Catherine

ATX has the "Fee Collect" which is now available without signing up to do RAL's. There's a $15 per-return fee, and I think it's only available on refund returns. I have a PayPall button on my web site, that people can use _without_ a PayPal account to pay me by credit card with only the PayPal fee (about 3%). All these fees are charged to me. Better to pay the fee than get stiffed -- but most of my late-payers owe (surprise!). My engagement letter says "Due on receipt" but of course people say "I forgot the checkbook". I've been lucky in that the tax folks who do that have always paid reasonably promptly (some of my accounting clients are a different story and I have other ways to deal with them). But if someone is too late, I will email them with a warning that in future no money = come back to pick up another time; I'm not releasing my work without payment. Easier said than done, I know. Catherine

If this is an issue that's really important to your practice, Drake lets the administrator set permission levels for all users. Just FYI; not trying to "shill" for Drake. Catherine

I have set up customized reports to give me journal entries and saved those; it is a failing of QB that you don't get those automatically. I really like the no-change COA and the Deposit screen ideas; those would eliminate a number of nasty mess-ups I've seen in plenty of QB files over the years. Rather than an "Accountant Review", I make that account "Ask Catherine" (I think Intuit now has a default "Ask My Accountant"). That's the first account I check every time. Whatever it is -- you aren't sure, put it there, I will fix it. Catherine

Why, Booger, I previously had no idea that you love me! I am flattered. I think. Should my husband be jealous? Happy Thanksgiving to you and to all! Catherine

First step with a new QB client is _always_ to fix the munged-up COA. Unless they had a pro set it up correctly going in (very rare; in ten years I think I've seen it twice). And even then, folks will do things like add in new credit cards as "bank accounts", and worse, later on. Second step with QB: NEVER upgrade when the new version is available. ALWAYS wait until at least one major revision package is available and checked out. The community links are good for keeping on top of this. With the Accountant's Edition, you can pretty much read anybody's file of the same year's version or earlier. You can export back to the same version only. The Accountant's Copy feature sounds better than it is; most of my clients can't even _make_ the copy without me there, let alone re-merge the two files. And if I'm there anyway.... One really nice thing about QB is that you can _fix_ just about any mess the client makes without too much difficulty -- AND set up future transactions to post correctly (instead of the same old mistakes time and again). And the reporting is getting better with each new version; very configurable and you can memorize those reports for re-use while they are on-screen and you see exactly what you've got. I always hated the "Crystal Reports" that comes with Peachtree and most of the MAS-series. I can never get them the way I want them. QB also lets you export just about any report to an Excel format. It's an annoying program -- until you learn to think of it as "job security". Catherine

I use Target Insurance Services; they have an "American Tax Preparers Insurance Program". 888-888-1613, www.target-capital.com. My renewal is $229.00 for $10K per claim, $20K aggregate, with a bookkeeping/accounting service extra fee. That must be riskier for them. Catherine

I got 19 correct. But I think I would have done better had I been asked _how_ to spell word thus-and-such, rather than have to parse tiny differences and pick one. I started second-guessing myself and (as is usual) that caused me to pick incorrectly. There was one word that I used to get wrong all the time that I got correct, though, so that at least is good. Catherine

They're so CUTE when they're that little!! ;-)

I have found all too often that I find or remember the answer about three minutes after I send in the post. It's almost like I _need_ to post before my brain lets the answer out of hiding!

I missed two so I must be old as well (just hit 50 a couple weeks ago). But I still feel like I'm 17 inside. Catherine

Thank you, Bonnie. I will check these. Catherine

I also don't know what I would do without this group and the couple others I follow. I'm a sole practitioner without the "watercooler" help myself. For updates I get the IRS email newsletter, the EA newsletter, and a couple others as well. Then there's always my online tax research. But there are plenty of times when those resources are ambiguous, vague, or just plain contradictory. And so I turn to my dear colleagues from the newsgroups -- some of whose politics I agree with completely, and some of whose politics I deplore -- for help. But even the folks whose politics I deplore can back their opinions with something other than "'cuz that's the way it is!". I may disagree -- I may even not respect the particular opinion -- but I fully respect everyone's _right_ to _hold_ that opinion, and express it. And having to think through why I disagree with something (even if I just read but never post back) helps me clarify my own stands, and the reasons for them. And so they still do me a service. ("The unexamined opinion is not worth holding", to mis-quote someone.) But I truly appreciate the tax help I get here -- especially help with states that I rarely work with. It's not like I can call the guy down the street and expect him to be able to help me with an Iowa issue, after all. He probably sees those returns as rarely as I do! And speaking of Iowa -- any clues (pub number, something like that) where I can get clarification on an Iowa capital gains exclusion issue? I have a client who is a ~4% owner in and Iowa farm S-corp; they're selling this month. She got a letter indicating there might be a capital gains exclusion and I want to check into this. Nothing in the letter telling where in the state reg's to go digging. And Eric will be seeing another donation from me as well. Catherine

My husband has concluded after years of collating information, that if he carefully researches a product and then buys the best one on the market -- it will be the last one the company sells. They put his purchase through, and immediately thereafter go out of business. We have tried this with Microsoft products.... except that NONE of them are the best ones on the market, so this phenomenon doesn't help. So we settle for him buying multiples of whatever carefully researched product he is purchasing, and hoping that is enough to last us. Catherine

Sent to me by a cousin... Normally I avoid discussing any advice regarding buying or selling of stocks, but I felt this is important enough to share and warn you since this explosive situation might prove to be yet another ENRON. Please review any holdings you might have in the following stocks: American Can Interstate Water National Gas Company Northern Tissue Company Due to uncertain market conditions, I advise you to sit tight on your American Can, hold your Water, and let go of your Gas. You may be interested to know that Northern Tissue touched a new bottom today, and millions were wiped clean. It's a tough market out there. Be careful!

May the powers have mercy on us all... ;)

I've been telling folks that (a) any money you need within 5 years shouldn't be in the stock market EVER, (b ) any money you don't need within five years can afford to wait it out, and (c ) if the whole economy collapses we'll all be working until the day we keel over anyway. So if it's there, let it ride. If you want to buy at liquidation prices, time to go shopping (carefully). And assuming we do eventually pull out of this hole, they'll be glad to have stuck with it. And if we don't, they won't be able to afford to care.... All of this is preceded by my disclosure that I am _not_ a stock broker, financial planner, or investment advisor. Catherine

If I were to be punishèd for every little pun I shed I'd hie me to a puny shed and there I'd hang my punnish head....

Attached is my favorite tax cartoon of all time. I've saved it since 1977, long before I started doing taxes. Barely after I started doing my _own_ taxes! MacNelly_1040.PDF

from one of my other newsgroups, something sent to a participant by one of his clients.... REVISED MEANING OF STOCK TERMS: CEO --Chief Embezzlement Officer. CFO-- Corporate Fraud Officer. BULL MARKET -- A random market movement causing an investor to mistake himself for a financial genius. BEAR MARKET -- A 6 to 18 month period when the kids get no allowance, the wife gets no jewelry VALUE INVESTING -- The art of buying low and selling lower. P/E RATIO --The percentage of investors wetting their pants as the market keeps crashing. BROKER -- What my broker has made me. STANDARD & POOR --Your life in a nutshell. FINANCIAL PLANNER -- A person whose phone has been disconnected. MARKET CORRECTION -- The day after you buy stocks. CASH FLOW-- The movement your money makes as it disappears down the toilet. WINDOWS -- What you jump out of when you're the sucker who bought Yahoo @ $240 per share. INSTITUTIONAL INVESTOR --Past week investor who's now locked up in a nuthouse. PROFIT An archaic word no longer in use.

Aha -- another Beck reader! I certainly don't agree with him all the time (maybe not even most of the time), but his research is impeccable. I have yet to find a _factual_ error in anything of his I've checked. Catherine

A rope walks into a bar and sits down on a barstool. The bartender looks at him and says "Get out of here, we don't serve ropes in this establishment!". The rope gets up and slinks out. Once outside, he grabs the end of his tuft, making the little rope fibers go every which way, and curls himself up into a few loops. Thus composed, the rope walks back into the bar and sits down. The bartender says "Hey, aren't you that rope?" and the rope looks him in the eye and says "No, I'm a frayed knot."

Good luck!

Hi folks -- I went to the Drake seminar near Boston yesterday. There were about 18 people there, and two folks from Drake. The Drake folks were basically sales folks, but knew the program very well. And one of them also knew quite a bit of tax stuff as well. Many of the problems I've found with Drake in the past have been addressed to some degree or other. The two big stumbling blocks for me are the same as they've always been, though -- the data entry sheet type input format, and the lack of "drill-down" from the forms. But, it is _much_ easier to toggle back and forth from form view to data entry. I did like the customizable access for different workers (more important for someone with a larger office than my one-person shop!), and I _really_ liked the many customizable letters (including specific letters for amended returns and many other situations). And the customizations you set up ROLL OVER to the next year. They do have Form 8821 (tax info disclosure) -- but it's a checkbox on the 2848 entry sheet. If anyone has specific questions, I'll do my best to answer. Catherine

Congratulations on being home; that is always SO much better. Hope that Don continues his recovery at a good pace. Take care of yourself!! Catherine

Happy Birthday, Jainen! And many happy returns! (yes, terrible pun intended) Catherine