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Hahaha oh she was embarrassed and said she had no idea barter was taxable. I'm sure she did not or she would not have been saying "barter" every two minutes.. She said it was really not much and she'd get me the figure. Can't wait.

We already know. It isn't really very much. Not enough to even bother with. Just go ahead and complete the return without it. But NEXT year it's going to be HUGE. And she will keep meticulous records. No doubt about it.

My client who yaks and yaks today kept mentioning that she's been working for barter. And gives me this look like, "I'm so smart, I'm working for barter. Yep, I have outsmarted IRS, sure have." I let her go on and on with that (well, I had no way of stopping her, she's amazing, I don't know when she breathes). Anyway, she gets up to leave: "Anything else you need?" Me: Yes, I need the Fair Market Value of the barter items you received for working. You know, the amount of cash the items would sell for. Just the total, no need to itemize everything. Thanks.

But Marilyn, your priorities are all wrong. It isn't about YOU, it's all about HER !

My yakking client who also talks non-stop is running a "business" of selling Pampered Chef, in addition to her real job. "Oh, I am making so much money. I am so excited and my sales were so good that I even earned a trip this year!" Whoa! Backup! Do you realize that you will be taxed on the value of that trip? Her: "But, I earned it!" Me: Key word; EARNED! Her: "Oh, my Gosh!, we are so glad we came to you because you know everything!" Well, some days I feel like I don't know anything. However, this lady truly wants to file a complete and honest return. She has that going for her. She said that the best times to talk to her are Saturday or Sunday. Well, those are the worst times to talk to me. Most Sundays you may find my phone unplugged and if you don't have my cell #, you are out of luck.

I'm surprised so many have lasted this long. Most of them lived in the fast lane in their early years. To quote Neil Young, 'the damage done'.

It's just that time of our lives. All the greats from the 60s & 70s will be leaving us soon. I was a big Alice Cooper fan before I was a David Bowie fan. I like offbeat, can you tell? We have many more of these days ahead with Jagger, Eric Clapton, Ozzy Osborne, Alice Cooper, Paul McCartney, Roger Daltry, John Kay (Steppenwolf), Ian Anderson, everyone in Blue Oyster Cult, etc., etc.

OK -- When Fiona (older girl; now 25) was in 3rd grade, her teacher came in one morning and told the class, "You all got a perfect grade on yesterday's homework because MY puppy ate YOUR homework." Much hilarity ensued - probably particularly on the part of the parents who heard the tale (tail?) later.

This made me laugh. It sounds too much like "the dog ate my homework" excuse.

Copied from the NAEA Newsletter: Speaking of EA renewals, RPO gave us a heads-up after we went to press last week (E@lert weathered snowzilla in an undisclosed mid-western location) that its Detroit office has been delayed in mailing EA cards/certificates because the staff ran out of envelopes (E@lert appreciates the candor from RPO but shares members' exasperation). The envelopes arrived on Wednesday, January 27, and Detroit is working on the backlog. Because of this processing bottleneck, please allow extra time for your card to arrive. We will keep you posted on any further details as they become available.

TaxGuy2040. I believe you are sincere when you say you gave Drake an honest effort. But you are wrong on so many levels. You gave it a test spin around the block a few times, but you never took the time to really learn its capabilities. Your naïve statement about the "speed" issue is just one example. Its speed in backing up, navigating from one screen to another, and update time run circles around anything in its price range. And I haven't even mentioned the huge increases in efficiency (time saved) that learning how to write a few macros can provide. So you took a cursory look, filed a few returns, threw up your hands, and moved on. Nothing wrong with that. As for the refund policy - everyone has them. A good businessperson learns the ins and outs of the refund policy before buying anything new. You failed to do that and then tried to whine your way out. No sympathy here for your failure, but maybe you learned a lesson that will serve you well in business in the future. Learn the lesson and apply it. Drake takes a little investment of time and commitment to really discover its power. If you're high on the latest bells & whistles and you like tech gadgetry, then Drake is going to look pretty pedestrian. But then a 1040 looks pretty pedestrian too. Your software doesn't need to launch the space shuttle - it needs to produce an accurate tax return which is nothing more than a glorified Excel spreadsheet. So I agree that someone like you should look elsewhere for your tech thrills. Just don't fool yourself or others into the notion that you actually evaluated its capabilities. You never even came close.

Not that I've been able to find. I've learned to live with them.

Yes, THIS can be deleted -- if I stepped over the line //// BUT I will be the one to go there -------- MAYbe, she was hitting on you (those looks could have been -- not out smarted IRS but -- what do you think??). MAYbe, she was looking for ways o decrease her tax prep bill???? Alright, I am done --- anybody want to holler at me, feel free --- no charge...

So far, history does not record. So tell us, @RitaB -- how much of a hissy fit DID she throw?

In a pinch, I use my IPhone as my hotspot, and I have GoToMyPC so I can access my home desktop from anywhere. It is rare that I need to do that, but it works well for me.

I have already been saddled with enforcing the government's insurance laws, with no option to refuse. I will not go anywhere near helping someone use the marketplace or deciding what insurance they should buy. Too much exposure to people pushing blame on me for their bad choices, mistakes or intentional misdirection by entering incomplete or fraudulent data. I have enough to do taking care of my clients' tax concerns. I simply say NO.

I have to hand it to Drake - this program is nearly impossible to beat. I was out of the country much of January, and decided today (Jan 29), it's time to get serious about taxes. Went online and renewed Drake in about 5 minutes. The download took about 10 minutes, I entered some basic information, then loaded my states and immediately ran updates. The whole process took less than a half hour and I was up & running. Completed a couple of returns today and am now tweaking some macros to update them for 2015 so I can gain more speed in the data entry phase. All that is to say that nothing in its price range can touch this program. Its speed and efficiency are unequaled. Learning to use it will make any tax preparer more efficient and thereby put money in your pocket. The only thing necessary is to break that addiction to the vastly overrated "forms based" entry process and to recognize bells & whistles for exactly what they are - expensive, time-consuming, resource-hogging gimmicks.

There are a few of my favorites in your list too. Husband and I are making a point of seeing artists from our youth for this very reason as they come to our area. I think the last we saw was Three Dog Night, and Cory Wells passed on last November and Jimmy Greenspoon last March.

I move all files between desktop and laptop with a flash drive. All files are backed up on there anyway and all returns get filed from the same location; the desktop.

Remember this old post? Well ATX finally listened to us and got rid of this useless message. Yay!

Jeepers creepers.

You don't have complete control over the print order and sometimes ATX just screws up. You can rearrange forms in Print Packets, but even in Print Packets there are sections that can't be violated.

An article from the Tax Adviser that speaks to changes Congress recently made. I tried to copy the actual article but I couldn't paste it correctly for some reason. http://www.thetaxadviser.com/newsletters/2016/jan/congress-makes-changes-to-popular-tax-credits.html?utm_campaign=insider&utm_source=tax

I use gototmypc extensively. And it works very well for my purposes.

Yes, it's a great feature. I wish I could rollover customized fields from year to year...

Ethics and sincerity: once you can fake those, you have it made... Seriously - thanks for the link. But my problem with most "ethics" courses is that anyone NOT ethical can fake their way through them - and the ones who are ethical don't need them. UMass Tax School has a guy who does this portion of their annual tax school and he's very good: he shows where the slippery slope can start between helping long-standing clients and going too far. Usually using situations that sound normal until you add in a very believable twist. Sometimes left-out details that one would not usually think to ask a long-standing client about - then he goes through the clues that should get you poking around some more.

I did 7 yesterday, 12 total so far. It is eerily quiet in my office today. The calm before the storm.

Like a kidney stone.

I'm still doing W-2s, 1099s and quarterlies. I hate payroll! I'm not taking tax appointments until Monday. I had a drop off of 12,13,and 14. ( They won't be done quickly) A couple current drop offs and some questions that will take me pretty much doing the returns without all of the information to answer. I'm still working on my letters. If my family members would stay out of the hospital, it would really help out. I did find out from ATX yesterday that I can use my laptop and remote in through my VPN without needing another license. That's great to know, but the wifi is public. At least I can work on the laptop and move it with a flash drive.

No, he absolutely should not pay the company the balance of the loan. YOU should pay the company the balance of the loan as a penalty for not reading his mind...

Never a dull moment around here. We blew through the preparation of our quarterly and annual payroll reports and our 1099s (still waiting for info for about a half dozen of those). The general consensus in the office is that the payroll reports and 1099s have gone smoother this year than ever - and we did not do any fewer. Moved from payroll reports and 1099s to a financial statement audit and finished that yesterday. And in the meantime we are wrapping up year end financials. Somewhere in that mix, we did payroll tax deposits and sales tax reports. And I have completed five corporate returns and two individuals. All of that - and I am just treading water. The work will continue to come in steadily for the next eight to twelve weeks. Our cut off this year is March 20th. Anyone showing up after that day will be extended. Back to this month - I have oft said that January is far and away the busiest month in my practice. This one has been no different. If not one more thing came into the office to do, I am good with work for about three weeks.

I don't have time, expertise, or the inclination to help clients with insurance issues, not to mention that CT has some tough laws as many insurance companies are headquartered here. I suggest they find an insurance agent they are comfortable with who will search both private policies and the marketplace for them. I also tell them there are trained Navigators to help them search the marketplace.

You can change the letter fonts. Open the letter, click edit, then select all, then pick your font! Then save. They'll ask if you want to save for just this client or all future letters.

I taught a class on the ACA, and part of it was ways to make sure you get the subsidy. For SE people, there are a lot of ways....on my 2015 return, to qualify I simply have to put $500 into an IRA. for wage earners, not so easy, but those people likely get insurance through their job. The article talked about people with a million or two of assets....well to retire I'd have to have about a million in retirement assets. As as for helping people get insurance...I tell them where to go to get it and the possible penalties if you don't have it. A couple days ago I finished a return and told the young lady that she qualified for MediCal, and should sign up before Jan. 31. She was grateful for the information.

I am not an insurance salesman either and if I am correct, it takes a license to be in that industry. Like Jack, I refuse to help anyone with the market place plans or options. Unfortunately we do have to be party to enforcing the ACA laws. I read the article and I agree, kudos, to the Dr. in the article for exposing some of the flaws in this garbage legislation.

I read that article today and I thought the financial advisor - who was also a doctor - was brilliant. I don't like ACA - and I make no bones about that. I am not opposed to a universal health law, just this piece of crap legislation that we have now. So when anyone can show the government how stupid their law is by taking advantage of it, good for them. If Congress does not like the result they got....THEN THEY SHOULD HAVE READ THE LAW BEFORE THEY PASSED THE LAW!...or in the famous words of Speaker Nancy Pelosi "you gotta pass the law to find out what is in the law"...well I am sure she is really pleased to find out that millionaires are getting subsidized health insurance from her signature legislation. Back to the strategy of "laddering bond payouts", I think that is a very good strategy. That is the kind of financial advice that is tailored to the individual's needs and resources. Even if it did not involve screwing Obamacare out of some insurance premiums, it is very well thought out and could work for a select group of individuals. Tom Newark, CA

I have found that the toggling to "View" mode is lightning-fast and not nearly the botheration I had originally worried about before I switched, several years ago. In general, data entry and return progress evaluation are significantly faster for my office than ATX ever was. Their tech support - on those rare occasions I have needed it - is unsurpassed. Phone gets answered in a couple of rings by people who know the software AND taxes. They make the refund policy very clear - IF you read it. The interface is - in my opinion - clear and reasonably intuitive. Yes, some areas (and especially their CWU program) still feel a little "DOS-y" but I worked with DOS for years so that is not an issue for me. Moral of the story: I switched to Drake and only regret that I had not done it years earlier. YMMV. Please don't use a broad brush to bad-mouth Drake, though -- because I could do an equal job of bad-mouthing ProSeries, starting with their ownership by Intuit (which company I detest with a deep loathing for many reasons) and continuing through one of the worst interfaces I have ever encountered. People have different opinions and ways of working. You didn't like Drake. You didn't read the refund policy before trying. OK. Fine. Warnings to others - no problem. Berating a solid vendor for not being what you wanted them to be - seems unprofessional to me.