Leaderboard

guy calls me: Smart Guy: "Hey, JB..you can do my taxes." Me: "Are you asking me or telling me?" silence Me: "Yes, I can do your taxes" Smart Guy: "how much?" Me: "Well, that's hard to say...I would need to see what you have." Smart Guy: Well all I have is one W-2 because I aint going to pick up the other two from where I used to work because Karl told me that If I did not get the W-4s, I don't need to claim those jobs." silence...as I feel the vein in my head throb Smart Guy: to pay ya, I can plow your drive cuz I gots a big plow on my truck and I live in West Liberty can I deduct that I can't keep it in the yard no more cause I knocked down the corner of the porch and Jody got pissed." Me: "Ok...we need to find a time for us to sit down and see what you have" Smart Guy: "Smackin!" Smart Guy: "So how much is it gonna cost and how much do you think I'll get back cuz I wanna get a new grill ill cook ya up some ribs I make the best damn ribs the secret is I use that fancy mustard." Me: "That's great...do you want to get together this weekend?" Smart Guy: "Naaaa...not this weekend, man....Me and Karl are going down to the gun show I like guns" Me: "OK" Smart Guy: "BANG!!!!" "Did I scare you?" I hung up....and then I blocked the number. Perhaps that was wrong...it was definately not polite, but in my defense, I had just been shot. I just can not take any more stupidity in my life. Where do they grow these people and why do they find me?

How to protect your lunch in a shared office fridge:

If you're using a worksheet to calculate an education credit, it's going to be based on what your client PAID and spent during 2013 or the year in question. It really doesn't matter what the college billed, except that you can pay only one semester ahead into the next calendar year. Ask your client for their financial transcript from the bursar's office, often available online to the student, and even printed on the backs of some Forms 1098-T or on a statement in the same mailing. Or, have your client go through their check registers.

This is stolen but fits here very well... Thank You KC...

Don't waste another minute on such a stupid person. And should he come back, don't forget to add a PITA fee to the bill.

Chaz (the guy on the corner by Woody's market that drinks warm Corona) is just hangin out with Lenny the Pirate. They assist me with my more complicated tax issues. Lenny the Pirate vomited on my cat, so he is not allowed to hang out at my place as often.

For those following this issue, the 13.3 update CORRECTS the backup file size issue. Install the update on ALL computers.

Is she okay with returning the refund she was not entitled too in the first? I can picture her squeezing their butt checks when you tell them, they need to return part of refund and pay penalty and interest, but don't let them fool you, some TP know the game and play innocent when it comes to taxes.

ABSOLUTELY DO THE UPDATE!

Don't give him the figures. You don't want them as clients anyway. I normally give them back their papers and I don't charge anything. I am happy when they leave.

You probably want to charge a small processing fee the next time. Apparently he don't have the EIC verification documents. I can't blame you for insisting on the documents. I refuse to be hit with penalties for not doing my job.

You lost your crystal ball? That's unforgivable. Possibly a Circular 230 violation.

LOL

1. "Depends on what it involves. Would you like an appointment to discuss it? Or you can email me a copy of last year's return, and a list of any changes in your circumstances, and I can then give you an estimate." 2. "I can't tell you until I know what is involved. Tell me about yourself." 3. "How much dirt's in a hole?" 1 when I'm busy, 2 when I have time to discuss it. 3 when I'm fed up or their tone of voice suggests they are only interested in price. Those are not worth the trouble.

We all have a few of those. A few you may be willing to lose. But you might try something that worked for me. As all you long-time members know, I'm very much of the Owl type, while Don was of the Lark type, so he got most all the early bird types. After his stroke, and I was doing it all, I had to retrain some of them, so what I did was to tell them, "I can see you at 2 pm Wed, or 3 pm Thur, or 10 am next Tues." I never made an appointment earlier than 10 am, but did not tell them that. The point was, given those options, many would choose to take the afternoon rather than wait. You could reverse the times, but use the same logic. Allow one day when you do take evening appointments, if you feel you can, but given that those may mean waiting, I'll bet you find that many will realize that they can, in fact, come by during the day after all. It's natural for everyone to ask for the time best for us, but we adapt when we need to.

I have a bushel of golden delicious apples sitting in my office right now. Anybody want one, come on over.

Thanks I will request them to provide me with a summary of the actual payments for 2013 including payments from student loans. MAS

I'm pretty sure that the credit is only concerned with what was PAID in 2013...so there really is no need for two entries on the worksheet....and you cannot totally rely on the 1098-T to tell you that....in many cases the boxes on the 1098 do not correlate exactly to the amount paid. Some schools put the amount that was actually paid in box 1...but many others (such as my daughter's school) lump everything into box 2...nothing in box 1....I paid almost the entire amount of box 2, but not all...some of it was billed in 2013, but I did not actually pay it until last month....so that portion will be for next tax year. Alternatively, there were amounts that I paid in January 2013 that were actually billed in 2012...so those amounts do not appear in box 2 this year. So in the end, you need to rely on the client to know how much they actually PAID in 2013 and deduct from that the amount of scholarship& grants listed on the 1098 to come up with the amount to enter on the worksheet. The parent or student should be able to support that with school account statements or something.

HEYYYYY What did I do??

Increased fees to cover the food he did not bring???

Jack, since you are still using ATX, you really should get over what they did to the forum in the beginning of CCH HE!!. The forum there is fine now, except of course for the obvious drama of people still having trouble with ATX 2013. No big surprise there either. My Beta Test experience and yours were apparently vastly different.

I knew Jack was trouble.

I'm a night person, so my office / phone hours are 1:00 PM - 9:00PM. (But, of course, I'm working later than that.) As someone who used to work a typical office job, I was very frustrated by doctors, banks, etc. that were also only open typical business hours. That meant a lot of things just didn't get done. (Working 50-60 hours per week was also a factor.) I like that I can be available for times that meet my clients' schedules. My problem is more with the clients who want morning appointments. I try to push them to afternoon, but in some rare cases I'll take the morning appointment, if that is the only time that works for them. This issue is getting to be less common as more clients mail, e-mail or fax their documents to me.

"quality members" Thank You Jack...

MAS is correct. The penalty waiver is only for IRA's, not 401K's. Your client did the wrong thing. He should have taken a loan from the 401K rather than a distribution. Alternatively, he could have done a trustee to trustee transfer from the 401K (if the plan allowed early roll overs) to an IRA and then taken the distribution. I have seen this before and it really is a shock when the client learns they did it wrong and have to pay the tax and penalty. A lot of times, they don't even realize that even though the penalty is waived, the distribution is still taxable. Tom Hollister, CA

I too ask them to drop off through the mail slot in my front door or send their materials another way. I have several who drop off very early, 6 a.m. or earlier, on their way to work. I hardly ever take night appointments any more. I will take a weekend appointment from time to time.

Nope, I finally tried that and it did not work for me. That locked my account and I had to set up another new password. I can access everything that I'd ever need to for the prior year's ATX, although I don't anticipate needing to as I've retained all of the prior years' archive disks and the installation codes. I can no longer access the community and I don't care.

I don't see anything wrong with this engagement. Offer to amend the prior year and explain that you are required to tell her about potential consequences of the fraudulent return, which include criminal charges as well as additional tax, penalty and interest. Encourage her to report the preparer herself, with your help if she asks for it. Then give her an organizer and engagement letter in your professional way, and prepare the current return for your ordinary fee.

I hear what you are saying Jack and I totally respect your position, but I don't think in this case, I would have enough evidence to report. One can "suspect" that the other preparer was fraudulent, but we really have no idea what went on between the client and that preparer. The client might be innocent...or maybe not

Now that you are aware of the 2012 issues, are you not obligated to at least inform the client (in writing preferably) that she should amend 2012?

Jack I agree with you 100%

Might be hard to prove who said what if you are inclined to turn them in, BUT if they are negotiating refund checks for their clients they are in violation of Circular 230 and that should be easy enough for OPR to prove. I have never turned in another preparer although I know some preparers do report egregious violations like this. I don't think any of us want honest mistakes reported.

Do not confuse this guy with Chaz, the guy on the corner by Woody's Market that drinks warm Corona. Chaz is the man!

Well Played!!! Is there any chance that he drinks warm Corona beer?

OK, I told him, and now he says he's going back to Bob. Thank you. Whew.

Tell them that only works when they use Free File on the IRS website www.irs.gov. All tax prep firms have to use electronic filing which matches Social Security names and numbers to employer records. But when they file directly with the IRS, it bypasses Social Security! [i think I'm supposed to put a funny face here but I don't have one on my keyboard.]

Crap, did you give him my number? He's on the line now.

I think you are right, Cat, delaying filing is the surest way to protect the refund, although if course he needs it now. But if the IRS takes it he never gets it back. So if the repayment is going well, waiting is sure a smart move.

The DCB is only related to her wages. It sounds like you are not correctly entering the data for Part III of Form 2441, which should exclude the income without generating a credit (if one child). By the way, Box 3 does NOT mean he isn't self-employed.