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I learned a long time ago that tax policy will never be fair, as "fair" is a subjective term.

The 65 restriction does NOT apply if there are qualifying children.

Four days after signatures, he gave me a debit card number. Returns were submitted and accepted, and his copies mailed to him (first class, not Priority). I'm done with him, and it was technically only a day later than we are "supposed" to wait. But it also took him three different promised times to call me to pay before he came through. At some point in the next few weeks I'll make sure he knows that was a last-time courtesy for his mom's sake, and that I have no unaffiliated individual clients that I work with under the age of 80. (That last is true; sold off the bulk of my practice some years ago. Kept the elderlies 'cuz change is too hard for them plus - let's face it - they're not long-term clients. Also kept family and a few friends and charity cases that I do for a song. Anyone who wanders in new gets referred out to the guys who bought me out. He is not his mom, and he's under 80, so he's also history. Better ask the guys if they want him, or not...)

I think this is especially unfair when one considers how many grandparents or foster parents are 65+, still working and having all the same responsibilities and more of many younger people. It is income restricted so only low income people qualify anyway. And people in increasing numbers, I believe, must continue to work instead of retiring. If having worked in low wage jobs, often without retirement plans, they could use a little boost, in my opinion.

She prepared the last-known returns from her office in Florida. At this point I'll wait for the POA to be uploaded by the CAF unit, and see if there is a record of return filed for those two years. If they're filed, we're done. If they're not filed, I have prepared returns to enter in my system and I'll get them submitted.

Exactly what I base my decisions on as well. With ATX's 2012 disaster, I wasn't about to risk my entire season on a potentially unstable program, and certainly not for the price and lack of support. Once I moved to Drake and learned the program, its overall performance and value for the $ has been a good fit for my practice. I will reevaluate if that changes, as I would with any software or business tool.

Of course, you are correct. I was just angry and stating my opinion. Thank you Kathy!

I suspected this was going to be a one trick pony. What about all that age discrimination you once heard about ? It seems to me patently unfair that a 25 year old qualifies but a 65 year old does not.

Obituaries?

Wow, sounds like Drake is going down the same road as ATX. There was a time when we talked about ATX support like it was the best, cause it was! Then it started churning through new owners and the first thing to go was customer support. Sad to hear it is happening at Drake as well. I almost pulled the trigger after 2012, but I just love the form input and bunny hop in ATX. I think I am staying with ATX unless they give me a good reason to drop them. I don't stay for any sense of loyalty or nostalgia, just a business decision on my part. Tom Longview, TX

Let it lapse due to retiring, moving south?

Maybe the best thing will be that he doesn't pay you and is so embarrassed that he is ashamed to contact you again. I've had a couple of situations like that over the years, and decided that never hearing from them any more was worth the value of the unpaid bill.

do you think this guy is going to hurt your business if he badmouths it? Then file it. If not...send him his paperwork back with a note saying that you cannot provide services for free. Life is too short to sweat these things. Do what you want to do in your business, for reasons that you don't need to explain to anyone. Even the deadbeat kid. Tom Longview, TX

Not really, and for anyone else I would file and not worry about payment. This guy is different. Loser son of a very nice couple (now deceased). His mom paid for his returns to be done for years, but she's gone now. This will be the last time I help him - he can go to the big box store of his choice in the future. Good news, though - he emailed me back (I had tried one more time) and promises to call tomorrow late morning with a debit card. If that happens, I can file. If not, I still don't know what to do.

Most of my clients are business clients, however for my non business clients I insist of payment at the same time as their efile authorization, no exceptions. I learned that lesson my second year in business when I let a business client get several months behind. I lost $1,000 (back when that was a significant amount of money) when my client filed bankruptcy. He ending up keeping a really nice house on the Mckenzie River and left everyone else in the lurch to the tune of over $500,000. Apparently he had a good Attorney because he was back in the same business under a different name as soon as his Chapter 7 finalized.

IRS website Directory of Federal Tax Return Prepares https://irs.treasury.gov/rpo/rpo.jsf

Inside ATX, you print the Questionnaire to a pdf file. Open the file you just created in Kofax. At the top of the screen go to Forms. Select Form Typer (this converts to a fillable pdf). Save it, then upload or email it.

Can I change your I hate quickbooks to “I hate quickbooks clients that don’t know accounting”. I have heard of some accountants charge an arm to fix their clients QB mistakes. I also hate quickbooks but only the online version.

The IRS offers a variety of e-newsletters, as do NATP, NAEA, and most of your professional organizations. Some of your favorite speakers would have newsletters, many free. Here's a free e-newsletter from a couple who are great researchers: David & Mary Mellem, EAs & Ashwaubenon Tax Professionals, 920-496-1065 (fax 920-496-9111). If you know of someone who would like to be added to our email list, have them send us an email with SUBSCRIBE in the Subject line. [email protected]

You can put ATX on as many computers as you want, but you can only login to ATX up to the number of licenses you own, and each user can only be logged in on one device at a time.