FDNY

In case you get anymore NYC clients or become a contestant on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, Kings County=Brooklyn, Richmond County=Staten Island and NY County= Manhattan. Queens is Queens and Bronx is "Da' Bronx". All local tax on W2 should be identified as NYC, someone was being cute (or unaware) by labeling it as Kings. You will need the school code for the county (or borough as we NYers call them) and it will be identified as Kings. Good luck on Who Wants to be a Millionaire.

You're my MA Go To person too! Don't forget, I'm a Red Sox fan now.

Oh yeah, putting a tax deferred "investment" in an IRA, what a novel idea. Advisor should be tarred and feathered. Unfortunately many older people fall for this with high introductory rates, only to be a victim to the surrender charges when they need the money. And the absolute worst is putting a variable annuity in an IRA, a guaranteed loser with charges up the Ying Yang. I believe many states do have laws to protect individuals from these practices..

I think the only way to protect our clients from these people is if the client called us for an opinion on such an investment. Many clients do, but the older ones are just too trusting and fall for the slick sales pitch.

On a brighter side, I have an older client whose tyvex envelope upon opening gives off a strong scent of Nina Ricci or maybe it's Chantilly (I worked in a drugstore during college so I know these things). Always makes me smile, I actually know it's hers before opening. But the smelly, stinky, stained documents with their last meal on them, I'm thinking of going to those nitrile gloves, except that hearing the snap of the glove upon putting it on gives me frightening flashbacks of the doctor's office.

Looks like Lion covered that very well and yes, software does a good job. I left NY too, but with all my NY clients I stay in a NY state of mind. Just can't wear my Red Sox shirt around them, it irritates them.

The pension if from the MA Teachers Retirement System is exempt from MA taxes. There's a worksheet for pensions on MA1 where you can indicate that. The interest can be indicated on the 1099 INT where there is a drop down box under the interest input to indicate MA source.

This is the same outfit hawking other products like E & O. They probably have all our contact info from IRS and making a business out of it. I would stay away.

Judging by the time we're all up and at our desks this is a good sign. Hope that case of shingles is mild John, had my shot a few years ago (very important for age 60 and over), so did wife but she did have a very mild case a few years later and never remember her complaining. She did blame it on the shot though. Same with flu shot, she got the flu, now we don't get them and no flu, although I don't go out, I send her to the post office. Don't forget to wash your hands when you come back in honey.

I had one with same message. Client had no health insurance. So I'm assuming like your dependent's return the insurance box not being checked is generating this message.

Just went to the 14039 and see one of the reasons is that federal tax records were affected, so that's first order of business in the morning. Thanks Abby.

Thanks everyone. Yes, the phishing scam in Forbes is the one, started with corporate employers and then morphed to other organizations. I received an IRS email notice just the other day about this. I'll do a 14039 if we find out if he was actually compromised (been there a few times) but is there a way to find out if a return was filed without filing and getting a reject? My concern is this, he is a high earner with multiple K1s that I have sent in big bucks for estimated taxes, but don't think that is at risk as a fraudulent return would only be based on the compromised W2, I would think. I think I heard here the IRS is delaying refunds even further out than the 2/15 date, maybe because of this scam. But am I putting too much faith in the IRS that if they are notified by the employer (last week), that those returns with the employer ID in question will be further scrutinized or held up? Would the IRS computers be able to do this, I'm not so confident. I will be calling the hotline to hear what they have to say on Monday and report back. I never thought to ask him what was being done to help the employees. I'll relay the FTC ID Theft book to him, great info Lion, thanks. I hope the company is offering free credit monitoring too.

The current phishing scam attacking employers has hit one of my client's company. The company has 400+ employees and my client is the CEO, email was not disguised as coming from him. I asked if IRS was notified and they were, but I am not exactly sure what I should be doing going forward for his protection. He notified me of this about a week ago, I would think fraudulent returns were already filed. I told him to get an IRS security pin, but he isn't the type to bother with this as he expects me to do everything in his financial life, as I do for him all year. I was thinking of filing his return early, amending later, in the hopes of heading off the bad guys if they haven't already filed. He usually doesn't file until October due to many K1s, so I am very much considering this. I would be grateful for your opinions and any advice or ideas. I have also, with him on the line applied credit freezes with the 3 credit agencies. Thanks, Bill

I tried everything to get that off the inside of the windshield, you need to be a gymnast to get it clean enough for a tax preparer's standards.

Well, now that you brought that up I'd like to mention something about the new car smell. Years ago, one of my fireman came down with a rare cancer at 46 y/o. No known cause but we thought it had something to do with a fire we had in a hospital's X Ray room where there was some radioactive iodine. He became our research specialist on cancer causes and he impressed on us to always open your windows for a couple of minutes to air out the car, especially in the summer. The plastics and vinyl give off VOCs, Volatile Organic Compounds, vaporizing especially when heated...hence, part of your new car smell. Those VOCs are nasty, containing benzene, chlorine, fluorine, among others. So don't take any deep breaths when you get into the new car, as much as it gives you a good feeling, fresh air is always better. BTW, that fireman didn't live much longer, I miss him. Thanks Abby, you made a good point.

Haven't referred to the repair regs post in a long time. I printed out the state EINs awhile ago. Thanks for all you do, you're one of my heroes, along with Wonder Woman.

Not enough to make a difference, but living in MA I will have a stress outlet very soon.

I'm surprised he didn't say the return is probably very easy for you. Yeah, do you want to wait or go out and get a cup of coffee and a bagel and come back. This is going to cost him, especially for a new client. Have the defibrillator ready.

I've been reviewing mine the last few mornings and must say, it smells really good, like a new car.

I have used AFSB www.afsb.net with very good results. Easy setup, had a newsletter, email, file transfer, reasonable pricing and other amenities. They specialize in tax and accounting websites. I found them to be reasonably priced.

You're one of the best Elrod....will be looking forward to seeing the wide eyed chimp bopping in on us again. Good luck in retirement, stay busy, healthy, and enjoy life my friend. Bill

My strategy in the past has been to call when they first open, not a minute later. If I'm a few seconds early hitting redial gets me right in.

Dear Elrod, As you can see, you're breaking our hearts. Hope you reconsider, but if it is your decision, you know you have our support 100%. The gang will miss you.

Say it ain't so Elrod...but if it is, you have all the best of wishes. Or are you giving us a metaphor...whatever that means. You do have a reputation for tricks or treats.

I should have bought one of those mice years ago. Got pretty good with the righty, just had to switch my watch to the other wrist, it was in the way. Reminds me of my aunt Josey telling me the Brooklyn nuns in the 1920s tied her left hand behind her back forcing her to write with her right. I've found many left handed products and bringing out my left handed playing cards with friends gives me an edge.