gfizer

Taxpayer is a diesel mechanic who purchased approximately $6,000 worth of tools which are used and stored at his employer's location. Can I deduct these as an employee business expense on Form 2106 or do I need to first use section 179 expense on Form 4562 which passes through to the Form 2106?

I'm a little irritated that I'm not showing up on the list (AFSP) but I don't have the time or energy to address it right now. Also a little odd that other preparers located in the same town as me appear on the list as being 80 miles away!!

Okay. My 2013 software has been populated with all the 2013 returns but none of them will open. I get this message, "The return you've selected cannot be opened. Please restore a previous version of the return and try again." Obviously, since they won't open in the 2013 program, they won't rollover in the 2014 program. I am SOO frustrated. I guess a lengthy call with support is in order. Thankfully my old system is still up and running so until everything is resolved I can rollover on the old machine, export and then import onto the new computer. Aaaarrrggghhhh!!

After several days of barely restraining myself from throwing my misbehaving computer out the door I finally ran out of patience and just purchased a new system. I have reinstalled all my software but now I am unable to restore the 2013 returns in the 2013 software so that they will show up for rollover in the 2014 software. Anyone have any experience with this?

Got tired of waiting. Released them all and transmitted. Time for a nap!

I haven't gotten a Federal ACK all day. Wondering if I should just go ahead and release all of these state returns that have been held and transmit them? What are the rest of you doing?

You mean you can't do those things? Now I'm depressed, too.

I have a small flame thrower sitting inside my door that was used many times over the winter to melt off my walk. I'll admit it's been tempting to use it to get rid of a few particularly annoying clients. I can send it over if you like.

Had a simple one to do at 10 this morning. Three pickups at 10:30 a.m., 11:00 a.m. & 1 p.m. Got my own extension filed in between and all my filing done. One more to pickup at 3:30 this afternoon, a quick run to the post office and the bank and I will be done. Then it's on to a nightmare of an estate tax audit that I convinced the auditor to extend the due date on to April 30th, and payroll tax returns, and non-profit returns, and extensions...... Thanks to all of you for providing many much needed breaks over the season. I always hang out here while I'm waiting for returns to open, close, transmit, etc. Your advice and support is invaluable! Gina

I've had a weird year as well. A lot like yours actually. Really busy beginning and then a period of time spent scratching my head wondering where everyone was, followed by "Holy cow, where did all these people come from!" I've gotten a new call as late as today! I try to do as few extensions as possible. I know it stretches the income out a little longer but I am so over it after April 15th. I still have non-profit returns due in May and a few fiscal year filers in June and that's quite enough. That being said, I will have more extensions this year than ever before as well. I think I will be instituting a fee increase across the board next year and I'm already implementing an extra fee for those who saw fit to wait so late this year. They can complain if they want but I don't really care. Sorry about the flies. They are so pesky! I don't know who said that a brutal cold winter helped decrease the insect population for the next season, but they totally made it up! The wasps are starting to buzz around here and we killed a snake in the yard last Thursday!

It was nearly 80 here yesterday and we are supposed to have a rain/freezing/snow mix tonight. Hopefully this will be last of it!

Why do we drive on a parkway and park on a driveway? Why do banks charge you more of what they already know you don't have when you overdraw your account?

I am a one-person shop and this year I will do right at 300 returns which includes approximately 40 fiduciary and non-profit 990/990-PF returns. I'm not sure how many more I could do without some serious help. I tried hiring my 15 year old to do my filing but at this point I'm not convinced he knows his ABC's

None.

I have one client who brings me a jar of homemade horseradish every year. I don't even like the stuff but I just smile and say thank you. One of my Ohio clients brought me some buckeye candy one year. Now that I liked!

Amish couple shows up at my door today. He has two 1099-MISC and some stockyards tickets for the sale of livestock and a 4029 SE exemption. Wants to know how much he and his wife can make before they have to PAY. I ask him if they have children (duh?) and he says 3 but none of them have SSN's. I tell him he should go to the local SSA office and apply for SSN's for his children and we can file the return showing SSN's have been applied for. He says he needs a copy of his tax return right away to take to the bank so he can borrow money so just do the return without the dependents. Federal return -0- due but owes state $200 (which I tell him would also be -0- if he were claiming the kids) Then asks if I can just forget the livestock sales. Uh, NO! Elected to pay the state tax so he could take his copy and run to the bank. ARRRGHHH!!

I just enter the date they signed it.

Side order of smoke in your eyes?

I've attached them as a PDF in the past without issue, but mine were peanuts compared to yours.

Sorry. I feel for you. We had so much snow this winter that my kids even got tired of going out to play in it. They were begging to go back to school! We were planning our vacation last week and I told them we had decided to go to Alsaka. I thought there was going to be mutiny. Hope things warm up for you soon!

I love spring, too. We will probably have to start mowing within the next week or so. I don't think I will even mind that after this past winter.

I have utilized the Lifetime Learning Credit in the past for high school students enrolled in college classes. Shouldn't be a problem as long as the expenses are paid to an eligible institution.

We have sent out W-9 forms to these folks not once, but twice, along with stern letters stating that the 1099 forms would be filed showing that they refused to provide their SSN and that penalties could be imposed. Most of these recipients are Amish so that may be part of the problem. In any event, this was a one time thing so no reason to worry about backup withholding. This was the first partition sale that the Master Commissioner had dealt with in a very long time which is why she didn't think of getting the info until it was too late, but I'm betting she won't forget in the future. Thanks for all your help and suggestions, Gina

Nope. They were dandelions. My daffodils haven't bloomed yet.

I needed one of those today. My first clue was when I momentarily forgot how to operate my adding machine. But I'm afraid 10 minutes would not have been nearly enough!