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I have remained stable at approx. 140 clients for the past 6 years or so. Every year I lose a few...usually because they want RAL (which I do not offer) or because I ask too many questions (i.e. EITC and dependency issues). I also consistantly gain a few every year from referrals. I do not advertise but do offer existing clients a referral rebate for sending me clients. I have grown picky about what type of clinet I accept...I really do not want more because 140 is about as much as I can do along with another full-time accounting job.

So I did my W2's for my day job. Spent most of the day Saturday getting all my reports printed, 941, 940, CA DE9 and DE9C as well as my NV tax payroll tax returns done. Printed all the W2s. Everything ticked and tied. Uploaded to the SSA BSO site. Damn, I was good and it was done for the year by January 4th. Time to start working on clients files. Until the damn insurance company sent that letter that says they paid 3rd party sick pay to one of the employees. Dang it, dang it, dang it..... Now I have to put out a corrected W2 and re do my 941, 940 and NV SUI and MBT returns as well as make another deposit for the employer FICA. Sometimes I feel like the windshield, sometimes I feel like the bug. Today I feel like I went splat! Tom Hollister, CA

"Doc, I can't stop singing 'The Green Green Grass of Home'." "That sounds like Tom Jones syndrome." "Is it common?" "It's not unusual."

I just thought it was funny that this is listed as a "hot" topic. It's 2 degrees here:)

This is the first year in several that I sent out NO letters warning a couple of carefully-chosen clients about big fee increases. Managed to get rid of all the PITA clients who don't pay me enough to be worth dealing with them. That's a happy achievement!

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I'm getting rid of payroll. I HATE PAYROLL.

Oh...my income was about $100 less in 2013 than in 2012....with about 25 fewer clients. I think that's a good thing!

YakTrax. Attach to the bottom of your boots. Any outdoor store (and some hardware stores) will have them. However they are NOT magic and if you put your weight where they are not, down you will go. Ask me how I know this... https://www.yaktrax.com/ and to mail order them -- always try Sierra Trading Post! http://www.sierratradingpost.com/s~yaktrax/?perPage=96 Who cares if they're last year's color? I get ALL my wool socks from these folks, too.

Good way to handle it, Eric.

Yep, when I was forced to cut back due to Don's health issues, it was really hard to get the number down. Only thing that really worked was when I finally moved out of state, after he died, and closed my business email account! Still doing just a few, but my own health issues made it easier for me to cut them. I still miss most of them, because so many were long-term clients, and I'd gotten the PITA's out already, and considered many of them personal friends as well as clients. Heck, a significant % were the children of clients, that I watched grow up.

Bummer.

I don't really track lost clients very carefully, but I lose a few (I'd guess 2%) and gain a few every year, so I feel like it's pretty much a wash. I do about 300 returns a year. I was thinking this morning, I have lost probably 5 or 6 clients over the years (19 years) because they wanted to count as a business expense every mile they drove for any purpose times 10. Glad to be rid of them, and that appears to me be the most abused deduction of all time. And, yes, I just got off on a rabbit trail. Sorry.

I lose one or two per year and may pick up one or two new clients. In the past I've lost a lot of clients when I moved from Dallas to Midlothian, then to Cedar Hill, then back to Dallas. I always failed to notify clients that I wanted to drop. I'm retiring from tax work after this tax season. Also, after I began working from home I get no drop-in business. I've let my practice dwindle down to a point that it just isn't worth taking all the CPE, leaning all the new features of the tax software and being available. I won't have the tax and accounting income, but I've paid off my mortgage which was costing me a lot more than I made doing tax and accounting work. After I retire, I can come and go without worrying about having to wait for a client to show up or to be available for telephone calls. I will not pay my PTIN fee and will only renew my CPA license at a reduced fee as a retired CPA. That way I can tell anyone that I cannot legally prepare their return (except for those I do free for my two daughters).

My sympathies, Tom! We've all had "those" days -- perhaps this means that you are off the hook for the rest of the tax season.

My practice is relatively small because I prepare my returns (in the evenings and on weekends) outside of my normal day job. I have about 125 clients. Each year, I find one or two that tend to go elsewhere, either due to a relocation or "just because." I have maintained a consistent client base and I find I add a few each year, so the at the end of the season I tend to have more than what I started with.

" The real reason for this thread got lost in the mud pages ago. An ATX client was having the same problem with rollovers on a NEW computer that I had. Since Jack fixed my problem, I referred that post to Jack. I believe Jack contacted the poster directly and helped him. From then on bedlam ensued. I thought this was supposed to be a tax board wherein we could help each other with program and tax issues. In addition, there are friendly and conversational threads clearly marked; between some of us who have "known" each other for a long time. I don't care how you resolve these jump-in posts that clearly lead the thread astray. But, please do try to put an end to them. I am getting a headache." I thought before I commented on this thread, that maybe it would be better to start a new, more clearly labeled thread. Quite often, as this board is conversational in tone, the subject of the thread winds up far astray from the original posting. I expected that to lessen once we had a separate forum for political posts, but since the tone is conversational I don't think it will ever completely go away. Most of the time I don't have a problem with that, and I think that friendly tone is what makes it hard for newcomers and the moderators to judge what and when to shut down these random offshoots from the original thread. Many times, all that is necessary is to ignore the off-topic posts and make a post that gets the thread back on topic. I really don't want this board to lose the informality we have had in the past, but I also don't want to see it degenerate into just a few posters arguing back and forth over everything that is said. Sometimes the best thing to say is nothing at all.

After attempting a few other fixes that were suggested from Jack from OHIO (THANK YOU JACK ONCE AGAIN) I sent ATX Customer service an email (with a link to a thread on the ATX website). They got back to me within an hour (multiple times) with a solution to my problem. If your having troubles with forms not updating to the correct versions try this... In 2012 go to the return manager check the return box beside the return file that is having issues (I did it for all of them). Then click on returns menu, you should see the options that says to re-download forms select this and select all the forms once this is done open 2012 return and edit something and then change it back to what it was . Save the return and then try rollover again. I didn't go into two of the three returns that I tested to change anything so I don't know if that step is necessary. So far I am 3 for 3 on returns rolled over with fairly quick action also. I can also open 2012 returns accurately also (checked 2 of the 3. Let me know if you have any questions (message me on here is best) and I can try to help. Scott Pugh [email protected]

Hi AppleFlag & welcome to the board. I do a ton of these returns in my practice. Oddly enough, you can pick and choose which years to amend based on whether it's advantageous to your clients or not. Don't forget to look at spousal health care benefits that may have been taxed in the past. One thing though; if you amend for any benefit of marriage (like removing imputed income from health insurance) you have to amend to married for all. In other words, you can't pick & choose within a year, amending to remove the health insurance income but not to MFJ or MFS. What I do is enter the more complicated return, whoever will end up as 'taxpayer' on the joint return, hit 'amend' and then just add the spouse's income & deductions. You only need to file one amended return. I don't attach any of the originally filed copies, but do attach the forms & schedules that changed.

I really try to focus on the technical aspects of keeping the forum going. I hate dealing with the squabbling. Sometimes I feel like my 2 year olds can be more civil to each other. I think Gail put it well -- it's not easy to strike a balance between keeping the informal/conversational tone and keeping the threads on track. I don't want the mods to go full-on police state, but it might not be a bad idea for the mods to be slightly more aggressive about hiding posts that are obviously derailing a topic. As always, suggestions are welcome about how to determine when a post needs to be hidden. We'll do our best to sort it out.

I am still fairly new to the ATXcommunity. I visit the site regularly and sometimes add a post. There are some really smart participants here, offering great information and strategies. However, at times it can be intimidating to some of us who do not want to feel belittled when asking a question, especially if it has unknowingly been covered in some way in a previous topic. I have read and felt that some "regulars" are exasperated by us newer participants because we are not always up-to-date with all the topics. I am uncomfortable with the squabbling. This site should lift us all up. I vote to keep this site friendly and professional. As for hi-jacking . . . any time it gets "personal" the thread is on its way down hill.

We got a new Husqvarna snow blower this year (to replace the 30 year old one that still worked but no longer got remotely close to the ground or threw the snow past the driveway). Honest, it has heated handles! The only problem is we were convinced that by buying the new machine, we would be assured of a mild winter with almost no snow to have to blow (kind of like washing your car assures it will rain the next day). Should we ask for our money back?

You have to think back to the basics of AMT to get your head around this. Every tax return is calculated two ways, according to regular tax and again using AMT rules. The taxpayer pays the higher of the two. (If regular tax is $20k and AMT is $25k, the tax liability on the return shows as $20k on line 44 plus $5k AMT on line 45.) For 2013 tax rates have increased, certain taxpayers are subject to phasing out dependency exemptions and itemized deductions, medical deductions now match AMT rules, and then there are the new Medicare and investment income tax surcharges. Thus regular tax rates are going up, so the difference between regular and AMT is no longer as great. In the above example, regular tax is now $23k so AMT is only $2k. Bottom line is still the same.

Apparently the closed captioning software doesn't have "Polar Vortex" programmed into its dictionary...

I am also shouting ...THANK YOU GAIL!!!!! As the poster of the original headache post, I stand behind it! Yes, it is often better to say nothing at all. But, when a serious question about a serious problem is posted, it should not be railroaded into something it was not meant to be. I had that same problem and Jack fixed it. Posters on the other ATX board are clamoring for an answer to the same question. I thought this was a place that Eric (bless him) had created for us to come together to share our tax questions and answers. I have no objection at all to the Jokes or the NT posts, but none of that belonged in that original thread. What happened to our companionship and dignity? Others have left this board because of innuendoes and downright mud slinging. More will if this keeps up. Many of us have become "friends" over the years even beyond this site. Many PMs are posted and often. This is the place I head when I need a friend or a tax answer. I have learned more here than I ever learned from a book. I would like us to become a Tax Family once again.

Currently -10 degrees. Low tonight -15 degrees. No need to talk about wind chill. COLD IS COLD!! Coldest in 20 years here. Good news!! The gnat, mosquito, fly, bean beetle and ant populations will be significantly lower, as well as the soil in the garden will be much softer and better for the plants next spring.

The real reason for this thread got lost in the mud pages ago. An ATX client was having the same problem with rollovers on a NEW computer that I had. Since Jack fixed my problem, I referred that post to Jack. I believe Jack contacted the poster directly and helped him. From then on bedlam ensued. I thought this was supposed to be a tax board wherein we could help each other with program and tax issues. In addition, there are friendly and conversational threads clearly marked; between some of us who have "known" each other for a long time. I don't care how you resolve these jump-in posts that clearly lead the thread astray. But, please do try to put an end to them. I am getting a headache.

On another serious note, it was really just the tequila. I don't have any moonshine.