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Client shows up March 9th and asks "how late can I bring in my stuff and get my corporate return done by the deadline". Our response was "two weeks ago but we can file the extension now". He agrees to that and sets an appointment for March 22 to bring in his info and go over it with me because "some things have changed". March 22nd comes and goes and he is a no show. Having heard nothing more by April 15th, we opt to not file a personal extension (since the rule is that we need positive confirmation from the client in order to file an extension) and (since we assumed he went elsewhere due to the March 22nd no show). Fast forward to Cinco de Mayo - today. Wife calls to ask if we can expedite their corporate and personal returns if they bring the info in today because "the school" needs copies of their returns. Really?!?!?!? Come on man!!!! We told her that we are booked solid until the end of June - and that is the veryy best we can do. She said she will have to check with her husband. This is the same client that stopped into the office a couple years ago around the beginning of the second week of April and said he is dropping off his stuff so we can get the return done by the 15th. Well that didn't happen. But he did get my blood pressure up that year when he said he has had "the stuff" riding around in his car since early February. And he drives past my office two times per day during my open hours. Gggrrrrr!!!!! OK - I am done with that. I feel better. Thanks for listening!

Hey Doug--thanks for the encouragement. After the first denial we resubmitted with THREE doctors certifying she was disabled. They summarily rejected it again. That occurred as we were in the midst of moving (a massive ordeal, given her condition). After we got settled in we called and they admitted that they did not even consider the doctors' affadavits. And they informed us that we had exhausted our appeals and the deadline for filing had passed. We gave up. A couple months ago we discovered that was not true so we engaged a new attorney and began the process again. Update on the pricing issue. I sent out a price increase notice to all my accounting clients and got one response--essentially 'we're delighted with your service and happy to pay the higher fee.' The rest apparently just yawned and went back to sleep.The bottom line--no fall out whatsoever (he says with a goofy little grin plastered all over his face). I plan to send a newsletter to all my tax clients in the next month or so alerting them to the new schema. I hope I get the same results!

I feel your pain. A while back I had a client/personal friend who dropped his stuff off at 7pm on April 15. Said he & his wife were on their way out to have dinner; said he'd be back before 10 to pick it up. Stupid me. I raged under my breath ... but did it. Here's the kicker. The next year he decided to try another preparer closer to his home. I haven't seen him since! Works for me.

I'm back, I could not remember which gmail account I used back in 2008

​Sounds like a good way to handle it. Don't hold your breath, but I may have poked around and fixed the screen appearance problem. Was searching the Sage Knowledgebase, and yep, others have had the problem. One suggestion was make sure DPI is set to "smaller or 100%." Mine was on 125%. I changed it and have not had the wonky appearance issue. Yet. Now we wait... And hope every other program doesn't look screwy now.

Thank you all! I have sent the info to the client and we'll see how much they grumble. I can't change a fundamental feature of the program for them so maybe they will just need to put on their big girl panties and deal.

​Accuwage is recommended but not absolutely required. For example, it gives me a warning every year when I file my own W-2 from my firm because the employer EIN and ERO's EIN are the same, and it asks if I'm sure that I want to continue. Using ATX for the W-2 and 1099 filings is well worth the $1.50 per client, if that is all the charge is, because of the rollover feature that saves time and reduces the chance of typos when entering names, addresses and EINs each year into the BSO area of the SSA site.

​You can always change it back and forth when working on Sage50. Possibly less of a pain in the patootie than the wonky screen of illegibility showing up randomly.

JJ: You get the "first time" error abatement just by asking. Its the second time. Or the third. And it is not about the automation, its about being aggressive. And they are CERTAINLY being more aggressive. Non-Profits with gross revenues of $10k getting penalties of $1,700 to $2k. Never used to happen. And then, rejected the abatement request. Its gonna get worse. I am updating my engagement letter to state that *I* am not responsible for your extensions and/or penalties. Rich

I agree that more penalties are being assessed but I attribute that to 'improved' ability to catch errors via automation. That said, I've found that if the client had no prior problems and if you approach them nicely (i.e., not adversarially), the IRS is pretty good about abating penalties.In fact, over the past number of years I've never failed to get an abatement for a first time error.

So, Catherine, your clients are wanting RE to update with each Journal Entry, is that right? I think the reason the software doesn't do that is because dividends frequently get paid out at year end, and RE is a picture of how the company is managing profits. They don't really know till the end. You could tell them that, and if they believe you, they might let it go. But, you asked for a work around - I've had to make Excel reports when people didn't like the accounting software presentation. PapeJoe's suggestion also sounds good, but I gotta admit, I don't mess with the reports too much.

We print them out of QuickBooks on plain paper and mail them in.

Absolutely ask for abatement. I just got one abated for over $4,000. The IRS is definitely more aggressive with penalties for everything. Explain the circumstances with as much detail as possible. I'm fighting one now on a 941 that had a liability of $2,200 which was paid with the return and they have penalized them for not making monthly deposits. When the taxpayer called they told him that they were required to pay it monthly. I guess they should actually look at a 941 and see the requirements. I have written two letters and have an additional phone call in to them. This should have been an easy fix, but I think that they have people answering the phone now, that aren't well trained.

while I am almost totally paperless, for me its more for storage than working files. I pdf everything but keep the paper for the 3 open years then shred. as an old timer I just like paper for working. My offsite storage is almost empty but my current files are nice and full. Every 10/15 they get purged of the oldest year.

Jack, I have never gotten the AccuWage to work right - so gave up on that. CBSLEE, yours is a great idea. I will ask Bill Fox to provide the efile fee information in writing. We'll see how much he waffles.

​Lynn, Thanks for the info. I think I am going to request this in writing before I renew. We all know that the ATX Sales Department and the rest of the company don't seem to be working with the same information often enough for all of us to be wary. "Trust but Verify !"