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I would LOVE to stay with ATX next year. I am very used to the program, and the workflow operates the same way I worked back when I still did returns on paper. It's a great match for me. That said, I will NOT renew early. Saving a paltry $100 - $150 and letting them hold my money for a year was barely worth it at all. After this year's debacle, I do not put it past CCH to take my money, NOT provide ATX next year, and use the fact that they have my money to try to push me into TaxWise or something else next year. Instead, I am going to take some time this summer and re-do all my returns in Drake (and re-do the ones I've done in Drake for reason A, B, C, X, Y, Z... in ATX). That way I will be prepared to hit the ground running next season no matter what happens with the software.

How does my new pic look?

Had a client yesterday under their deductions list had "$82.67 school supplies". I asked her to explain, she said "I bought school supplies for my grand child! Um no that's not going to work. After several other issues with them I gathered up all their documents and handed them back and said "You need to find someone else to do your return".

One morning a grandmother was surprised to be awakened by her 7 year old grandson, who had made her a cup of coffee. Smiling, she drank what had to be the worst coffee she had ever tasted. At the bottom of the cup she found 3 small green army men. Puzzled, she asked him, "Honey, why are there these Army men in the cup?" Her grandson answered, "Like it says on TV, Grandma. The best part of waking up is soldiers in your cup."

>> As a general rule, you should place a picture of yours that was taken 10-20 years ago.<< Which is exactly the reason some of us do not use our own picture!!!!!

On the top right corner, pull down the menu from Christian and then select profile and then change profile and you should be able to change the picture. As a general rule, you should place a picture of yours that was taken 10-20 years ago.

What I have told clients who cannot pay now but who will be able to in short order (1-3 months) is to send int eh e-file with the "paper check by mail" payment checked, and send in the coupon along with whatever they _can_ pay - even if it's just $50. They'll get back a letter saying you still owe $XXX plus $X interest. If they can pay off in a couple of those iterations, go for it. I have never had a client report problems with this method. Anything longer than about 3 months and I recommend an installment agreement.

The most frustrating part of tax season is that I wake up between 4 and 5:30, without the alarm, even on Sunday, when I don't work, and church doesn't start till 10:45. It is maddening. But my underwear is clean, so I guess it works out.

I think that what CCH should do is what Glynn did back in 1999. Back then, I received a postcard in the mail. Actually it was a bunch of little postcards, wrapped up in cellophane paper, and sent to the professionals. There was a postcard from ATX and it said something like this: You will love my software. I will give it to you free, use it until February. If you don’t like it, simply return it to me, there will be no charge for the returns you have filed. If you do like it, you can pay me the $500 and use the cash flow from the returns you have already filed to pay me. Does anybody else remember that? Well, I took him up on his offer and I have been with aTX every since. Through the bad and through the good. I will look at other software – that is something I do every year and I keep coming back to ATX. But what I will say this year – no early money – you had my money for almost a year and you have cost me cash flow problems this year. I want the same deal as Glynn gave me in 1999. I take your software, pay you in February 2014. Or I go somewhere else.

Last year, I received my ATX renewal email on March 20th. Haven't received anything from ATX so far this year and, with all the issues that the program has given users, I'm not surprised it has yet to flow into my inbox. As a caveat, I have to disclose that I've have experienced hardly any of the issues that have been documented on this forum. The 2012 program has worked relatively well for me (not looking to jinx myself down the stretch.) I'm curious to see if ATX will still be an option for 2013. If it is, I wonder what the pricing structure will be and whether they offer any type of incentive given the problems that have been reported this year. I think it's prudent to review what other packages offer and I plan to do that during the next few months. With that said, I have been a long time user of ATX and go back to the Saber days. if ATX is offering a renewal package, my early inclination is to sign-up and use them again in 2013. I guess time will tell and it will depend on the pricing and the information provided in their renewal solicitation. Will they speak to the issues experienced in 2012 and will they make mention of their commitments for 2013? I'm curious to see what they will offer. Good luck to everyone as we approach the 15th!

Dilbert; with a tip of the hat to one of my tax clients, who sent it to me today. http://www.dilbert.com/dyn/str_strip/000000000/00000000/0000000/100000/80000/0000/900/180959/180959.strip.gif

That is a good one. In my younger days i used to aregue and try to show them that I am right based on the laws. Send them printouts and pubs etc. Now when someone says, are you sure you are right and know what you are doing because they don't agree with me and i know they are wrong I just refer them to HRB. One less headache for me! I am done teaching tax laws!

How about girlfriend as a dependant? Just got a new referral who did his own taxes last year on TurboTax and took his GF as a dependent and claimed HOH. Fails on all tests? When he did not understand I gave him HRB # and wished him good luck.

After being married for 50 years, I took a careful look at my wife one day and said, "Fifty years ago we had a cheap house, a junk car, slept on a sofa bed andwatched a 10-inch black and white TV, but I got to sleep with a hot 23-year-old girl every night. Now, I have a $500,000 home, a $45,000 car, a nice big bed and a large screen TV, but I'm sleeping with a 69-year-old woman. It seems to me that you're not holding up your side of things." My wife is a very reasonable woman. She told me to go out and find a hot 23-year-old girl and she would make sure that I would once again be living in a cheap house, driving a junk car, sleeping on a sofa bed and watching a 10-inch black and white TV. Aren't older women great? They really know how to solve an old guy's problems.

We use a LOT of paper plates during tax season. Sometimes, we just eat our chips right out of the bag and drink our beer or soda from the can.

I like the kind of client who ends up owing $10,000 or more and says, "Is that all I owe?"

I actually love those days when I am so over it that everything is funny. Yeah, the "I don't give a crap" stage. Sounds fitting. Right now, I am still in the "I need a nap" stage. By nap I mean small coma. Hopefully, come Monday...

I wish I understood psychiatry better. I am certain there is a name for the stage we are in. We are well seated in fatigue and exhaustion. So if we reach the point where everything seems funny maybe that is the "I don't give a crap anymore" stage. Is that a pyschiatry term? I think I will just reside here for awhile.

HEY!!!! This IS me - -really - -and not more than - - um - - 4 years ago - - Santa FINALLY saw my letter from about 50+ years ago, and delivered the BEST stress relief EVER - - a DRUM SET!!! Seriously - -I can go down to the basement - - put on some classic rock , and bang away - - - best therapy ever!!! :spaz: :spaz:

One morning a grandmother was surprised to be awakened by her 7 year old grandson, who had made her a cup of coffee. Smiling, she drank what had to be the worst coffee she had ever tasted. At the bottom of the cup she found 3 small green army men. Puzzled, she asked him, "Honey, why are there these Army men in the cup?" Her grandson answered, "Like it says on TV, Grandma. The best part of waking up is soldiers in your cup."

My alarm wakes me at 4:10. I am in the office by 5:00. Eat breakfast, lunch and dinner at my desk. Out of the office between 9 and 10. Asleep by 10:45. Besides being grateful for you all, I am also grateful that there is an end to this madness. Like a lot of you, I have had 3 days off since the first of the year and am looking forward to getting back to my part time 60 hours per week job. This truly is a GREAT forum. Thanks all!

Dog hair is an accessory!

I've done this too. The IRS will even recommend it (the 120 day pay), rather than doing an installment. Interest & penalty on $800 for a month or so will be minimal.

It was pure luxury. I don't set an alarm, and just assumed I'd get up before 2pm. Wrong!

Eight hours of sleep is a luxury! I've been limping along due to only averaging about 5-6 hours of sleep a night. Next Tuesday may not exist as I might just sleep through it. I had one close call where I threw on clothes and met with a client who I worked with at one time, and she knows I'm not a morning person. It wasn't my fault. It was the stupid alarm clock that has the option to have the alarm set for weekends, weekends or all days. Well, the alarm was set to go off but only on the weekends. It has way too many buttons, and I inadvertantly changed the setting when I shut off the alarm the morning before! The designer of this clock should be fired. lol I don't like my clients seeing me with bed head or sheet wrinkles embossed on my face or looking like these -->

I Know it didn't work on my 1065 either. I think maybe I just have something set up wrong. I will go back to the regular way and input. thanks for double checking.

My friend Dennis Leeking has a company named: Leeking Plumbing

None that I know of other than the 9465 for the formal installment agreement. She'll just pay the balance due when the bill arrives in about 6 weeks.

You can set up for paper check and then she will get a bill in a few weeks asking her for her check, she could pay it then. very small penalties on $800 one month late.

client had a dentist named Dr. Payne and there is a lawyer whose last name is Crook

is it a loss? A loss will go on part I not in part III

If he account on the cash basis, then you shouldn't have to do anything. Cash basis: I pay 20 for materilial,I record 20 in expenses. I sell $40 worth of donuts, I record $40 income when I receive it. If I discount the donuts for $30 I record the 30 when I receive it. NO adjustment needs to be made. This example = Profit of 10 (30-20) Accrual I pay 20 for material I record 20 expense, I get an order for 40 worth of donuts I record 40 in income even though I haven’t received payment yet. . My books at this point show profit of 20 (40-30) Then instead of collecting the 40 I only collect 30 because the donuts are stale, I make an entry on my books returns and allowances for 10. Now my books show $40 income - 10 allowance or discounts... 30 Income - 20 material 10 profit same as above. So unless the discount of 10 was actually included in gross receipts you do nothing. ONLY if you included the full price in gross receipts do you need to make an adjustment.

I feel bad because I promised, but that was before I knew he had PTPs and hadn't giving me the K-1s! (And, he bought them in 2011, per the online site, so now there'll be IRS letters and amendments, but that's for this summer.) So, I'd already pulled three more clients out of my stack in the middle of the night when I was dealing with his Puts and missing K-1s and emailed him questions. No response from him, so working on other clients. When he contacts me, I'm saying extension. But, do I have to divide every line into 40% and 60% doubling my data entry? Every return seems to have a new twist this year. One that I'd set aside, thinking complete, waiting for them to confirm banking information -- when he emailed this morning he told me about a missing W-2 and gave me a final check stub. This one's too close to done so I'll do the substitute, but really didn't need any more issues today. And, he's complaining about his balances due, wanting explanations which I love to give BUT NOT THIS WEEK. Sign here and leave please.

When she came back to USA at the point of entry she had to fill out a customs declaration form and one of the questions if I remember correctly is cash and equivalent being imported into USA. If she answered correctly she is ok. I also remember if you lie on that form and they catch you the cash is confiscated!

Lion -- wants them before the 15th, NOT "needs" them. File an extension and deal with it in May! If he really "needs" them before the 15th, tell him to postpone his vacation. That'll show you where his true priorities lie. Right about now I get pretty darned cranky with all the folks who have owed me info for weeks and weeks suddenly showing up with it and wanting to know "how long until?" NO. I refuse to make a total wreck of myself simply because a month ago YOU decided that sleeping late, going to the movies, or going away for the weekend was more important than pulling together the expense information on your stupid (insert whatever I was waiting for info on - rental condo, refi paperwork, stock basis...).

I get the clothes laundered, but not until my husband starts asking me if his underwear is in the dryer. I give him his socks and underwear to fold and put away. I hang up his shirts out of the dryer in the basement; he can bring them up when the wrinkles have hung out. I do fold his sweaters as he makes a mess of them. But, my own clothes?! I had such a huge pile on the guest bed that I brought up all my laundry baskets and have a basket for socks and underwear, a basket for jammies, slippers, and the fleece tops/sweaters/sweatshirts I wear over them, one for exercise clothes and sweats, and a stack of nice tops and sweaters still on the bed. That's as organized as I can get now. When no clients are here, I'm in my flannel jammies and fuzzy slippers with a sweatshirt or something over. Our clothes are so over-dried and wrinkled. I set the dryer and then the phone rings so by the time I get back to the basement the clothes are cold, so I turn the dryer back on to warm them up so I can fluff them and shake out the wrinkles but then a client drops by and.... And, I've used up all my baskets. Oh yeah, and a stack of rugs and towels on the guest bed and another stack of Christmas linens and clothing that I won't need until December anyway. At least hubby folds the sheets for me.

I am so glad I don't use the client letter, after hearing complaints about it all tax season. I have custom sticky notes printed with my business name and number. I hire staff to write refund amounts, filing instructions, etc, on the sticky notes and affix them to the client copies. My clients rave about it. It's that extra personal touch that sets me apart from the other preparers in town who spit out the letters.