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New client with five rentals. NOT a real estate professional. Came to me because HER LENDER told her that her 2013 and 2014 tax returns were not prepared correctly. Boy, that is the understatement of my short, illustrious career. Preparer put the rentals on Sch C, charitable donations on Sch C, made up 14,685 business miles, completely omitted depreciation (but the mileage made up for it). Lo and behold, we have EIC! The rentals are in a trailer park. Taxpayer lives in the last trailer in the row. There is NO travel. WTH? I also looked at what the preparer before this inept person did in 2012. She used Sch E. Good call there. However, two rentals, that had been depreciated for 16 years, were sold. Not a peep about accumulated depreciation on Form 4797. Taxpayer had gains of 32,000. Tax return comes out that she made 1,200. Where is IRS? These errors are GLARING. Stuff like this kills good tax preparers. In general, people here are not well off. They go to the preparer they can best afford. They either think all preparers know what they're doing, or they don't care if it's correct. This 2013 and 2014 preparer charged $150. It's worth nothing. She is making twice as much as me per hour and producing crap. How is a good preparer going to compete with these bad preparers if nobody is minding the store? I realize that many of you have all the business you want and/or have clients that will never leave you, no matter what. It's not like that in Rural, TN. C'mon, IRS, help a girl out.

my cat just yacked a furball that looks eerily like Oprah....Think I'll donate it to Goodwill. Easily worth $15,000.

Thank you, I know I undercharge. You are not telling me anything new. I am ok with what I charge. I am NOT ok with is IRS letting outrageous stuff like this go. It undermines our standing as professionals when preparers like this are not caught. I also know I can blow the whistle on both of them. More work for me that I'm not getting paid for. Do your job, IRS.

Raise your fees Rita. Your community and mine are not all that different. I do not worry about competition. I charge enough to make a decent living with the clients I have and they respect me. The first thing I would tell this client is write me a check for $1,000 and I will work off of that to correct the prior year returns. (Note - prior year corrections take my highest billing rate.) The client will balk at the $1,000 but the fact is, you have three $300 returns to mess with. No guarantees that the $1,000 is going to cover my time so that is just a retainer to get me started. Client will say "I do not have $1,000". I then say, give me $500 now and the other $500 in 30 days. When I receive the other $500 I will begin work on your project. If the client bites, you have now set the stage for higher billings in the future. My 2015 tax return prep for this client would be between $375 and $400 depending upon what messy stuff went on in 2015. I repeat, your community is not all that different from mine. Yes there is plenty of competition. But I do not worry about that al all. I am not going to have all of the business here - and never wanted it all. If the prospects do not like my fee structure, they are welcome to go somewhere and get inferior work for their inferior pay.

Seen em? I'm living em. Your post was just fine. I'm just messing with you cause you can take it.

The IRS has to triage this things with limited funds, and their computers are ancient, but still I have to agree. It makes our job a joke when crap like this is allowed to go on.

A number of years ago I grew a potato that looked just like the Yellow Submarine. We called it the Yellow SPUDmarine and I joked about selling it on ebay for thousands. But we ate it; it was yummy!

Well, yes, it did raise her eyebrows. That's why she came to me. She shared with her boss what the lender told her. Her boss is my client. No, she is not savvy enough to compare 2012 and 2013 and discern which one was correct. Or if either was correct. And neither was.

If they're not in a community property state and have a multi-member LLC, then it defaults to a partnership. It can elect S- or C-corp. If it were a single-member LLC it would default to "disregarded" and file on 1040 Schedule E. If it had not organized as an LLC or any other entity in their state, they could be a qualified joint venture and use Schedule E, but they wouldn't have the liability protection. LLC is no substitute for good insurance, however. If in a community property state, wait until someone else jumps in.

Do this year correctly since s/he hired you for that. Let the client know that you can amend but s/he will have to return money to the IRS. Do you really think the client will pay you $1000 so you can help him/her to return money to the IRS? According to the user, 2014 and 2013 are a done deal and maybe he/she is right. I have had clients going for 12 years to those preparers and they have never being audited. I just let them know the consequences of their actions and I prepare the current year correctly. 99% of my clients don't want me to amend and return money.

You know that those values are up there on your office ceiling- right next to their business miles.... etc...

IRS attempted to put controls on preparers to, theoretically, weed out some of these non-professional preparers. Remember? And there was an uproar. Remember? So that all got washed away. Remember? So I am guessing it is up to us to educate the public when we see that they are being treated badly. The IRS is hand cuffed. We need to let the world know that we do not share in the same hand cuffing that the IRS has. I believe we need to do some self-policing and turn these inferior folks on their ear. And don't think for a moment that your clients and/or prospects are stupid. It was pointed out that the rentals were on E in 2012 (?) and moved to C later and now we have an EIC refund? That did not raise the eyebrows of the prospect? I would not believe that for a second.

Over the past 3 seasons, I have raised by base fees by 33%. I have lost 6 customers, kept 225 and make a lot more money for the same work.

I leave the ATX default alone, but I also back up to a folder on my desktop and to a thumb drive. I might be country as a turnip green but I can verboten with the best of em.

Now you're talking.

verboten - Going fishing in a restricted area.

I just picked up the most beautiful stainless steel and glass desk lamp at an estate sale for $5. I am keeping it, but how much would your average shyster put down as the value if they were to donate it to good will? It is really heavy and could also be used as a weapon. Just Sayin'

Honestly, the IRS is so backwoods and idiotic they need to be shut down. I will never understand why anybody can get a refund based on absolutely nothing. They can't fix the system unless and until they have all the W2 and 1099 information in the system, filed and proven, before any tax returns are filed. Who pays on the promise that the tax return is true without any verification? Same thing with Medicare and Medicaid fraud. Prove the expense before they pay out. It is so discouraging. Especially to us, because we see it all.

iF YOU ARE RUNNING A 64 BIT VERSION OF WINDOWS HERE IS A LINK TO A AN ARTICLE IN "HOW TO GEEK" ABOUT CHECKING TO SEE WHAT VERSION OF CHROME YOU HAVE INSTALLED AND HOW TO UPGRADE. TO MY SURPRISE MY 64 BIT WIN 7 PRO WAS STILL USING A 32 BIT VERSION OF CHROME WHICH IS SLOWER, LESS SECURE, ECETERA: http://www.howtogeek.com/241501/you-should-upgrade-to-64-bit-chrome.-its-more-secure-stable-and-speedy/

Rita, I do like your response here and do agree you did the right thing. Yes, there are crooked preparers everywhere. The taxpayer, while ultimately responsible for every line on the tax return, will usually place trust in the person who is preparing their return. In your situation it appears your client was confused and became concerned about the situation and sought your services. I also agree different areas bring different pricing. Penalizing the crap out of this client for another preparer's inadequacy by raising fees on them would likely chase them away. The approach you took will guarantee a repeat client in the future. Frustrating and a lot of work I know, but good call on this one.

Yes, and I really want this client. She has been a jewel getting me information, extremely cooperative. I'm not giving her ultimatums or asking for retainers. I've prepared the 2015 correctly, and yes, it was torture getting the depreciation right. Next year will be very smooth. I will tell her the other three years need to be amended, and I will spend a lot of time showing her the errors. It will be up to her.

Left over yard sale crap, originally priced at $200, is worth $1,175 when donated. Did y'all know that? I'm thinking y'all did know that. Oh my aching back. "Zip up your jacket, your heart is falling out." - Possi

I got this lady because her lender pointed out that her return was incorrect. She would have stayed with the preparer forever and not known the difference. I can't increase fees on a client that I don't have.

Carbonite, and most third party backup software, defaults to the more common folders. It CAN be set to backup other locations as well. They also skip certain file types (the last time I checked, movie files were not included by default), even in folders they are set to backup. The "flaw: in such systems IS the impression that no user configuration is needed after installation. Most don't find out they were not including other folders until it is too late. The same thing happens when an "expert" moves data to a new computer for you, they only move the common locations. The missing parts of most backup routines is storing a copy or two at a remote location AND routinely testing your backups by restoring them and making sure you were able to restore what you actually intended to backup. It is a double whammy when you need a backup, think you were backing up, only to discover what you can restore, if anything, is not what you actually needed. That is when I get called, asking if we were sending data to some secret undocumented location in the cloud, or sending data to our own computers (which we do not do).

You haven't seen many WWII movies, eh?

I guess my message was unclear, to say the least (either that or you've all started drinking early). I meant do you change the ATX defaults locations in the ATX Admin Console on your computer. And, by the way, NEVER use Carbonite to backup ATX. It doesn't back up the folder where ATX puts the data and the backups.

I looked up "verboten".

Contact for specialized assistance at 1-800-908-4490 Only the taxpayer can call.

I have seen dumpster diving and folks finding all kinds of good stuff???? to donate to who knows what. What some people will go to.

No, but I have.

Yes, correct. No need for the 8822. IRS will update their system to the new address.

I can't remember the last time I filed an 8822. Most clients don't inform us they've moved until they come in for tax prep anyway. Just correct the address on the 1040.

That's correct. Ironically, that person has stronger chances that Rita's return be audited than 2012, 2013, 2014. This is the main problem, decent preparer's return have the same chances of being audited than crook preparers'. How many times have you gotten a new client that walks away when you tell him/her that this year he/she is not getting a refund and that they should amend the previous year and return that money? In my case it is about 99.99%.

Different cultures in all of our practices, I guess.

I've used a PO Box on my own return for years.

I have never changed the default backup file(s) location for ATX. Anything post 2012 I use export/import after unsuccessfully using the backup/restore function to move files to my laptop. The files I restored using backup/restore had random errors, but all files transferred using the export/import were fine.

And how will they know the work is inferior? And how will they know that I am not overcharging? They don't know. That is my point.

But can you pronounce it properly?

When the program crashes, all work since the last save is lost. Many time 15-30 minutes. If autosave is working, you would only lose the last 5 minutes. Has not worked since 2012. CTRL/s is the same as clicking on save.

Thanks Jack, I do appreciate that. We tried to get the number but the IRS site didn't recognize her so we couldn't complete the process. She was going to try again tomorrow, but I think I will just have her call instead.

A well earned drink, make it a Manhattan.

Never moving to OH.... or PA, NJ or NY. FL sounds good, though!

I registered and obtained my NYTPRIN.....my registration got "locked up/lost"..had to call the department, get transferred several times...wait on hold for what seemed like forever...but it's done. All of this for one client...for a one-time part-year return. I should have charged more. I need a drink

I had to leave a message and am waiting for the call back. Stay tuned... you may see a smoke plume rising. Hope not!

OMAFB!!

Has it been bedazzled?