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While jklcpa's 1099 situation is certainly not funny (I don't know WHAT I'd do with those two 1099s), it DID bring to mind something humorous (now-not then) which happened to me many years ago. A new client; a young guy (mechanic) wanted to work for himself - had no business experience but he dreamed of release from the factory time clock (can't blame him - I've punched one myself), so he dove in head-first - borrowed $75K (much more than he could ever hope to recoup), built a new garage, had his wife quit her sewing job, made her secretary, receptionist, and (last-and least) bookkeeper. The first year he hired four guys and after a stunning $15,000 loss decided to reduce expenses next year by having his wife prepare the W-2s herself (instead of paying me ten bucks per form). 941s and sales tax get me $45 monthly plus $225 for the 1040, so I figure what the hey -- I furnish her the blank forms. She asks "How many copies do the employees get?" "Three," I say and explain the red A's for IRS, copy 1 is for AR, D is hers, and the B/C/2 copies are for the employee. A blank stare and then she says "But, the employees get three copies?" Thought nothing else about it 'til the middle of February when she brings her hand-written "D" copies for me to look over. Now, I'M stunned. There are three Ds for each employee. I ask "You didn't happen to make three RED copies for each person, did you?" She says, "Oh yes; you told to make three copies for everybody." I ask if she still HAS those red forms. She replies "Oh no; I mailed those a week ago. We don't want to pay any late fees after doing these myself." Twelve W-2s for four guys . I surely MUST have fixed it, but can't for the life of me remember how. Too painful to recall, I suppose.

I don't understand why they can sell the same product to one client cheaper than to another person. I don't like to deal with companies that don't deal fairly with everyone. In my opinion for whatever it is worth, they should determine what they feel is a fair price and one that they can deal with and sell it to everyone for that price. They are saying by their policy that they are going to stick you for whatever they can. I'm glad that I don't deal with them anymore.

My rep called yesterday. I bit the bullet as I don't have time to fool around. We have to concentrate on making changes to compensate for the lost time in 2015-16 due to illness.

Jack, I did say "limited". Also, this is 2016 and they did issue me a POA to represent this client in the audit of 2013 and 2014. I also got one just last week for a client who was being adjusted for 2012. That was the "divorce from hell" year.

I was never so glad to see a government employee retire in my entire life as I was when she retired. (Current POTUS probably does rank higher, but he has no choice about leaving) She was a very vocal "enemy" of all us honest tax preparers.

I have left 2 messages with my rep and no call back. I usually don't renew until October anyway and still get the discount. ( oops he told me not to share that information)

Interesting. I think I'll start showing my occupation as "Accountant (Semi-Retired) (Marginally Profitable)" and see what happens. Will let everyone know.

On gross income Sch C did he put, "I didn't really make anything this year"?

I have to tell you about the agent who has been conducting our in-house audit. (finished, finally). Last week she told me that after 2015, I could no longer get a POA to represent my clients before the IRS. She said that she had just seen an e-mail come in about it. I told her that unless something had just recently been passed, she might be incorrect about it. I then explained to her in depth about the ins and outs of the RTFP and the AFSP. I told her that because I had passed the RTRP; I had to have at least 15 hours of continuing education under my belt each year in order to receive my AFSP certificate; which gives me limited POA powers. On the other hand, a preparer with a PTIN could take a test each year and get the 15 hours of CE and would also qualify for an AFSP. She went back and discussed the conversation with her boss. He said that they were having a seminar on the subject yesterday morning and that since she was so knowledgeable about it, she could conduct the seminar. Which she did and was gracious enough to call and thank me for educating her. She has "only" been an IRS agent for six years. I am always ready to concede that I might be wrong, but in this case I was not.

The estate or the beneficiaries can pay the tax on income. Your post said it is unusual for beneficiaries to pay the tax on income earned and that is simply not true. It's very routine for them to choose to flow it through to the beneficiaries because a lot of the time it will mean less tax paid.

When you have a successful business, competitors will spring up to try and take a bite out of it. Two of them, Jackson-Hewitt and Liberty were both founded by an ex HRB exec, John Hewitt. There are also the do-it-yourselfers that have also taken a bite as well as non-profit volunteers and the IRS itself who will now assist with returns up to what? $60K, or so. The report says that the loss was mostly in the early part of the season with most of the decline coming in 1040EZ and EITC returns. A large part of this may be due to Liberty's spanish speaking offices "Siempre" and to the demise of the instant refund programs. All companies eventually reach a peak and then decline and level off at some point. What is so remarkable about HRB is that it took so long for it to happen to them, over 60 years, but that is probably due to the lack of any meaningful competition for so long. Some of the layoffs in recent years may be due to overstaffing that happens when you are successful.

I've had a few of those over the years too, but now I have a few people (mostly non-clients) coming by to ask for a blank 1099 or W-2 (I order a few from IRS to give away). Asked if they want a 1096 transmittal to go with it they almost invariably say "No thanks, I don't need that." I'm assuming they either don't know/care what should be done or that they just want to hand somebody an official piece of paper to satisfy them. In any case I'd bet that IRS/SSA never sees the red sheet.

My theory is that smart people will go there once, then realize they should have asked around. Others may not be savvy enough to do a little research, understand what the big box shops are all about, and just think it is what it is, like everyone pays $500 for a 1040 and Sch A, and don't forget the state, that really brings the price up.

Or people are glomming on to the fact that they WAY overcharge. I've had folks show up here with an ill-prepared prior year hrb return and see the bill for close to $500 for a return I would charge ~$350 for at most.

Hot coffee almost always is. Yes, common sense isn't very. [There are also strong indications that obesity (and its health issues such as diabetes) is strongly related to government recommendations/requirements to increase carbs and decrease fats (especially saturated fats). See Karl Denninger of market-ticker.org's many blog posts on the topic.] But by babying people too much you prevent them from learning whatever they are capable of learning. We used to learn about sharp knives by cutting ourselves as kids. Now as kids we don't learn (too dangerous! don't touch!) and then as adults sue the knife manufacturers. Same thing with hot foods/beverages. Starbucks and Peet's and the like use extremely hot water for coffee prep. Use that same water for tea and it's dangerous. One sip, once, from over-hot Peet's tea and I learned to approach with caution. If you order HOT coffee - anywhere - you should treat it as being hot. Perhaps McD's should have been more open about how hot -- but my opinion remains that if YOU order something hot, it's up to YOU to expect it to BE hot and to treat it as such. But then, I was raised by my Italian grandmother and had plenty of run-in's with the "what, are you stupid!" until I learned not to be.