Leaderboard

All the young whipper snappers are becoming real estate agents and make more then u$ without the stress

That blog really is spot on. The simple ones have gone away and left us with problem children. And the threat of IRS fining us just kills all of us. Add to that, things like your credit card company (iTransact) has been slamming added fees since November (and WHO CHECKS this before April 20?), our own accounting, and if you have even one person helping you, even a family member, you must be cheerleader and encourager, team leader and teacher, mentor and counselor... all done with grace. I do love this gig, and I love all my clients... who show up before March 15th.

I think it's an occupational hazard - every accountant I know does. I took my granddaughter to a big Office Max store to get needed things every time she came home on college break. We both liked to browse around for an hour or more (there's so much interesting stuff to look at even if you don't need it).

"Because as it now stands, this past tax season fried me good and proper."

This kind of mirrors my experience (where was everybody in February?) and outlook. While I still have some fun, it's just not as much. But, as actor E. O'Brien said in Peckinpah's movie "The Wild Bunch": "It's not like the old days, but it'll do." I stopped going to seminars a few years ago (correspondence/online CPE now). At the last one I asked "Where's (old acquaintance) Jack So-and-So?" and somebody said "Oh, I went to his funeral last summer." The audience (dwindling each year) was gray and (mostly) white heads -- makes me wonder who's going to be doing taxes in a few more years. If it's Turbo Tax, the government will likely either go broke from handing out so much improper/fraudulent EIC or make a killing from so many balance due mistakes and erase the national debt. Oh well; chin up I suppose. What else can we do?

BLACK BART - Posted 3-27 ...IRS sent me a letter. To recap; back on October 15th I filed & sent in my tax due check (stop laughing - it's normal for carpenters to live in shacks and auto mechanics/body repairmen to drive unpainted junk cars; why should we be any different?). Anyway IRS cashed my check the next week (got a bank copy), but one month later sent a letter demanding I pay them that same amount again.. Abby Normal advised ignore and it will go away (said they don't need any more mail), however nothing would do me except to speed things up - I sent a full explanation. Result: Nov - Ist IRS letter (we need 45 days to check this out)/ Jan - 2nd letter (need 45 more days)/ Mar - 3rd letter (need another 45 days). To be continued... ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ CONTINUED: APRIL -- 4th IRS letter : "Thank you for your correspondence dated October 27, 2016. Our records show that your Form 1040 account for the following tax periods is paid in full at this time: December 31, 2015." FIVE MONTHS AND TEN DAYS TO VERIFY THEY HAD CASHED A CHECK. Anybody with a serious tax problem is probably looking at a year.

I believe the issue applies to all who employ themselves. it takes a different kind to employ themselves, and that "kind" is the type who cannot usually start and stop along with business hours. I did not need my umpire gigs to make a living, and accepted while I loved the gig, it was a headache, and gave it up. (Sometimes a literal headache, and I have had more than what I feel is an acceptable amount of concussions in my life, which I could no longer ignore or convince myself was not a further risk.) I have to make a living, so I have to accept the consequences of employing myself (or being my own boss). Sometimes, but not often, that means worrying or late nights, but the balance is it means I can sometimes be free during the day as well. Any customer who causes a headache is probably not a good match, and I am honest with them that it is not a good match.

While I suspect most of us are meticulous, I feel sorry for the perfectionist who wakes up at 1-3 A.M. every night worrying about returns. While I'm not quite there (yet).....ten years ago I had a client who'd show up at the last minute with a large boxful of checks, bills, receipts, deposit slips,100s of wadded-up tickets (gas, cafés, Wal-Mart), and occasionally a dried-up sandwich. The other night I dreamt he left his stuff and for some reason (probably money) I had to get it done over the weekend but couldn't find his box. An assistant brought several large sandwiches to tide us over: a whole raw salmon sliced in half with eyes intact (I attribute it to a recent sushi restaurant visit-granddaughter loves it/I despise it - just give me a steak and potato); it took me all next morning to stop tasting raw fish). Anyway I was going nuts wondering how am I possibly going to get all this stuff done by Monday without his (usually) incomplete/incorrect/unavailable/non-existent information. Then; if it's possible to come awake in the middle of a dream, I did. Suddenly I realized that Sam **** died years ago -- I didn't have to do the job after all. It sounds stupid I know, but it was a great relief. At the nightly rate blogger Dineson's worrying he should see a shrink before he joins Sam (probably me too, but I don't have the time - I'm too busy dreaming).

Grandchild trumps ALL!!

I still try to go to a live seminar, and you are right. I wonder what will happen when we are all retired and the next batter is up. There won't be anyone. The government is holding us up as auditors, and while we have moved into this position (not willingly) who in their right mind would choose to step into this minefield?

They must have a great system over there as eventually everything gets processed.....just a little slow. I always tell clients to wait for a response that it was remediated or if more info is needed or maybe never hear anything.. So like you and me and the mechanic and carpenter, things may look a little salty and rough, but it works, and we know how to fix it when it stops working.

Ca will go after anything they can. They figure they have nothing to lose. I think they sometimes act like spammers hoping someone will pay rather than fight them.

I wonder, too. All the live classes I go to I look around, hoping to see people under 50. Darned few; *darned* few. I hope that the younger ones are either taking online classes (heck, they do everything else online) or perhaps are going to other groups' offerings. I did go to an NATP conference a couple of years ago, and saw a number of younger people there. Not EA (NAEA, state, or regional) sponsored events, though. Guess EA is for old fogies, or something.

Yes.

Were you fried rare, medium, or well-done?

This is how Drake's discount period has been structured in prior years, and I'd expect it to be the same or similar this year. Pricing is for months of purchase as follows: April & May- $1095; June & July- $1195; Aug & Sept- $1295; Oct & Nov $1395; Dec 1 and after- $1495

California has a very convoluted tax system. And the appeals process is even worse. Having an employee in the state working is an automatic way to require a business tax return. You can't just do the PR tax returns to the EDD. The EDD shares information with the FTB. From the original post, the company had an employee working in the state, which gives them a presence in the state, which triggers the business tax return filing requirement. The penalties and interest will be applied and will not be abated. The tax returns need to be filed and the taxes, penalties and interest paid. Tom Newark, CA

Whyever not!?!? Brand new grandsons are FAR more important than people who make stupid tax mistakes and then expect you to pull a hat out of a rabbit (any half-rate magician can pull a rabbit out of a hat; we're at a higher level, I guess. That baby is not going to have those precious toothless grins for too long - go enjoy him!

Yes, the early renewal for Drake is still $1095. If you prepare only a few returns, you can purchase on a pay-per-return basis for $300 that includes the first 15 returns without additional cost, and $20 per return after that. Once 85 returns is reached, it can be converted to unlimited. http://kb.drakesoftware.com/Site/Browse/Pay-Per-Return-Package-Pricing-and-Details

I made this point on a Facebook post last year and you would think I killed a puppy and his unicorn best friend. I compared it to buying homeowners' insurance after your house burns down or asking your neighbors who have paid insurance premiums for 30 years to build you a new house. It seems completely logical to me for people who get more health care to pay more than those who get less. If you get three gallons of milk at the store, you should pay more than someone who gets one gallon of milk. Safety nets yes. Hammocks no.

Reminds me of a 4th year Latin pop quiz I once had (55 years ago and I still remember): Osibili, si ergo Fortibusses in ero ! Nobili, demis trux -- Sewats enim, Cowsendux !! And our Latin homeroom motto from the same year-- "Semper ubi sub ubi."

I use Square - have a reader for my iphone and ipad. I find it works best with the ipad. Fees vary from 2.75% per transaction (card present and swiped), to 3.25% (card not present and info keyed in by me). They also have square invoicing (which I prefer to my keying in the info and incurring a higher % fee) which is sent from Square directly to the client; the invoice has a link for the client to click and enter their own credit card details. It is double work to create the invoice in square (yeah, you have to print your invoice from your tax software, open the square website and create another invoice to send to the client). They have reports which are helpful. No fees incurred if you do not use their system.

Thanks! I'll go to those instructions, like I should have before I posted, and get this done. This "after tax season" work is so hard when there's a new grandson waiting for his MiMi to get back. It's so hard to focus. He was born in March, so this whole season was hard for me. I know, no excuses, but thanks for helping me! =)

Brief history of my experience started on my own in the early 1990s used Parsons Personal Tax Edge (PTE),. Preparers Edition for1040s, loved it, forms based, window based, very intuitive, used ATX/SABRE for business returns. never had confidence in the program.. basically program consisted of giant and interconnected excel sheets Intuit bought out Parsons.. dropped PTE.. switched to Intuit ProSeries (PS) for 1040s, stayed for short longer with with ATX for business returns. ATX program was error prone and in my opinion very poor. Got an offer from Intuit on the business side of things. never looked back in spite of PTE price I think was $ 79, yes $ 79 to over $ 4,000 to Intuit PS package that I have. Intuit PS really courted ATX customers and got a lot of ATX users.. I, and I think most users use the forms mode in PS though an input mode (not sure what they call that mode) is available but again, I think most users use the forms method.. program looks very similar to the old PTE) well that is my story software wise. I use mostly Peachtree for accounting, now called Sage 50 and been using Medlin payroll software for many, many years.

Hmmmm, I need to check with them about Pay per return next year. I really only do about 10 of them but they are HIGH priced so I don't mind paying it. $1095 is a solid price for their software.

This blog summed up my feelings for the last few years. It has ceased to be fun for me, but I'm too old to do anything new and with my husband's and mother's health, I hesitate to work away from home again. I did much better this year about not beating myself up when client's didn't understand why it takes so long to get their returns back. I worked harder and smarter this year, but it was rough, because most of my clients were so late this year. I don't know what the heck was up, but I really thought that I had lost a ton of them and then wanted to scream when they all showed up at once. I do love most of my clients, so I was glad to see them, but what were they doing until the third week of February? I am making my health more important than ever before, so I exercised every day and did not lose as much sleep this tax season. I love my family and want to stay around as long as possible to enjoy them.

Every word that he said is so true! For the past several years, I have seriously wondered about getting into another line of work. I love what I do, some of the time. But the constant change to becoming an auditor for the IRS rather than an advocate for my clients, and the clients who don't understand why I don;'t finish their return the day they drop it off, and then call to check on their return and waste more of my time. Trying to hire people to help, and getting no one who can actually think for themselves, of if they do think for themselves they decide they don't need to do things the way I told them to cause they know a better way. But then along about November, when the classes are going on and I am learning new stuff, and I get to order new office supplies, I start thinking I would not do anything else. (I love office supplies, by the way.) Obviously, I am seasonally bi-polar.

Yes, You have to do a policy allocation. They can agree on the percent, if they can't agree on the percent then it is 50%. The instructions for form 8962 has an example that will assist you in reporting the 1095A correctly for the dad, and I would make a copy and give it to the Son so that his taxes can be completed. IRS does require each to reconcile the credit. There is actually nothing wrong with dad getting insurance with son thru exchange, but now comes the reconciling of everything and depending on the outcomes possible having to pay back some of the subsidy.

Except for the hangover that's all good news. Money well spent on your granddaughter must have made you proud of her. I don't think you missed too much, but we recently learned that proper grammar is important to save lives, or get a hug.

To the tune from the show "Welcome back, Kotter" Well--come back, BB!