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New client had my first and middle name so naturally I entered my social security number as his.

One year I entered two out of three dependent SSNs incorrectly. It was my own return and my kids.

How about this client.... Phone call: Them: "I have a couple of questions about my tax return I just received in the mail" Me: "OK, go ahead..." (As I am opening the return in my computer and get ready to answer) Them: "Did you add all my medical expenses?" "How about all the mileage for my business?" "Why is my refund smaller?" Me; " What numbers on the Sched. C do you think are not correct? How much should your medical expenses be? Did you see that your employer withheld $500 less this year?" Them: "Oh I don't have my tax return here. I am driving to meet some friends and thought I would ask...."

Back by popular demand. . . . In recognition of newly recognized executive powers to modify the law any old way I feel like, any time I feel like it, with or without congressional approval . . . (see, I was against that before I just now decided I'm for it! I just didn't properly understand its benefits ). My earlier 10 minute power nap pronouncement is hereby made a daily requirement for the duration of tax season (including extensions and loading/testing of next year's software) for all tax preparers and is extended to a minimum of 25 minutes. Sweet dreams!

Nothing takes the wind out of my sails more than when I make a stupid mistake. For example a client moved to a new city during the year and I transposed two digits on their zip-code. Client caught it before the returns were filed so it wasn't a big deal but it still leaves me with that embarrassed, incompetent feeling. I'm surprised ATX didn't catch that the zip didn't match the city/state.

I needed a client to get a copy of his 1099G (unemployment income). NJ now makes you get it online or in person. So I explained to the guy "I need the numbers" off your 1099G and told him he can get it on line. 1st he calls back and tells me he got the form but it says not for use, information only, should he call 1-800-get forms. He went to IRS.gov and looked up 1099G DAH I told him NJ used to send 1099G showing unemployment payments but now you have to get it on line from NJ. He has a online account and I know he has used it from print outs he gave me. 2. I get another call from him and he says here are the numbers. OMB=1545-0121 What the Heck!!!! he took "the numbers" off the form. Now I may have been able to explain better to him what I needed from him, but really, how dense can you be? He's been unemployed for two years, this isn't new to him

I know someone who entered of his three grandson's social security number incorrectly on a family members' tax return last year. Their refund was delayed until a phone call straightened it out. He had to offer to advance them the money until the refund arrived, but they assured him that wasn't necessary. He had an excuse - he had changed from ATX to Drake and re-entered all his clients' info rather than do a conversion. It was one of 3 mistakes he made last season during the re-entry process. Said tax preparer will remain nameless - nobody knows other than my daughter and son-in-law.

Well, I was in Las Vegas, so you may be on to something...

staff is more dense than clients.... while I was typing the above post, our new 25 y/o intern came in with my daily deposit in his hand. 3 checks from clients and he asks are you sure you want to deposit this in this account? why? because you are depositing into Citibank and the checks come from chase and td. and my wife wonders why I drink at work!

I made a large transposition in entering a W2 this year. Printed the return, caught it on review, and corrected it (made almost a $20,000 difference in tax due). Somehow, staff shredded the new, correct copy and put together the incorrect copy for the client. Luckily, I had emailed the client to give a 'heads up' about the large tax bill. Client noticed that the return did not reflect the large amount due and called me. I was so embarrassed. What really scared me is that if I hadn't emailed the client, I might have efiled a return that was not the same as what the client thought he had signed off on. Note to self: Double check amount due/refund on signed 8879 before clicking 'send'. Easy to do at the beginning of the season, but a lot more difficult now.

How many times have you entered the client's SS# as the EIN on a W-2 or 1099-R? I stopped counting. Some W-2s have them directly above one another....

I have never cared for AOL, but I have had zero issues with ATX this year and not many last year. I DO have issues with how I am going to finish all of the returns that are sitting around in various boxes in my office.

Is that how you get rid of the in-laws tax returns. Note to self, remember this one. Tom Hollister, CA

I "like" all the posts. You are all making me feel better. Yes, we all make stupid mistakes because we are human and are overworked. My former boss said if we never make a mistake, we aren't working fast enough. Make too many, we are working too fast. Like the 3 little bears, find the consistent speed that is right for you. I don't know of my mistakes yet. Something will surely make itself known in the next month or so.

Hang in there; we all do it. Couple of years ago clients moved and told me the town. Left out the "north" in the town name -- at least, it wasn't in my notes -- but it was on one or two of the tax docs (most still had the old address). No one noticed until after the return had been filed -- and the refund check was sent to a non-existent street one town over. Took a while to get it right but eventually it all got sorted out. (Fortunately, it was a refund for less than $50 so it wasn't like the mortgage depended on it!) Now we laugh about it but boy did I feel like an incompetent fool at the time.

The way I see it is that this is a private forum created and owned by Eric, assume you made some payments to Eric those were donations not membership fees. Nothing gives you the right to dictate how it is being run Eric owns the board and KC is his majordomo. The only one here who could censor her is Eric. Maybe if you ask nicely Eric will set up a forum for "SCL approved posts". The only comments KC should get are thank you's for all the work and time this takes from her life. I appreciate the "attempt" to keep political posts separate but too many times the lines get blurred. When I don't like a post or its heading then I skip it, I don't complain about it being here. I like the humorous posts and don't like the spring flower ones, so what, someone else will like the flower talk and not the humor. this forum is a nice tool to share tax ideas, work on problems, discuss political issues that affect taxes and some that don't. its a great diversion while taking a little break or printing a return. Its not a cch forum that is dedicated solely to taxes. I can't believe all I learned here which is something I planed on posting after tax season but will post now. Being on the "gold coast" of long island its easy to get very jaded. My associates, my clients and most friends and family are from around here. What I have learned is that this is a big country with such varied social and economic differences. I love guns for self-protection, I train in martial arts and petkiti-tirsia knife fighting but except for a "few" cop friends most think I am crazy. When I read all of those here from across the country who defend gun ownership I see I am not alone. When I first saw some posts here about people raising fees $5 or others whose clients complained over small increases, when I see people here talking about the cost of toner or paper, or see others worried about depreciating $100 items I used to roll my eyes but I have learned here that while $100 here is nothing, not even a movie night out, for others it is a very significant amount. I couldn't pay my rent or eat around here if I charged what some of you charge but, you charge what makes sense for your area. Even a simple rental house around here starts at over $500,000 so to me, capitalizing anything under $5000 [in most cases] would be ridiculous. its just a different way of looking at things. I think I pay more for health insurance for my employees [$25,000} here than some of you earn, but that's not a slight, its just an economic geographic thing that I learned here. Being here you get used to big numbers but I learned that they are not normal nor universal. I bet many of you don't have to pay $20 for a sandwich but because I do, I found it hard to understand some of your posts but I am glad to have learned to look at things more universally. ok, I rambled enough after 5 hours of sleep each of the last 3 night.

Favorite Clients ; 1. Ones that are organized. 2. Ones that follow my letter and bring everything. 3. The older clients who pay their estimates and stay on top of things from a tax standpoint. My all-time favorite, now deceased, had retired 5 different times. His job was to pay his estimates quarterly. My job was to make sure he never had to pay more than $100.00 on the 15th. Never batted an eye at my fees and always gave me a very nice tip for my services. The family lives all over the U.S., otherwise they'd still be clients.

Arrival gathering: My new niece picking berries: Uncle Lenny stealing the shot: Backyard games: Aunt Maude with new pet: Family gathers to all say good by!

I got married in Vegas, remarried that is. Don and I were out there for an IRS forum, in fact, and decided to do it as a reaffirmation of sorts. It was a lot more moving than I expected it to be, as I was just 18 the first time, so those promises involved meant a lot more after 35 years and raising 3 kids and all life had handed us over those years. I recommend it. But yes, Nevada does keep a record of it!

I charge per staple that I have to remove....I copy everything and that a client gives me. when it takes 20 minutes to remove all the staples on 1099's k-1's etc I add a frustration fee.

The family resemblance is very strong.

Macallan 18 y/o in 3oz doses does the trick. -

just send a bill- they will run

that's what this kind of thing makes me want to do, hit my head against a wall.

If I had a nickel...

Yes we all have done it at sometime or other. This happens because we are human and if the truth be known, we beat ourselves up worse than the client would. Hang in there only 10 days left.

Tabby: I will take her off you hands... I do a number of lawyers returns. Crabby ones? I LOVE to bill them... Rich

I played hooky last night and went to a contra dance. Feel SO much better today!

It's ok to kill that guy. 10.4

I like clients that know nothing, hand the forms over, and scram. Also like the smart clients who ask questions. Not partial to the clients who think they are smarter than they are and have to know things like, "OMG, why did you put $500,000 on line 1 of 4562 and 2,000,000 on line 3???? OMG." Also becoming increasingly irritated with clients who don't bring me everything first shot. I just escaped to get fried pickles at Sonic and an ice cream cone at McDonalds. I am eating my feelings, and they taste great.

I am partial to those that read the letter I send them in January, and follow the instructions. Heck, I am partial to the ones that can read....

I can make that $10. When we'd offer our daughter a couple of cookies and she countered with four, we'd go to one. Or read for 30 minutes and she countered with 15, we'd go to 45.

Agree about the letters. I spend more time fixing them on almost every return. And we need direct access to the master letters without having to be in a return. And a default font, including size, that you choose for the letter text under preferences should be added. Often when I'm editing a letter it defaults to 10pt Arial or Georgia, neither of which I use.

Like at least some, I have had near zero issues this year. But I am right with you, Tom, on the education credit stuff and also the HSA input. I constantly find myself going in circles with each of these. I really miss that neat ed optimizer chart in the past. And I am annoyed that the General City return for Ohio is so crappy. But that is mostly an Ohio issue and ATX was way generous for so many years providing the variety of forms they did. Guess there will always be something to complain about but I haven't yet gotten to complain about the cost for the package, for my business any way.

I don't ask anymore.

are you sure they are yours? hmmmmmm!

I get CO instead of CT more times than I want to admit. Almost positive I catch them all. To really make it interesting, I DO have a couple of CO clients along with my mostly CT clients. Last week emailed the IRS and state acknowledgements to a CO client using the text, "And, your CT acceptance on 2 April 2014." Noticed it later when reviewing those I'd acknowledge to clients and sent her a new one with a large, bold red CO, about the color of my face! Still chasing the $1,200 in CT withholding I left off a return -- and more importantly, making sure her direct debit is really stopped as my error swings her from owing over $400 to a refund of over $700 which will now be on one of CT's hated debit cards.

I did my cousins return a few years ago and put down her maiden name as the last name. I don't think her husband appreciated much. Didn't do their return again.....................

I had to google contra dance, but good for you Catherine!

I just accidently picked NH from the drop down menu and not NJ on the husbands W-2, client called me and asked why her husbands income isn't on NJ's return. Hope I see them next year

I had one picked up today that had a Roth open for more than 5 years, 1099R came through with "T" also. Cambridge Investments. My husband had one last year from Vanguard that was reported correctly with code "Q". Account had been open about 15 years.

Was the custodian Pershing? One of the forums I'm on on Linked in has this same question; the code should be Q, not T. If the client is 75, I'll assume the account was open at least 5 years? The poster on linked said Pershing told her 'they always use code T'. Which is horsehockey for the broker if the account has been with that broker for at least 5 years.

Capital gains are included but do not include any gains from land, grazing rights etc. That should be spelled out in the instructions to Schedule J or Pub 225.

The closer we get to April 15th, the stiffer the billing becomes. I charge a full bill on most clients - for each and every form or schedule we work on. Then give a "courtesy discount" on most. Those discounts go away after April 1st. I raised my basic rate 15 this year after 10 years. My secretary is great at pointing out that its been 10 years........

frikkin bananas for lunch?

I probably should have gone to 10, but wanted to keep my clients happy.

Sorry. I feel for you. We had so much snow this winter that my kids even got tired of going out to play in it. They were begging to go back to school! We were planning our vacation last week and I told them we had decided to go to Alsaka. I thought there was going to be mutiny. Hope things warm up for you soon!

Client just replied to my near snarky replies to his queries. Thank you for your answers, you will see a few comments below but they are just meant to be responses to your reply which I found to be humorous on what are minor matters. Sorry for wasting your time at this time of year. We will get the paperwork back to you this evening. I feel a little bit better now...

"Bazzinga" my... foot. We are not hypocritical because WE didn't start out whining that your post shouldn't be here because it gets in our way. Nor are we infringing on ANYONE's free speech or ability to not click on the thread. I see threads all the time (this forum, and several others) I don't bother to click on -- forms I don't need, states I have no knowledge of, whatever. I don't go barging in to those threads and complain that they should be posting in the e-filing forum or the states forum or the other software forum. And if I click on a topic that doesn't end up interesting me, I just leave. NT is the universal advance warning for "NOT tax." Learn it. Plenty of NT topics here: laugh of the day, KC's adorable pet videos, weeds, flowers, and spring allergies -- I don't see comments in any of those threads from you about how they don't belong. So when you make accusations of "inconsistent, hypocritical, simple minded political posturing" you need to be looking in the mirror at the time.