Catherine

Watch out for your renters in case they had roof replacements/repairs, boiler or furnaces replaced, windows... those are the items that will be subject to analysis and possible correction - and do the de minimis election. Unless the just-announced changes eliminate those concerns. My first renters just brought their doc's in so I had not yet looked into those announcements.

Dear Client, I sat with you last week and showed you where to sign federal and state e-file authorizations. Had you sign your section in both, and highlighted where your husband needs to sign. Today's mail brought me the state form only. Did you already forget? Did you think I didn't mean it, about needing the form? Do you not want that hefty refund you were so happy about? Do you think I need the aggravation of emailing you to remind you about the federal form? Can I dope-slap you now? I don't need this kind of foolish crap this of all years.

I had one leave a couple years ago, who called afterwards, apologized, and asked if she would be allowed to come back. I took her back with no price increase; she had learned her lesson and is one of my most steadfast clients. Most others who leave I never hear from again. As far as I'm concerned, that is just fine. No hard feelings - just too busy to worry about them. I expect to hear back from one guy this year, who paid only half my bill, claiming it was too high, after he finds what the "cheap" places will charge him. He is NOT welcome back.

That is *exactly* it. They're either in a tearing rush for their hundred bucks -- or they chafe at having their taxes go to "mommy and daddy's accountant" and want to prove (to themselves) that they are all grown up and can handle their own returns. And then muck everything up.

My clients warn their kids -- and it must go in one ear and out the other, because the kids go online and file their own returns - incorrectly - anyway. It's not like they lose their puny $127 refund for not claiming themselves, so I don't know why they insist on mucking everything up.

I find it's more the complexity of the return than the size of the practice. I do fewer than 200 returns per year. Many of them, though, go to 75-100 pages with all the supporting schedules and worksheets. I also deal with folks with offshore accounts - and in some cases foreign businesses. It gets real hairy, real fast - and even when we think we've covered all bases in a drop-off interview that lasts two hours of going through minutiae, I end up stumbling across stuff we did not cover - and then the client has to go dig for more details while I pore over tax treaty nonsense. My new assistant, though, is doing really well at handling everything I throw at him. Next week he's getting the additional chore of doing Excel spreadsheets for me for charitable donations. I have clients who bring hand-written lists marked "incomplete" along with printouts of emailed receipts plus paper end of year receipts, and it all has to be cross-checked to make sure nothing is duplicated but everything is included. He gets the job!

It is indeed a valid rollover but keeping the papers ready to mail in if/when the IRS sends a letter of non-comprehension of their *own* $#@ rules is a wise pre-emptive strike. I know the details now and have them to hand; 15 months from now I'll be scratching my head over where I filed the information and what exactly happened.

I have a similar case. We are amending the son's federal return, submitting an original state return (he forgot that one) and I will have the parents file on paper because they will get their refund before the 6-week (or longer) time frame to have the son's amendment be processed.

Thank you, Jack.

Smart idea -- I will highlight those dates in the electronic copies I have.

Thanks, Margaret!

Frazzled -- ((((HUGS)))) to you! I am so glad you felt this board was a safe enough place to vent and one where you would get sympathy and support. And I second rfassett's prayers for you and for your poor friend.

bump -- still hoping for some words of wisdom and/or warning

Thank you for the news; Harlan was indeed a great guy. We are diminished.

Two clients have brought me this one this year. Any surprises I need to watch out for in donations of appreciated stock to charities? How about if it was bought through an ESPP plan? Or other employer purchase devices? Thanks!

Thanks -- what I really was not certain of was the treatment. "Rollover" was the way to *make* it work -- but in my mind a rollover is a transfer to another account, rather than putting funds back into the same account. Drake has a section at the bottom of the input screen for rollover amount entries. Thanks to all!

Withdraw. Can't take a loan from an IRA; just a 401k-type plan.

One I know about - but have never done one before. Client took $50K out of an IRA but put it back a week later. She sold her house, bought a new one, closed on the new one first and needed some cash at the first closing that was coming from the second closing. So the IRA custodian reported the distribution on a 1099-R. They also show a "rollover" contribution on Form 5498. Is that the right way to report this? As though it was a rollover? Thanks.

I'm easy at a couple of weeks - and that does NOT include the returns with stuff missing. Post-it notes, yes --- but I am now also doing copious electronic notes in the file where all the clients' stuff is kept. Belt, suspenders, duct tape, and staples...

Good grief. He must think very highly of his advice, OR he is marketing to huge firms where several dozen accountants will use the same books for reference. Or both.

I got a box of 12 dark-chocolate-dipped strawberries last year; man oh MAN were they good!

A stray 1099-MISC was the culprit. Thank you all!

Nope; employee wages have to be grossed up by the employee portion of ss/medi paid by the employer.

Well I 'm glad I finished up two returns other than the three-fer that was going to be easy; one of those is giving me serious grief via the software. Client no longer needs a Sch C, and I keep deleting the information from the screen and it comes back! Then tells me I have an error because there is no income. Even tech support it stumped on this one (Drake, not ATX -- I'm still waiting for my guaranteed-within-48-hours callback from ATX from Feb 2013).

I've got one -- not even a client; a courtesy. Guy has a corporation and his dad is an out of state CPA who does the taxes but cannot e-file the MA corporate return. So I have been e-filing it for them, for years now. They pay me a token amount, for time and trouble. Well, *this* year, I cannot get the MA 355 Sch D to populate correctly to save my life (or my hair color). I have spent FOUR hours on this stupid thing so far and it's not ready yet! So here it is 2PM, I haven't had lunch yet, I am ROYALLY aggravated -- and have accomplished nothing. Zip. Zilch. Nada. Nechevo. De rien. Bupkis. Niente. My tea is steeping, and I'm gonna go eat and sulk. Then I'll take out my fiddle for a while. Once I've completely calmed down I'll come back and try to get those other three returns I wanted to finish right off, this morning, done instead.