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I too want clients to call before a tax situation arises so I don't have to pick them up off the floor in April when they do their return. How many clients have you had who took $100k out their 401k, had 10% withheld, and told you they had the taxes taken out? I like it when clients call to tell me they sold their home (main or vacation?), inherited something (makes a difference if it's a 401k, IRA, savings bonds), got divorced and are now paying/getting alimony. I can tell them how much to set aside for taxes, set them up with estimates if necessary, or tell them no problem. Makes me feel good that they thought to ask me. Had a client query today about some weird profit interest warrants his company granted him. Glad he called now instead of during the busy season so I could do the research. We've also had some legitimate questions about employee health care reimbursements that I am still clueless about. Then there are the high-maintenance clients. Today I did my FOURTH tax projection for one. God forbid he pay $100 too much for his 4th quarter estimate. Another has asked about 10 times about how much he could contribute to a solo 401k vs. a SEP, income changing as the year progressed. Another had a million questions over the past few months about renting out very expensive inherited property. Like Rita, we just keep raising the fees. Maybe they're at the point where they feel free to pick up the phone and call us anytime because we charge them so much. I was at a seminar last week where the speaker was an attorney who helped people with foreign tax issues and big IRS debts (not a pennies on the dollar guy). When people called he would tell them if their case was easy enough to handle on their own or they should come in to see him. To those who asked if the initial consultation was free, he told them they just had it.

lacerate, prosystem and pro series all do the state credit automatically. With atx its not so bad doing it manually until you make a small change to one state and forget to change the home state. If you only have an occasional return like this then you can get by with atx but if you do a lot of multistates then you need more comprehensive software.

You also have to know and find which form to use and add it to the return. No software is going to automatically know that taxes were paid to another state. Some states withhold for the resident state. Some tax it all as a resident and others split the withholding. If I have a client with income from two or more states; I have to file part-year or non-resident forms for those other states to get the refund due. After preparing the OS; I have to attach copies of all of the Other States to the return. Software cannot do all that work for you. There are two many variables, for one thing.

With new or prospective clients, I always provide the first hour free. I put it on the invoice then back it out as a discount to show the value. I don't recall ever charging for occasional calls throughout the year, (usually get emails anyway) as I think my regular fees include that. I do now am trustee on 6 trusts, 4 for 4 more years, set up by a now deceased client. For these, I am keeping track of the calls and emails in 15 minute increments as 2 of the beneficiaries are creating many complications. But then, I will get paid from the income, they have no choice and they will no longer be clients in 4 more years. I am being scrupulously fair in documentation so they can see the invoices, though. And I do lump together multiple emails and calls over time to make the 15 minutes.

I like to charge by the question. The conversation usually goes something like this: Client: I'd like to know how you charge. Me: I answer the first question for free. After that, there's a charge for each question. Client: How much do you charge for each question? Me: $100 each. What's your next question?

My pet peeve is calling the IRS or state for a client about something that isn't my fault and I cannot do anything about, such as refunds that get tied up for whatever reason. I tell the client that my fee was for preparation only and I offer the phone number. If the client isn't capable of making a call, the fee goes up ther next year.

I don't charge for questions, per se. When it gets to be an annoyance, I just raise the total fee. I have had two attorneys in my life. One would itemize those bills like crazy. The other just charged what he was gonna charge whenever he sent a bill. I liked the second one better, and paid him more. Go figure.

I try to charge enough of a tax prep fee to each client to cover the questions throughout the year. I too want them to call BEFORE they do something. As I get to know each, I can estimate how much to bump up their tax prep fee to make it worth my while. If I underestimate, I bump up the next year. It almost always works out. (I have a new business client that I quoted a fee. They also have a personal preparer and a bookkeeper, team put together by personal preparer. I'm getting a LOT of questions. They are nice to work with, though, and want to get their finances organized. I may increase my quote by 10% when filing their S-corp for the first time. The combo will still be less than they were paying the big NYC firm.) I have sometimes charged a consultation fee to a prospective new client with a lot of questions, calculations, research, etc., with the offer of some/all applied to their first tax prep.

I encourage my regular clients to call me with questions and information about any major changes in their lives throughout the year. I don't want them coming in with surprises at the end of the year and issues that they should have asked for advice on before going forward. This works well for me. I am, however, going to have to do something about prospective NEW clients who are calling with a million questions and may just be scoping out the field. I have to start telling them that they must make an appointment to come in and see me during regular office hours. (One of the problems of OIH is that they think you are available all hours including Sundays).

The AICPA is trying to get the IRS to change the $500 to $2,500 and get rid of the adjustments to the prior depreciation schedule, because of the hardship to small clients. I hope that it works.

Some information on the new Regs and form 3115 here: http://www.journalofaccountancy.com/Issues/2014/Feb/20137725.htm

It's the change in the Repair vs. Capitalization Regulations that is causing this. 2013 and 2014 are the years to "reboot" our clients' depreciation schedules to bring them into compliance. I felt like it was for new purchases beginning after 31 December 2013, but it's for any item still on a depreciation schedule or that should be on a depreciation schedule or that was capitalized and should have been expensed or was expensed and should've been capitalized or that gets disposed of or.... I'm taking several classes and getting very worried about how much time this will take me this coming tax season (I did NONE of it last season, being a bit undereducated, and have NEVER prepared Form 3115) and how my clients will resent paying what this is worth when THEY didn't make the change but the regulations changed.