Catherine

But then most states will give at least some credit for tax paid - on the same income - to another state. Who gets precedence is a whole 'nother can of worms!

Depends on the state. Best way is to establish domicile in a no-income-tax state.

What I have generally found is that excluding foreign income from US income (Form 2555) is generally, but not always, better than foreign tax credits (Form 1116) and back when there was no limitation on other income taxes, Sch A deduction of the foreign tax paid. Tax treaties need to be read, and the older ones are generally more straightforward (before the lawyers turned them into gobbledygook written in legalese). The forms are all relatively straightforward, but the US return does need to be calculated at least in the first two ways, in case you've run in to the oddball case (and they are never obvious) where 1116 works better than 2555.

Sneakers from the boys' department. They are wider, sturdier, and cheaper! And my fall jacket is a kids' large (the XL was too big), as it fit far better than the women's small. But the young girls' department clothes don't work; not enough room for the hips! Hey, if I can get some better quality clothes and shoes for less money in the kids' department, that's a nice win for me. And my legs are long enough to reach the ground, so that part is all set, too.

Very true. However, I got a different company's card to replace BoA - and having too many cards also affects your score! I do not carry balances, and I don't actually charge all that much, so my "percent of credit used" is pretty low. Well, maybe Christmas is an exception. Some of the purchases for Gwen's wedding next month, too, for that matter. After the wedding I'll post some pictures! And if any like gory pictures, I can post during-and-after pictures of the ripping apart and re-building of my dress - required since it was perfect but did not come in a petite. It was 7" too long, plus the shoulders were too long as well. Gorgeous dress, and I have some dramatic photos of it in several pieces out on a sewing table.

To elaborate: the distribution is NEVER COUNTED as taxable income to him, so it's also NOT a charitable deduction for him. To get a charitable deduction (in addition to having to itemize deductions) he would have to claim the distribution as his own income - and he'd have to get the money personally. Cleaner in many ways to send it directly to the charity. No Sch A for him, no $3K in income to claim. But yes, he can give more than his RMD. The only effect it has on future RMDs is the lower end-of-year balance to calculate it from.

I get this one, sometimes.

Try the new Dissenter browser; no personal-info tracking is built in to it.

Is the problem still with the custodian? If so, it *might* be possible to get the penalty waived if you can show consistent efforts to resolve it and the error being on the custodian's part. However, unless they pinky-swear your client will get it soon, I'd transfer to a NEW custodian after discussing the missing RMD issue and getting a promise to get it distributed instantly. That might actually be fastest.

A lot of my statements now only show the last four digits of the card. BoA does show all. I keep meaning to shut that card down ('cuz I detest BoA) and keep forgetting to do it. Maybe this fall!

New one today. We've had a spate, this year, of decedent refund returns WITH the Form 1310 properly included with the paper-filed return, where the IRS immediately spits back a letter demanding the 1310 - which they obviously did NOT bother looking for. Today's iteration was even better! The client got back the ENTIRE package - all forms, original copy of death certificate, Form 1310 (all filled out properly) and even the original mailing envelope! PLUS a letter demanding the Form 1310. The client wanted to know what to do. I recommended sending it all back, with a copy of the letter, and a post-it note on the 1310 saying "This WAS sent with the original filing - it was even on top of the stack!" which she liked. But she couldn't believe they sent everything back. I told her it was "our tax dollars at play" and she chuckled and shook her head. First time I've seen the whole package returned - and for lack of a form that was included!

That reminds me; I have a gnarly fiscal year trust to finish up. Just got what I hope are the rest of the docs last night. Blech. Well, it ain't gonna get finished by me grumblin' about it!

I use EFileMyForms dot com to send 1099s for clients. They charge me $3 or $3.50 (efile only/efile-print-mail) and I charge my clients $20 to $25. I do download all the pdfs and print the copies for my clients, plus re-send any where the person moved and didn't say anything. Also some clients send us all the info and some have to be hounded and chased; that affects their rate from me!

This is a little naughty, but I love it. An 85-year-old man had by his doctor request a sperm count as part of his physical exam. The doctor gave the man a jar and said, "Take this jar home and bring back a semen sample tomorrow." The next day the 85-year-old man reappeared at the doctor's office and gave him the jar, which was as clean and empty as on the previous day. The doctor asked, what happened and the man explained. "Well, doc, it's like this--first I tried with my right hand, but nothing. Then I tried with my left hand, but still nothing. Then I asked my wife for help. She tried with her right hand, then with her left, still nothing. She tried with her mouth, first with the teeth in, then with her teeth out, still nothing. We even called up Arleen, the lady next door and she tried too, first with both hands, then an armpit, and she even tried squeezin' it between her knees, but still nothing." The doctor was shocked! "You asked your neighbor?" The old man replied, "Yep, none of us could get the jar open."

One company owner asks another: “Tell me, Bill, how come your employees are always on time in the mornings?” Bill replies: “Easy. 30 employees and 20 parking spaces.”

Drake has a nice billing system, and will number invoices - or not - as you wish. I'd call customer service and talk to them about pulling a/r reports and doing other-than-tax-return billing. I use Drake to print a bill for each client, but we track everything in QB (we have acctg, bookkeeping, and payroll clients).

That's the way we've done it in the past, and it has always worked. Very important to keep copies of all documents, and tracking information - we had one client where the W-7 folks sat on it and sat on it and sat on it and we had to get the Taxpayer Advocate office involved. Having tracking and delivery information saved the client from late-filing penalties! (TA office handled it all for us, once we got through to them. It was literally all sitting on someone's desk, untouched.)

Medical "tourism" (as they call it) is becoming more common. For example, for those without insurance, it can be significantly cheaper to fly to Japan and get an MRI at a standalone MRI center in that country, then fly back, than to pay for one in the USA. Ditto with many elective surgeries (although India seems to be a preferred source there - including USA-trained doctors, who went back home once they were trained). It could be as simple as that.

Too funny! We have a large-screen TV on the wall in our outer room (there are a couple of local groups who have used the room on occasion, and they wanted to show videos etc). It's tempting. Except I don't want to hear it or see it all the time, myself!

Good point! In which case, you might want a direct-to-the-portal link. Mine has this link on the upper right hand of the home page. Makes it easier for people to log in.

My browser/monitors have no trouble with that picture. I can clearly see a number of items under it including the quick contact information. If you want the entirety of the links, etc., to be clearly seen with no scrolling - then, yeah, you might want to shrink the picture size a bit. Have you (or has anyone else) checked it on a phone? ...I just did; looks good on a phone, too!

The portal requires a separate login and DOES have the lock on the address line; I just checked. I don't see how the portal and contact page can be used to "penetrate" his computer, when neither reside on his computer. They're in the cloud. Ditto for the portal, but it also has all the encryption and login security.

That's different from private health insurance.

It started during the Depression when FDR put wage controls in place. It was a way to give "more" to employees without going over the limits. So the entire health insurance industry (which was brand new at the time) grew up around this employer-sponsored model.

It looks great! Nice cover picture, too.