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Dear client: If your dependent child has already filed their tax return on line, claiming themselves, so they can get their $39 refund check back because they didn't fill out their W-4 as exempt, that's your problem, and yes - you will pay for their amended return. And no, you can't efile now with them on your return. And yes - your refund will now take forever. Hey - he's your kid.

My favorite this year: Phone message: You told me my federal bracket is 25% and my state bracket is 5%. But you figured I owe the state much more than the federal. This can't make any sense. Please get it corrected. These people are allowed to vote!

Client, friend, neighbor, coworker, stranger: "Hey, I've got a question for you".

Dear Client..... Thank you for ruining my entire afternoon. When you called at 11:30 AM and told me you needed about a half hour of my time, I told you to come at 1:00 so I could have some lunch. You finally left me with my headache at 3:30 after going over and over nearly every business deduction that you should have had posted correctly in the first place. Also, thank you for calling me one half hour after you left to let me know that you are thinking about switching from mileage to actual expenses on your big truck; since I was stupid enough to tell you that was a consideration. Thank you for finally leaving so that I could try to soothe my headache with a cold can of beer, so that you could go home to a nice warm cooked supper while I still have clothes to get off the line and the lunch dishes still on the table. Sincerely yours, Out OF Commission.! :mad:

Dear client: Please don't come to me in March to have me figure out what to do with the mess that the attorney across the street created. From May to Dec I am very flexible in my schedule and I will be glad to walk 100 yards to meet with you and your attorney so that maybe, just maybe, things will be correctly reported in March. And while we're at it - please Mr. Attorney, don't start any more partnerships over there without talking to me either. thanks.

When in doubt, file a return. If for no other reason than to start the SOL clock running. And whether or not you find a cite which requires you to file or excuses filing, you can be sure the clients will receive a CP2000 in a couple of years if the gross sales amount exceeds the filing threshhold. Why wait until then, especially because you'll be answering the question "But why did you tell me I didntt have to file?" until you're blue in the face. Clients with that attitude are also more reluctant to pay, by the way. Some of them want to cling to the notion that you are somehow responsible for the notice even though you didn't charge them for the initial advice not to file.

My biggest concern is that I want to be an advocate for my clients position. I don't intentionally file an incorrect or fraudulent return. I won't ignore information that I am told. BUT I also do not want to be an unpaid auditor for the IRS. Sometimes I feel like the current due diligence requirements are leaning more and more towards making me make my clients prove their income and deductions to me.

My divorce didn't take three years, only about two. But, the idiot judge allowed my ex to live in this house all that time and for two months after the divorce was final !! I no longer believe in divorce. I do believe in murder.

I agree with Gail. It's not the net taxable gain or loss that will cause trouble, but the total sales amount. Unless that is less than would trigger a need to file, you still need to do the return. That return is what lets the IRS know why the total sales amount is not all taxable income.

Even though their taxable gains may not meet the filing requirements, quite often the gross sales amount does. In that case, a return is required to show that after subtracting basis there is no taxable income. It is not how many transactions are on the 1099B, but the amount of the gross sales that will trigger IRS interest.

From ATX: ATX: Avast warning: The MX object was not found or registered 3/14/2012 Updated 3-14-12 5pm: The MX object was not found or registered When opening ATX and there is a new update, the setup starts to run but then you get the following 2 errors. “Setup Application: GLB21.tmp-bad image. The application or DLL c:\Windows\system32\OLE2.DLL is not a valid Windows image. Please check this against your installation diskette” AVAST Anti-Virus has updated its definitions and does not recognize ATX as a safe program, most notably the MX11.ocx which is required to allow ATX to run. AVAST is giving a false positive, meaning AVAST thinks the ATX file is a virus when the file is actually not a virus. Solution: click the link on AVAST that says “add the file to scan exclusion list” so AVAST can attempt to ignore the file and allow ATX to run. Also click the link that says “report the file as a false positive” or report it to the AVAST customer service department so they can change their program to allow this required ATX file. If adding the file to the exclusion list does not work, disable AVAST if that is an allowed option in your version. As a last resort, uninstall AVAST virus protection to run ATX. But be aware that you are without virus protection at that point and you need to install another anti-virus product immediately for your protection.

The software is not free, but thanks for the insight. It was quite helpful. And congratulation on Computer Associates. You seem quite proud of it...as you should be. I got a response from tech support... Avast believes the latest update for ATX is viral in nature, and is eating a few particular files. Setting up exceptions in Avast to ignore the ATX2011 folder and C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\CCHSFS\2011\MX11.OCX and then downloaded and running the update again should resolve this.

I do believe the Federal Government has the right to regulate the tax prep industry. However, based on their history, I don't think the IRS or the Treasury are the agencies to do so. Why? Because you are giving the agency that we are in conflict with authority to license us. That is a real can of worms. Just like we have the Taxpayer advocate, with separate interests from the IRS, we need the OPR to move out of IRS or Treasury and become an independent arbitrator between the IRS and the tax prep community. It scares the hell out of me that I can put so many years into building my practice, and some beaurocrat in washington can pull my PTIN and I don't have a practice anymore. Just my 2 cents. Tom Lodi, CA

New phone message: Thank you for calling, I am not answering the phone today, the more time I spend on the phone ansereing, "How are you coming on my return" and then spending 10 min listeing to your need for the tax return because you have some bill that is due tommorow, and OH by the way you still need to get me ...... and once I get that information, which I told you about when you dropped off your work 3 weeks ago, then I will be done with your return in about anohter week. And by the time I talk with 25 to 30 calls, most of the day is gone, and I have not got a thing done So have a nice day, leave a message and I will call you back this evening before I close up for the day, hope you like phone calls after 9 pm It must be March Maddness

Dear Client, I am sorry that you took a $50,000 early distribution from your retirement account and had just 10% taxes withheld to cover the penalty and that you did not consider (or your financial adviser did not explain the tax consequences) the Federal and State taxes on the distribution in addition to the penalty. I feel terrible that you now have a combined tax due that exceeds $10,000 and you don't have the money. Perhaps if you consulted with us prior to taking the distribution, we could have offered you advice to help, strategies, etc. Please stop yelling at me....