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In an bold business move that will save lives, I am changing this question I ask clients: Do you have an e-mail address? Do you have an e-mail address that you check every %^&$ once in a while?

Same guy as last year is stringing me out until the very last second again, so he gets fired. He owes $60k. I've explained the pain that a failure to file penalty will cause him. Still, I will be begging for the signed 8879 forms up until around 3PM on 10/17.

Next person who calls me is going to the absolute bottom of this list - or maybe the absolute bottom of the shred pile.

The firm where I work part time is closed on Fridays from May 30 to Jan 31. We publicize that all extended returns must be in our office by Oct. 1. I had 3 emails at 4:30 today saying they were overnighting their information to us so it would be here Saturday. Imagine their surprise when we open on Monday... I agree with Catherine, I am not paid to baby sit irresponsible apathetic people. 9 months is long enough for ANYONE to collect and gather their tax information. All of our extended clients have been mailed a reminder letter each month for the last 3 months. I have a list of 19 that still have not sent information to us. At least 10 typically owe around $5K. I have lost all sympathy for those folks. Let the penalties roll!!!

This post has made me realize 3 things about myself: 1. I'm not intolerant. 2. I can be polite as usual, even under extenuating circumstances. 3. I'm not a son of a bitch, unless I should be, it's those extenuating circumstances that makes everything alright if I tend to lose it a little . It's nice to know I'm normal and not alone. Thanks everyone for saving me a ton of money at the next practitioner therapy session. I'll be spending the savings on a nice dinner somewhere.

I wish telling someone they owe taxes was just as exciting when a doctor says "it's a boy" or "it's a girl"

I am doing my best but my brain reset itself some time early this week and told me, "THEY haven't cared all year - why should YOU bust your butt to finish? They still won't get here to SIGN the 8879's on time; you KNOW that." So I am plugging away and not letting myself (a) stay too late, (b) stress out, or (c) worry about them. I'm actually not real sure how I feel about this new laissez-faire attitude; it's VERY strange and not my usual. Over time, I may get to like it.

My ATX software crashed today, and I lost 2 1/2 hours worth of work. The automatic backup, which I enabled, had last 'backed up' 3 hours prior, so it was of no use. What the Heck? Did I mention that I really don't care for this week?

Thank you for this article. My calls have stopped as well. Glad they got these thugs.

I am so glad that I do not do extensions. I could not stand theses clients. After tax season I work two days a week mostly doing representation. I do not understand why these people can not have their stuff ready on time. I understand that people with a lot of K1 s may need extra time I have a few we file on time then amend usually in December or January when they have them all.

It's even worse that the 15th falls on a Saturday. I have people telling me they are going to drop off their 'crap' tomorrow. Why do they think I want to give up a beautiful fall weekend to go through their pile of poo just so they can melt down on Monday and tell me they cannot possibly owe money. This is always followed by 'are you sure you haven't made a mistake'? I am not amused. I actually think I prefer 15 April to 15 October. Especially when it's 17 October. How do these people make it through their daily lives? I think I'll pat them on the shoulder and tell them I know someone who can give them a 'hug' and a nice, small piece of real estate. Get ready, Rita.

Oh, Rita -- prayers for a full and speedy recovery for your sister! IGNORE the clients; they'll still be there next week. If you do any return, finish up your own. Heck, send it as complete as it currently is and amend later if you need to.

I think it's worse than April 15, too. Oh, and about Saturday. I had a voice mail yesterday, from a client I really love who was sick all winter and got an extension: "Hey, Rita, I think the deadline is Saturday, so I better get you my stuff by Friday, right?" I really don't know WTH she's thinking. It takes me several days in March to get to her return, but I guess she thinks she is the only one who got an extension. And that I am working Saturday. She would be wrong. About everything. Let me count the ways. (((Hugs)))

Thanks for your imput. Actually I had found the exact article that your provided, and believe we have good figures to go forward on.

They got 'em! Police in India arrested more than 70 people and more than 600 are being questioned and facing arrest. Here is just one report: http://abc27.com/2016/10/06/dozens-arrested-at-india-call-center-linked-to-irs-scam-calls/ Just today a client called and said the IRS has been calling her (she does have IRS issues), but she could hardly understand their thick accents in the message and every time she called back no one picked up. Hopefully that indicates the authorities have shut off their phones and with everyone in jail there is no way they can answer anyhow. I told her to read today's paper. Of course, I'm sure there are many more scams like this one still operating. And like with local drug gangs, when one gets taken out of commission others pop up to fill the void. Well, at least we and our clients will have a reprieve.

At least this SET of thugs. It's enough to make quite a dent.

Tomorrow night I'm going to S. Lake Tahoe to see Brian Wilson perform the entirety of the Pet Sounds album. And then drop off some stuff at the new house. I'm working all day today. There had better be a ton of requested docs in my inbox. I've already to.d my clients that if I don't get the crap by today their returns will get done after I move. AND get my new office set up. Which will be some weeks from now. Or months. Or maybe I'll just refer them to Rita.

Yes, I've got only one, same one every year, not a simple return, but like pulling teeth all year and now this late hour where I may miss some of the New England foliage.. We'll get it done but at a premium price. I will be including a brochure to visit the charming countryside of Tennessee, with an equally charming Taxpayer Cemetery caretaker to welcome her with a hug to be sure her space is not too tight. Thank you Rita, I owe you big time for this!

It's definitely October. Business client finally brought in his six months of missing bank statements, except only four months were in there. Someday I hope to find out if he had health insurance. Another will bring her father's docs in on Friday, and by the way "he sold a lot of old stocks this year." I'm sure every single one will have basis clearly stated. A Sch C client who manages to have an entry on every single line just brought in his stack of folders, the contents of which are so random I don't understand the need for folders. Oh yea, this one has several foreign income sources that have to be converted to US dollars. And the folks with the three years of returns and over $20k in refunds.....still waiting.

Congrats, Joan!

Congratulations. I wish the best for you and glad to hear about your good fortune. Tom Newark, CA

I figured out that I can do most of my clients remotely; heck even a lot of the locals do remote now. I can come down for a week and clear out the stragglers. I'll have to file CA returns anyways since I have rental properties. I got a really nice totally unsolicited offer on my house, and Stagecoach NV is inexpensive. I'll be able to retire or slow down a good 5 or more years before I could without the move. Plus, the new house has central heat & air, a dishwasher, a garage and many many other things I've never had before . And it's on one level...I just fell down my front stairs again so not having any is a plus!

Absolutely. When in doubt, hug it out.

Is it time for hugs?

Well, it turns out that no, they were not covered by health insurance January - June, they owe over $9k, and husband left me a voice mail Friday after hours: "To be on the safe side, let's get another extension." These two new clients are going to be two of my favorites in a few years. I just know it.

Mine have stopped also.

This is very good news. Based on the number of persons involved and the amount of money being collected, this was a large scale operation. Other operations that have been shut down involved a handful of people. There are surely others still out there, but for the meantime, my "IRS" calls have stopped.

I'm glad to see this, but I view the news with a mixture of positive and negative feelings. It's probably more a matter of optics than substance. The US government has probably been leaning on the Indian government to do something about this, since so many of the scammers have identifiable accents. So the Indian government "locates" a site (which was probably already well-known to them), conducts a raid, does a few perp walks, and grabs some headlines. Problem solved (at least the public relations part of it). This operation is probably a drop in the bucket and nothing will really change with respect to the ongoing scams. But the government officials can claim they are cracking down and everybody feels better about it.