Catherine

I got to meet her today and she's even MORE beautiful in person!

I used Gleim to study back in the early 2000's for the EA exam (back then, four parts, in two days, given only once a year and you waited three months for results). Passed all four sections first try, thanks to Gleim. I recommend them highly. I recommended them to a young man looking to become an EA and he is very impressed and learning a lot both about the tax code but also about how to approach the testing. That was also my experience; learning to recognize the no-right-answer questions, and learning to trust my FIRST response, were I think key to passing. From Gleim I learned that every time I re-thought something, went back, and changed my answer, that 3/4 of the time the original was right and the change was wrong. Far fewer overall wrong answers by not going back. Phew! Learning to trust that was a hurdle - that probably led to my passing all sections at once.

Cordelia Rose arrived on the 19th. 7 lbs 10 oz, 19" They asked us to stay quiet until they got home and settled, so I've had both hands over my mouth at all times for four days now! And I just had to share with all my dear friends here.

Dunkie's!!! Their donuts are terrific. I'll treat myself maybe once a year to a real one. Boston Cream. Or chocolate filled. Or honey glazed. Or - well, maybe I'll just stop right now. I do get boxes of Dunkin' Munchkins as our post-pistol-match treats - they split up among all the participants better than full size donuts. 'Course that's hasn't been an issue running postal matches, so my waist is safe at least until fall.

As the song says, "Almost heaven, West Virginia" but I've never been there. Idaho is spectacularly beautiful - but beware if you enjoy veggie gardening, because there are a lot of areas with soil contaminated from mine tailings, that have cautionary levels of arsenic in them. How about you do your research, figure out three or four top contenders, then take you and your wife to visit ATX friends in the area? Tour around, talk about what it's like to live nearby. Massachusetts' isn't on much of anyone's "let's move here!" list - but if NH gets on the short list, I'd be happy to introduce you to friends who live there.

I came here to post a "WE MADE IT - THANK YOU ALL" note and there's nothing more to add. You may not post often, @Patti in Upstate NY, but when you do, it's spectacular. Thanks for being a lurker/rare-poster here. As for the rest of you - I cannot begin to say how grateful I am for each and every one of you. And - WE MADE IT!!! By the skin of our teeth, but we made it. Praise God. By this time next year, there will be a little more room - from settling, of course - in RitaB's back 40, too, so we can do it all again. Taking a few days to recover and we will y'all here for extension season. And, of course, to report on the new grandbaby once s/he deigns to appear. My poor daughter is SO ready.

Just under two hours for me, but I also think I'll pass.

New grandbaby, due ANY DAY NOW!!!!! should keep me busy. I avae never had so many PITA clients as this year. Even generally good clients turned into client-zillas on occasion, and every referral client from existing good clients was someone - well, let's just say it's a good thing I live so far from RitaB, or her daisies would be super-fertilized this year!

Last year, this year, and probably next year as well, this is very, very good general advice.

@Max W if you're an EA and member of NAEA, you have free access to Verifyle. Or, you can buy it for a month for like $15 (less than a one-way FedEx overnight fee). You can get e-signatures using that system.

Ain't that the truth! I took one this year - referral from existing, good, clients. She's poison, and is now trying to poison the good clients against me. Trying desperately to think of how to get rid of her in a way she'll believe (she's a leech, whining and constantly begging me to call her, because she wants me to explain what was perfectly clear in email - I can't understand it for her and there are no words of less than one syllable). At this point I almost don't care about keeping the other clients - if they're dumb enough to believe her words about me, when they've been with me for over a decade, then maybe I don't want them, either!

Judy beat me to it - make a note for yourself to double check the square footage for 2021. I've used the adjust-the-size method in the past as a forced correction; good to know it's an officially blessed method!

Others can chime in with official notices and cites. All I'll say is that the IRS master file goes by EIN and name control. If the first four letters of the name remain the same, would they even notice? Especially when so many companies get information reported with obvious, or subtle, mis-spellings, or do business under multiple names.

That doesn't mean you have to take him back!

I rarely have ANY luck searching the IRS website for information. Sometimes I do better using an external search engine and limiting results to irs dot gov, but not always. But the folks on this forum always find results! I think I am keyword-impaired.

Triple it and ensure he leaves! lol

I have NEVER regretted turning a client away. But I have, many times, regretted NOT doing so. Run!

We've had some of those, too. Ridiculous. OTOH, a few years ago we had a SLEW of minor corrections by Massachusetts - anywhere from $3 to $30 - with NO explanation, NO line item changes, and basically we could never figure out, for any of them, where the changes had come from. Some were refunds, some were bills, all were total, utter mysteries. At least, with the IRS notices, you not only know they're being stupid but WHERE and WHY they're being stupid. As opposed to these state changes, where we were utterly clueless as to who might be at fault and for what.

For some years now, when people ask if my fees are negotiable, my response has been, "Yes, but only UP!"

Join the club! I am SO done with this tax season.

Tell him SURE - but the fee (including your time) goes on HIS bill, 'cuz it will just be for him. Report back on how many colors his face turns before you tell him you were joking.

This is all quite true. However, they *could* put a stop to the outdated-before-sent automatic letters (pull the plugs!) and use those printers (or at least the paper and toner!) for other purposes.

They're printing a whole slew of outdated-before-printing LETTERS demanding tax either not due or already paid, that makes our clients call US in a panic!

Judy has a great point. The foreign school must be on the list of eligible foreign institutions. The school will know; I don't know how else to find it. But I had a client who took a specialty course in eastern Europe a year or two ago; that school wasn't on the list so we had to forego any credits.

You are correct. So every fancy overpriced coffee bought from a fancy overpriced coffee chain, paid by BitCoin, goes on Schedule D and Form 8949. Most of those who actually use the stuff (as opposed to getting given a fractional BitCoin as a Christmas gift - had one of those this year) sign up with one of the online tracking services that give a tracking document or spreadsheet at the end of the year. Just like a summary of trades from one of the standard brokerage firms. In the past, we had our own spreadsheets we made up and tracked people's crypto purchases and sales with. And we charged them a lot for that, too, cuz boy oh boy oh boy was it ever a pain in the hindquarters!