RitaB

Bahahaha do you know how hard it was for me to keep quiet?? He's in his 20s. I wonder if he thinks that date on his phone is the temperature.

Guy asks me the date. 4th. He dates the Form 8879 “1/04/15”.

That was yesterday.

Dear OCD Client: Thanks for the fax which included: five forms, one unnecessary cover sheet, seven pages of instructions for recipient, the facts about your Social Security Benefit Statement, and the page from your investment company that served as their mailing slip. Got every thing I need. Thank God, dunno how I would do your return without all this. P. S. Sorry I missed your call asking If I received everything. I was at Staples buying paper and ink.

In TN, Firetower Road is Far Tire Road. True story.

And healthy as a horse. She don't need no stinkin health insurance.

If you mess up, you make it right. The client has every right to consult whomever they want. Refund your original fee (for the return you goofed, it happens) and be as gracious as possible about it. No, you don't have to pay the other accountant, too, but if you feel you should, go ahead. You never know what good might come out of it.

Lady dropped off Monday. She had no health insurance 2015. She calls today: Hold off on doing my return. I've been checking around and I'm getting health insurance so I won't have to pay that penalty. I had no idea she had a DeLorean Time Machine. Her Flux Capacitor is really going to pay off this time.

If it's somebody who's a top 98th percentile PITA, and they ask me who I'd recommend they go to, I tell them the hateful preparer who messes up returns and charges an arm and a leg to do it. That way, I get rid of the client, and I inflict pain on both him and the mean preparer. Win-win-win! Just kidding. Ok, not really.

I use Arial 14 pt. I don't have many state returns, so I have room, and I omit the tax bracket lines at the bottom. I don't know what the hell happened to the "your return will be e-filed". I have tried to get it back, and I'm not holding my teeth right. I played around with color and cursive font some, too. It's a girl thing. ATXLetterCoverSheet.pdf

I'm not having any trouble, except the letters. Hate the letters. Updates mess with my editing. I see no reason to ever use 10 point font in a letter. Ever. Hate the narrow margins, too. Otherwise, I'm doing fine over here.

Yes, and "old" is always 20 years older than I am.

Yes, I have two in college and I'm too rich as a single mom to take credits. Really? I mean, really?

Option #1 saves the family $980. Parents get $1,000 AOC and kid pays $20 by reporting the interest. Obviously that's what I did. But I'd like to know if I have it correct in my mind now - that Option #2 is not even possible. If they save the tax on the earnings, they in essence waste the AOC completely. I think that's why ESA are pushed on the "wealthy" - here's your only chance at saving any money on college expenses cause your income is too high to get credits.

After reading further, I think #2 is not an option. If the grand total of kid's expenses are 1,000 and he does not pay tax on the earnings, the parents cannot use any education expenses for education credit purposes.

Kid's qualifying education expenses (adjusted for scholarships, grants) are 1,000. (There is no room and board; tuition and books only.) 1099-Q issued to kid: Gross Distribution = 1,000. Earnings = 200. Basis = 800. Do I have this right? Can I do either of these two things (assuming all the stars are aligned for parents to qualify for education credits)? 1) Report the 200 on kid's return as income. Not subject to 10% penalty because he DID use the entire distribution for education expenses. Take the 1,000 expenses on parent's return. 2) Report nothing on kid's return, and take 800 expenses on parents' return.

Oh, it I could hide the car on Saturdays I would! The closest place to park is 1/4 mile away and I'd get killed crossing four lanes of traffic. I hate when that happens.

My office is 12 miles from my house, and sometimes that is not far enough. You all working out of your homes have my utmost respect. And sympathy. I used to come in and work with the office door locked on Saturdays. It was infuriating how people would still bang on the door. I gave up and now leave it unlocked. Life is too long to be shooting at people through the window.

It's also sweet how attorneys know your case inside out and you only have to drag them six years to get to the Halls of Justice. But the court reporter grinned when I said, "This is not Calculus, y'all." You know why Justice wears a blindfold? So you can't see that Justice is asleep.

In my own divorce, the Judge said, "The house was sold and a gain of blah, blah, blah was realized." Yep, he said the gross selling price was the realized gain. Hey, don't use phrases like "realized gain" if you don't know what they mean. I sat there, the only one in the entire room who knew the truth. The whole truth. And nothing but the truth. So help me God.

Is it just me? I had my letters sorta the way I want them, thanks to the tips on here, you know who you are. Now I have a wonky smaller font paragraph and the preparer name keeps wandering off to the left. Having to change every letter. The save for all is not taking. I repent for mean thoughts every time I see the word "update", and I'm out of rabbits' feet. Think if I sacrifice some of this candy bar to the update spirits, think that'll work?

Margaret, on the "Input" tab where you enter 1098-T info, you can scroll down on the form now.

Hahaha oh she was embarrassed and said she had no idea barter was taxable. I'm sure she did not or she would not have been saying "barter" every two minutes.. She said it was really not much and she'd get me the figure. Can't wait.

My client who yaks and yaks today kept mentioning that she's been working for barter. And gives me this look like, "I'm so smart, I'm working for barter. Yep, I have outsmarted IRS, sure have." I let her go on and on with that (well, I had no way of stopping her, she's amazing, I don't know when she breathes). Anyway, she gets up to leave: "Anything else you need?" Me: Yes, I need the Fair Market Value of the barter items you received for working. You know, the amount of cash the items would sell for. Just the total, no need to itemize everything. Thanks.

Like a kidney stone.