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Completed 464; filed 40 extensions today; still have 10 corps on extension; have one 6 to 8 hour return to do tomorrow. And then I am done. It truly does feel good to run the business instead of the business running me. Good luck to all of you as you race to the finish line! btw, those extensions were all because we did not have the info.

My guess as to why this occurs here is that HRB is just charging the same rate whether in CA, NY, AL or TN. Incomes and living expenses are not the same everywhere, but they don't care. They can rip off a lot of people here because a lot of people are desperate for refundable credits and don't even bother trying to get a reasonable tax prep fee. Let's face it, it's free money, and they don't care what it costs just lemme have it now. People who earn money are more likely to try to keep it. If we compared how many EIC returns there are here compared to where some of you live, it would tell the tale. My guy I'm talking about in this thread is not one of those refundable credit recipients. He moved here in 2014 and probably came from an area where a chain store was the reasonable fee. Well, now he knows. It's not that way here. I wind up with several every year who try it once and then ask around, "Who does your tax return?" Rita. Rita does my return. You know, that girl that traps possums under her office and takes them to the movie theatre.

Well darn. Who knew possums make good dates, and I turned mine away for lack of referral. At least I see they are cheap dates with all that's needed is a brick 'o bread. Dying of laughter here.

I think being able to take a possum to the movies should be worth a higher fee. IMHO

We found out that we have a possum living under the shed a couple of years ago when we heard this loud banging on the deck in the middle of the night. We went to look and it was trying to eat the loaf of bread that I had tried to make in my new bread machine. It was banging it on the deck, because it was like a brick. I will never live this down. My husband and son called the bread "muck".That didn't scare the possum away. He still hangs around on the deck at night.

Thanks to all of you on this board. I learn so much here, plus laugh my butt off many times a day. I have been struggling with the self-employed health insurance deduction for a client that has ACA coverage with APTC and declined employer health insurance (which was outrageous, so it was OK). The worksheets in the Pubs and Rev Proce, just made me nuts. I found an awesome thread from 2015 with Bulldog Tom and Judy, among others that helped me in plain English and made me not feel so stupid. I guess I must try to make things too hard, but when so much affects everything else, I just get so frustrated. The numbers are so easily manipulated and there is EIC on this too, so I go over it with a fine-toothed comb, because I don't want my neck on the line for preparer penalties. Bonnie

They say a fool and his money are soon parted. The rest of us wait until April 15. Oh. That’s soon, isn’t it? Hmmm.

I just spent 45 minutes trying to figure out a PY return. Even read the instructions, which were no help at all. Apparently there are several forms and several methods for allocating several differenr kinds of income, none of which I ended up using. There are 3 pages for investment income. I finally had to give up and just overrode dividends to amount that belonged to MA. No red errors so fingers crossed when submitting! I've done plenty of PY returns for many states over many years, and you can usually figure out how the income and deductions get allocated and the return just works. Most of them are quite simple and self-explanatory. MA forms must be designed by a sadist!

Input the information from the 1095-A as you received it. If the client says the numbers are incorrect, THEY must go back to the Marketplace to get a corrected 1095. Any state requirements are handled when the client applies on the marketplace. If the client input improper information, that is NOT your issue. We are tax accountants, not insurance agents or enforcers of insurance laws.

Sounds like they are trying to qualify Granny for Medicaid. She can't gift because that would be a fraudulent transaction subject to the 5 year (depending on the State you're in) look-back rule. Does grandson work for Granny? Are they asking you to prepare a W2? Sounds like you need quite a bit more information.

Yardley was correct. There's a drop down box for it in the Preparer/ERO tab.

In ATX, form 1099-R see if there's a line just under line 2a that says 'rollover amount included in 2a'. After verifying with the client that the monies were indeed rolled over, inputting the rolled over amount on that line makes it nontaxable.

I like your hair, JJ.

Crying. "It was like a brick...I will never live this down." Absolutely crying.

I didn't fire anyone but had the safisfaction today of: Giving a client an earful for calling with questions about how to prepare her quarterly payroll forms that aren't even due until the end of the month. I don't prepare them because it costs too much and they are so easy to do. She did the same thing last year and I yapped at her last year, too. Neighbor who self prepares his tax return wants me to help him figure his way out of paying tax on a 1099C. Hubby had already given me warning. Thank goodness for caller ID. Never picked up the phone. Never will My cousin is a merry globetrotter. She hasn't filed in a few years and IMs me for help yesterday "because all of a sudden it's really bothering me". Honey, wait another week and you won't even think about it again until next April. In the meantime Google foreign income exclusion. Client makes an apt on 4/8. I tell them they will need an extension. They cry bitter tears. I look at their paper work and I see that they will owe a chunk. I tell them this. The guy looks down his nose and tells me they are "proud to pay their fair share" and why don't I just get busy on that tax return because they don't an extension. So, I do and they owe north of $10k. It pleased me to listen to them babbling with shock. I also tacked on $125 PITA fee. Some days are better than others.

I only have last years copy of their prior returns and last year dad made it so they paid $0 income tax and I suspect it's been that way for years. It just makes me so mad that I did the work, pointed out what dad did and asked if there was information I did not have. They'll get their papers back BUT NOT over the weekend and NOT before 9am or after 6pm

If the client picks up my work, they pay me before they leave the office. If the client picks up their paperwork to have it done someplace else, they don't pay me, but they also don't leave with one syllable of my work. It's not worth the hassle to try to collect. If they want to go elsewhere, be done and carry on. You don't want that client, and you don't want ill will.

Your first line says it all for me too. And the rest....I'm right there with you Bonnie. One week to go and we can turn up the music. Bill

No, you don't get to write off the remaining undepreciated amount simply because the person stops farming. It is retired and out of service, and transferred to personal use if they kept it. The only time depreciation continues is if the property is temporarily idle due to a lack of market for the farm's product, otherwise depreciation stops at the time the equipment is no longer in service. When the person sells the asset, they have basis to offset the selling price and will receive the benefit of that remaining amount you are currently trying to deduct. At the time of sale, it will result in higher basis, lower gain or more of a loss.

But you know you're good and your clients know you're good and now people just asking around know you're good at tax preparation, so they will pay more than they would pay the not as good preparer, whether HRB or anyone not as good as you, with or without letters after their name or with or without possum movie dates. You're not in competition with anyone else any longer. You've already won. You can raise your prices, which would allow you to fire some PITAs and still make as much. Do less work for the same money for college tuition. Or take new, nice clients and do the same work for more money to buy popcorn at the movies.

I believe you need to enter it in the Preparer/ERO Tab.

Of course, you all know that I did bill my recalcitrant client with the attitude. Did I get paid? No. Do I care? No. She is never welcome here again.

Yeh! I'd say there is a 95% chance they will ask for their papers back. But 95% is not 100%. If you guys want to bet, you have to give me 20:1 odds. 20 banana splits for one. If if they ask for the papers back, you have a chance to turn the situation around. How? Put the fear of an IRS audit of three years returns, additional tax, penalties and interest, possible fraud penalties, etc. Believe me it works.

I'll bet you one also. If they had medical expenses or any other expenses to add they'd do it over the phone. After years of paying $0 in income taxes any tax bill is going to be hard for them to swallow.

Initials don't mean anything, there is book smart and real life smart. All it means is that at some point in time someone learned some book knowledge and regurgitated it at test time. It does show the person has the ability to learn but not to retain or apply the knowledge. By best preparer never passed the exam nor bothered going for EA but he thinks about every entry and is very smart. A CPA can prepare financial statements, it has nothing to do with taxes. I took some tax classes that mostly dealt with theory. Never saw a tax form in school. -Michael CPA, MA, BS, BA. [ oh yeah, EMT, CPA, 1st Dan Ju Jitsu, and according to my staff a real PIA]

If it was me, I was in the middle of a post and never finished it until this morning. Last night, after spending and hour & 45 minutes with a new client that will be worth it; needs extensive planning work and understands 'extension' and 'May', I got dinner, played with dog, watched Justified. Checked on some efiles. Then my roommate/2nd assistant/mother hen told me I was going to bed. No phone, no iPad, I could read some comic books if I need to relax to get to sleep. So in bed just after midnight, asleep before 2, got 9 hours of blissful sleep. Still really tired but ready to attack a few more returns.

Two words that have worked very well for me....PO Box.

I did extend the 2015 corp. yay..... I know they ran the income and expenses through the corp. But just talked to client and spouse still is working at W2 job - maybe keep him out of it.and then spin shop off into new corp in 2016. treat spouse hours as volunteer? Dunno at this point. This is a client with crappy organizational skills but a deep appreciation of what I do and pays my fee happily and gratefully.

I sympathize with the "make 'em pay" viewpoint, but I respectfully disagree. We all have a right to be paid for our work, but accepting payment for anything carries with it an implied acceptance of some responsibility. We all know that isn't the case, but most clients don't. So when this scheme blows up and they get audited 2 or 3 years from now, and dad is dead or incapacitated, they are likely to come back to you since they paid you for "some kind of help" in the past. It isn't right, but that's how things often work. Who needs the hassle? If I'm in this situation, I'm giving them back their original documents with no charge, and wishing them well. That way if they ever return for any reason, I'm free to say "I couldn't help you then and I can't help you now." Oh, and one more thing. As Catherine rightly said, "Before you go, I'd like to have my business card back. "

Make em pay. Make em pay a lot--for the expertise and time that you have already spent reviewing their taxes. They get nothing except their original papers. And you get the satisfaction of getting rid of them.

You do not want ANYTHING connecting these fraudsters to you. Hand them back their papers and don't even let them take your business card let alone any of your work. Tell them that when (not if; when) the IRS audits them they are NOT to come to you as you now know they are willing to ignore the rules.

They have already proven they are not honest. Good Riddance is the correct response. Like trying to juggle cactus leaves.

Ok, I got rid of my override by using line 6 to subtract dividends earned after leaving the state. Did the same for CG distributions.

Doesn't sound like you'll need that, it's No Tax Status or Limited Income, I think something like PA's Tax Forgiveness form. Don't get me started on PA. I was going to ask you something on a DE resident form but looks like it's straight forward, like they all should be.

Thank you, FDNY, I'm keeping this. In NY's defense, I did reach a great gal re a biz return who waived a first-time penalty!

Thanks. Mom is out of it but the son (my client) is going to the courthouse on Monday to find out what he can.My comment about computerized records only going back to '98 was meant only to say that's all that's available on line (sometimes my communications are as clear as mud!). He'll have them dig into the paper records to get a clearer picture of their original costs. Thanks, all, for your input.

Calm down everyone. My response was in answer to Rita who said even the CPAs don't charge as much as HRB (which does sound backwards but wasn't my point). Just that tax preparers who concentrate on taxes, no matter what license they might have or not have, probably are worth more at tax time than anyone else, with or without a credential, who doesn't spend as much time on taxes as Rita does. I have clients that tell me a CPA told them they could do something on their return, but when I ask questions find out the CPA works in a corporation preparing reports for the CFO and prepares no personal returns at all, not even his own (he typically pays the CFO to do it; the CFO often has a biz degree, by the way, not accounting). So, you can't rely on the letters to know what someone is good at. CPA can, but does not have to, equal personal taxes. EA should, but doesn't always, equal personal and small biz taxes. And, either of those without real world experience is probably not yet the equal to Rita or anyone who works hard for their clients, keeping up with tax law. I have an MBA in finance. My advisor wanted me to take the one more accounting course that would give me an MBA in accounting instead. The majority of my courses were accounting (only one less accounting class than accounting majors), but I liked taking the finance courses and statistics and a mix of business classes and writing a thesis, so that's what I did. And, I did spend years in a corporate environment (COO, controller, etc.) before taking tax courses. During those years, I prepared my own return and the trust we set up for my son's college with the divorce and my father's estate in IL and then married a school teacher and had to learn all about unreimbursed employee expenses. I knew it was time to learn a lot more about taxes. I never would've tried to prepare taxes for pay during those years, because at least I knew that I didn't know what I didn't know. None of the accounting courses prepared me to deal with the practicality of filing personal tax returns for real people with all their quirks, and none of my work in companies along side CPAs had anything to do with personal income taxes.

Don't be so modest, you're a great EMT, worked in a rough area and most likely saved lives.

I love possums. Last year I was working late and heard a noise outside my door and opened it to see a possum knocking to get in. He didn't have a referral either, so we wished each other well and said a pleasant goodnight.

My possum really sounds like he has a lot of tools under there. He's building a condo, I think. I caught one two weeks ago, and relocated him/her to a lot in front of our movie theatre. It's a nice lot. My boys roll their eyes and say, "Only mom would take a possum to the movies."

Here's how to take care of skunks: Refer! Refer! Do NOT try to be a hero here. You're the best, too. You all are. Sniff. Sniff.

Yeah, and I'm over here with no initials but purty good at Google and I got a 1900 square foot commercial building with a possum or something under there tearing up creation. Got a trap set, hope I get him today. And there's a tax preparer and a feed store and a golf course here every 2.13 miles. The cost of living is cheap, and if I wanna charge less than you people in those rip off states, it's my prerogative. And y'all don't be fussing, we got a week to go and we're fam. Don't make me cry. P. S. I'm gonna crush the Enrolled Agent exam in 2016.

Catherine, I have enjoyed your posts over many years and you've always been extremely helpful when others (including myself) have needed help. I hope all your problems are solved soon. Best wishes and best of luck to you. Terry

Or was it me?!!!! I'm on late at night also. I seem to be operating on West coast time, and I'm surviving on about 5 hrs of sleep a night at this point. Sometimes I might fall asleep and get back up to give the dog some medicine and I'll check in on the forum again at 2 or 3am.

Very sorry to hear of your issues, Catherine.

I'm sorry, Catherine. I can't imagine what you've been going through.

Wow. Judy.That was a very helpful article. Thanks! I spent a considerable time googling for answer but that never came up.

Over the back fence estate planning. Kid gets the house at Mom's original fully depreciated basis.... Stupid. Sell the house to son, take back a mortgage, little tax, substance to the transaction, and Kid gets the stepped up basis to deprec. Out of Mom's estate, No Medicaid issues, and everyone pays about the same amount of tax. But, NO. Lets just move it from one return to another..... SMH.

Yeah, fired my first this year too about a week ago. She was trying to talk me into getting fitted for an orange jumpsuit. Now she's begging to come back. I guess she couldn't find anyone to play ball with her. I'll take her back because a longtime client but now she has to play by my rules. An extension is in order so it's going to be a long game, but at least I have a box seat and I get to enjoy the game.

1) In my case, I found out during the Discovery process. 2) Yes, but I have never seen a legal separation in 22 years of doing taxes. I think it's very uncommon. Publication 17 says you are considered unmarried if on the last day of the year, you are a) unmarried, or b ) Legally separated from your spouse under a divorce or separate maintenance decree. State law governs whether you are married or legally separated under a divorce or separate maintenance decree.