Leaderboard

It happened again. Tax return rejected for SS used on another return. Turns out the kid who had $600 of income and $30 of withholding filed his own return to get his money back. Now he gets to pay me to amend the return, and I am going to charge him more than $30 to fix the problem he caused his parents. College kids are so smart. They get advice about taxes from Jerome the gardener at the college. Jerome is real smart. Tom Newark, CA

This article is from early 2000's All summer silicon.com has been running a competition asking you, our readers, to let us know your worst, and most embarrassing tales of helpdesk woe. Urban myths abound about people using the drawer of their CD ROM drive as a coffee cup holder - not to mention the infamous woman whose PC had cut out and failed to restart. The helpdesk worker on the end of the phone went through a comprehensive checklist - baffled by the failure. Eventually, when asked whether everything was plugged in around the back of the machine, she admitted she couldn't see too well as the office was dark. 'Why?' asked the helpdesk worker. "Because there has been a power cut" came the reply. Whether these are all true is unclear. They almost certainly happened to somebody once - but if everybody who claims them as their own is telling the truth then the world is a far more dangerous place than even the most cynical had ever feared. However, as well as various retellings of these two tall tales, we received a number of others - some of which appear below: First up, some problems with a floppy disk... "A woman rang up to say she was having trouble installing the software on a floppy disk and it kept giving her errors. "Can you send me a copy of the disk I asked?... Sure enough, two days later, I received in the post a photocopy of the floppy disk." And if you thought that was bad - try working with somebody like this... One worker told their desktop support: "I want to move the pointer on the screen to the right. I have moved the mouse to the right-hand edge of the mouse mat, but the pointer is still near the middle of the screen. Can I get a bigger mouse mat?" One helpdesk worker told us: "A user wanted to change the backdrop on their computer, so instead of taking them through to the control panel, they were asked to right-click on their desktop to save time. The user replied that she didn't see what good that would do, but did it all the same. Turns out after investigation that she had got a pen and written 'Click' on her desk...." And then there's this timeless classic - true of offices everywhere: "A user called the helpdesk because they had not been able to print for six months. After the usual troubleshooting had no joy, an engineer called at the user's desk, and switched the printer on..." To everybody who deals with these kinds of problems and queries - we salute you.

Many of the problems I see with self-prepared returns are because the taxpayer knows so little that they don't know what they don't know and therefore don't attempt to look it up.

We have a weird quote system at our office and every time you click a button, the software refreshes. You click it 5x, it will bog down as it refreshes 5x before you can do anything else. My senior citizen co-worker is pretty computer illiterate so whenever it slows down a little I can hear him click click clicking away like that first photo. 2x per day after his clickathon he'll declare "my computer is locked up". yeah, no kidding? Doesn't matter how many times I tell him, he's that monkey clicking away.

Thank goodness I do not have a camera showing me falling over laughing at that. Thanks Elrod! Exactly what I needed today (seriously).

Has evolved to "but my (computer expert, computer store, IT person) said they backed up everything, and that everything is on the CD/DVD/USB they gave me." I am not holding my breath waiting for the first time the "backup" actually has all the needed information. Seems the "experts" fix computer issues by reformatting and reinstalling the OS since it is a few minute set and forget fix for their fee. The issue is the experts do not actually restore anything, and do not seem to even tell their customer how to use the "backup".

AAAaaarrrrrggghhHHH ! ELECTRONISTAS! YOU'RE EVERYWHERE! YOURE EVERYWHERE! What's so bad about paper? Or newspapers? While I admit we no longer need it to wrap fish in; think of all the park-bench derelicts saved from freezing by this staple of bumdom. Here's a list to help - I'm confident you'll be quite taken with these practical tips. As a matter of fact, I have personal knowledge of one: while I was clerkin' at a cotton gin once, the press operator (who couldn't read or write) kept borrowin' my Wall Street Journal (I aspired to play the market). Curious about his avid interest in the GNP and such (he could maybe buy lunch), I asked, and he replied: "It saves on toilet paper." http://prepforshtf.com/16-uses-old-newspaper/ May you be confined to a space with no PDFs and lots of NCRs.

My responsibility - give the client these options: 1) Extend and wait to see if anything changes by Oct 15 2) File with penalty calculated (If the penalty is later removed, pay full price for an amended return) 3) Go somewhere else Client's responsibility - Choose one and live with it.

Until the Congress passes the law change, follow the law as it is written. Simple.

I agree with everyone that agreed, and being in agreement with the topic.

FROM THE CPA PRACTICE ADVISOR: Let’s take a look at what we can anticipate in the next few months with potential new legislation. Federal health reform — President Trump wants to replace the Affordable Care Act … what he’ll replace it with is anyone’s guess. What we know for now is that the ACA is here to stay for 2017 and possibly longer. Forms 1094 and 1095 will most likely survive for at least this year, so make sure to keep tracking. The Cadillac tax will probably go away later this year, and it is possible that the employer mandate could go away this year, as well (not yet confirmed). Tax reform — An early look at tax reform shows that this has a long way to go. Everyone is talking about it, but there are major differences in opinion, even within the Republican Party. Regardless, we’ve been down this road before, so don’t expect many changes in 2017. Something that could happen is a reduction in brackets and possibly a top bracket of 25%. Fraud prevention — We’ve already accelerated W-2s (with January 31 employer deadlines for submission), and look for more fraud enhancements in filings and verifications. The IRS goal is to match identification and income to returns before processing refunds. Dead legislation — The new EEO-1 reporting rule with wage classification and grouping was supposed to go into effect in 2017 — but as of now, this legislation is dead. The rule may be revived in the future, but it will likely start from scratch. Also, new exempt dollar thresholds were supposed to take effect on December 1, 2016. This is considered dead and probably won’t be revisited for some time. Payroll cards — We already have new legislation in New York on a waiting period for new cards to activate. Look for federal consumer protection by October 1, 2017. Minimum wages — President Trump would like to see the minimum wage increased slightly — but not to anywhere near the $15 level some of the public wants to see. Many states will continue to increase their respective minimum wages in 2017 and beyond (recently, 21 states increased their minimum wages for 2017). Paid leave — The president would like some sort of mandatory paid leave at the federal level. Several states did not wait for federal and have already enacted legislation. E-Verify — Although nothing is confirmed yet, the general understanding is that mandated E- Verify is right around the corner for all new hires. Since I do some payroll processing, the mandated E-Verify will be a big deal. So many industries rely on illegal immigrants, Agriculture, Meat Packing, Construction, Restaurants and Hotels/Motels that every time in the past when a bill came to the floor of Congress to put some teeth in this issue, very few Congressman would actually vote for the bill due to heavy lobbying pressure from these industries. I notice that in order to try to overcome this resistance it would apply to "new hires" only.

^^^ They forgot to mention about the lady who could not find the "any key".

I absolutely would rather amend pro bono than have the all day [or 47 minute] conversation where the end result is still, "I dunno." About the same amount of work to just amend free gratis. Plus I'm a hero! I did have one lady that tried to school me on all of it, and I did remove her SRP. I made it clear to her that she will handle any IRS correspondence regarding the issue pro se. My biggest fear is the SRP will NOT be removed for 2016, and all the people who skipped out on it cause Lefty guessed correctly will get away with it. And I look like I'm working for IRS because I prepared a complete and accurate return. No good deed and all that.

And while you're getting your dew-soaked newspaper off your lawn each day you can yell at the kids to get off your lawn.

Yeah, I have had this happen 3 or 4 times. Actually, I don't think it ever occurred them that it could create a problem. My experience is that they know very little about our tax system and how it works.

Keyword: proposed Until I know more, I'm still going to suggest an extension but let the client decide. I've only had one so far that owed the penalty and he was still getting a refund. That client chose to allow the penalty and receive the reduced amount. His penalty was prorated and was around $300.

I get $650-800 for inactive business returns. that's my starting range. I'm with B Hoffman, you are all too cheap. Of course your location and clients ability to pay will affect what you can charge.

Maybe the return was prepared by the "Tax Doctor" and he prescribed some under-the-counter deductions for chronic tax pain.

@Elrod - that baboon is a better IT expert than far too many out there charging very high prices! (This most specifically does NOT include our IT specialists here on our forum - but I bet you folks know some "colleagues" you'd love to send the clients with the power outages and missing "any" keys.)

I agree with your analysis.

If I wasn't clear, those were the choices I gave to my one client so far that had a penalty. He chose to not extend.

Yes it was. And quite impressive too.

Maybe this is what ATX is referring to: (From the ATX blog)

Paper file and spend your time on something important.

Nice explanation, Catherine.

I give my clients everything. That said, I just received the 2015 TT return from my new son-in-law so I can prepare their 2016 MFJ return. For a W-2 and 1099-INT, it's 80 pages.

Here is my theory. More detail is better than less. I had a previous client who now resides in Portugal serve on a jury for the IRS. He told me to NEVER stop reviewing the returns line for line with the client. Those who tried to use the excuse they didn't know what their preparer put on the return was not acceptable to the IRS. Bottom line, the client is responsible for every line on the tax return. I make sure they understand their return, where the information came from and receive the worksheet, statements and whatever else they need. They cannot say they didn't know. So I don't limit the number of pages and I do give them everything the software does provide simple because they are entitled to it. Last year I purchased a binding machine because I have too many clients with 100 plus pages in a return that I choose not to staple. I cut my folder to make a nice cover for the bound documents. Looks professional and includes everything used to prepare the return. Their name and mf firm info is still visible through the cover.

I am sticking with Judy and Jack and following the same procedures. Until we have a definitive directive or official guidance, I'm charging the penalty or filing the extension if the client chooses.

I've had clients come to me complaining about how thick their tax return folder was from their former preparer. I rarely print more than 15 pages of a tax return. They get a PDF with with all the pages that they'll never look at or understand.

It's actually pretty fascinating. If you take a length of rope - say a foot. Cut it in half, you have six inches of rope. Cut it in half again, three inches. And it *seems* like you can keep doing that ad infinitum - except you can't. At the Planck length, whatever you are trying to divide LOSES any definitive location and instead is suddenly everywhere *in the universe* at once. No locality. Dr. Feinman once said of quantum physics that (and I am paraphrasing here) it is utterly preposterous and ludicrous, and in fact the *only* thing going for the entire field of study is that it is undoubtably true.

A CPA I know used to say, give them every piece of paper the tax software would spit out, this will help in justifying their high fee. And I think he is correct.

You guys are seriously undercharging for 1120S. I can whip one out in an hour if the info is good from the client. But, it took me YEARS to be able to do that. No Turbox program is out there for these returns. No franchise tax company is going to charge less than $1200. It's not like the competition costs less, and over time these returns are easy for us, but it was LONG HARD WORK for us to get to the point where it became easy.