Catherine

Thank you, and I'll keep that shortcut in mind. But what is needed for reporting is what QB should have done with the transaction, not what it did do. If I'm not being paid big bucks (and not in the last week of tax season) to fix the QB file, I just need to know the transaction totals and can then get my own, correct, reports for myself.

Without those covers boy oh boy did they scream! Yeah.

My older daughter got T-boned a couple months ago. Car totaled but thankfully she was fine. Mom with kid in car ran a red light. First we knew a cop car from the next town over pulled up in front of our house; OD got out and rang the bell! Cop got permission to drive her to us; I took her home. Shook up but fine, thank God. Hard part was finding a new car with all the supply chain nonsense. She got lots of hugs before I drove her home.

Dunno about the CA rules, but I checked with MA last year (guy got stuck visiting mom and was here for months). MA specifically exempted from income and residency people who were stuck here because they were not allowed to go home. Worth looking up.

Yeah, but we can tell from your picture that you have a very special head, Abby.

Holy moly molly molinski! Praise God that your daughter walked away from that accident unharmed - and that she had presence of mind to accelerate to try to get out of the way. Her guardian angel was certainly hard at work yesterday! Yes, people first. I have a lot of disagreements with Suze Orman, but years ago she said, "People first, then money, then things" and that is an order I can generally accept (I'd put God first, but setting Him aside as a given, her order is correct). I have a couple of online groups that I consider friends and extended family; this group being one of them. I need to step up my prayers for all of you, as well. Just sent a group prayer up for you all, with a special note for schirallicpa and daughter.

Sometimes it's the fastest and best way to figure out what really happened. If I can trust the individual QB transactions, and the issue is what QB does with them behind the scenes in its reporting, I'll use totals from individual accounts, pop 'em into T-account structure, and trace how to report. Faster than excel and is visual rather than weird excel formulas that have to be ever-so-carefully typed in.

QB and any kind of inventory are a bad combination. This is when I pull out paper and trace it out with T-accounts.

Too many questions. First, extension because trying to tackle this now "will only end in tears" to quote Bartok the Bat from the movie Anastasia. Second, need to find out what the will/trust said (or state law if intestate). Then will need payors to get info on when $ were earned. Check stubs (if available) or bank stmts for deposits (if no stubs) to give a basis for guesstimate if the payors won't disclose anything. The timeline will then determine what (if anything) needs to be changed. Glad it's for a colleague and not for you!

New payroll clerk in the denomination's office. Betcha.

MA stopped a couple of years ago accepting extensions without payments. I guess it was just too much paperwork for them. If I don't have debit info and permission for the client I use my portal to send them a payment coupon to print & mail with a check, along with a note to tell me how much they paid. If they don't do it, it's not my problem. I have enough on my plate without hand-holding grown-ups.

Thank you, @jklcpa! I just this afternoon found that it was a basis adjustment item - on the IRS instructions - and was going to post it here myself. But I'm going to save your version to the client's file, because you blew it up big enough to read without squinting.

Years ago I had a client bring in a box of receipts that he'd spilled a full cup of coffee on. Not a one of them was legible. Gave 'em back and told him to do his best to figure it out because he didn't make enough to pay me to do it! He came back later with hand-written totals.

I have to keep re-teaching myself not to care more about people's returns than they care themselves. I work hard for my clients, but if they can't get me papers in time they go on extension. Everyone is on extension right now - even clients I think will be finished. If they owe, that's on them, because my deadline is on my tax season letter that goes out the first frimping week of January. I'm not killing myself for people who can't be bothered to take care of themselves let alone me. But I'm mean and ornery and sometimes want to dope-slap my entire client base (not really; it just seems like it). Keep in mind too that the workman is worth his hire. Charge what you are worth (preaching to myself here, too). Yes, I am also seeing a lot more brain-fog cases in general. It's like stupid sauce got added to all the municipal water supplies. Don't know how my house escaped, but I'll take it!

What Tom said. My Enrollment Certificate has five - and only five - digits. Never had a problem with POAs in the past. Sloppy programming (as Abby said), or purposeful obfuscation. At this point in my life, I never attribute to stupidity what can best be explained by malice.

All I can say is, "When in danger, or in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout!" Really, in this case follow the money trail and report the money accurately. What else can you do?

Years ago while in college I did medical transcriptions from recordings in a hospital lab as a weekend job. Typed, not computer-ed. Six copies with carbon paper, so errors were a royal PITA to fix. Trying *so* hard to stay awake one day. Jerked awake to find FOUR reports I don't remember typing all neatly stacked, with no typing errors! Spent the rest of the work day trying to figure how to sleep my way through them every time.

Oh, now you're just cruel, @Gail in Virginia!

Hi @BulldogTomno I didn't figure it out. Got derailed by other problem clients and never got back to this one! The guy's in France until Monday so I tabled it. Looks from what you wrote that I need to pull that one out (tomorrow; too fried tonight) and see if I can make heads or tails of it on a second go-round. I'll report back, either way.

If we didn't know your statement was tongue-in-cheek, that would be dangerous. Asking for a bunch of ATXCommunity-ers to show up at your office with pitchforks and tar. Fortunately for you, we'd all have been too busy anyway!

I usually recommend filing with the "final" box checked, as I did have one trust years ago that had no requirement for its last year - and got a letter two years later wanting to know where the return was. For such returns I charge next to nothing because it's just name, address, EIN, and "final return" box checked.

Thanks for all the sympathy, empathy, and commiseration. My letter clearly states that if I don't have all materials in my hands by March 15th, all bets are off, *and* that every return not ready to file *will* (not may) be put on extension the first week of April. So it wasn't even deadline pressure that day. It was just all of a sudden the floodgates gave way and I was inundated with other people panicking, being stupid, or both, and I needed to rant. Thanks, friends, you're in the same boat so you get it.

I've always liked, "Couldn't pour sand out of a boot with direction written on the heel."

I'm glad you found what you needed. I have had clients make a partial payment by debit with filed return, and included the IA request (for under $10K) with the return. Done that way, it can take several months before the IRS starts taking the monthly debits. But eventually they do.

Since about 3pm, it has been utter lunacy here. I can't hang up the phone without it ringing again. People who have been agitating for signature documents are only signing 1 of the 3 sent, despite being told in the email with the docs that there are three required. Not optional; required. Colleagues calling who need advice or calming down or both. People showing up at the door, without warning, with papers to drop off. Several of my foreign-based clients decided to send docs too. I'm ready to crawl under my desk with a bottle of whiskey and a bag of Skittles and not come out until May. Except I gave up Skittles (and more) for Lent, so I can't even do that. I really want to scream right now. Rant over. Mostly. For a while, at least.