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my wife can find mine as I am saying them!

I usually don't charge if its an item that takes less than a few minutes to research and then get fixed. once I hit the 1/2 mark or so then I charge. My engagement letter even states that I don't charge for phone calls that don't involve research or searching of prior records. Its one of my justifications of my higher fees; I don't nickel or dime a client. I have even had clients come in to discuss new job offers or business opportunities and as they took out their check book and asked what do I owe you, I smile and say just your continued confidence in my services.. Builds great good will and the time can always be incorporated into their next annual billing.

Ain't we got fun? I can't imagine why everyone doesn't want to be in this profession!

cred65 Ask the bank how they expect you to attest to such a thing? Seriously! How do YOU know, anymore than the client, what sort of affect such a move would have? On a similar note, a few years back, I had a CALL from one of the local banks that said they were updating their files and needed me to tell them if a particular client was still in business. I told the caller, "grab your coat and car keys, run out to the parking lot, jump in your car, and drive the ten minutes to the customer's business and see for yourself". The banker was not impressed. The fact of the matter, my firm does the monthly write up work for the client and it certainly was and is still in business. But I did not tell the caller that. Some of these request no longer border on the ridiculous. They ARE ridiculous.

I think sum members are worring two much abuot typeos and gramor while posting to this bored. The mane thing is to xpress your thouhts. If yore concerned, try draffting on WORD, then copi and paste four your postin

No comment, lest it be considered political activism.

Hey Terry, I appreciate where you are coming from. I am taking a different tactic in my practice (that some may call reckless - and that is OK). I am not going to grill every one of my clients this year. There will be a couple of simple questions. 1. Did you have health insurance all year? If Yes: Did you get that health insurance on the exchange? If no: Why not? And then I am going to take it from there. I don't see any reason to subject all of my clients to the questions that may not apply to them. If they say they had health insurance all year and it did not come from the exchange, I am checking the box and moving on. If they did not have insurance, then I am going to see if there is an exception. If not, they pay up. If they got their coverage on the exchange, I am going to calculate the credit and include either the additional credit or the clawback on the return. I know I am making this out to be a little simplified, but I just can't go through the brain damage of trying to figure out every possible scenario that might be presented in my office this year. I am going to take it one client at a time and do the best I can for them. I will learn things as I go, and hopefully I will recognize when I don't know one of the nuances of the law. Not changing my engagement letter for this. Just treating it like any other provision of the tax code. Tom Newark, CA

Good grief. I have to start reading all over again. I guess the least that this does is make only one 3115 necessary per taxpayer even if both automatic and non-automatic consent issues apply? But, still a 3115. Was really hoping for a cut-off date with going forward with new repair regs only and not backward. Elections but not a 3115. I can dream!

I'm operating on less than my usual amount of sleep, and reading that today feels like it's written in some alien language!

Clergy and Church tax law is, as Jack states, different but not necessarily difficult. If you are going to go down this path, I would suggest you get a copy of the Richard R Hammar's Church and Clergy Tax Guide. I don't disagree with Jack about the W-2 / 1099 issue, but the fact remains, many Churches still do the 1099 thing. You will need to counsel your Pastor client to get his Church on board with doing it right. He is in a very good position to steer that ship. Clergy law, again, is very different and just cannot be addressed in this small a space. I have about twenty or so Pastor's and Churches that we do work for. Good luck! But for starters, google Hammar and his book. It is the bible of the clergy and church tax world. (Every pun intended.)

Or at least seven, because Gail and I spot our own errors at six minutes like clockwork.

I just love it when they say 'request free trial' and don't tell you anywhere how much it's going to be for the paid version.

I have typed so many more posts than I have ever posted. Sometimes, once I have it typed I decide it contributes nothing worthwhile to the discussion and does not need to be added. The easiest way to delete is to never post. Once posted, I don't think I have ever had any reason to go back and delete the post particularly.

As a reminder, I turned tail and ran after the ATX 2012 fiasco, which in a large way contributed to my now walking around with a piece of titanium in my chest that goes thump thump thump. I used ProSystem fx Access (another CCH product) last year and although it is billed as a "cadillac" package, I was not all that impressed. So after some thorough analysis and study of the 2013 and early 2014 ATX package, I have decided to return for another go. So far I like what I see. It is going to be a very long season though, I feel. And gratefully, with anticipated limited software issues. Anyway, it is good to be back. I was back to the Doc for my pacemaker checkup yesterday and he was surprised that my battery life is down to 3.5 years (having been initially implanted just 15 months ago). So he reduced my heart rate (I am 100% dependent on my pacemaker) by 5 beats per minute and a very unexpected consequence of that move is that I can not get warm today. I guess this too shall pass. I look forward to working through this season with you folks. Have a Great Weekend! We will be here part of the day tomorrow working on payroll reports and take Sunday off. We will work on payroll reports and 1099's until the end of the month by which time I expect you all to have ALL of the bugs worked out of the software. Later Ron

Brace yourself for 2014 and good luck getting a hold of us.

I made some changes to the forum a few days ago.   There is a time limit on how long you can edit your posts.  If you notice mistakes, you can edit your posts to fix them for 5 minutes after the post is made.  I figure we'll try this out for a while, if the time limit needs to be modified, we'll eventually work it out based on feedback.   Second, instead of deleting your own posts, you can hide them.  It's actually not that different than before, since deleting posts didn't actually remove them permanently, just stuck them in a recycle bin of sorts.  Either way, they become invisible to members.   Both of these changes are to discourage extensive editing/deleting of posts which turns entire threads into swiss cheese.  Sometimes the threads don't make any sense anymore because it looks like people are responding to posts that don't exist.   If anyone has any issues with this, this is the place to talk about it.

Origami! Thanks, Lion. I will never be bored stuffing those envelopes ever again. Seriously, like Lion, I do very few and use regular business envelopes, and also put the phrase "Important Tax Document Enclosed" on it when I address them.

I agree with Judy that MAMalody is the resource. However, I am in NC and have done a few clergy returns. If I can be of any assistance I would be happy to do so.

Beyond what's already been said, if I needed specific help from someone on clergy issues, the member on here that I would contact would be MAMalody. His entire practice is clergy work and nothing else. Here is a >great thread where he talks about parsonage, see post #6 in that topic and maybe that will help you some too.

I did look at all of the pinned items but still want something that I can put in the client's file with their signature that they have the MEC. I know there is no specific guidance yet but I bet it is coming down the pipe. Also, and maybe I am a little paranoid, but if I get a compliance audit I want to be sure I am covered. Here is the file in a pdf so I welcom any comments. I will include a jurat statement with signature as well as clean it up and make it look more professional. ACA Questionairre.pdf

Too much information to share here. I have several clergy clients and notice a couple of glaring things. 1. The church is to issue ONLY a W-2 for the pastor. No other method is correct. 2. Housing allowance must be treated in several specific ways by the church. Most church treasurers/secretaries do not understand the proper methods of payroll or housing allowance for clergy. I am a distance from you, but would be willing to talk to the new pastor AND the church treasurer. Clergy taxes are not difficult, just different.

Usually check the box authority works with IRS as long as you are calling before the due date of the next return. Unfortunately, as slowly as they send out notices that rarely happens. Even with 2848's I have heard horror stories from other EA's about agents that look for any reason not to talk to us about the return. For example, the box for licensing authority should be blank for EA's, but occasionally an agent will refuse to accept the POA because it is blank. Another EA told me of having a POA rejected because they signed before the client did according to the date (you can't accept appointment before being appointed.) Anything to avoid talking to us.

I wish I could spot my errors anywhere near that quickly.

Adam Kokesh said, "If you don't do politics, politics will continue to do you."

I think Jack is right on this. No filing requirement then not included in income for purposes of the ACA

Only in calories do zero's not really count. We were all taught 0, 1, 2, 3, etc. with 0 being zero and less than one (does NOT apply to checks or money owed to me) Therefore if one would munch on say 3,000 calories then you do not need to count the zero's --- therefore it is just 3 calories !

As I now understand it, if the child has a filing requirement, it must be included as part of their MAGI.

I do that too. I've even put a sticky-note over a SSN that threatens to peek through, as well as use a sticky-note to hold my origami-folded form in place. Can I charge extra for origami? And, then there's Catherine's method of address labels over window that don't line up. And, my usual regular envelopes.... More than one way to skin a cat. Don't pay extra if you already have cheap envelopes around. The only window envelopes I buy are the ones that match the blank perforated forms that I can use for both 1099s and W-2s for any years.

That's right, e-filing is not all strippers and burritos despite the talking points. And don't forget the chasing for signatures.

I can almost always fold a form to a window envelope. Sometimes I use a sticky-note to hold it in place.

Marie, If you are creating your efile on ATX for a client, there was a recent post on the ATX Board about this. The ATX Customer Care response was to enter zeros in your EIN field and it should go thru.

I had a mis-match last year between envelopes and printed copies. I used address labels over the window sections so that no ssn's were visible and a full address *was*.

ok, since we are hijacking this thread to a thread about banks, here is my personal experience. I did a refi just last Monday. at that time they did an appraisal. The bank screwed up since I wanted a Heloc at the same time. so the heloc is now scheduled for next week. But first, the bank is insisting on a new appraisal. The bank is eating all the expenses of the Heloc so I don't really care but do they think the property value changed in 2 weeks enough to warrant a new appraisal? I am just annoyed that I will have to stay home for this one morning.