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I have a couple of these, too. have been training but one is super-stubborn. So this year I asked him about something unrelated and when he turned to look for whatever it was I asked about, I grabbed the whole stack away from him. It felt like victory. Went through one-by-one in record time; "Your w-2, the retirement statement, interest, dividends, your usual charities, re tax, excise -- yup; got it all. Great." He didn't know what to do. Hoorah!

Listen Clearly Bones.....That's not deductible..... That's not deductible..... That's not deductible .

How about the envelopes that have instructions on them as to how to open them. "Tear off the right and left side tabs, slide your finger under the...." Oh for god sakes, it shouldn't be that complicated to open an envelope! Of course if the client gets one of these, they don't follow the directions and the tax document comes in in all sorts of pieces.

Today: Me: Do you want your refund mailed to you in a check, or do you want to have deposited directly into your checking account. Him: Have them send me a check. I do not want to give them by bank account information. Me: OK Him: Don't forget to give me those estimate vouchers for next year. I have to mail them a check by Monday.

No returns are expected to come into the office for 2+ weeks. two pickups remaining three I'm waiting for a small amount of data each but we've been given a 1-month extension. Waiting on e-file authorization from about 25 returns but I know on Monday I'll get 1 call for all of them that says - GO! I might have a beer or four tonight.

I have a client who puts all of his docs in nice neat folders labeled "income", "medical", etc.. All of the docs are in plastic sleeves so I remove them to copy, and then take the time to replace them exactly as I got them. I asked him once not to do that but he said that's the way he's always done it and is afraid he'll miss something if he changes the routine. OK. I inherited this client from a retired CPA friend, and she charged him a high fee, so I just didn't change that.

No, but now I will. Thanks. A. Lot.

As a relative newbie here I found this board during the 2012 debacle. The first time I was here I saw all the animal pictures (I'm an animal lover), familiar names like Rita, NECPA, jmdaviscpa, easytax, michaelmars,Gail, Margaret, and mcb39 among others from the official board. Then I saw Jack's twin towers 9/11 picture, something I have an unfortunately close relationship to.... that sold me to stay here because I knew this was a special group. After being here I can see Eric, KC, and Judy are special people, unselfishly giving their time for all of us. Congratulations to all and Thank you!

As a related issue, I never have to buy paper clips and now have a ton of those really good black clips, you know the ones with the handles that fold down, all different sizes too.

Don't take the fun out of opening envelopes. Most of my clients mail their stuff in or drop it in my night drop, but there are a few that still insist on dropping it off and handing their stuff to me a piece at a time. Pulling the important piece of paper out and simultaneously cramming the boilerplate and envelope directly into the shredder is the highlight of the appointment. The expression on their face while that shredder is grinding away is priceless.

One pick up left and all the 8879 forms are accounted for I have more extensions than ever before. Going to see how that works out. Have a 12 year old bottle of Glenlivet gifted by a nice client to celebrate our twelfth year of doing business.

Could it be possible that there is a blue form at the top, equivalent to the social security statement and labeled 1099-RRB, that says "THIS FORM IS NOT REQUIRED FOR YOUR 2015 TAXES" and 3 copies of a green form with no such notation? And that green form is a 1099R equivalent? In which case you do not need the top form for any reason this year, but the other 3 forms are required to be reported. Not sure if the color coding applies in every state. But at least in VA, that is the type of set up I see for railroad retirement.

I have one client who insists on sending his own extension. But, one year he was on his way out of town (airport), handed his extension envelope to someone at the airport (! ) with the request to put it in the mailbox. Lo and behold that extension request never made its way to the IRS ! He complained bitterly that the IRS should have granted his extension since he gave the envelope to 'someone' to put in the mail. I decided then to efile his extension with some guesstimate as to what he will be paying and sending him the paper voucher for him to send with his check. Belts and suspenders for this guy.

While I have not posted much since joining in 2007, I look everyday, during tax season, for items of interest and found often viewpoints I haven't thought of. Thanks to all the frequent posters for your thoughts.

April 11 for me as well. Unbelievable, but I know I would have been long gone without this board.

Some people open every e-mail without giving any thought... Keeps the computer service companies in business.

DITTO! In the past 10 years, probably 3,000 zero extensions. The IRS does not have the willpower, manpower, time or money to chase extensions.

They are getting a bit testier about back-denying extensions for those who owe substantial amounts. However, I stand by my earlier comments that if I have ZERO information, a zero-dollar extension is what I send in.

I have filed zero extensions for many years with some of them winding up owing quite a bit and as far as I know, there has never been a problem.

Regardless of party ----- the tax code gives the government the power to help or hinder and therefore make money for the politicians. If it were simple, a large part of the support economy would have to find other employment or professions. Expanding on the simplist approach ---- in confussion there is profit ---- and that is what politicians and government rely on ///// again regardless of party.

April 11 for me! Remember KC and others on here starting a substitute group on Yahoo right away after the Great Message Board Debacle and then Eric volunteering to start this one. Can't believe that was 10 years ago.

MA has gotten very fussy with no-payment extensions and back-invalidates them and charges late payment and no-extension penalties. They WILL cave on that if you push but for the most part it's not worth the time/effort to a client to pay me $100 to fight a $20 penalty. I think it's just the state's way of extorting more $$ out of people.

Last one picked up a few minutes ago. All done except my own which is a project for tomorrow.

Congrats! I'm definitely doing something wrong. So many of my clients have a cow if they go on extension. I will be busting my rear until Monday. The good side is I won't have as many people on extension bugging me to get them done in April while I'm trying to do payroll and property taxes. I have had so many complicated returns this year that it has really put me behind on smaller ones. Way too many new businesses started and too many late K-1s and 1099's.

Tell her she should call them on the phone to let them know about the 401(k). After a couple of hours on hold, she can point it out to whoever answers. I'm sure their response will be "Oh yes, now we see it. We had been waiting for you to contact us. Thanks so much for calling that to our attention."

Yes, if tax prep were easy, everybody would be doing it. Insert eye roll at commercials that seem to indicate otherwise. I had a new client for 2015, who missed retirement savers credit on 2014. I amended, and she netted $240. Had [another] situation she couldn't handle for 2015, and that's why she came. She asks me, "So, I just need to let them know I contribute to my 401(k)?" All I said was yes.

It makes sense to me. Tighten the withholding so that tax withheld is what it should be, and be done with it. It would save such a hassle for so many people, and would effectively get rid of the snake-oil tax preparers such as HRB

You're both correct. Conference is not technically employer, so they issued 1099. I'd put the 1500 on Sch C, for sure, to satisfy IRS. Since it's so closely related to ER wages, you could back off on p. 2 of Sch C, saying "EE reimbursement correctly reported on Form 2106, then handle it all there. Seems most appropriate to me. (Or, you could deduct all the expense on Sch C. Seems like too much benefit for a trip to Italy, but that's none of my business. /s) But most of the clergy I see are not paid by anyone other than ER church (or if they are, they don't tell me about those), so those expenses are on Form 2106.

I do this, as well - in case the client never sends the payment.

When I got into taxes about 12 years ago a friend was shocked because he was 100% certain that the US Government would overhaul the tax system and we'd soon have those postcard returns that people bring up every other year. If there is one thing I'm 100% certain of, Congress will never fix the tax system in the USofA in my business lifetime.

...hear Spock's voice in their head when they click 'Remember' in the print dialog box? No? Just me? I do tend to get punchy this time of year.

Zero. Only ones that are mailed in with payment has any numbers.

"The IRS already gets most employer and bank info on taxpayer's obligations - such as W-2s and interest earned - so all they would have to do is calculate what they owe for them" If I am not mistaken, the IRS does not have all the info in the beginning of February, they don't get that until close to summer. So you think all these folks are going to wait until sometime in the summer to get their refunds? Also note, she says "calculate what they owe." What they owe? It's well known that they IRS is under staffed and under funded, why would you give this agency any more work to do? Also, you can call the service center with the same question several times and get at least a couple of different answers. Do you really want these folks filling out your returns? Lastly, the article states that in regards to the IRS's current free file program it was estimated that only 3% actually used it in 2012. So let's waste more taxpayer money on another wasteful program... This women is dangerous. Could comment on other things she's done and/or proposed, but too many returns to get done this morning.

This sends me over the edge. I want to scream 'no kidding - I've never seen one before'. I'm training my clients to drop off and not meet with me. The later in the season, the more likely I am to be snarky about 'this is my W2'. Some of them just can't help themselves, however, and when I tell them to just drop off, they put a sticky note (W2, 1099, etc.) on every sheet. Aaargh! One guy this year printed an entire sheet of paper and paper clipped it to EACH item (i.e. 1 full sheet of paper that said 'my W2'). I mourn the tree that died for that folderal.

That's EXACTLY what I did!

Reprint fee. $30 or more, depending on how much of a PITA they are. At least, that's what I do.

I have not received the green return cards from time to time, so I don't even trust certified/return receipt requested. E-file. If a client wants to mail, then they're on their own.

Yes on taking the 2500 out pronto but you could extend the return if they give you a problem in getting to the phone on short notice (we'll be old someday too). As for the other I have no idea other than taxable compensation is for contribution limits, maybe?

Thank you very much. This simplifies things considerably. I think I got the more useful help in this particular trade-off. But there will be other opportunities.

I use last years tax liability.

I haven't e-filed all extensions in the past, but this year one of my mail-with-payment older gentleman is in the hospital directing daughter what to do. So, I started using this method on ALL this year and going forward. E-file extensions (especially now that CT is finally accepting this and some other new forms via e-file) for everyone. Give paper extensions -- in addition to those I e-file -- to those that request and those that I encourage to mail payments.

No, it means it's too scary to dare open!

How many times have you gotten an envelope with a check in it?

I have done It before, and think it would be far better for them to get two than none.

One of the questions I have is I don't know if the land was sold with the timber or just the timber itself. I still think my first approach is to contact the attorney who processed the sale and find out what he knows. I also thought of the company who bought the timber to find out how and what was purchased.

And this has been in the last 3 years? We have lost such an argument with the same proof. That was the day we started e-filing ALL extensions.

But commas can save a life: 1) Let's eat, Grandpa! 2) Let's eat Grandpa!

It took me a while to find the board - I did not join until June. Or maybe it took me that long to quit cursing ATX for taking the board down right before the end of tax season.

Just looked at my profile and it says I've been here since 4/12. Didn't take me long to find home!