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On another board, a couple of years ago, one tax pro wrote in with his story: He'd always heard the "double their fee every year until you like them OR they go away" and decided to try it in his main PITA client. Bookkeeping, tax, tons of long-winded questions, the same mistakes every month - we all know the type. Was charging him $1,250/year. Doubled it to $2,500/year and they STILL drove him nuts. Doubled the next year to $5,000 and he still could not stand them. Doubled it *again* to $10,000 - and they are now some of his favorite clients! They pay on time, make the same mistakes and call with the same long-winded questions -- but now that he is getting compensated fairly, (as my older daughter says) "it's all shiny!" One key is the "paying on time" part. I doubt they would be his favorite clients if he had to hound them to pay his bills. Maybe, Sara, it's time to double their fee.

Strange, the link worked when I posted it, because I tested it. Going to try to find a better link. Here is a different story on the same subject, tho. For some shelter dogs, Fourth of July may mean independence@sandybankslatThe 'red list' has left the building, thanks to volunteers: For some shelter dogs, this July 4th meant independence http://t.co/eYf3MMTzbLDog rescueMolly Chance holds her foster dog Loki, whom she took home despite a warning on the cage of behavioral issues. (Faith-Michele Photography)The call for help went out Thursday, as the "red list" of dogs scheduled for execution at the East Valley Animal Shelter grew. The shelter in Van Nuys needed temporary homes for dozens of dogs to make room for all the pets likely to be spooked by fireworks and run away from home. If there wasn't enough kennel space, dogs would have to be euthanized to accommodate the newcomers. "If you or anyone you know can FOSTER a dog for just 4 days … you can save a life," read the post on the Friends of East Valley Animal Services Facebook page. It included a gallery of photos, mostly pit bull mixes and small senior dogs. By Saturday afternoon, the post had been shared more than 2,000 times and the shelter lobby was so crowded with would-be fosters that every at-risk dog had a temporary home. "We went nonstop, and at the end of the day we had empty cages," animal care technician Veronica Perry said. In eight years of working the week of July Fourth, she had never seen that before. All city shelters have foster programs, but they don't get much attention. People fear the open-ended commitment and worry that they might fall in love with a pet they don't have time for or can't afford. So Perry tweaked the East Valley program to allow short-term bailouts; the dogs would be gone just long enough to give runaway pets time to be picked up by their owners. "I thought I'd get a few of my [regular] volunteers and Facebook friends," she said. Instead, she drew people such as Briana Figueras, who took home a little Brussels Griffon named Chex. She's allergic to Chex, and her own dog doesn't care for him. "But it's four days of your life, and you save the life of a dog," she said. Such a straightforward pact. That's the beauty of this program. It's a triumph of love and ingenuity over habit and rules. It shows the reach of social media, the value of creative teams and the power of animal love. The Fourth of July is the worst holiday of the year for animal lovers. Shelter officials know how many runaways to expect. They have to make room for them and, for all our good intentions and no-kill rhetoric, euthanasia has been the way to do that. "On Wednesday, they started killing dogs," JD Disalvatore said. "At East Valley, we lost several beautiful, perfect dogs. That's how we see it." It's painful to volunteers and employees. "You just want to go home and put your head in the oven," she said. "You're desperate to find ways to help." Disalvatore is an award-winning filmmaker. Her way of helping is making videos of shelter animals. A "kitten season" montage she produced last spring found foster homes for dozens of cats.Now she's loading the shelter's Facebook page with heart-warming photos and video updates of dogs in their foster homes: the pit bull cuddling in bed with her foster mom and the shepherd taking a jog around Silver Lake reservoir. "When I'm at the shelter videotaping these dogs, I look into the cages and they are shaking, they are scared, they are crying," Disalvatore said. "It's shocking to see how different they are when they are living in homes with families." That's what makes fostering so important. It's hard to know what a dog is like when all you see is that angry, frightened, bewildered creature, barking or cowering in a metal cage. Fostering is a way to try a dog you like — or help an unappealing pooch build a better resume. A temporary owner can chronicle a dog's temperament, encourage good behavior and practice basic skills. That makes dogs more adoptable, and turns foster parents into cheerleaders. Dani Collins took two dogs on Friday: Bear, a goofy Husky-Lab mix, and Hugh, a shy Rhodesian Ridgeback mix ignored by shelter visitors. In her home, Hugh was no wallflower. "He's Mr. Social and really smart," she said. "He loves to play fetch. He's been crate-trained and has already picked up on leash-walking manners. He's really polite to other dogs, even little tiny ones." Handsome Hugh, as she calls him now, was just lonely and needed love. He arrived at the shelter with his outgoing sister, who was adopted right away. "He'd been there for weeks on end, with no one looking at him," Collins said. "Sitting in the back of the shelter, he was really, really sad." She might not be able to keep the pair — her 6-year-old pit bull wouldn't like that — but she's tapping her network of animal lovers to find them permanent homes. Most of the 64 dogs that left the shelter last weekend won't be caged again. Many already have been adopted and others will find homes with rescue groups when their stints with fosters end. Dogs that seemed doomed got more than a reprieve; they have a new lease on life. Little Loki might be the poster child for that. He was brought to the shelter two months ago by his family, who left him and never looked back. He's old, he's black, he's scared of his own shadow and he shrieks when people come near him. If anyone was ever interested, the "behavioral issues" tag on his kennel was apt to scare them away. If anyone asked to see him, he had to be dragged out whimpering. That was exactly what Molly Chance was looking for. "If I get a dog out, I want to be sure I'm saving a life," she said. Loki was so scared, he wet himself when she reached to pet him. That sealed the deal for her. She took him home Friday. On Monday, they spent the day at the dog park, then stopped to socialize at an outdoor cafe. "He's making friends, wagging his tail, giving kisses to everyone. It's amazing," Chance said. "People fall in love with him wherever we go." She might not keep him when her foster term's up, but he's never going back to the shelter. [email protected] Twitter: @SandyBanksLAT Copyright © 2015, Los Angeles Times

Too cute, indeed! I could watch those things for hours and accomplish nothing but affixing a permanent smile on my face. Thanks for sharing!

IRS Phone Scam Ringleader Gets 14-Year Sentence A scammer who organized a scheme in which taxpayers were threatened with calls purporting to come from the Internal Revenue Service and the FBI demanding payment has been sentenced to 14 years in prison. Sahil Patel was sentenced to 175 months in prison and $1 million in forfeiture for his role in organizing the U.S. side of a massive fraud and extortion ring run through various “call centers” located in India, through which Patel and his co-conspirators impersonated American law enforcement officials and threatened victims with arrest and financial penalties unless those victims made payments to avoid purported charges. In addition to the prison sentence, Patel, 36, of Tatamy, Pa., was sentenced to three years of supervised release. SourceMedia's Partner Insights program enables marketers to deliver relevant content and insights directly to the Accounting Today audience via SourceMedia's digital media platforms. Partner Insights content is produced by the marketer. To find out more, contact Jack Lynch at [email protected] Patel pleaded guilty in January 2015 before U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein, who imposed the sentence Wednesday. “The nature of this crime robbed people of their identities and their money in a way that causes people to feel they have been almost destroyed,” said Hellerstein. According to prosecutors, from Dec. 2011 through the day of his arrest on Dec. 18, 2013, Patel participated as a leader in a sophisticated scheme to intimidate and defraud hundreds of innocent victims of hundreds of dollars apiece. Throughout the course of the fraud, telephone call centers located in India hired English-speaking employees to place telephone calls to individuals living in the U.S. Armed with long lists of potential victims, referred to by Patel and his co-conspirators as “lead sheets,” those India-based callers systematically placed thousands of calls to individuals in the U.S. in the hopes of intimidating the call recipients into providing a payment to the co-conspirators. To extort these victims, the India-based callers impersonated law enforcement officials of the FBI and IRS and threatened their victims with financial penalties and arrest in connection with fabricated financial crimes. “Sahil Patel’s elaborate scheme involved impersonating law enforcement officers and using intimidation and fear to bilk over a million dollars from hundreds of unsuspecting victims,” said Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in a statement. In order to receive funds in a manner that would mask the identity of Patel and his co-conspirators, the ring undertook several measures to anonymize itself, including by using anonymized voice-over-internet technology, which was subscribed under fraudulent names in order to give the appearance of being related to U.S. law enforcement agencies. Patel and his co-conspirators also used several layers of wire transactions in order to conceal the destination and nature of the extorted payments, which totaled at least $1.2 million. The scam has been continuing and on the rise this year despite Patel’s arrest. Taxpayers who have been targeted by the scam can report the incident to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration at www.tigta.gov and clicking on the IRS Impersonation Scam Reporting tab in the upper right corner, or call the TIGTA hotline at 1-800-366-4484

Considering the pain and fear - and the kind of threat used - I'd go for execution. But I'm mean and cannot abide those who terrorize others for fun and profit.

he isn't the only one because it is still going on.

I actually grew up with nothing but Australian Shepherds. They are about the smartest dog I have ever seen. As puppies they are adorable as the video shows. Thanks for sharing.

Yes, if you didn't smile at that one, you'd be either dead or comatose,

It is a scam. I researched it when I got the same letter. Stay away from it. Do not respond to it, either. That response will validate your email address to the scammers.

I don't think so, I think they are required to store their common sense in the SS Lockbox while they are in office.

We require a copy of the account statement from the college. You can only claim amounts PAID in any given year. 1098-T information is worthless.

Cancer should have known better than to pick a fight with Marilyn!!