GeneInAlabama

IRS agents work year round. They can't stop working during tax season.

I ain't doin no laundry.

I cannot believe what I just received. A new client brought in last year's tax return prepared by H&R Block. She was a student and had W2 wages of $383.00 income for the year. She had no other income. She received $29.00 EIC and paid I don't know how much to have the return prepared. I'm sure she paid a lot more than $29.00 to have the return prepared. I know there are other preparers who will take advantage of people, but I believe H&R Block is among the worst. I'm not saying that all H&R Block preparers would do that, but entirely too many seem to be too ready to do whatever they need to do to make a buck. It seems that the company encourages that. Thanks for letting me vent.

I don't work according to H&R rules. I have found them to be very obnoxious about informing me of things I do wrong. Twice, I have had someone from H&R call me about something I supposedly did wrong. Once several years ago, someone I prepared a return for went to H&R for a RAL and they called me and told me that I should not list a dependent as "child", that it should be "son" or "daughter". I told them I didn't work according to H&R Block rules. Another time, they called me because a W2 I prepared for one of my clients had some of the writing outside of the box. On the old dot mattrix printers, it was impossible to allign the forms where the print would fall inside the boxes on all copies. In my thirty years in business, I have never had any other tax preparer or accountant call me and complain about how I did things, although I'm sure there have probably been times they could have. It seems that H&R Block encourages their employees to criticize other preparers.

I explain to them that FMV is whatever Goodwill, Salvation Army, etc. will sell them for and then tell THEM to give me a value. I use whatever value they give me (within reason). What else can you do? In case of an audit, they will be the one that will have to prove the deduction.

Dennis, I assume that those of us using Medlin Payroll will be receiving updated tables pretty soon?

Whenever I answer the phone, just as soon as I determine that it is a telemarketer, poll taker, etc, I tell them that I don't buy anything over the phone and then hang up before they have a chance to say anything.

I'm not a true southerner. I was born in Georgia and raised up from army camp to another. In growing up, i was always a foreigner. When I lived in the north, I was a rebel; and when I lived in the south, I was a yankee. It didn't help any that I always had the accent of the last place I lived.

Thanks Tilt, the web site answers questions in simple english.

Terry, you can click on the "status" heading on the efile menu and it will sort by status. You can then click on report at the top to print out the list. Would this help you?

Sounds like HRB goofed BIG TIME. Why didn't they advise her to file MFJ? Why didn't they file the OH return along with the federal? I would be talking to the manager of that HRB office.

So THAT is what Star Wars was about! I always wondered.

Thanks everyone. Now I can get back to work. I guess I'm the only human that hasn't seen that movie.

PLEASE don't say the word "carbon". I don't allow any of that kind of paper in my office.

A lot of people love those "miscellaneous" categories. Too bad the IRS doesn't like them.

I guess my mind just isn't working today. I have tried saying these out loud fast, I've tried saying them out loud slowly, and nothing clicks. I won't be able to get any work done until someone explains this to me. I'm probably the only one in the world that doesn't get it.

I have one client like that and I really love it. I wish all of them would do that. I can zip right through the return and if there is a math error, the program will catch it; and if something looks like it needs questioning, it is easy to spot. I have another client that is a farmer, and he lists his farm income and expenses in the same order that it appears on the schedule F. It's a whole lot better than the client I have that brings all his receipts, and everything else he can find to me in a garbage bag. (I do charge a whole lot more for having to go through all that mess.)

I used to have a client that would bring me unopened letters from the IRS that were sent certified mail. By the time I would get the letters, it was already past the deadine. Notice that I said I USED to have a client that did that.

On the 2106, the line for meals has a blue background, so you can just type the proper amount after computing the proper amount.

Seems to me that he needs to see a lawyer about getting reimbursed for expenses from the would be employer in CA. At first thought, I would think the expenses would not be deductible on taxes unless he had worked at least a day.

She used first names on the other board which she wasn't an administrator. I think she just remembers the first names when someone signs their name. A lot of them she remembers from the old ATX board and probably from some of the other boards as well. I wish my memory was that good. Gene

At the bottom of the 1040, it says "PAID Preparer's Use Only"; but as others have said, I never bother to remove the information from that section on returns I do not charge for. I have been doing that for over 30 years and have had no problem yet. Tomorrow, someone may come knocking on my door. Before computers, I had the information pre-printed on the 1040 and state form.

If the IRS figures a way to tax that, they will!

I remember that canister very well. It didn't work very well though. When I was 11 years old, my parents moved from Washington state to Alabama. It took us 3 weeks to get there. We wre pulling the biggest house trailer youj could buy (29 feet long) with a 1941 Chevrolet. We had to stop on the way and have the motor rebuilt on the car. Of course we also stopped and visited some friends on the way, and stopped at several places like the Redwood Forest and Grand Canyon. When we crossed the dessert, we bought one of those cannisters that attached to the window. I begged my parents to throw that thing away and roll the windows down on the car. I still think it would have been better if we had. I was 15 years old before I ever even SAW a television. Soon after that, we moved to an area that actually had a TV station and my parents bought one. Programing didn't start until 11:00 AM, and I remember sitting and watching the test pattern until the programing started. It was several years before we had more than one TV station that we could watch.