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There are so many variables that conversion decisions are just speculative in my opinion. There are some circumstances when it makes a lot of sense (i.e. one off business loss that drives income negative, so you have room to covert for free) but if you are looking at a linear income stream, you are just making educated guesses about tax rates, inflation rates and investment growth rates. Any of these items can make the best thought out projection look silly a couple of years from now. Tom Longview, TX

You are not allowed to give those records to anyone except the soon-to-be former client without her written consent to release the information. Personally, I wouldn't do that even with permission because that opens yourself up to be a responsible party for those documents being conveyed to her next preparer and this (missing docs) is already her complaint against you. Why would you give her another opportunity to blame you again if there is something SHE has missed giving you in what you have for 2022.

I would fire immediately based on the threat, then do nothing. No need to file a claim or take any action based on a childish threat. Any customer who leads with or starts with some sort of threat immediacy becomes an ex customer. In my case, threats are usually to cancel, to challenge a charge card payment, or to post bad reviews. These are almost allays the first sentence in the first message in a thread. It seems safe to believe these folks have Come to believe being unprofessional is the way to get things done.

This would be my choice: Have her pick up in person, because she dropped off in person? Have her sign a receipt listing her documents picked up?

My financial planning software will almost always say to convert and will tell you that you've saved $x in taxes. I'm very reluctant because I don't know what the tax code will say in 15 years. How do I know they won't tax ROTH distributions over a certain level of income? At one time it was unthinkable that people would pay taxes on Social Security benefits and most people do today. My teacher friends and clients have been told their entire careers that they'll never pay state taxes on their public pensions and most of them do.

Back to the investment people that have convinced my not so rich clients to convert all their Traditionals to Roth. In my area, most of my clients will pay higher taxes now as they are working class. And they will have less income when they retire. So whose making money on conversion transactions....

"Things are getting better at the Internal Revenue Service, according to National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins but there's still some way to go: That's reflected in some of the statistics she shared on the tax returns and correspondence that are backlogged at the agency, including at last count: 3.7 million amended returns; 6.8 million other returns that are "in suspense" — they're missing a form or a signature or are what she described as "otherwise unpostable;" and, 5.3 million pieces of correspondence. One of the things the customer service reps do in their downtime is process paper — correspondence and amended returns. If you're answering the phones 80-90% of the time, guess what you're not doing? Processing paper. And we're now back to a backlog of paper correspondence and amended returns like a year ago." Sounds like the IRS is playing "Whack a Mole"

Likely the wisest steps. If the neighbor wanted to get involved, the client would already have given you the neighbors signed and backed by their license and e&o opinion letter. Instead, you likely have a no evidence based threat to get you to pay for their mistake A younger me would handle it differently, but age and experience has taught me not to waste time on folks who handle themselves in such a manner. And that paying for insurance is a reason to use the service one is paying for.

The funds were used to purchase another vehicle. Their accountant showed the gain as a negative "Other Expense" and added the gain to "Other Income". That makes everything a wash which I cannot believe is correct. I will ask the owner but I think it is a safe assumption (dangerous I know) the funds were deposited into the OP account. I know there was no dealership trade-in.

Excellent question, was it included in sales or was it posted to a balance sheet account?

Where did the money go? If it was deposited into the corporate bank account, it had to be accounted for somehow. Right? Or does this S corp not keep books?

I'm talking about her 2022 original documentation.

She already picked up a physical folder of her 2021 returns, and I uploaded a set to FileShare and sent complete copies via eSign. No future set unless she pays her $800 fee to me! And, picks them up in person AND signs for them.

whack a mole gif

Same as are taught to sports officials, personal, profane, and/or prolonged is a request to be ejected. For pro sports, profane is ignored. For amateur games, profane may be ignored if no spectator could have heard it, depending on the situation.

Some people have the strategy of either purposefully trying to offload responsibility, believe responsibility cannot possibly be theirs, or have a plan to defer and deflect as long as possible.

https://aicpa.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_aa5EQzeg1YWQ8uy I gave ATX some bad scores for not adding all the forms we need.

We have a big problem here with thieves crawling under cars with a saws all and removing catalytic converters. They will hit apartment complexes, college campuses, and other large parking lots, stealing the convertors. Wonder how many stolen convertors they purchased!

I have one like that now. Retired teacher who neglected to give me her NY and CT 2021 Forms 1099-R. I knew she needed them (long-time client) but she claimed she gave them to me with her 2021 tax info in October 2022. She finally obtained duplicates from NY and CT in February 2023. Now she says her neighbor the CPA tells her that I should pay all her penalties and interest because I filed her returns so late!! She is threatening further action if I don't "do the ethical thing." I've contacted my E&O provider who wants me to file a claim. Very time-consuming. In the meantime, she dropped off her 2022 tax info; I filed 2022 extensions for her. And, of course, she did NOT pay my 2021 fee. (She said she was leaving me a check when she picked up her 2021 tax return folder, but she did not.) By the way, this woman has been communicating electronically and was one of my first to use CCH's eSign to sign her returns and receive her review copy a few years ago. But for some reason this year she said she cannot use FileShare that she's used for years nor eSign, not even email except when she chooses to email me. She has been mailing things like the missing Forms 1099-R and Form 8879, adding weeks to our 2021 preparation time.

I mentioned it a long time ago that one of my best friends is going to prison for Medicare Fraud. He's plead guilty finally and is scheduled to be sentenced in a few weeks. We are having lunch tomorrow and I'm interested to hear what he has to say. Our previous luncheons have been interesting. Per the sentencing guidelines I think he'll get 4 years (out in 2) and then 3 years of house arrest. The key will be how much money he has left and whether they'll be able to keep the house when it's over. One thing I've learned, when you withdraw money from your retirement account to pay a court order of restitution, that's taxable and he'll owe a penalty for early withdrawal. I'm wondering if his previous accountant isn't going to do a whistleblower case on him to get the IRS to come after his expenses claimed on an illegal kickback scheme. Not that he'll have any money most likely.