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Maybe many of the non-credentialed surveyed are experienced tax preparers not bothering with testing if their practice is as full as they desire. I know many that are at the stage in their careers where they are purposely shrinking their practice or selling or actively considering selling, sometimes just a portion, such as biz returns or payroll clients. Those that never got an EA are not inclined to take the time to test now. But, after years of experience, they might be charging higher prices than a newbie AFSP. Just my theory.

I think the point of this post is not what we are going to charge but why CCH needs to nickle and dime us. We can charge what ever we want. They need the extra money because Taxwise lost the government contract and they want us to make up part of the revenue.

What is happening in Chicago today, is the same as it was in Boston, 2004, my first year here. People smiling at each other, holding open doors, making friendly talk, and just being super nice to each other. Congratulations Chicago Cubs, you worked hard for this! What a great gift to the city.

I know what it is like to wonder where the next dollar is coming from. I think those of us who have been in that position have more concern for those who are going through that.

There are many preparers that do returns as a second source of income that charge low fees just to keep clients. This practice of providing "affordable tax preparation" with pricing based on the clients financial situation, degrades the value of professional tax preparation by those of us doing it as a living. I hear the words: "Well they can only afford..." when talking about pricing very often among my peers in this industry. That attitude directly undermines my ability to charge a reasonable professional rate for my services. Please show me where it is stated that obtaining services from a professional must be "affordable?" My auto technician, plumber, electrician and landscape provider have no such policy. I have seen "part time" preparers charge 1/3 of what a return is worth because" "It is just something I do to earn a little extra spending money." RANT OVER

Here's an article that was helpful to me. It's a two-parter. There's a link at the bottom of Part I to get to Part II. I took the tests in order and would do so again. Good luck! http://mainstreetpractitioner.org/feature/24-tips-for-passing-the-ea-exam-1/

I got two emails this summer, from irs.gov they said, telling me there were messages in my PTIN secure mailbox and to click the link to log in. I went to irs.gov directly, not using the link, logged in, and there were no messages. Scary part of this is that the return address was dot-gov, not the do-com we've been warned about. How do they do this? We know criminals can spoof caller IDs on the phone, but I didn't know it was possible with internet addresses. (PS, I recently got a message from irs.gov telling me it's time to renew my PTIN, but it just told me to go to their site to log on and didn't provide a link. That one is legitimate I assume.)

I didn't go into the office today because of the Cubs, they expected a couple of thousand fans at the rally, it turned out to be 5 million.

There must be some real boondocks places dragging those average prices down.

@Hahn1040 I just finished my last exam in October. I started studying in May. We have study group on Facebook, where we ask questions of each other when we don't understand something and we also do a "trivia night" - 3 nights a week. There are a few members from here in the group. Search "IRS Exam Study Group" on Facebook to find us if you are interested.

I am studying for the SEE. My plan is to complete two of the tests and all of my necessary CE by mid-Dec. I have a good start on it... I am using the Fast Forward Academy package. ... so far so good... any pearls of wisdom from any of you who have recently passed the test? thanks so much!

Everybody has their own way of handling these things, but I don't understand the reasoning behind calling out additional fees for prior-years' returns. Wouldn't it be better to convert the billing for prior years' returns to time expended rather than form-based or line-based pricing? An hour spent on a prior-year return is no different than an hour spent on a current-year return IMO. It's just an hour, no different than any other hour. If it takes longer to switch to other software, check for updates, research anything that has changed, etc, then the extra cost is baked into the bill automatically. The only reason I can think of to have a special prior-year fee is to call the client's attention to the fact that their procrastination cost them extra. In that case, $10-$15 isn't going to affect their behavior. If that it the goal, then the add-on should be in the range of $100- $200, or maybe a 25 - 50% upcharge on the bill. (But even that won't matter to some clients).

IRS Warns Tax Professionals of New e-Services Email Scam WASHINGTON – The Internal Revenue Service today issued an urgent alert to tax professionals who use IRS e-services to beware of an email asking them to update their accounts and directing them to a fake website. The subject line for the fraudulent email is “Security Awareness for Tax Professionals.” The “From” line is “Your e-Services Team.” It has both an IRS logo and an e-services logo that hyperlinks to a URL verified as a phishing site. The spoofing site poses as an e-services registration page. The scammers are attempting to exploit current IRS efforts to strengthen the e-services authentication process and its ongoing communications with tax professionals about their accounts. Scammers are attempting to steal e-services usernames and passwords or additional personal data through a registration page. If e-services users have already clicked on the fake logo and provided their username and password, they should contact the e-services help desk to reset their accounts. If the same password is used for other accounts, these should be changed as well. As an extra precaution, users should perform a deep security scan on their computers, re-evaluate their security controls and be alert to any other signs of identity theft or data compromise. Tax professionals should always go directly to IRS.gov to access e-services and never click on any links provided in emails. Tax professionals who receive a suspicious email should send it as an attachment to [email protected] and then delete it. Recipients should not click on any links. The scammer email tells recipients that information was stolen from certain user accounts in 2015 from a state-sponsored actor. It says users are being asked to upgrade their e-service account to ensure protection of their information. It asks them to click on the login to access their accounts for security upgrade. The IRS is in the process of upgrading e-services security and has been in communication with tax professionals about updating their accounts. The IRS, state tax agencies and tax industry partners working together through the Security Summit have an awareness campaign underway called Protect Your Clients; Protect Yourself. The objective is to remind tax professionals they increasingly are the targets of identity thieves seeking ever larger amounts of taxpayer data to file fraudulent tax returns. Security Summit partners recommend tax professionals: Always use robust security software Use encryption software to protect taxpayer data Use strong passwords and change them often Learn to recognize phishing emails attempting to steal data Never click on links or download attachments from suspicious emails Beware of any communications claiming to be the IRS that are outside normal channels Review Protect Your Clients, Protect Yourself for various steps you can take to protect your customers’ information and your business.

I am not happy the Cubs ruined the even number magic from my Giants...... This just proves that anything can happen. Does that mean Trump can be elected as President as well? The Cubs winning the World Series qualifies as "stranger things have happened" Judy is going to give me a black mark for this post going political, but I still think it is funny. Go hit your delete button Judy... Tom Newark, CA

The four stages of a bad seminar:

They will cherish the memories forever. Fortunately the weather was great in Chicago today.

Thanks for posting this.

I root for the team that is much harder to get to than the ball clubs... I was glad to see the last batter swing it. My last TV gig, the cleanup batter took three strikes with the bases loaded, and wanted to argue with me. "They give you a bat for a reason" was what I was thinking. Not that I am perfect by far...

My 14-16 hour December live seminar is huge on updates and advertises that topics can change due to new federal tax law changes, and the NY and CT hours are called Updates/Changes. The 2 hours in January is advertised as a Last Chance Update. Even if I have 100 CEs and no matter when my reporting year ends, I take those two courses. Getting the new stuff or newly reinterpreted stuff from live instructors with opportunities to ask questions and to interact with other preparers facing the same things is important to me as I go into a new tax season. I don't consider this fall as procrastinating at all.