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You might start by asking them to set up an appointment to come in and see you during office hours and then discuss all of their questions. Actually, a few years ago I fired an "ask too many questions; any time day or night or weekends" client and have never looked back. In the time that she wasted for me; I was probably able to add an additional five or six clients to my client base.

Just had this question in a Facebook message. She's not my client. "I have a question. I am filing out a new W-4 form. what is the best way for me to get money back at the end of the year but not taxed so much during the year." So many smart @$$ responses, so little time.

Yes, it can be a problem sometimes. Tax professionals seem to attract legal questions, estate planning questions, marriage counselling questions, and business development questions, in addition to tax questions. Heck, we get software questions too. Besides referring them to proper specialists, where appropriate, I always just hiked the fee and ranted to Don.

Interesting topic. It is a tough line to walk. For me, it is when someone figures since I answer the phone, they can use me for all sorts of computer issues, not just help using our software. When something not involving our software, if they are not a customer, I decline. If they are a customer, I direct them to email me. I restrict the reply to generic links as much as possible. <rant> Today, there was a customer yelling at me (ALL CAPS) through email that our software was causing a problem with their printer. This, despite the fact that the same person was able to print just fine with their second printer, the only problem was the new printer. The issue was the printer's software was set to print four pages per sheet. They thought it was me causing their print to be compressed on just this one printer. They got no help from the printer manufacturer, as the manufacturer blamed our software. The last message was me showing, through marked up images from the manufacturer's web site, that the printer offered the four per sheet option, and where exactly it was. So, to try to keep a customer, I had to provide support for a large worldwide company (again), since said company proved (again) their priority is to get callers off the phone, and blamed someone else (again) instead of showing their customer how to use their own printer software. </rant>

I believe that if you have a court-appointed administrator that the return needs to be paper filed.

What do I say/do? First off, if a call, I let the person know there item is not something I can comment (note I do not say answer) without more thought. I ask they send the question by email, and I will answer by email so I can write out my thoughts. A certain number never write. Those that do, I can respond with links and a short comment. Those that continue to go what I consider too far, I tell then their question is beyond the type of help we offer with our software license. Those that persist, I offer a refund. A refund usually is refused, they understand, and want to continue using the software. Have one or two customers who are customers only because they agreed to not ask any questions (reinstated after a refund, I keep good notes.)

San Diego (November 19, 2014) By Michael Cohn A former CPA and tax attorney has been sentenced to 57 months in prison and ordered to pay $2.2 million in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service for stealing the identities of deceased children. Lloyd Irving Taylor was sentenced Monday by U.S. District Court Judge Michael Anello in San Diego. A jury had previously convicted Taylor of 19 felony charges, including aggravated identity theft, false statements to a financial institution, tax evasion, corrupt interference with the IRS, and making false statements on United States passport applications. Taylor has been in custody since his arrest in San Diego in April 2013. Taylor allegedly stole the identities of deceased children and used them as aliases to obtain fraudulent passports and other identification documents. He then used the passports (which he obtained from U.S. embassies throughout Europe) and other fraudulent documents to open and maintain multiple financial accounts so that he could hide his income and assets from the IRS. Taylor also misused the stolen identities to transfer funds between his nominee accounts, and to purchase various assets, such as gold coins, which he used to evade taxes, according to prosecutors. Similarly, Taylor fabricated over a dozen fraudulent religious institutions, and opened 31 related bank and investment accounts in the names of these fake churches. He then misused the tax-exempt status of these fake religious institutions to fraudulently claim that his income was not subject to federal taxes. Following a week-long trial in June 2014, the jury deliberated for just 30 minutes before finding the defendant guilty on all counts. Among the witnesses who testified at Taylor’s trial was the brother of one of the deceased victims whose identity was stolen, along with a blind elderly woman whose Social Security number was stolen and misused by Taylor. The jury also saw the $1.6 million worth of gold coins that he had hidden in a storage locker prior to the execution of a search warrant. Despite working and earning money for over 40 years, Taylor filed federal tax return only seven times. All told, Taylor failed to report approximately $5 million in income, on which he owed the IRS approximately $1.6 million. “Identity theft is a dangerous crime that not only traumatizes the unsuspecting victims and their family members, but also facilitates the commission of further criminal activity,” U.S. Attorney Laura E. Duffy said in a statement. “For years, Lloyd Taylor stole the identities of deceased children and travelled internationally to obtain fraudulent identification documents. Far from living up to his obligation to be an officer of the court and trusted financial advisor, Mr. Taylor took advantage of his victims to line his pockets and avoid paying his taxes.” Duffy praised the efforts of the San Diego Regional Fraud Task Force, working with the IRS and State Department, to uncover Taylor’s criminal activities and bring him to justice. “Mr. Taylor, a tax professional, tried in every conceivable way to avoid paying his taxes—from using the identities of dead children and fake churches to converting income to gold coins,” said IRS Criminal Investigation special agent in charge Erick Martinez. “Today’s sentence reinforces our commitment to every American taxpayer to investigate and prosecute those who use the identities of others to evade their tax obligations.”

Here are pictures of the hall bathroom and the master bathroom. The tile on the floor in the hall bath is a bit hazy still from the grout, but the color is shiny black like the accent in the tub surrond. The master bath has a dual shower system, one for me and one for my wife with an adjustable shower head for her (I have been told that women like to take a shower and not get their hair wet, but not having much hair, I would not understand that). Sorry to keep bragging, but I am really liking how this is turning out. Floors go in Friday, moving day is Sunday. Tom Hollister (Soon to be Newark), CA

You have to check the credit anyway, so I don't see the lack of 100% automation as much of a problem. It's always the last thing I do on a multistate return. Edit: I've used software that supposedly automated it and found that I had to override the calculations a lot of the time, anyway.

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?