Catherine

I have started answering no-caller-ID calls at home (and on my cell) with "who are you and what do you want?" because apparently if they start with "is this X?" and you say yes, that is then taken as consent to be called. If they won't start by self-identifying, I want nothing to do with them. Then I congratulate them; telling them their phone call has cost their company $20K when I report them to the FCC for calling a number on the do not call list. I generally don't get all the way through that before they've hung up on me... but it's still a LOT more fun than just hanging up on them.

If other class action suits are an indication, I'd say about enough for a cup of fancy coffee... maybe $7. Twenty years from now.

Maybe he needs a reminder that he works for you, and not the other way around. Try calling him at home on a Sunday afternoon with a planning question. Or after dinner. Several times over the course of a couple of weeks. He might get it, then.

Even more so when it's competition with ZERO repercussions for the bad/unfair competitors.

One of my husband's cronies, back when he lived in the San Jose area in the early 80's, paid close to $1M for a house that had originally been a chicken coop.... I kid you not.

This one is starting to look like a truly tangled mess.

As long as YOU are happy with what you are making - and you can pay your bills - it kinds doesn't matter what you make. However, do NOT sell yourself short and undervalue your services just because you are "doing OK."

The biggest issue I found when trying to sell my business last year was "buyers" who were not certain (or upfront, but I'm trying to be charitable) about what they wanted. Got all the way to an offer to buy with one set, who at that stage changed everything we had been talking about and only wanted the file-by-April 15th clients; no one else. Another guy who was all fired up about getting an office west of Boston where he has as slew of clients - then changed his mind and decided to move all operations to inside Boston (and he was mainly interested in storefront businesses). A lady who thought she could run my business part time while working elsewhere (hah!). Standard pricing seems to be roughly 1 x annual, paid out over a couple of years after a big down payment. Make sure you have a lawyer look at the contract, and make sure there are provisions for increasing your take if, for example, new clients call you and you refer them to your buyer. Non-compete covenants are getting increasingly hard to enforce, which can work on your side but also means your take will be less if clients do not transition over. I ended up dumping the thought of selling and instead will merge my practice with some colleagues I've known for years, and then gradually back out. They'll pay me, over time, for all the clients who stick with them.

Our hobby is watching online soap operas...

Oh boy, this just gets more fun with every post! My client only worked for these folks for two years; 2013 &n 2014. I had used a working assumption that a refund for 2013 could still be filed, even after SOL runs out, because of the DOL's overturning of this particular applecart. I had not even *thought* of issues like gross-up, overtime, etc. We'll wait and see what (if anything) the former employer sends my client between now and fall - and what the IRS might send, as well. In the meantime, keep on posting! I will be making a nice *long* list of "gotcha's" to be on the lookout for. Thanks to all, and over this weekend remember all those who gave their lives for this country.

Anyone here in western Idaho or the Spokane area? I'm going to a conference (non-tax) in late October and may need a place to crash overnight before flying back. All the flights I am seeing either leave too early in the day for me to get there (after the last conference event on the last morning) or end up with a red-eye and/or 4-hour layovers in some airport somewhere en route.

Both year's amended returns show very small refunds (grand total less than $300, if memory serves - and only on a first pass at them, so subject to change). With loss of IC status, the expenses go on Sch A/2% and this client used standard deduction. Expenses don't push into Sch A being useful. I was kinda hoping the IRS would take care of it so I don't have to charge the client almost as much as the refunds to prepare full-blown 1040X's. Thanks to all! I think we'll hold off a bit and see if the IRS sends anything. If we hear nothing by, say, end of summer, I'll revisit the issue.

E-services went down on Tuesday, I believe, and at some point they seem to have decided not to bother bringing it back up since they were planning to shut it down anyway. Try next Wednesday...

A client got a letter from the Dept. of Labor. That agency determined that she was a mis-classified employee in 2014 and should have gotten a w-2 instead of a 1099-misc. Will the IRS make adjustments and return to her the overpaid SE tax (employer portions)? Or will we be required to amend? If the latter, how do we "prove" to the IRS that she was an employee? The DOL issued a letter - by email - telling the client of the determination. I've never run into this before, and am not sure how much these two agencies talk to each other - or what they do with the shared information.

So you had yourself one GREAT escape, didn't you?

OK, Rich! Thank you. The poor sign; it could use a cane, or some crutches.

Wow, Lynn - that's amazing! GOOD for you.

Only for the purpose of hysterical laughter...

I would have charged what you charged *only* if some of the schedules were close to empty - otherwise it would have easily been $50 more and heading north from there. For anything that involves Sch D, I charge per item on the 8949's, so that varies wildly. Some folks with five or six account might have three trades; someone with a single account might have three hundred - guess who pays me more? (Yup; you were right.)

OTOH, I have had a client who has been required by the IRS - for two years in a row! - to confirm her identity before they released refunds. However, I got copies of the letters each time, confirmed that they were legit (by calling *after* checking the phone number listed, getting ID numbers, etc), then set up conference calls with the client. Did this client have any refundable credits? It was the case with my client; someone who had not been to college but went back to school mid-20's, long after being self-supporting, and was claiming education credits.

Sigh. It no longer surprises me, but it still always dismays me when heirs fight and bicker and get recalcitrant, obstreperous, and uncooperative. It makes me want to sit them down and read them the riot act about being grateful for getting *anything* rather than greedy and unhappy that they didn't get more. It also underscores for all of us the need to let everyone know what the general plan of distribution is, and to have copies in multiple places of any document so one jackass can't mess up the lives of many people just by being a jerk.

OK now Rich - you need to post a picture of *your* sign. Inquiring minds want to know!

e to the x, dee-x, dee-t, slip stick, slide rule MIT!

But don't ask me to write the equations. I could have made a stab at those 35+ years ago (but they would probably have been wrong). These days I don't remember how even to start.

God help me, I understood most of this.