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I don't do form billing, either. Probably most of us have some sort of hybrid method of billing. We all know that all Sch Cs, for example, are not created equal. We all know that a Sch A with two or three entries is nothing. I print and explain to my clients once or twice. Explaining takes longer than doing. If you don't do form billing, I assume you do charge for your time. If you don't charge for your time, I think whatever method of billing you use covers that somehow. My time is everything. When I see that a client is still bringing me these items, I choose two minutes and Sch A versus ignoring and risking them thinking I missed something and/or having the ten minute Sch A seminar again. The charge is going to be the same regardless. And it will be fair. And there is no penalty for looking at the return and reading it. It's not hidden in the fine print. I teach the clients I can and survive the others. Now, if they want me to add a stack of receipts, I do provide bookkeeping services, and I assume they'd rather pay me for that than spring for a calculator and do it themselves. They like their time, too. And I am telling the next person who says "long form" that they are all 8.5 x 11.

Sometimes I go to comedy clubs an pay for a few laugh-out-loud moments. But during tax season, I just visit this forum, see threads like this, and get more than my share for free. Thanks everyone.

Yesterday PIA client who calls me all year as if I were her brother has a 35K tax bill because she refuses to pay estimated tax reasoning that "something might change this year." No itemized deductions, but she asks me if her $30K implants she is getting this year will be deductible. I said no, unless maybe if you were an exotic dancer, it's really cosmetic. She argued with me back and forth for a few minutes until she said, "but I need them to eat." Then I realized she was talking about her teeth. At least we both had a good laugh.

I like the "tenth of an hour" idea. Reminds me of the lawyer who would come in to the office after spending most of the day on the golf course and return a few five-minute phone calls, logging 15 minutes of minimum billing for each call. So in the last hour of the day he would bill a total of 3 hours to 12 different clients. When he died, he was standing at the "pearly gates" and St Peter said, "Nice to meet you. We don't get many lawyers up here. I see that you lived 87 years." The lawyer replied "There must be some mistake. I died in an auto accident at 35 years of age." St Peter replied "Oh sorry, my mistake! I was looking at your time sheets."

I got the answer to my question. "It's hard for a man to understand something when the value of his tax deduction depends upon his not understanding it "

Ha! This place can be satire, vaudeville, slapstick, schtick, and hilarity all rolled into one. Not to mention the therapy value that comes along with it.

Catherine, I hope that you are feeling better. I have been miserable with a cold or virus since Wednesday. I just want to sleep and I don't trust myself to do anything but easy returns and even then, they are in slow motion.

The problem with your solution, Pacun, is that a code G is for a direct rollover, what used to be called a trustee to trustee transfer. That is not what this was. This was a rollover, and that is what should be indicated on the return, IMHO.

Lower of cost or FMV at donation. Different rules for appreciated property. And, maybe for inventory; but it doesn't sound like this was inventory in the hands of your client,.

What does the client not understand about "lower of cost or FMV"?

It's so hard to lose a family member of any sort and at any time. Like others, I've been there too many times but still wouldn't trade the joy shared in their all too brief lives. My condolences.

I'm so very sorry. Allow yourself to grieve.

That is *exactly* what I am doing - slow-motion work on easy returns. Tomorrow (Monday) will be spent pulling together stuff to work on at home Tuesday, as we are supposed to get a blizzard with a 1/2 feet of snow. Which reminds me, I need to set up auto-respond so people will know. And I hope that YOU feel better, too! I am definitely doing better but I'm not back to normal by a long shot.

I used to do that all the time. I'd even put "Form 1040 Line [SD] is higher", Thank you, that's perfect. I'll start doing it again. It won't change anything, but I like it.

I am sorry Joan! The second hardest thing I have ever had to do in my life was put down my best friend. I will not give you any false hope of a brighter day soon. It took me 20 years to learn to love another one the way I loved that one. Grief is different for all of us. But it is very real and needs to be dealt with. You will stumble through the rest of tax season and then you need to take some very serious time for reflection. And as Lynn says, bask in the memories. You owe that to Sweetie Pie - and you owe that to Joan. May God bless you in the most unimaginable ways!

Here are two of today questions asked on the Turbo Tax question site. What is even more disturbing are the number of people that find these questions HELPFUL. Are we really afraid that Turbo Tax will put us out of business??? 1099 Div with Acorns I'm currently have an Acorns account and they sent me my 1099, but didn't tell me which suffix to use on my... bballking195 19 people found this helpful last activity 1 day ago what are long-term care insurance premiums? Is life Insurance a long-term care insurance? justlikemommas 9 people found this helpful last activity 1 day ago

client just emailed me to tell me that he will be sending his info next week. I guess he thought I was sitting around wondering when I will get his stuff.

Year Up is a 1 year program ( Modern version of Job Corp ) that provides disadvantaged youth with 6 months of classroom training followed by a 6 months internship with a local business with the possibility of being hired as a regular employee at the end of the 12 months. They receive a monthly stipend of $600 to $ 1,000 plus various incidental expenses like transit fees etc. So it's probably all taxable.

SO sorry, Joan!

Sorry to hear that, Joan. Sending you lots of love and cyber hugs.

There's a lot differences in preparers. There's an EA on one board that charges a $250 "get in the door fee", there are preparers who will charge a wealthy client more than an average earner for the same return. Seems like an asset charge rather than an income tax return charge to me. Or a success charge. Some charge more because they have more overhead. Regardless, the great thing about capitalism is if they are unhappy, they can go elsewhere. They can pay me X for a 1040 plus Sch A, or they can pay me X for a 1040 and a ten minute seminar. Or they can pay someone down the road X + Y for whatever they do. Or they can even pay the guy working out of his pantry X - Z signing as "self-prepared". With a pencil. And sometimes I do a "pull it out of my left ear" method cause I forgot how many times they interrupted me bringing in forms. Or how many times I had to tell them what was missing.

Oh Joan, I am so very sorry. Cherish the memories. lynn

I usually enter the data, print out the Schedule A, and then put a handwritten note at the bottm of the "A" with the total crossed out. This goes in the "Client Copy" set of forms

Somebody actually answered this one: https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/2591146-where-do-i-put-the-income-at-that-i-earned-this-year-as-an-exotic-dancer

I have my annual mid-tax-season nasty cold, and would be happy with a Friday where my fever went down and stayed down...

After cbslee's explanation, I will agree he is right and the total is taxable. As an evaluator for a National organization, I have evaluated a few job corps for a National Accrediation for their automotive programs. Students do receive this type of support so again, it is all taxable. Maybe if you pick his brains a bit about his past maybe he'll remember.

Lower of cost or FMV at time of donation.

I do mostly value-added billing but when forced to I will do time billing on the tenth of an hour.

I am doing as Lion has stated with this. Creating the 1099 Misc with refused and am educating my client on the need for the W-9 form as well. The IRS may still issue a penalty for the 1099. Better this way than trying to re-classify the expense when there are no supporting documents.

I agree with Rich that the parents are able to deduct the r.e. taxes that were paid by the daughter. T.C. Memo. 2010-286 case covered this where it was exactly the reverse, where medical and r.e. taxes of a daughter were paid by by the parents directly to the the payees.

I just can't go there. It is too much like stealing to me. I will patiently explain that the standard deduction is better for you. Tom Newark, CA

I know! They were told that only two of them qualified for Medicaid and for Rob to go to marketplace for a couple months until he qualified. WTF? And, then the marketplace accepted him for January. But, Medicaid still said No, so marketplace accepted him for February and March. Then Medicaid said they would start Rob before the end of April, to not worry as his gap would be less than three months, so he could drop the marketplace coverage during March, which he did. Yeah, less than three months, retroactive back to 1 January! That didn't show up in any of the rejection correspondence. Oh well, it was not alot, and they get their tax prep free -- partnership and join returns, NY and PA. Thankx, Jack and Ladies.

Looks like they will be paying back any subsidy they received. Now you can check the box AND fill in Form 8962.

I do the Sch A and charge for it, even if it does not make anything better. "Yes ma'am, I deducted those union dues, your $400 church giving and your husbands work boots. I also included the $200 donation of items to Goodwill. You can see them here on Schedule A."

I am going to stop telling clients the results of the return until I receive payment. The results are MY WORK and they should pay BEFORE they receive my work. I think people find out they are not getting thousands or owe and decide to let them set. We will see how this works.

Well, he and I both knew he'll likely be in heaven this time next year, so it really was the sweetest thing ever. But that other heifer...

Well said, girl - well said. I've got a couple of those frail #2s too and, like you, I'm pretty fond of them.

That's right. Be nice to me and I'll be nice to you.

I made a little boy CPA cry the other day. He is the brand new CFO for one of my business clients. I prepare reviewed financial statements for them. He's been awfully patronizing and arrogant. I found a major, major error and gently let him know that it needed to be corrected. Had to do with the book depreciation. He cried that it would be a lot of work. I empathized (on the outside) but felt just a little glee on the inside.

My favorite picture of Rita at work.

A tale of two new clients. 1) Lady bitched about my $150 fee yesterday, which included searching property tax data to set up new rental and the sale of business property from closed trucking business. She always paid her friend $75. Always. Is this the same friend you told me always fixed up your return so you have never paid SS/MC tax and now you have no SS benefits? That friend? No, the new one. The one in FL who is not answering his phone, which is why you're here? That friend? Yeah, that one. 2) Retired gentlemen who came in three weeks ago, 88 years old, had a friend preparer with an actual PTIN who really screwed up his 2014 return nonetheless. I was sick when I saw other guy charged $40. I charged $150. Client wrote the $150 check and also handed me a $20 cash tip. He came in yesterday (which is not easy, he's pretty frail) to say, "Well, I got my refund check yesterday, just had to come by and tell you I'm now obligated to come back next year if you'll let me." I gave him a nice hug (not the one where I measure for the grave in the back yard), and said, "Well, then I am obligated to be right here waiting on you." "Yeah, buddy," he says. What I have to learn to do is think about the second client more than the first.

I have a lady (real nervous nellie) who has called twice a week for a month either talking my ear off or leaving long rambling messages with ZERO information. She dropped off some missing papers - put them IN my assistant's hand - then called me the next day to "make sure I got them" (no, my assistant used the paper as rolling papers because we now have medical marijuana here in MA and if YOU aren't a valid reason I don't know what is... but I digress, and I'm not serious about that). Her bill is going up $5 for EACH phone call. Now, the crazy lady who calls several times a week - we're lucky. She calls the trustees of her special needs trust (you see, she really *is* crazy) several times a DAY. They just pay our fee, knowing there is a hazardous duty portion tucked in there. And *we* are grateful not to them *them* dealing with her daily calls.

But did everyone in the family have some sort of coverage, either through the Marketplace or covered by Medicaid? Most Medicaid does qualify as MEC under the ACA, and if that is the case, why would you not check the box? The 1095A is to reconcile the APTC received to the final amount that this family was eligible for. A 1095B might be received showing the medicaid coverage, and I think the due date of these forms was March 2nd, so it is possible that they may still receive the form...I think.

Yeah Lent Friday!!!!

And here's to you for making my Friday into Martini Friday. Cheers, Bill