taxxcpa

I lose one or two per year and may pick up one or two new clients. In the past I've lost a lot of clients when I moved from Dallas to Midlothian, then to Cedar Hill, then back to Dallas. I always failed to notify clients that I wanted to drop. I'm retiring from tax work after this tax season. Also, after I began working from home I get no drop-in business. I've let my practice dwindle down to a point that it just isn't worth taking all the CPE, leaning all the new features of the tax software and being available. I won't have the tax and accounting income, but I've paid off my mortgage which was costing me a lot more than I made doing tax and accounting work. After I retire, I can come and go without worrying about having to wait for a client to show up or to be available for telephone calls. I will not pay my PTIN fee and will only renew my CPA license at a reduced fee as a retired CPA. That way I can tell anyone that I cannot legally prepare their return (except for those I do free for my two daughters).

Our power went out on a recent freezing weather situation. We had a gas fireplace that provided some heat. The big problem was that we live on the second floor of a condo and the lights went off at 3:30 A.M. and the emergency lighting in the stairway only lasts for three hours--so when I wanted to go downstairs I was afraid to attempt it in the dark. I had no flashlight, so after that episode, I bought three flashlights.

I once had a client whose mortgage exceeded her "taxable" income. She had nontaxable income of $100,000 per year as settlement for serious injuries due to a collision by a truck driven by a drunken driver. The IRS raised no questions about it.

I use the same approach. The only EIC return I do is for a mentally challenged person who earns a few bucks sacking groceries. I feel that, in his case, he deserves it unlike many freeloaders who work the underground economy and report just what it takes to get the maximum EIC.

The IRS should provide free tax-preparation service for EIC claimants instead of expecting paid preparers to stick their necks out in their behalf.

I had a client that wanted to claim his son and his son had a higher income than the parent.

The most successful person I know, Chuck Davidson, who is CEO of Noble Energy went to Purdue for his Engineering degree.

A fair price for a return with one W-2, no itemized deductions and no state tax return would be about $ 50, but I have a minimum fee of $ 100 because I have to allow for the time waiting for them to come in, ask a few questions to make sure that is all, then have the risk that a month later they will discover they forgot that broker's statement or that K-1 or something else. If you could whip out one such return right after another every ten minutes, with no later problems, it might pay to do them for $50.

I'm just starting a new accrual year. I'm trying to get some free CPE from cpawebengage (CPA Academyi) and Deloitte. The webinars are usually 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours. I've also prepaid for unimited hours from CPE Depot, but I've used them so much in the past that I wanted to try something different this year. DELOITTE; Calendar: http://www.usdbriefs.com/calendar/thyme/thyme/index.php To Register: http://www.deloitte.com/us/dbriefs After you register you will get an e-mail.. Click link on e-mail to enter webcast CPA ACADAMY: http://www.cpaacademy.org/

That's another big savings some people achieve--no bath towels (no baths). Keeps the water bill down too.

I do all of the things Gail does to save money on paper. I re-use paper printed on one side to print things like excel worksheets on the other side. I usually print things on a pdf before printing it on paper to make sure i don't print unwanted second and third pages. I generally avoid places where valet parking is required. I don't like waste even if it is just a penny or two, but if I need something, I don't waste a lot of time trying to get the cheapest thing of its kind. I place convenience ahead of savings unless it is big bucks involved.

The best example of a cheapskate was a guy I knew who bought two or three lemons. He waited until after the clerk weighed them, then asked her to put them in a bag. He explained that he didn't put them in a bag when he picked them up because he didn't want to pay for the weight of the bag.

I got a restaurant bill the other day and they showed various tip amounts, the lowest suggested was 18%. I remember when 10% was normal everywhere but New York city where they expected 15%.

Much ado about nothing. People can omit tips if they so choose whether it is for politically politically correct reasons or not. However, I would see no reason to leave a note explaining why there was no tip unless it was for poor service--and even then, I would not leave an explanation. I've been served by waiters/waitresses with tattoos all over themselves and one who had a pin in her tongue. I left them a tip, but would not be inclined to return to that restaurant.

As bad as LBJ was, I don't think he would have had anything to do with Kennedy's murder.

If they want to review 25 of my EIC returns, they will be out of luck. I only have one that I do for the mentally impared son of a client who sacks groceries and makes enough to get some EIC. The client used to claim him, but the client retired from his job and diminished his rollover IRA to the point that his income is too low to benefit from claiming the son whose income is sufficient to provide half of his own support.

Sounds like good business. People will keep on buying it and ever-increasing costs.

When I converted, most of the essential information converted, but things that change from year-to-year like IRA contributions or social security income, did not always convert. The part that did convert gave you a head start since , SSNs, W-2, 1099 Schedule C,E, and F information converted enough to preclude having to enter all of the repetitive names, addresses, etc.and served as a reminder to check that they were provided by the client unless no longer relevant. The main thing to watch for is depreciation, which may not convert properly. Also, Drake uses 5 years, for example, instead of 60 months for amortization. I believe ATX used the number of months.

You can use an electronic signature pad if the clients come into your office and sign the pad--both husband and wife if it is a joint return. You can NOT use a digital signature to sign Form 8879. It is possible that this could change, but I think the digital signature might be too confusing for a lot of clients. Most people on the Drake forum say they usually e-mail the forms to the client and the clients sign and then e-mail, fax or snail-mail it back rather than come to the preparer's office to sign either a form or a signature pad. The signature pad would be most useful if you have a prepare-while-U-wait type of practice.

The Tax Book comes with the spiral binding, but also has holes punched in case you want to remove the spiral binding and put your copy in a notebook binder. I like the idea of using the notebook in case I want to remove a page and scan it and e-mail it to answer a client's question.

LBJ got into the senate with a victory of just 87 votes more than his opponent, Coke Stevenson. Everyone in the graveyard in Duval County voted for Johnson. H.L. Adams, who was the Democratic County Chairman in the adjoining county was a Stevenson supporter and kept a copy of the old newspaper in his office in which LBJ's thin win was reported. After LBJ became vice president, Mr. Adams said Kennedy's life might be in danger. I saw Mr. Adams after the assassination and he made no comment about any suspicion that Johnson had a hand in the assassination.

I lived in Dallas at that time, but since I'd gone to Austin that day, I remember thinking, "They can't accuse me of the assassination since I have an alibi."

At that time, I was working for the State Comptroller in the Dallas regional office. On the day of Kennedy's assassination I had gone to Austin to visit a friend. My friend was in the process of having a new house built and we went to see the builder. When we got there, the builder was crying and told us Kennedy had been assassinated.

There are those whose approach to all questions is "it's my way or the highway."

I don't think you need to check the prospectus of each fund. If you sell a Vanguard fund and replace it with a Fidelity or T Rowe Price Fund, there is no way the IRS is going to question it on the grounds that they are wash sales. There would always be some differences between the funds and some overlapping investments. Another point is that the Fund manager is different, and there is a constant churning of the items in the funds.