Leaderboard

This is hysterical considering my third child was doing laundry and I had 32 pair of unmentionables in there. He said, "Mom, you're wearing underwear, right?" Major accomplishment today was I managed to be sweet to a lady with a $60,000 gain on the sale of a lot that was shocked she had to pay back PTC. She had no tax liability. I had some thought bubbles hanging in the air, but I was sweet and sympathetic (ok, no, I was lying) and she was laughing by the time she left.

Finished a monster financial statement!!! I'm so relieved to get that off my plate!!! We should all list our daily major accomplishments Mine is sometimes wearing clean clothes.

Yes, a 1041 needs to be produced every year that assets are in the trust from here on out. Even after the spouse dies, the trust could go on for years. I do 1041's for about 10 different trusts where the child is the recipient but they only get the income every year - the interesting thing is that some of those children are in their 60's now. You have to do a 1041 because they are no longer her assets - they are the assets of the trust.

You have a good husband. Go get a hug from him.

The counties around me where I'd do taxes have all been given until May 16th to file and pay taxes this year because of storms we had around New Years. VERY few clients have heard this news so it'll be interesting to see if anyone cares. Several people who owed taxes were thankful to hear it.

I have no idea where I am in relation to last year. My assistant is too busy with keying returns to actually do my books. But out I have been stuck at 72 returns in various stages of completion for weeks; it seems as soon as I get one done, another comes in. But YAHOO!!!! I'm at 66 right now....well until my assistant comes in tomorrow and sets up the 4 or 5 new clients returns that have come in over the weekend...

I am in the center of town. The courthouse square is right out the door. But you have to pay for parking. That keeps down the "Drop-by's". Rich

As of today, 3/15, we have 31 days left in tax season. If you are going to April 18th, Well, call me at the golf course. We are ahead of last year, but still below 50% mark for this tax season. That means we have to work harder.... Sweet. Rich

I have Mr. Toody's ashes. They came in a very nice wooden box with a little brass clasp and everything. Cried some. Still can't pick up his little bed. Still seeing him everywhere. My husband reminds me it's only been a week so it's OK to cry, but it feels like a lot longer.

Thanks for the reminder. I MUST do some laundry later.

Lion, you respond to clients checking on your progress? For those clients calling because "I just want to know how if my return is done," we have trained our receptionist to ask if we called them yet. When the answer is no, she is supposed to tell them that we will call them when it is. This does save us time from responding to some ridiculous phone calls. (Doesn't mean they don't call again though.) If you have a solo office, I would simply hit "delete." Yesterday I got a call from a gal who moved out of state and sent her stuff to me. I had both emailed and left a voice message that I was missing her IRA distribution 1099R. I answered her call thinking she had some information for me. Nah, she said she would look for the form but just wanted to know if she was getting anything back "so far." Me: I can't possibly tell until I see how much you took out of your IRA and how much tax was withheld. Got the form today and the distribution was in excess of $100k (10% withheld, no state). This is the same client who had moved to one state in 2014 and moved to a different state in January 2015. and told me, "I don't have to pay taxes (in new state that she lived in for 11 months), right? Did the return and she not only owes federal big time but BOTH states. Can't wait to see how long that phone call takes. I've been watching it and have come to the unscientific conclusion that between one-third and half of the calls and emails I get are unnecessary. In August I can put up with it, but certainly not now. How do we make clients realize that they are not our only client, that they can't get an immediate response to nonsense communications, that their communications ARE nonsense and time-consuming and that if they would just leave us alone we could get their returns done? And when people text, they do expect an instant response. Never in a million years would I call a client from my personal cell because then they would have my number and I'd never get away from it. We need to train our clients to respect our time better. Anyone done it successfully?

I'd love to except that his parents are visiting and they are all at Lake Pleasant today. Tax season, pet demise, and in-laws visiting....oof. His brother and sister in law are visiting next week.....

Going back a couple of years, the OneDesk program wasn't this bad. it had it's shortcomings and quirks that I added up to a learning curve on my part. The year however, has been the worst ever. I can handle a few errors or glitches once in a while but no support to help identify and correct these things is just in excusable. Support simply has been non-existent this year. This is all too familiar as I was part of the TRX snafu as well. These companies are 3rd party resellers that seem to start off well and then take a plunge for the worse. For me, I have learned my lesson and will not try to cut corners on software any longer.

I have a client with a daughter in college in OH who works a bit there. What a lot of work for a small income, small tax refund, and small I-can't-charge-enough-for-this prep fee!

In addition to what Judy says I'll just chime in about the tax folders. When I switched, I had a SLEW of ATX-specific folders (from Tenenz) left and the standard Drake cover page did not quite fit. So I made a Word document that DID fit (took me about 5 minutes) and used that. Open the doc, insert client name, print, close it again without saving changes. Boom/done. Yes it was a tiny extra step - but only until I had used up the ATX folders since I bought the new ones sized for Drake.

This question will garner different opinions. I always file a final return. It may not be required but it puts the tax world on notice. And I find that most especially important in this era of rampant identity theft. Now, that said, I have never filed a return for someone that has "passed away a few years ago". All of mine have been timely. For sure, MFJ is not an option. Not sure what I would do with his - maybe go back to the year he passed and file with that year form. But hers I would file now.

I'm working on it. I don't take calls unless I want to/caller ID. I don't answer texts via text; I email them back. I return calls and texts by the next biz day via email, but I do return emails the same day to keep clients emailing. I'm sitting here now returning emails and other messages via email. When I first went out on my own, used my cell for biz until I got an office line. Just about weaned all clients off cell when a few regressed to texting me on it. And, a few knew me socially before becoming clients, so have my cell or even home # programmed into their phones; harder to break them but I always return calls from my office phone, or more often email, and tell them I don't answer my house phone during tax season. And, I don't return biz calls from my cell or text. I return emails to try to keep them emailing. I return calls by the next biz day, but usually via email and not phone. The just checking messages get a short No or Started or You're missing cost or.... via email. Just returned an email now with a "preparing returns in the order received" email which I want to put on auto-respond. I do respond to everybody. But, I seldom pick up the phone for anybody! I don't have staff, so I'm the one that has to keep clients happy enough to pay my prices. Sara, your gal I would NOT have answered. I would've waited for her to upload her 1099-R to my FileShare and emailed her or maybe called her when her return was done. I do email clients that I received their documents, because they are nervous about their tax info/SSNs getting lost or stolen, so I would've emailed her when I received her 1099-R. Hubby schmooses with my clients, so I don't have to take the time, when he does pick-ups and deliveries for me. I even have him deal with signatures in the front hallway to keep clients out of my office. He was a teacher for 37 years, so maybe I can put him in charge of client training.

I always look at 03/15 as a soft deadline! Got through that with only 25 corporate extensions. Yahoo!

It has always been my understanding that the LT is responsible for and gets the deductions for al RE taxes upkeep, etc until the date of death.

My opinion is NO, because the remainder man only has a future interest and the life tenant has a 100% present interest in the home. Same goes for real estate taxes, responsibility and tax deduction for the LT. I was hoping Loophole Louie might chime in on this.

Thank you very much for all your help, Catherine.

Thank you Roberts. That was my thought also, but I appreciate the verification. This is what makes this board GREAT!

Thank you Catherine. Mother gave me that number and now feels it is the subscriber number with -03 at the end for daughter as mom's card has that number with 01 and hubby's card 02. Do you have any Aetna clients? Is that worth a try? I realize it's the Aetna administering the Pepperidge Farm Employer-Provided Health Insurance Coverage and in CT, to boot. But, parents' return stands alone. And, daughter had a tiny bit of MA w/h that I won't feel bad if it's held up for any reason. One of those pulling teeth clients. Just got her vesting/basis info for stock sales. Original appointment, but wouldn't leave documents. Document package at a later date but items missing. Info dribbles in. And, they wanted to come in today to review. Made them an appointment for Saturday to review AND sign. I'm going to print and have everything ready for their arrival and hope they are done with they leave, no new info please! Well, I will wait until Friday night to print. I need to finish this.

Ohio is another state I won't move to after having done their tax returns. A client moved to MD from OH and I had to do 4 tax returns in OH! Sorry I can't help, just commiserate.

No reason to file in the past or present.

That's why I would use that form &/or the disclosure form to report that you know what was reported to your client may have errors but you are matching the documents provided or you are making adjustments to report what you believe is correct instead of matching the documents. You have to prepare the return the way you feel is right, and have the client agree with whatever type of disclosure you suggest. Or, don't prepare.

Just figured it out. You have to enter "ND" for property type.

If I knew who was calling, I'd answer about three calls a week. But I have push buttons this year and really like them. OK, this latest message I won't ignore, but really?? "Rita, this is (Name). (Cause it's not possible that I have more than one Carol.) Would you have them put my refund in Pen Air Credit Union in Florida? Thanks." Thought bubble: Yeah, I can probably get it to that bank, would you also like for it to go into your account at the bank or are working on donations for 2016?

Still on rotary dial - or can't be trusted with it?

I am very sorry for you, too. It seems like everything happens during this time of the year. Just get done what you can and don't wear yourself out too much. I'm trying to get corps done today and am way behind too. I wish that more people would just drop off their stuff and not NEED to see me.