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No exceptions. Have lost clients that have all of their "stuff" including working papers. Their comment, "They want to talk to you." No way!!!

Unless court order, I only give records to the client, so they can do what they wish with them. Solves the mortgage writers fishing me for information to put some of the liability on me...

JK: I told several clients: "Send me the Info Once. All at the Same time. Put it in a file folder and send it to me at that time. If you Piecemeal it to me, I charge you EVERYTIME I have to go look for your file." That usually stops them. Rich

The only time I could see getting a release from my customers is if I was selling my practice and I needed to release my files to the new owner. That is about the extent of where that would be useful to me. Other than that, I don't give nothing to anyone but the client. Tom Modesto, CA

I dealt with "piecemeal" clients a different way this year. I had them sitting down (for other reasons) and told them when they send documents one by one we have no way to determine when we have everything. So they will send an email once they have uploaded everything, and then and ONLY then will we download anything and start to look at their documents. They actually had a reason for doing it one at a time: they wanted to get items to me as soon as they came in, so nothing would be lost or forgotten. And they understood the difficulty here, and I think the "we'll email once they are all uploaded" was a decent compromise. We'll see how it actually works.

I changed my cellphone number awhile ago because too many clients were calling it and texting me. I removed it from my business cards and emailed every client explaining why. Call my land line, leave a message. Or send an email. We can save voice messages to the client's folder. I keep hoping someday I'll get to play one back for a client.

IMHO, there is nothing at all political in what you just said. This is the state of our government, which affects our profession. If you blame them all, then you aren't on any side, just the right side, of the argument. I happen to agree with you. It is not gonna happen this year. But if it does, there is some money to be made on amended returns. BTW, the Senate looks like they are going to pass a 2 year budget (who knows if the house will go along or if the POTUS will sign it if they do). I don't think it includes the extenders. With all the extra $$ they put in for the Military and Social Programs, I don't think that the cost of the extenders is going to fly if they try and tack them on. But who knows, they are spending money like a drunk sailor this year, and they have not even started on infrastructure. I hope this does not sound political either. It is just what I see as the reason we will not get extenders this year. Tom Modesto, CA

I do exactly the same as Medlin Software. I send/give NO information to anyone but the client. PERIOD. If you send information, even with the signed consent form, and something goes bad with their dealings down the road, you have just inserted yourself smack dab in the middle.

I am embarrassed to say I never really new this existed...As a planner, I always just created a copy of the return and made changes to see what results would be like the following year assuming no changes in tax laws....which worked OK the past few years, but certainly won't work for 2018. I will need to play with this new toy.

I give returns to the clients only. If I thought their leaving might be contentious, I'd have a cover listing the documents and ask for a signature, might do that with a divorcing couple too. And, if the client has "lost" their tax folder too many times, I might charge for duplicates. But, I've not done either of those so far. I give to the client to do with what he wants. But, their tax folder includes everything, so they really have no reason to ask me for duplicates.

There is a User's Guide? I'll read that in my spare time.......

With ATX, we're all just stumbling around in the dark finding new places. Unless you read the user's guide... which I probably ought to do someday. Probably be good to just read the table of contents and index!

I can imagine several things, one being the AOC, but... do I think the numbers are made up? Yep. Rich

My AMT clients haven't shown up yet, but thanks for the heads up! Now if ATX would only let you pick the number of columns you wanted, we could all save a lot of toner!

I did fire a client 2 years ago for too many questions. I did his personal return and he gave me 10 questions which I answered. Then 10 more which I answered about 5 and then 10 more and said he needed answers to the other 5 also. Told him to leave and never come back. Seriously, I really shouldn't have to explain every freakin year how I determined the life expectancy of each item within your rental property. Why isn't his cable bill at home a tax deduction since he uses it for education (he watched those flip it shows on real estate)?

I did quick check last night on a client that I had done some work on my own spreadsheet and seems to check out from itemized deduction changes and income tax rate changes. The only area I haven't verified was AMT which seemed higher than expected given the new higher limits and exemptions

I love eServices and have used it since the 90s. It makes being a tax pro much more enjoyable, and clients are impressed by my inside access to the IRS.

Scrapple is the food of the gods! I describe to newbies as 'rustic paté.

I could bring Crabcakes. First... Abby. Rich

Thanks everyone, Judy you did clear up my thinking. This client asked me so many questions in one interview and threw out various scenarios for me to consider, it became easy to get confused. Some home, he thought the 5k would be taken off as an expense because it was business funds used as a deposit to the building. The building is not finished nor is it in service. Knowing this validates my very first response that it is not deductible this year and all other expenses should be figured in the total cost then begin the depreciation. All is not lost but I hope I can put his mind at ease a bit. Thanks again

I guess I need to try voice. But, then I'll be one of those people walking around talking to themselves. Not to mention that most of my answers are not for public consumption. If I wouldn't stand in the checkout line answering aloud someone's personal tax question or wouldn't take a brief break at a client's biz site to call a different client with a personal answer, then I don't want to use voice-activated messaging to respond to my clients unless I'm securely in my office. As long as I'm in my office, I'll just email my responses. Except for that H&W who ONLY text !!

Just came down late last night. I ran it on my Test Client file and it looks good. The new higher income limits for child tax credit helped on this test file, as did the QBI deduction. And even though the actual tax was higher, the child and family tax credits reduced the tax by almost 60%.

I've already had the unsatisfactory email exchange with support and have looked multiple times at the efile status on the website but 3 of my 1099's efiled from Jan. 29 are still in transmitted status while one on Jan 30 was accepted Feb. 2 and one on Jan. 13 was accepted on Jan. 23. The message is IRS is slow and don't retransmit but why the disparity in these? Not really expecting answers, just want some understanding (sniff, sniff).

Actually this is pretty basic and has been required for a number of years now. There is a separate release for individuals and businesses.

So... Today's banner ad at the top of Yahoo, for me, was from TurboTax. It has a picture of a W2, from "Coffee Shop" that has Box 1 & 2 with amounts in it. Covering up the rest of the W2 is a TurboTax box with "GREAT REFUND" "Thumbs UP!" and $3,052 as the federal refund. So... Of Course, I have to test it. Open up a new client 1040 in ATX, input the gross wages of $24,128, and Fed WH of $4,088. Single, Standard Deduction, claim your exemption... I mean this is a millennial working in a coffee shop, right? The ATX refund is only $2,495. Where do YOU think the difference of $557 is? IT would not be that TurboTax is lying, would it? Rich

A quick trial and error got me almost exactly to the TT refund by using an IRA contribution of 10% of taxable wages. With the lower income and a $200 retirement savings credit, I come out to a refund of $3,055. A single person supporting themselves on $24K a year definitely has an extra $2K in reserve to contribute, right? Plus, the amount of FWT for that income is very inflated. Nice tricks by TT where the average person would never catch the deception!

I have it with the new program update in MAX and have tried it on a couple of simple returns. Are you sure you added the form to the return? It automatically updated for me.

Somebody tag a date for this swaray so we can get started with some serious planning. Do I understand that Crossville, TN is the location?

I'll bring the beer from Dogfish Head brewery because some may not fully appreciate scrapple. Or I could bring locally grown fancy mushrooms delicious when marinaded and grilled. We still have plenty of mushroom houses within driving distance.

I could bring Cincinnati Chili! It's different.

My observed and experienced opinion: There will be no action by Congress on any level concerning extenders. I am willing to bet anyone a banana split on this one!!

You know in all seriousness I think it would be great for someone to host a get together and everybody bring popular eats from your neck of the woods. Anybody game?

AOC and LLC and business-related education. But, no Tuition & Fees Deduction, unless extended for 2017. Or, are you asking about 2018?

It's being discussed but I don't have a good feeling that there will be agreement between House and Senate, or the fact it's being mentioned to revisit the extenders later in the year. My own feeling is that if agreement isn't soon then it might just be dead in the water, because really, how long into this year can this go before deciding that making laws retroactive and applicable to 2017 is not acceptable. I tried to find a good nonpartisan article, if there is one, and this from Reuters is best I could come up with, but it talks more about industry-specific extenders and not the more generic ones like most of us here are probably waiting for: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-tax-extenders/house-republicans-to-scrutinize-narrow-extender-tax-breaks-idUSKBN1FQ394 If this post or the article seems too political for anyone, just hit the "report" function and I'll take it down.

I use google voice as a text to email system. I can reply to all emails (even the text to email) via desktop keyboard, phone keyboard, or more often than not (since it is MUCH faster) voice response using my phone... Cuts my time creating replies by a large percentage.

I went over the bookkeeper's head and got the information, but really.

You should be able to right click and save photo to drive. I use Thunderbird and photos show inline but also as attachment. I keep forgetting I'm not on the official board and I don't have to keep my sentences short. Sorry if I sound Russian!

Aww, my grandmother used to make apple butter. And, as far as that photo of the body, I prefer a death certificate.

That's why they are still auditing. Apparently, the IRS is still collecting new tax each year.