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People....If you're going to come into my home....first bathe.

Parents if you are going to have your semi-adult kid talk to me, make sure they are awake before you pass the phone to them, I hate talking to myself and most importantly my time is important to me. Rant over

Anti-rant: Client that thought yesterday's appointment was today was able to reschedule to today and brought me napoleons & chocolate mousse cupcakes from one of the finest bakeries in town. All is forgiven....

Parents.......if you are going to bring your two adorable toddlers into my office and home; please think about it first. I love children too, but this is business and I cannot discuss your taxes and watch your children touching all of my equipment at the same time. Not to mention turning summersaults in my good chairs. I am happy that you send me their pictures at Christmastime. I do not need to meet them in person.

Now if I can just figure out how to get people to hand me their papers and not explain, "This is my W-2 from Fred. This is my W-2 from Bob. This is my wife's Social Security W-2. This is my wife's W-2 where she worked, and I don't reckon they held out tax (otherwise known as a 1099-Misc), and this is my W-2 from Amazon where they are wanting me to pay sales tax. Don't know if we can deduct that or not."

I think I can beat that, my client brought in a payment

People, if you are going to answer your phone in my office, DON'T.

Oh, that would not work in Crossville, TN. The friendliest place on earth. Oh, no, not atall. No siree.

I've done this before, too. So frustrating. Now in order to differentiate between them I set the zoom on my current year software to 125% and leave the zoom on the older versions at 100%. That way I know if I'm having trouble reading the print I'm in the wrong year!

Yet one more reason why I LOVE this forum and all of you.....I'm a one-man tax show....but I do not feel alone when I can access the collective wisdom of this board.

you are like the young'ins in my office with all that fancy Excel stuff, whats wrong with just typing the info onto the red forms? [probably 80% here don't have a typewriter in their office anymore or even ever used one.

I decided to devote some time this morning to updating several macros I had written last year to speed up several data entry steps. I was thinking I'd have to re-write the macros. But when I went to edit, I found that Drake had moved my existing macros into the 2013 program, so all I needed to do was edit a few line entries and I was done. It's really nice to work with a program that anticipates things like this and does them for you.

With the new computer this year, I can have ATX 2011,2012, and 2013 running with multiple returns open in each....with no noticeable reduction in speed. Nice. HOWEVER....I need to pay attention to what program I am in. Just spent 30 minutes doing the data entry on a return for a new client....before I realized it was in the 2012 program. Oh well...I just saved and then rolled it over in the 2013. Perhaps I should call it a night.

I think I've got you all beat. If your going to kick out the tenants in the apts upstairs, please keep the heat on so the pipes don't break. We had the upstairs bathroom practically raining on us a couple days ago, and causing me to move files, printers, computers, lamps, chairs etc all out of my office. What a nightmare. Time to find a new office.

There is this cell phone signal jammer they sell online, honestly I would like to donate one to my church for those knuckle heads that forget to turn off their phone during service.

Do not bring your "cute puppy" into my office, yes I am a dog person but some here are allergic.

"Now Y'all jest han me them there papers n will git dun much faster!!" (I was born in Loudon County Tennessee)

Awww,shucks! I don't know about the genius part. You know what they say...even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while.

Dying.

sent to me by my daughter -- from last year but just as funny today. http://fmobserver.com/fargo-man-arrested-for-clearing-snow-with-flamethrower/#

Jack, do you work out of a bunker?

When they want to go through all their documents with me, I put them to work going through all their documents -- but by themselves, sorting them into stacks. I have them separate all the income documents first, and then I grab that stack and tell them to separate all their deductions next, then we can see what's left. If they have a business, they usually have those separate from their personal, even if in a shopping bag or large plastic bin.

I admit that has happened to me more then once already.

I used ATX for several years and changed the colors for each year. We need all the help we can get when we're busy to keep us in the right place. Each year I seem to have more prior year returns, clients who bring in two or more years at once, and even a fiscal year entity or two beginning in the prior year.

You can also change the color of the input boxes. Preferences.

If I had a nickel for every time I've done that, you'd say, "Why do you have so many nickels? That's way too many nickels." And you'd be right.

She will probably get the 2 yr minimum and the fine, which will never be collected.

You mean a keyboard with integral real-time printer?!?!

I do that on April 16th on my computer, then I put it together in December and I install the ATX program. So far, I have not had any issues.

Are you also banned by ATX to answer his question? Share please.

You can get a 1099-misc form and a 1096 form and hand write them, even pencil will do it, and send to the correct place. Your client has to sign and date form 1096, pen recommended.

Maybe because I am from El Salvador, a third world country where education used to be hard, I passed the EA on paper on one sitting but didn't register with the IRS. I think the year was 2006, then I took the computer exams about 3 years ago and they are relatively easy. Too easy, I would say. When it comes to preparing some returns, I have to ask questions on this forum and I get good answers here. So, is the EA exams high school and this forum a University? Going back to the question at hand, can the IRS require that only EA and CPAs prepare tax returns? What people who struggle with the EA exams do? Will they prepare the returns and leave it as "self prepared" or will they really study hard and pass the EA exams? If the IRS would force you to become an EA, will you join a lawsuit? As some people have stated on this post, the RTRP was a joke. It is like asking a cook with 5 years of experience, what a fillet mignon is. I don't have my EA diploma hanging on my wall, neither do I have my PTIN number letter on the wall. I visited my friend who doesn't even know what kiddie tax is and she prepares taxes, she has her PTIN letter on a frame and she points that letter to her clients. Some clients question my qualifications because I don't have anything on the wall, but they are happy with her because she has that frame. Perception, perception, perception.

Good move, Mike. Having a blanket policy avoids having to "ask permission" as Apr 15 approaches. And you don't have to waste valuable time negotiating with them during those golden days after Apr 1. The fact that an extension is filed does not preclude your looping back and completing some returns before Apr 15, but you are able to do that at your convenience. The extension just takes Apr 15 off the table as having any special significance.

That web site worked great....Thanks!

And if you don't want to use the site I referenced, you can set up an Excel spreadsheet to drop the info onto a preprinted form. A little trial and error usually produces a layout in a few minutes. You can get a few preprinted blanks from Judy, from me, or from any number of others on this forum. Just ask, or send a pm. You can download the black and white form from the IRS in order to get copy out to the vendor right away. then you have time to get the red IRS copies from one of us before 2/28. Office Depot also sells forms sets, along with custom software.

If you ever listen to a seminar put on by Karen Hawkins at an IRS Forum, you will understand why I say what I say. She has no one to answer to and considers all preparers to be crooked and deceitful. Just ask anyone who has heard her presentation about preparer professional responsibility and you will hear them say the same thing. Her title is: Director, Office of Professional Responsibility at Treasury Dept. Internal Revenue Service. I know of preparers that had EFIN and PTIN cancelled without any warning, hearing or other advance notice. The paper process to appeal takes months and months.... Play loose and easy if you will, with that W_t_h at the head of that department, no one is safe.

It gets back to KC's question. If the company includes the value of the vacation hours into the employee's gross wages, it is a deductible contribution. If the company just takes 3 days away from the employee's accrued vacation time and makes a donation with a notation that it came from this employee, not deductible. Tom Hollister, CA

I like your breakdown. Mine is similar, with one MAJOR change. Period 3 - Everybody goes on extension as the info comes in the door - no exceptions. No stress, and Apr 15 is just another routine day.

I'll share this conversion I had with a potential new client just this morning: Me: Why do want to change accountant? TP: She had a stroke two months ago due to stress and over working Me: My jaw drop This is what scares me about this job.

To deal with the phone calls: http://www.callruby.com/ Very reasonable and everyone who talks to them loves them. No problem signing up for 1 or 2 months so it's not like you're locked in. Plus they have an alternate phone number to call ME and can patch calls through if (under guidelines you give them) the call warrants it. Highly recommended.

Did he take the rewards miles in as taxable income at some point? If not, he can't deduct. The concept is that the previous flights or charges that he made on his credit card were discounted by the rewards that he earned, so if they were used as a deduction, they would have been overstated by the value of the rewards earned. So when he uses those rewards for another deductible flight, the value has already been deducted. Here is a simple example. Executive X takes 20 business flights during the year. He properly deducts the cost of those flights. The credit card company rewards him with a free flight, which he uses for business. The 20 flights actually were discounted by the amount of the 21st flight taken, so the cost has already been deducted when those 20 flights were deducted as business expense. Does that makes sense? I know it is a very simplified example. Tom Hollister, CA

Not a viable option when it's the firm's money at stake. KC, you're thinking too much like an entrepreneur...

What gets me is they started investigating her in 2009, and it took them FIVE years to charge her?

Hahahaha, you guys, this is really entertaining. Like a smackdown for nerds.

oh, I misunderstood. only way I know is to do three returns, one MFJ for the feds, then duplicate that twice, renaming these two for the two clients, delete one client's info and change status to Single , and then on those two you file just the state only.

If you are subject to a compliance audit and you are not doing it for all clients, the auditor can conclude that you suspected something about those that you made provide ID, and suggest that you know more than you reported. Therefore, if you do it for one, you must do it for all to be in compliance.

This woman is 52 and her daughter went to the same private school as mine...the only difference being that hers was free through church grants and I had to work nights as a janitor to pay for my daughter's...she was entitled then and still is today....I had hoped that moving out-of-state with a guy she met on-line, in a surprisingly unsuccessful relationship and moving back to Ohio would have changed her....nope. I was not polite to her. I charged her full price plus an adder for making me angry. We'll see if she comes back and pays and signs...or if she wants her papers back to go elsewhere...either way, she is not welcomed in my office....Lila the Giant Dog does not like her.

With that much in the Keyboard I would be concerned if my Computer Fans might need some attending to. Just thinking.