Leaderboard

Okay, now we're getting silly but isn't this a fun 'relief' at this season's point?

Only if you keep a contemporaneous log

I went through my client list and gave everyone a 1 to 5 rating. 1's being clients that are a joy to work with, 2 and 3 room for improvement, 4's skating on thin ice but being given one more chance and 5's will be receiving an email to make other arrangements next year. 1's were over 50%, and 4-5 less than 10% but a source of excess frustration.

My clients all know that I've been scaling back. No longer doing accounting work or corp returns. They also know that in the next several years I may be totally retired. Letter letting them go will in some way reference scaling back. The rating system is a reminder to me how to answer when they ask how much longer I'll be in business. One's will be told as long as I'm still mentally sharp. Others may get an answer of "a couple years" or "five or so years" depending on the degree I want to keep them. All have been told that unless it's because of immediate health reasons, I'll give them at least a years notice. I don't have an issue if they are long term clients. Most have been PITA entire time. Back when I actually needed the money I'd be much more tolerant then now when the income is nice but not needed. I make a note on Excel sheet whenever I add a new client as to how they came to me. Most clients have at least one or several others clients that are their family, friend or co-worker. I do think harder on those if I want to release or keep.

Good thing there is a handy supply of paper right there to document your business purpose... Tom Longview, TX

Is it "ordinary and necessary" to "do your business" during working hours? Asking for another friend. Tom Longview, TX

I printed my client list in January. Because it's all a blur by April, anytime someone left my office and I wanted to scream, I highlighted their name. They will get a letter at the end of April saying I am no longer able to assist them. My problem is I have several families. I love Mom/Dad. I love sister/brother. But one family member is ridiculously difficult to deal with. It's been hard to figure out how to fire one and not all. My go to in the past has been to say "I no longer have the time to dedicate to a return as complicated as yours and since I want you to get the best service, please look for someone else." In my head, I'm saying "you are insufferable, and I don't like you. There is no amount of money that makes it worth it to have you sit across from me ever again and good luck finding someone like me who will put up with your $h1t." Sure. They may go out into the community and tell people I couldn't handle it. I don't care. My reputation speaks for itself and I'm not taking new clients anyway.

With all the poking and prodding going on in IRS systems, I'm afraid we may have another crash like 2018. Or even worse, they don't pick up the software generated withdrawal authorizations. I was planning on having everything submitted today but some clients can't seem to get their (*&^ together and get signed forms back.

Conspiracy theorists with the highest credentials who spoke on condition of anonomy claim the workers who were forced back to the office are sabotaging the end of tax season in their final days before exercising their buyouts. No one is available to confirm or deny these rumors. Film at 11. Tom Longview, TX

Faulty AI and no human to error check and correct?

Who could imagine this would get into such detail? Thanks, Catherine, for providing this 'fun' diversion in these last grueling days of the season. It's certainly led us into some interesting rabbit holes (just in time for Easter)!

Our clients can spend their money foolishly. But their record-keeping better be accurate and organized, so I can make sense of what's deductible.

Examples copied from Forbes: "The extension payment date for taxpayers who log into the IRS website is showing as incorrect. While payment should be made by April 15, 2025, taxpayers who log in to pay see an April 22, 2025, due date. The site says, "Your payment is due on April 22, 2025, regradless of filing for an extension." (Yes, the 'regradless' typo is on the IRS site, too)." "Errors appear in other spots on the website, too, including misidentifying the amended tax form as Form 104X (it's Form 1040X) that was recently “filled” instead of “filed.” "Account holders report that previously filed and processed tax forms (for tax years 2022 and 2023) are showing as now being processed even though those returns have already been processed. (I verified the errors by logging into my account.)" "One tax professional reported that the installment agreement option for making payments over five years (for a total of 60 months) only allowed taxpayers to make payments for five months." "The errors have been reported to the IRS. In a statement issued to Forbes, Scott Artman, CPA, the CEO of the National Association of Tax Professionals (NATP), the largest nonprofit organization that serves individuals specializing in tax preparation, noted, “Tax professionals rely on accurate, timely guidance from the IRS, especially in the final days leading up to the deadline. As soon as this issue was confirmed, we brought it to the IRS’s attention and have been assured that it has been communicated to the appropriate internal teams with a request for prompt resolution. We are hopeful the IRS will address the issue quickly to avoid any confusion for taxpayers and preparers." We already have enough chaos and uncertainty

Yes, I have filed one with Drake

I don't see a way. It only pulls from the filer email. Tom Longview, TX

Seeing as how the federal refund comes in less than two weeks, in most cases, I'll wait a week or so before amending.

it's tricky. We aren't always aware of the connections clients have with each other. I thought I had mine sorted but one of the clients I had "fired" called me for help with their partnership and I told him I was retired and he replied "No you're not."

Without water, how does a client flush the toilet when they go to the restroom? Just asking for a friend. Tom Longview, TX

You could have used actual expenses - gas, maintenance, insurance, etc. This way it doesn't matter what the mileage was, if it was 100% farm use. Then tell the client to keep a log from here on.

I may use that on a difficult meeting tomorrow!

I should do that, @jasdlm!

I'm getting old and spicy, and now, when people tell me something preposterous (or give me some crazy tax rule they 'know'), I look them straight in the eye and say, 'Did your hairdresser tell you that'? Stops them cold. Literally. You should try it. They look at me dumbfounded for a minute, then they usually chuckle, and then they remember that it's a 'fantasy tax scenario', and we never speak of it again. You have to be over 50 to pull this off, but I've now made the cut, and I use it every time.

They only time they remember something they do not want to hear is if their barber's wife's brother tells them!

That was not a conclusion based on the pub (which is not an authoritative cite) but on the code. FAQs are also not authority, and some have been proven wrong in the past. The average US household water usage is supposed to be about 300 gallons a day, how much of that is consumed in an an area dedicated 100% to an OIH as an ordinary and necessary business expense? For mine, I have to say about zero. Therefore it is not an allocable expense per the code. But that does not make it an ordinary and necessary business expense. And I am not worthy to cast the first stone in this case. We have a separate electric meter on our well. I have always included that as part of OIH utility cost; at least up until now. After reading the code and understanding the word "allocable" in accounting terms; and knowing our daily water use is about 100% personal for washing clothes, showers, watering lawns, washing vehicles ..etc, I cannot deduct it in good conscience. But as Sara pointed out, if we were running a daycare the cost of water would be an "allocable" expense.

Unlike electricity, gas, or heating oil, water is not allocable to an area used exclusively to the home office. There is direct benefit from the the utilities used to power, heat or cool the home office as ordinary and necessary expenses; the home office consumes a portion of those utilities and they are rightfully allocated per the code section. On the other hand, how much water is used as an ordinary and necessary expense in a home office? Notice that pub 587 does not include water as a utility allocable to a OIH: Utilities and services. Expenses for utilities and services, such as electricity, gas, trash removal, and cleaning services, are primarily personal expenses. However, if you use part of your home for business, you can deduct the business part of these expenses. Generally, the business percentage for utilities is the same as the percentage of your home used for business. Bottom line, water is not a cost of using a OIH so it is not allocable.

Well, that is one way to lessen the number of tax returns the IRS has to process, justifying the force reduction. s/s Super Sarcastic - funny not political. I hope you think it is funny. If Judy kicks me off the board I won't have anyone to talk to at all.... Tom Longview, TX

APIs are application programming interfaces, which enable different applications to exchange data and could be used to move IRS data to the cloud and access it there. DOGE has expressed an interest in the API project possibly touching all IRS data, which includes taxpayer names, addresses, social security numbers, tax returns, and employment data. Great. That's all we need. All our IRS data easily accessible in a cloud server.

According to this article an IRS "Hackathon" started 3 days ago: https://www.wired.com/story/palantir-doge-irs-mega-api-data/

Copied from Forbes: "It's a bold choice to make changes to the IRS website, especially on the payment end, days before Tax Day, prompting questions about why that might have happened. It’s not clear when the changes were made—so far, there's been no answer. However, on Wednesday, Elon Musk tweeted out on X (formerly Twitter) that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) had made a fix to the IRS website:"