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Here's the proper step-by-step procedure for dealing with this one: Acquire a brick. Give said brick to client, and recommend frequent application to head, until, say, August or so. Acquire a nice bottle of your preferred adult beverage. Hide under your desk and sip at the above beverage until the client and his brick are obliterated from your memory. Try again in August! Make the client bring you iced tea and cookies before you will speak to him.

Border collie trying to get a statue of a man to throw a stick. The dog even tries to put it in his hand:

For at least 20 years, every IRS seminar I've ever attended, we were always told that the Earned Income Credit was the single largest source of taxpayer related fraud in the entire tax system, however, the EIC continues to grow by leaps and bounds each year. If we ran our businesses whereby we would increase yearly the weakest link in our revenue source, I doubt if there would be many of our businesses profitable today, if any of us would still be in business without having gone belly up under the circumstances. It's no secret that people buy social security numbers to use on their tax returns. Year ago, people sold their "extra kids' numbers for $50 each. Today's going rate is $650 per number. I purposely stay away from Wal-mart this time of year because I'd hate to be arrested for clawing a few eyes out when I see these sales taking place. I think it's time for IRS to take ownership of the fraud occurring with the EIC rather than trying to make it sound like it's due to uneducated preparers. They have been told over the years about the real problems behind the fraud and have chosen to do nothing about it for many, many years. And now, after we preparers have done our part in the "Mandatory" e-filing target dates, we are left out in the cold with "seeds of doubt" planted in taxpayers heads about preparers who shouldn't be preparing tax returns because our court system ruled their testing rules unconstitutional. The next time I find myself training an IRS auditor about the tax code in relationship to one of my clients tax returns, I'll continue to keep my cool and pray I am able to do so until I retire.

An architect, an artist and an accountant were discussing whether it was better to spend time with the wife or a mistress. The architect said he enjoyed time with his wife, building a solid foundation for an enduring relationship. The artist said he enjoyed time with his mistress, because of the passion and mystery he found there. The accountant said, "I like both." "Both?" The accountant replied "Yeah. If you have a wife and a mistress, they will each assume you are spending time with the other woman, and you can go to the office and get some work done."

Wow. I think we are not charging enough. New client this year, HRB customer last year. Same return - HRB charged $256 - I cannot get our fee even close to that. I think when people complain about our fees from now on, I am going to hand them their papers and say "why don't you check out HRB and see what they charge." My new motto: Better service. Better price. More experience. Choose three!

unmarried parents of one child live together all year with that child. Both agree to put child as dependent on whichever return produces the most benefit. Father's income is $29,000 Mother's income is $13,000 Although the dependency helps either, it helps her more. her taxable income is down to zero....so her results are the same if she files Single or HOH. HOH status would help father, but it looks like whichever one claims the child as a dependent, also gets the HOH....the other cannot claim any of the benefits associated with this child...including HOH.....agree?

I have been an accountant in Oregon since 1976. Oregon was the first state to require the licensing of all tax preparers in 1973. The only exceptions are for CPAs and Attorneys. Enrolled Agents are not exempt from the license requirements and the last several years the Oregon Tax Examiners Board and Oregon EA Society have been butting heads over similar issues. So far the Tax Examiners Board has prevailed.The IRS attempt to make the RTRP mandatory was the first time that the IRS stepped into this area. I haven't followed these issues closely, but I recall that the IRS did not try to override the state regulatory agencies which already existed. With a little research, I am sure I could come up with a long list of Oregon tax preparation rules that would upset a lot of preparers in other states. After 40 years, in Oregon it's just part of the process of preparing tax returns.

I switched to Drake, love it. The learning curve isn't that difficult, it's just super-fast compared to ATX-2012. The learning curve is also helped significantly by customer support. Two telephone rings and a real human answers rather than going through a computer-menu. Glad I switched, the view/print manager can be easily configured so the client print sequence rolls-out that way you want, no more shuffling of paper to organize it for presentation. The conversion process from ATX to Drake worked easily, and I paid $1,050 for the product, a couple of hundred less than ATX, who didn't offer any discount following last year's fiasco.

You need to know what kind of options they are: nonquals have a different tax treatment than restricted stock, than ESPPs than incentive stocke options. For example, ISOs are taxed for AMT at exercise, but not for regular tax.ask for the documents from the company regarding the options.

Both my wife and I go by our middle names, and I have always put R Dennis as my first name. My SS card has Robert Dennis. My wife is M Irene, and she also both names on her SS card. Medicare cards are different--mine is first name, middle initial. Hers is first initial, middle name. No problems with the IRS, etc.

Lol sorry for the huh, I didn't even know how to put in words, TP has a mess.

The IRS matching only looks at the first 4 characters of the last name. So it probably doesn't matter. But I'd also enter the first name as it is on the social security card.

I agree with Lion, I would ask to see his SS card since it is a name you don't come across often.

Don't assume. Ask him to bring in his SS card.

Oh, I agree, KC. My point was it's not just wives; husbands support their returning servicewomen, too. I've seen that video a lot and am very glad the service dogs are being trained. I grew up during Viet Nam and watched friends come home to no services and no support and maybe families and spouses that had had no support while their loved one was away. One of our church members who trained guide dogs and then trained a breeder and then were able to keep her into her retirement, brought her out of retirement to train her as a court dog. They take her to court when a child has to testify; Lumina sits at the child's feet so the child is not alone in the witness box.

Thanks for posting this video, KC.

A chart, with circles and arrows and a paragraph explaining each step. That's what you need to tease this one apart. I'm with mcb39 on the "Huh?!?!" reaction.

The problem is not every vet has a wife, a husband, a mother, etc. They are training the dogs to respond to the early signs of distress, and they can be a great help where there is not a family member to help them that way. Truly a worthy cause to support.

Do they have a formal Partnership, or what? I would think that Dom would issue a 1099 Misc to Dommer for 70K. If they are both Sch C, Dommer can then report the expenses of the sale on his Sch C. My first reaction to this post was "HUH?"

I was very happy with ATX in prior years... but last year was so stressful I couldn't bear the thought of taking a chance again this year. Glad to hear you guys are doing well! I myself am doing very well with Drake, doing returns faster and smoother than I can remember. Was a challenge to get used to a new software but life is good. I like to keep up on my old friends here in ATX land as I am interested in how it is running now, and in the future. But I am glad I learned a second software, now I have a "back-up" software if I need one. Overall learning to be proficient in a second software is a good idea. Pam Taxtrio

Thanks for posting the video, KC.

I did take the time to watch this video and it is very disturbing to say the least. All I can say is my prayers are with this family and I do hope they prevail in the end. While the ultimate goal is to regain custody of their child, and once that is met, I hope they are able to sue the pants off of all who were involved in this tragedy.

With a lot of these options, there ends up being a small short-term capital loss. All of what would have been the "gain" gets included in the W-2 under that Code V and so is taxed at OI rates. After trade fees etc., there is usually a small loss.