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Well, I had a mother and three kids who arrived for their appointment and all four of them sat down on my floor (Yes, Mom too) and proceeded to eat their supper of Subways and some kind of drinks. Then, toddler needed his diaper changed (also on my floor) and finally Mom was ready to talk to me. Oh no, she had to call someone on her cell phone first. I know how you feel, JB. dumbfounded and speechless.

I'm going to start off by saying this is a good thing for me...maybe the cosmos heard me complain. I often complained about not liking to do 1040-NRs...at my ridiculously low fee. So I raised it...still low..but not ridiculous. I got 4 inquiries...referrals (who probably heard about my ridiculously low fees)....and no jobs! I also complained about a certain group of clients who flooded me last year because of my comparative low fees....although they could afford to pay a bit more. The flood subsided...I just heard from a couple of them this year (they were early birds last year...I don't think thy are all waiting until the end). My theory is the former preparer offered them a better price this year. Stupid EITC requests....paying mtges with $20,000 interest ....with 3 kids....on incomes of $10,000. From what I understand the business accountant is doing their personal returns. So...although less income for me, no stress.....and more time to concentrate on the people who use me because they like my service....not just my price!

I especially like the one I have with hubby a W-2 job. I asked if there was any other income or business they were operating. "Nope. You have all our income." She has been posting on Facebook about how wonderful Advocare has been for her and how much her husband was selling at his job, and how great her parties have been. They did not like me handing back their information, with no explanation and telling them I could not prepare their return this year. Been clients for 5 years. I guess the biggest reason I fired them is the way they took me to be stupid and insulted my professionalism. I offered no explanation. (felt good!)

No one reads you posts. I am just kidding. I have noticed that too. Sometimes you have 0 views and when you log on back, you have more than 50.

Bull Whip, or Cattle Prod

I have sadly come to the conclusion, after 24 inglorious years of dealing with taxpayers, that they lie, that they lie all the time, and that they even lie when telling the truth would be to their advantage.

On a more serious note, here are the good ideas I implement constantly: 1) Extensions - start filing them around mid-March on every return as it comes in. If you finish the return before Apr 15, no harm has been done. But if you get swamped in the next 2-3 weeks, you're not wasting a lot of time & energy in early April trying to double back and persuade people to LET you file extensions. 2) US Mail - get clients to mail their info to you, rather than drop it off. 3) Email & Texting - get your clients accustomed to emailing back & forth (texting for younger clients since they rarely use email these days). Email & texting prevents them from tying you up on the phone. 4) Do everything possible to keep your clients out of your office. This will enable you to get some work done.

How do you deal with office annoyance? In my particular office I can hear this guy constantly cracking his knuckles all damm day long, I have politely brought it to his attention and it's annoying and if he can stop, I can still hear him with my office door closed and with music on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=dg4we04shbo

I avoid that problem since almost all of my clients fax, mail or e-mail their tax documents or just drop them off and leave without spending a lot of time with me.

Assuming they actually have any vehicle expenses? If the company they work for owns the truck and pays for all fuel and expenses it doesn't seem like the taxpayer could deduct 56.5 cents per mile. If the employee has to provide their own vehicle and is responsible for vehicle expenses then it might make sense to treat the 15 cents as a reimbursement and deduct the standard mileage rate.

What happened to your jack and coke?

It caught me so off-guard, I did not even have time to think about saying no. Maybe I'm just getting old, but it seems that attitudes and ideas of what is appropriate public behavior have sure changed since I was 22. So this young lady is either socially immature or just very gutsy and self-confident...oh well...at least she said she would definately be back next year and would tell her friends about me. I'd better stock up on sandwich supplies.

Good one Lion!

Send the children and animals that arrive with your clients into his office to watch him crack his knuckles/be entertained.

Tabasco sauce on their chair will work too.

cat urine

Headphones

I am glad to report that this year ATX is really good. I mean, this has been the best year software wise. So far I have not called customer service yet and I lot of people will come to ATX next year. That's my prediction and I also predicted that ATX 2013 was going to be robust from the shelf.

They aren't required to make a payment in order for the extension to be valid, regardless of the amount owed. They will pay interest at about 5% APR plus a FTP penalty which equates to 6% APR, so the underpayment will cost them roughly 1% per month on the unpaid balance. But they will escape the 5% per month FTF penalty, which is the main reason for filing the extension. The most important thing is that the estimated balance due be as accurate as possible, regardless of whether or not it is paid - that is the only way the extension can be invalidated after the fact. Obviously it's better to pay the estimated balance due if they can, but it isn't required in order for the extension to serve its main purpose. As a matter of fact, the one I prepared today had an $800 balance due and they are not making any payment with it. But they still escape the 5% FTF penalty completely.

Oh, like we have TIME to learn how to get things done!!! (Someone really needs to develop a sarcasm font, y'know?)

Last year there were tons of people on that board that couldn't read directions too, so they're not all new users. And a bunch that have issues using search to see if the question has been answered before. I use that board a lot less too.

The sec 179 expense isn't showing up on the K-1s because it is only available to distribute to partners if the partnership shows actively conducted trade or business income as defined in IRC Section 702(a). Even though partners' K-1s might show income due to specially allocated income or expense items, if the partnership overall has a loss, Section 179 expense cannot be distributed to any of the partners in the current year. Any disallowed deduction can be carried over to future years and distributed up to the amount of partnership income in a given year.

Found their website too. Strawberry pie!!!!!!

Sometimes clicking restore in the name field puts the name back.

I have eaten in that restaurant!!

Thanks KC. I paid a couple of hundred dollars for a set of CD's by David many years ago, which had about 12 hours of teaching. A quick look at this 45-minute clip seems to summarize most of his key points in that series. Understanding the Matrix of Self-Management and Mind Like Water at the mid-point of the talk is really the heart of GTD.

Thought I'd start one up for clients, since this JUST happened to me: Client, do not wait until you pick up your return to ask if vehicle sales tax is still deductible. Oh, you spent $45,000 "out the door"? You don't say...

http://gettingthingsdone.com/

$5,000? I'd be camped in his front yard

I've noticed that even if I save and close a return, then re-open, sometimes the name of the form issuer still doesn't show up, even though it's there in the drop down list. This is not the end of the world, but irritating, since you know, I do want the issuer in the payer manager, every dang thing I entered, and said as much. Always happens on the people with nine forms from State Street.

I'm having no issues with Win 8.1 and brother MFC-490CW, HL-5250DN & HL-2270DW printers. As was previously stated, go to the Brother support site and install the latest Win 8.1 driver for your printer. You shouldn't have to use that high of a resolution. Jack, I'm not sure what was posted by ATX that you are referring to but the 2013 ATX System requirements list Win 8 (and above) as recommended for stand alone installs. Also, there is nothing wrong with Windows 8. If you work in desktop mode it is very similar to Windows 7. The "Start" screen is for Apps and obviously was meant to function in a tablet environment but you don't ever have to go to that screen or use the Apps if you don't want to. Desktop mode is fine and Win 8 (desktop) is an improvement on Win 7. ATX_2013_System_Requirements.pdf

So the alimony payments are "under the table." That's just great. Actually, I don't have a problem with that part. However, I do have a problem that this strategy may increase refundable credits, which comes from the rest of us taxpayers.

See this: http://blogs.citrix.com/2011/10/13/wow64-memory-mapping-of-32bit-apps-running-on-a-64bit-windows/

They lie.