Catherine

Is it buttered and salted? If so, count me in!

I renew my software asap - as in, I'll probably renew Drake online this week. They give their best discount for renewing in (before?) May. Since I know I'll be using it again next year, why not?

She was able to fix it with the state (and got the penalty waived by the state; dunno about the bank yet). She has not yet checked with the federal payment. We still have absolutely no idea how the new bank info did not get utilized, since it was indeed sent.

I sold off about 3/4 of my practice four or five years ago. This was the first year I did not work with my buyers in their office, helping with the transition. I did provide quite a bit of email and phone support, plus did returns for a handful of "only Catherine please!" request returns for them. For myself, I kept about 50 returns. Family, close lifelong friends, and the very elderly for whom transitions are hard (and they're not long-term clients, let's face it). Doing more estates and trusts because of those elderly clients. Also doing more representation (my buyers don't do that; they send any/all representation cases to me). So in many ways this has been the easiest year for me out of the past twenty-five or thirty. I plan to keep going as long as it's not too onerous - and with time it should become less so, as those estate income returns, state estate returns, and trusts wind up.

State issue at the moment - we're waiting for the federal shoe to drop. Client contacted me that she got an NSF notice from her bank on state tax payment. Wrong bank! Not the one we sent in (and I have the signed authorization with the right bank's information in my files), but rather the bank she used last year for dirdep of her refund. Never seen this in 30 years. Have any of you seen this, this year or any other year? I've told her to check both accts online to see if the feds got it right. Or not.

Good to know about Citibank. As for payments in general (Citi aside), in my experience if the account is valid and has the funds, the IRS will happily take money. They kinda don't care from whom, as long as it ends up in their paws.

It was indeed long and hard. MA has its due date tomorrow, but I've dealt with everyone already. Last couple are on extension, including a new client just this afternoon who called on recommendation of another client. W2 messed up and they have requested a new one. Plus a prior-year (not 2020) for them. Since everyone was already on extension, I had time to talk to the guy. Sleep! Rest! Enjoy some family time! We all deserve it.

I had a long-time "problem client" call this morning. Wanted to bring all her crap down and wait while I did her return. Told her she was already on extension and she could come next week. She was disappointed not to come today, but then said it would be okay because she could then go through the stuff that wasn't ready yet and have it ready for next week. She has already been told that she needs to go elsewhere for next year.

Did you try first time penalty abatement?

I assumed what Tracy meant was they picked the lowest of several market analyses from realtors. I'd still double check against Zillow (or similar) tracking systems. Those can be excellent resources - as long as it is an area with reasonable turnover from which to extrapolate averages and trends. Had a case some years ago trying to establish basis for an estate property in a remote area where there had been no sales in the county for five years. That wasn't fun.

Yes, a big thank you to @jklcpa and to @Eric for keeping the site going and moderating! Also thanks to everyone here who chimes in with ideas, questions, cites, solutions, and more-problematic angles we miss in our postings. Couldn't do it without you all. As a practice (and it's in my tax season letter every year) all extensions go in the first week of April. Then the pressure's off. If someone owes, and I get to it before the deadline, they get a coupon or directions to Direct Pay (or appropriate state site). If they don't, it might teach them to get papers in before my drop-off deadline next time. Gotta be hard-nosed, or these clients will procrastinate us into an early grave. Take care of yourselves; there are tons of clients out there, but only one of each of us!

When do they not?!

I would never attempt it at all; you are a braver woman than I! Heck, I can't even get my auto-UNcorrect to stay shut off on my phone. Keeps turning itself back on and mucking up my text messages!

I've only been attaching the regular pdf, not the AMT pdf. Wouldn't bother unless AMT was an issue and, like Abby, I haven't seen anyone hit with AMT in several years.

Long article, worth the time to read (maybe after Tuesday). IRS-CI investigators shut down worldwide child abuse ring It really is long, or I'd copy and paste here. Link is to WIRED magazine, May 2022 issue; go to their site and search for it yourself if you don't want to click the link.

I am always amused by the ones claiming to have webcam recordings of me that they want bitcoin not to publish. Uh huh. I report every one of those bitcoin wallet scams on bitcoinwhoswho.

This is the kid I nearly sent the snarky comment to; the one that said "ever hear of SUMIF?" That was after I got the spreadsheet. First iteration was a 2-page printout of the spreadsheet with no gridlines and no totals. Except for the one thing he totaled that didn't belong totaled.

Or the excel spreadsheet, not totaled, printed out on multiple pieces of paper, no grid, no way to line it up. Yeah, it's astounding how creative some people get in their lunacy!

And I've had clients use Word as a spreadsheet program with inserted tables. It's not pretty.

She needs to respond to the letter. Confirm the number and agent are legitimate. Then, call that day and have her there on the phone with you to authorize speaking; tell them it's not the last 4 of her ssn, and that you have no idea who it could be but it's not her.

who gets to be fricasseed?

Just venting. Trying to do a return for the 29-year-old son of clients. Dad is spot-on with numbers. Mom and both daughters are hopeless, as was Grandpa. Son is also proving also to be utterly hopeless. Not only does he need to be hand-walked through every *&%$ item on the return, but he also seems to think I have nothing better to do today than to exchange chatty emails about how hard it is to find his business mileage, his 1095-A, his bitcoin sale basis information, his EIP#3 payment info, and every blessed thing else on his return. Can I spank him? Please? Guess not. I'd have to spank mom too then. Rant over. I feel better now. Thank you all for your kind time and attention.

Especially since this was between spouses, I have no problem with it being an installment sale refi.

I have clients I have taken OFF of excel and put back ON green ledger paper. Some people can't be trusted with a computer. Heck, some people can't be trusted with a smartphone! Just barely managed to stop myself from sending a very snarky comment to a client who sent info using excel. Supposedly smart young man, sent a jumbled mess of intermingled garbage. The snarky comment was "ever heard head of SUMIF?"

You and me and most of us here. Fortunately, we are all fried in slightly different ways!