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I get tips all the time! "Get a haircut" "Lose some weight" "Exercise more" I write them off!

I'm working on some continuing education - like to get the bulk of it done before vacation each year! The segment is on tip income and I notice something odd: When most people think of a profession that is largely driven by tips, naturally the food service/restaurant industry comes to mind. Few other professions rely as heavily on the generosity of their clients instead of the pay of their employer. However, there are a significant number of other jobs and professions that do count on gratuities to supplement, if not comprise the bulk of, their regular income. Some examples of these other industries include: taxi/limousine drivers hairdressers/stylists/ barbers card dealers/casino workers golf caddies airport skycaps/employees bartenders hotel employees/housekeeping staff delivery people landscaping/gardeners exotic dancers child care providers valet parking attendants pet groomers gym attendants manicurists/pedicurists masseuses tax preparers We are supposed to be getting tips?

I had a nice couple in my office a year ago and he was starting his own business. I was looking over their bookkeeping in QB and they could tell I was getting a little exasperated. They went out and bought me a bottle of Kirk and Sweeney 23 rum, that goes for about $60. I only recently finished it.

Got a big one yesterday. Won an EIC audit for a client. They got a big check - so they added 50% extra to the check they sent me for my bill. BTW, they were totally entitled to the EIC, these were not scammers. I like it when the good guys win and the nasty tax agents without a clue lose. Makes me feel good to get for my clients what the tax law says they should get. Tom Modesto, CA

Was happy I could just leave a healthy tip for a hair pro. Not that I care how my hair looks, but my DW and DD like to get their hair done, and I usually get a cut when they go. I like to also give two singles, one for each of her kids...

Years ago when I worked at HRB, I had ONE client who'd tip me. He was a state policeman. Actually, he'd bring his mother for her tax return and tip me on behalf of her, also. I do have clients who bring me flowers sometimes and have had some food from time to time. But, not often, not often at all. This year with no one coming to my home office, I haven't received anything. But, I don't remember receiving anything last year, either. I have colleagues tell me they get a pricey bottle of their favorite liquor each year!

We've been giving HUGE tips when we pick up food and to the UPS/FedEx/mailman who deliver to our house, etc., to show our appreciation. We paid our house cleaner to NOT work. The size tips we give each Christmas, but we'll still tip big at Christmas. My hairdresser opened up this week, but I'm not ready to go yet. I've set aside big tips for her and for my nail lady when I'm ready to go out.

I've had several clients pay me more than my fee. Said my fees are too low. They are rare though. And yes, my fees are too low. Received a bottle of wine once and a gift card from a restaurant once.

I received a tip from a client I had billed back in April, God bless her.

I have received one plant for Christmas. In 2010 I think. That's all I have ever received from anyone. People in my entitlement zone think they are paying me too much to begin with. But I have a client that is a hairdresser, and he literally places his fees at odd dollar amounts just so people will say "keep the change". That's the only tip he gets. I might employ his strategies and try to pick up an extra 2 or 3 dollars.

Tip on how to clean your bird...............

I love real books. I read in the tub every night to wind down and I don't want my phone or tablet in there. I've already had books fall in. I'm currently reading a chapter or two of the Outlander books a night. I'm just finishing the third book and have the next one ready. I know that half price books has opened here and have a large stack to trade in. Our libraries are not open yet, but they are working on curbside pickup. I do read ebooks when I'm traveling or don't want to bother anyone with a light.

NOT!. I just enjoyed reading a new novel my son gave to me. Sitting in the air conditioned room in an easy chair with a cold beverage on the side table and wasting away a hot day while reading a good novel is superior to sitting in front of a computer or tablet any day. And not a single ad or popup or message from my book ever happens. We will have to agree to disagree on this one my friend. Tom Modesto, CA

I was an early adopter of electronic/PDF tax research and, of course, there were those who still "preferred paper," even though you can't do a word search in paper, and you can't copy/paste into a letter or email. Still we have people who prefer paper newspapers and books, even though the e-versions are superior in every way.

That was just about my first paid work. My dad would bring the big books and the new pages home from his office, and pay me to swap out the outdated pages for the new ones. I think I was about 9 or 10.

My tax client landscaper finally showed up! Saturday.. So I am showing him around and trying to be nice but on his case but how I was to be first and he did a gorgeous job on the relatives rock wall on the corner and I understand they had to be first, but you know he promised me I would be first, blah, blah, nicely, and I do his taxes and we're neighbors and Ill pay him a $100 extra - I tell him people tell me that also.. And you know what he said?! Nothing! I guess I need to try that when clients are rattling my cage. Silence is golden.

Thank you! They have a lawyer friend.. too bad he doesn't do taxes!! d

I once sent a prospective client to a large CPA firm because he was a shareholder in a corporation that was a holding company for other entities. He wouldn't provide organization documents and BSed like a salesman and told me how he wanted the return(s) to turn out. I didn't want him for a client and didn't have time to see if he could be trained.

My first tax season was as an intern through college in 1979. We prepared them by hand in pencil, then used copy paper and ink after review. I was the grunt that filed all of the CCH pages in the tax library. In the early 80s, we had an ice storm and I crawled across the parking lot to get into my car. It slid down my parking lot's hill on the ice and I could not move it for anything. My boss said I had to come in and he would send somebody to get me. A client with a tow truck came and pulled my car up the hill and carried me across to their truck to take me to work! I guess I was essential.

I just finished taking another look at the Drake Accounting Payroll Function. Probably the biggest improvement is that they now efile Forms 94x. They finally recognized that their software wasn't handling Oregon's Statewide Transit Tax and Worker's Benefit Fund correctly. I understand that Oregon is a smaller state clear across the country, but you shouldn't advertise that your software is efile compliant in all 50 states, when it isn't !!! Had a long conversation with a very nice support person. I will check back again next May to see if they had made enough improvements to make the software's live payroll functional enough for me to use in Oregon.