Catherine

Who is paying the bonus? If it's his employer, it should be on a W-2. If it is the other firm, my first thought is Line 21 other income as he is not in the business of referring out business to other companies.

Duh! I do so few amended returns I didn't even know that existed. Will try it; thanks.

Anyone know how long the IRS is taking to process amended returns these days? Client sent one in in July and has heard nothing from either the IRS or the CA FTB. Thanks!

Ah, that's why it won't happen. Power and re-election for themselves is ALL the various legis-vermin care about. Even the ones who went to DC as "reformers". Remember that tax cheat Rangel was the anti-corruption candidate who unseated Adam Clayton Powell. Back while I was still learning to read...

They've been doing it in MA for several years now. First couple of years were rough. Some providers were sluggards but mostly it was the taxpayers who didn't know what the 1099-HC was, or what it was for, who either didn't bring it, or threw it out because they didn't understand it. What REALLY gets people angry is when they get hit with the penalties.

And folks get SO excited getting a discount!

I charge full freight for each and every form -- and then discount (shown on the bill) for simple forms. Say for example my Sch B fee is $50 -- and someone has one account at Bank X that earned $135 interest. I will discount that form $45 (down to $5). Same with the AMT form -- prepare it and charge it on EVERY return -- then discount it for the simple returns (the just-out-of-college kid who makes less than the AMT personal exemption, etc). Clients LOVE seeing that discount. I also have additional fees for any accounting that needs doing - that gets added as an hourly charge or is charged separately (depending on the client). Sch D/Form 8949 is $3 per item. So if someone sells one share of IBM, it's $3. If someone has a managed account with hundreds of trades -- well, you can multiply. Even when the info is provided in a spreadsheet, I charge -- because I check it, line by line. And find (rare) errors.

Since I (generally) charge by form, my prices go up with each new form required. The very few questions I have had on price I have pointed to the additional forms required this year and told the clients to take up the issue with their legis-vermin.

I use a gmail account for newsgroup postings from various tax newsgroups. (Not this one, obviously.) It was not one of those affected, but I changed the password anyway.

Even if not, just from the title they could look it up for themselves. Thanks to Judy for posting the text of the article. The original includes a link to see if your account is one of the ones affected.

details here http://fellowshipoftheminds.com/2014/09/10/5m-gmail-accounts-hacked-change-your-password-now/

Don't fault the Dunkin's employees at all. However, I have also made many a pretty penny from fixing their mistakes - once the notices show up and the temporary office is shut.

Finished all my corporations a couple weeks ago; phew! Need to send notes to a bunch of sluggards who will otherwise crawl out of the woodwork 10/12 frantic for me to finish their taxes by the 15th. I've actually been dithering over this - perhaps folks here have advice. Is it better to just keep my blinkin' mouf shut (under the heading that I am NOT their mommy and can't make them behave - plus in theory they are grown-ups for whom taxes are no surprise)? Or to send a reminder email to the 15 or slow slowpokes telling them "everything in MY hands by 9/15 or no guarantee it will be done by 10/15"? (I say 9/15 because of course they will forget something or hand over papers that don't include stock basis etc.) Opinions?

I canned twelve quarts of pears and have at *least* another dozen to go. While getting a new office and investigating new car options. Taxes? Clients? Crap; I *knew* I was forgetting something!!

Good grief. If the IRS needs a place to look for EITC fraud, places like this advertising for "anyone" would be a GREAT place to start. Sheesh. Reminds me of the two women I saw, years ago, heading into their HRB tax prep class still wearing their Dunkin Donuts uniforms. Sign here, please, and pick up your coffee at the next desk.

Whatever "raw numbers" are cited from the IRS in terms of overall queries or audits (and we professionals all know those have been going down for some years due in part to lack of staff) do not matter at all. The audit percentage could be 0.00001% for all I care. For those returns that ARE audited, business mileage is FREQUENTLY the reason/one of the reasons FOR the audit. I stand by my assertion and SCL you are extremely good at trying to poke holes in people's arguments -- and in the end, missing the point. Don't you have better things to do with your time? I do; there will be no more responses from me on this topic because SCL is determined to dig his heels in harder and harder. This is not worth any additional effort on my part.

Yes. A colleague of mine does this. You provide phone support for them and in many instances (via Intuit's VPN) work with them online to get things right. I do not recall what they pay (if I ever heard). They do provide some training (on their program, only, not taxes in general). You are assigned specific hours where you must be online, with a short meal break. My colleague has mentioned it can be hard to get a bathroom break in there outside of the official meal break.

I had been wondering if the post was a test run of an article, pre-submission. Thanks!

Absolutely INCORRECT. Of all the items the IRS looks at carefully, business deductions involving the frequently-misunderstood rules on what are - and are NOT - deductible expenses are VERY high on that list. This is completely and utterly separate from the overall percentage of returns selected (randomly or by flag) for further examination or audit. cbslee was correct in stating that these deductions are a FREQUENT source of IRS challenge. He is referring to items challenged and NOT to overall challenges. Might I recommend that you spend a bit of our seasonal "down" time after October 15 at this excellent site? http://lessons.englishgrammar101.com/ I have used it myself to review portions that were not correctly taught in my school. It starts very simply but increases in complexity quickly.

This is an endemic problem, and one that is highlighted (but not caused; correlation is NOT causation) by the technologies of email and texting. One of the things we worked on really hard when home-schooling Gwen for the last couple of years of high school was getting her to learn how to learn on her own. I discovered that kids are not "merely" not taught how to look things up on their own -- but in our schools, at least (supposedly some of the best in the state if not the country) -- they are actively DIScouraged from doing anything except taking what the teacher said, on faith, and looking nowhere else. We found the Gwen was asking us for help in various areas for problems that were explained IN HER TEXTBOOK. She had NO idea how to use a textbook as a resource, or to learn from. We were appalled. That got fixed. I researched and purchased texts for her that were designed to be learned from (high school, yes - but I chose college-level books in the appropriate subjects). The first thing she learned was how to learn from a book. Second was how to look for information herself. She is in her senior year of college now and top of every class she takes.

My friend Sandy is an instructor at a nursing college. Very fair, very helpful, VERY tough. We were visiting her (and her husband) this weekend and she told us that in the early part of each semester, new students come to her on a regular basis, griping about how "they always got A's on their papers before!" -- by which they mean that SHE is scoring them too harshly. Her response to these kids is, "I see. So what do you think your problem is now?" And she manages to do this with not only a straight face, but also one indicating concern for the student. I just about fell off my chair laughing. She is SUCH a good teacher.

Go see the other 11 pictures here: http://www.realclear.com/living/2014/08/22/12_pictures_only_people_with_ocd_will_understand_8453.html?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=sponsored&utm_campaign=positivelyrepublican

I was around for the last quarter (roughly) of that year. So here is a giggle for y'all: less than two months before my 56th birthday I got carded! Was buying a bottle of wine at a new-to-me grocery store, in company with Gwen (the younger daughter). Cashier asks for my ID. I asked if she was serious and she said yes. Gwen & I both busted out laughing, I handed my license over, and the response was, "I don't believe that year." But she let me buy the wine...

Well it's more than a political topic - we all deal with the agency on a daily basis. To see it used as a weapon against the citizens it is supposed to serve (as alleged, and as stinks to high heavens) affects all of us, and our clients. Thanks for sharing this. (And anyone who knows software or standard procedure knew these systems were being backed up multiple times, and the excuse was just that - an excuse - and a lame one at that.)

From Pub 590: " You have unreimbursed medical expenses that are more than 10% (or 7.5% if you or your spouse was born before January 2, 1949) of your adjusted gross income (defined earlier) for the year."