BTS

Location, demographics has a lot to do with fees too. I imagine a return we would charge $250 for, some here would charge $500 to $1,000. I know we should charge more than we do, especially when we have HRB calling us for advice Yes it happens. I helped a couple of their employees many times with tax questions. And the local Jackson Hewitt guy sends customers to us all the time !! Clients get sticker shock with Jackson's pricing and he sends them here !!

Use this site Ohio put up to check tax implications based on address. I've only came across one situation where it was not correct. And the error was based on school income tax. And a quick county property tax record search showed the proper school. One side of the road was one school and the other side was a different school. https://tax.ohio.gov/help-center/the-finder/the-finder

Part year also.

We use Proseries and I've done a few of these 2555's for our military contractors. Not sure what program your using.

Been building PC's since the old Intel 286 days. Back when hard drive capacity was measured in megs and 5 1/4 hard drive where the norm. Showing my age. Anyway the best info on tweaking or streamlining any version of Windows is Black Vipers's web site. https://www.blackviper.com/service-configurations/black-vipers-windows-10-service-configurations/ Here is a link to Windows 10, but any version is available. Windows itself has many services that are not necessary for 90% of all users. Fluff, I call it. So even Windows can bog down a system.

Encyro. Handles signatures and is a secure client portal. Easy to use and not that expensive. Pennies per signature.

Read through this IRS info. https://www.irs.gov/publications/p936 If they are not in a divorce/separation scenario then split it or do whatever is more advantageous. If one spouse is not on the loan agreement, then you can attach a note stating that the interest he or she is deducting is in another's name. Be sure to attach a note stating the mortgage owners name and the 1098 info on that return. Even if they are in the process of a divorce, a signed document, attached to the return of the one claiming said interest will suffice. Have both sign the attached note if applicable.

Ugh !! Well at least these three months usually go quick. Now watch I jinxed it !! Knock on wood !!

Had the same issue. To many . in my email. Had to use a different email. The old one we have used with the IRS since dial up days I did all this in early December so the wait time for tech support wasn't bad. Maybe a 5 minute hold.

I wonder how much revenue selling this info generates ?

Anyone else get an email from the forum concerning failed log in attempts from overseas ? I did just change my password for security. But was wondering if this was a site wide issue ?

While one may feel bad for cutting clients. I guarantee these clients would not blink an eye if you quit due to health issues or death. Not trying to sound morbid. But case in point, my father spent 60+ years doing income taxes. And he always went out of his way to help others, even with non tax issues. Upon his death only a handful of his clients came to either the viewing or funeral. And he did well over 1,000 returns a year. So dont feel bad when trimming the fat, they could care less for you. Your just the tax guy or tax lady

Strange. I remember getting finger printed at our local police/sheriff department for my efin decades ago ? Or is this just related to becoming an "authorized e-file provider" ? Here is the IRS link https://www.irs.gov/e-file-providers/efile-for-tax-professionals

Definitely will raise rates for the next few years to get back to the "average" prices in our area. Not raising rates for the past 10 years was crazy on our part. But we have low overhead and do fine. But less work and stress is what we need, so hopefully we can reduce client count, while keeping income close to the same. May take a couple years to get there, but it has to be done.

I just googled NSA Tax Prep Fees and it came up. Here is the link to the pdf though. https://higherlogicdownload.s3.amazonaws.com/NSACCT/725010a8-142f-4092-8b5d-077c2618c728/UploadedImages/Membership/IncomeandFeeSurvey/NSA2020-2021_IncomeandFees_FullStudy.pdf

Location has a lot to do with pricing too. So we can not raise our fees too much. But realistically we could loose about 200 clients and raise the prices to compensate. Getting rid of 200 clients would be a huge relief. But maybe loose 100 each year for the next two years, and raise prices those next two. We have not had a significant increase in standard fees in the past 10 years. Maybe $15 average per client in 10 years. But our clients are long time clients. Grandparents, parents, children, etc.. We have watched everyone get old and their kids too !! So thats a delima too. Who do you cut loose. But something has to be done to lesson the stress.

After looking over the NSA report, it seems we need to charge more !!! May loose a few clients but, we need to downsize anyway. Getting too busy, which is a good and bad thing. But thanks for posting about the NSA report.

Seeing its Easter weekend, we decided the 15th is our last day. Have 50 extensions to send, not counting ones that show up today. Will take a week off, then get them done. Hope to have all picked up by the end of April, but you know how that goes.

We are in farm country. I would do schedule f. Keep it simple, unless you want to charge for doing another schedule c. We have several farmers who raise herding dogs along with the usual farm animals and use f. But there is more than one way to skin a cat

It will work fine We always keep a backup, so you might as well buy two !!! Buy generic toner cartridge's. Alot cheaper than Brother OEM cartridges. The cartridge that comes with the printer will not last long. They ship new printers with "starter cartridges". You may get 2,000 pages out of it. I checked all of our Brothers the other day for number of pages printed since new. Wow !! One has printed about 250,000 (oldest one). The others are around 100,000. My finger tips always get dry from handling paper all day !! Sucks the moisture right out of you !!!! We go through about 10 cases of paper a season. Our Brothers like Boise X9 paper. Never jam with it.

We are running two weeks behind, which is normal every season this time of year. So all drop offs after April 1st will have extensions filed. But usually crap settles the last week and we can make a dent on those. Got spoiled the last few years with the extended season. We did send letters to all of our habitual extension clients, telling them all documents have to be in hand by April 15th or they will have to go elsewhere. Its always like pulling teeth to get documents from these clients. And they wait till October. Not anymore. Done with all that. Been 24 years since we took a vacation and my butt will be on one this fall !!! Come April 15th our door will be closed, phone system off and portal shut down !!! Yes April 15th. April 18th can take a hike !!

With Encyro you set up a portal link. Clients can use their phones to access it and the page will ask them if they want to take pictures. Tap yes and it brings up your camera and your good to go. Main issue is getting some clients to take a "good" clear picture.

Client came in and said they heard IRS may extend filing season ? Im going to dig around online, but figured I would ask if anyone has any info.

Yes the user interface is different, but once you get use to it, its pretty slick.

Third year using it. Had to find something easy for clients to use during pandemic lockdown. Looked at all the others and those would have been a nightmare for clients to figure out. Use ProSeries and their online document system is a nightmare. No issues at all, even with older non tech savvy clients. Yes on MFA.