reached an age and status in life where she does not have to put up with this.

I personally hope that my parents spend their estate doing what they want to do and having a good time before they are unable to do that. I owe them, not the other way around. And as far as I know, my brother and sister feel the same way. But my husband's grandmother lived with us for about 4 years before she passed away, and she did pay us "room and board." But she set the rate, not me, it was not excessive, and was not a condition for her living with us. I think it helped her to feel a little more independent. She had previously lived with her daughter (my husband's aunt) and paid her the same thing plus helped to pay for any repairs around the house or appliances that need to be purchased. Every family works these things out in their own way, but it does bother me when they seem to see the money as the important part of the equation.

My husband and I have date night on Fridays every week. We go bowling in a league, eat out (usually just a hamburger, but neither of us has to do dishes!), and go home and watch a little TV together or shoot a game of pool. NO TAX TALK, no worrying about problem clients, just time together doing something we both enjoy. My favorite day of the week!

And I thought that I was having a bad day. Prayers, for your wife, the surgeons, and you.

I knew most of the stuff about Columbus, having read Lies My Teacher Told Me, but I found the part about Bartolome de las Casas interesting. Hooray for Bartolome Day!

Those were the days on SNL.

I logged in to the system before I posted just to see that transcript delivery was still on the option menu, but I did not try to do anything.

Does anyone know if forms ordered online are being shipped during the shut-down?

I actually like those customers. It might be a little bit of a PITA to answer their questions, but they have to sign the return too and I think it is a good thing that they actually are reviewing it.

Actually, the only thing gone from e-services is the ability to enter the power of attorney electronically. If you have a power of attorney on file, you can get transcripts using e-services I believe,

I enjoy the political forum most of the time, but I hope it is possible to disagree with someone without attacking them personally. No matter how misguided I think your opinions may be sometimes, it doesn't follow that I dislike you personally. When personal attacks are included as part of the opinion, I don't really "hear" the reasons behind the opinion because I tune out the entire post. But when the posts actually contain facts or well stated opinions, I can try to learn something from them and may even (hard as it is to believe!) change my mind about an issue. And I like that you get more than one chance when you are warned before you are shut out of the forum - hopefully when you are warned, there is some way to respond PRIVATELY and ask for clarification of why if it is not readily apparent to you. This does make more work for the moderators, so thank you in advance for being willing to take this on!

If they are paying an individual, and the amount exceeds $600 they have to issue a 1099MISC but they do not have to for a corporation. Also, it is probably easier to claim that an independent contractor is truly independent if they have gone to the trouble of incorporating their business. I can't remember offhand if corporations have to be reported as independent contractors when they don't have workers compensation insurance. Those are all the reasons I can think of.

Congratulations! And not until tax season is over so you should have time to enjoy!

I cannot recall, but I can pray nevertheless.

If you want common sense and logic, you are in the wrong business. Tax law has never in my memory been based on common sense and logic.

Happy Birthday! I have missed you, and hope you will reconsider returning to us.