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I just wanted to vent for a few about all the crap I've been seeing on TV as far as tax preparation this year.... Now here the IRS has toughened up on all the things we have to do in order to even file tax returns for a profit. All the CE classes and registration with them and paying a fee to keep PTIN numbers plus the up coming RTRP Exams which some have taken and the rest of us a must by end of year. Yet and still I sat there and watched a commercial from Turbo Tax where you can take a snapshot of your W2 info etc.. and send via text to them and they file your return over the phone.... REALLY!!??? So here I'm thinking all this new regs we are being held responsible to follow which is suppose to make us the leading tax pros and take us into the 2015 100% e-file mandate IRS is wanting and now people can just "text-a return!!" Is it just me or is all this new IRS "Malarky" (sp) really worth anything when taxpayers have so many other options, some free and of course less expensive than us to file their returns. I just feel we the small business will and are now slowly being pushed out!! Just wanted you guys take on all that has transpired over past couple years with IRS and tax prep services like ours!! Thanks for taking time to read my bull today!!! lol! Happy Filing this season!!! TG

>>what can be disclosed, and what kind of client permission is needed<< Everything, and nothing. Unless the client challenges the subpoena in court, it's impossible for the tax preparer to refuse. Even an attorney can not claim client privilege, because tax returns are intended for a third party (the IRS). An attorney can protect tax planning, but nothing that went into the tax return itself. CPAs and EAs can also protect planning, but only within IRS. The best you can do is charge a reasonable copy fee, like 25 cents a page (and keep their dirty mitts off the originals). So notify your client that you intend to comply by the due date, and tell him to call his lawyer immediately. Then call your own lawyer or E&O insurance. Divorce---aargh!

Good question, never ran into one of them but it is just a matter of time before one of my client gets hit. I know the IP Pin is a 6 digit # and if the taxpayer loses it, it is a nightmare to get another. I believe you have to paper file then.

Crank the Redgear product did produce a nice carryforward statement that you can use if it did not move. i am running one on all my 2011 clients that itemized. As I said before instead of taking any chances print a hardcopy of the 2011 return and have it in front of you. I bet those will be the best 10 cents you paid for paper and toner!

I thought about the $25 limitation on gifts to clients too. Actually, when I prepare my kids' returns, I still deduct the paper, toner, etc that I use as part of the whole. So...........the kids are making me lose money. But, they do come in handy when I need a desk moved or blinds hung. (Anyhow, Lion was pulling our chains......I think!)

Update # 4 and it appears that we still do not have a fully functional program....What a joke!

>>Generally I don't charge my kids to prepare their tax returns. No income, no expense.<< Why not? Doesn't that come under the same category of deducting loss of rent for the months rental property is not rented?

in that case, it's all rent.

I can't say I'm having any real problems with the program so far. I'm up to 4 returns in. BUT I waited until the 14th to rollover my own return over with 12.3 and am only rolling over clients as they come in. I don't use the letters. I don't make changes to the program. ATX so thru this every year is working for me. I've learn to wait. The problems are always worked out. It's going to be a good program for the price. I'm still going to do my 600 returns and have a great tax season. The clients that have come in I'm telling them I can't file until the 30th and no one is upset. August @ ADG Financial

You all are old!!!!!!! Us young folks only go back to the days of Maxwell, the interviewer. Tom Hollister, CA

>>reasonable and easily verified requirements<< Because it can be used for recreational purposes, a cat is listed property. No deduction allowed unless you keep a contemporaneous log book of time spent playing with a string.

It will probably have a few reasonable and easily verified requirements, like the cat has to have expended two of the past five lives in the line of duty and be a full time student at an accredited obedience school. Probably attach coroner's reports to Form 8453. Piece of cake, much like EIC has been.

Woo Hoo!!! It went through on my credit card account but I don't yet see it in my bank account. Maybe it will be processed overnight. I did order a 3 pack of styli from Amazon. We'll see the next chapter soon! I feel less dummie now.

Your expectations of the IRS are fantasy. The IRS cannot even correctly credit me the CPE credits I earned at THEIR Nationwide Forum in Chicago in August. Now answer me how all these changes are going to improve the quality of tax returns?

I do not want the clients that want returns "done" with only their W-2. I get new clients every year where people have messed up returns by the big box stores and the "do it yourself" tax programs. I make good money correcting their errors. If a current client wants to switch and go to those places or software, I wish them good luck and say... "You'll be back." No misses yet!! When they do come back the following year, their pricing goes up. I have no appointments before Feb. 1, every year for exactly the same reasons. I have had a 10% annual increase in my personal clientele each year for the past 5 years, and looks like a 20% increase already for 2012 filing season. TT & HRB are good for my business!!

The RTRP program (I have complied with CPE and the test) is the biggest joke since Y2K. It is nothing but a money grab by the IRS. All the expense and time I spent complying has only given me one thing I did not already have.... The ability to put RTRP after my name. No additional privileges with the IRS for my clients above being unregistered. Now I see where the IRS relented and did NOT ENFORCE the CPE requirements for 2012. I also know that people who did not renew until after Dec. 31, 2012 were not even questioned about being late. (Two people in my office...) None of these steps will accomplish any of the state purpose which is "To ensure that people preparing paid returns are knowledgable and qualified to prepare accurate returns and to reduce the filing of fraudulent returns." The whole program is Male Bovine Scat!!