Catherine

Last year, this year, and probably next year as well, this is very, very good general advice.

@Max W if you're an EA and member of NAEA, you have free access to Verifyle. Or, you can buy it for a month for like $15 (less than a one-way FedEx overnight fee). You can get e-signatures using that system.

Ain't that the truth! I took one this year - referral from existing, good, clients. She's poison, and is now trying to poison the good clients against me. Trying desperately to think of how to get rid of her in a way she'll believe (she's a leech, whining and constantly begging me to call her, because she wants me to explain what was perfectly clear in email - I can't understand it for her and there are no words of less than one syllable). At this point I almost don't care about keeping the other clients - if they're dumb enough to believe her words about me, when they've been with me for over a decade, then maybe I don't want them, either!

Judy beat me to it - make a note for yourself to double check the square footage for 2021. I've used the adjust-the-size method in the past as a forced correction; good to know it's an officially blessed method!

Others can chime in with official notices and cites. All I'll say is that the IRS master file goes by EIN and name control. If the first four letters of the name remain the same, would they even notice? Especially when so many companies get information reported with obvious, or subtle, mis-spellings, or do business under multiple names.

That doesn't mean you have to take him back!

I rarely have ANY luck searching the IRS website for information. Sometimes I do better using an external search engine and limiting results to irs dot gov, but not always. But the folks on this forum always find results! I think I am keyword-impaired.

Triple it and ensure he leaves! lol

I have NEVER regretted turning a client away. But I have, many times, regretted NOT doing so. Run!

We've had some of those, too. Ridiculous. OTOH, a few years ago we had a SLEW of minor corrections by Massachusetts - anywhere from $3 to $30 - with NO explanation, NO line item changes, and basically we could never figure out, for any of them, where the changes had come from. Some were refunds, some were bills, all were total, utter mysteries. At least, with the IRS notices, you not only know they're being stupid but WHERE and WHY they're being stupid. As opposed to these state changes, where we were utterly clueless as to who might be at fault and for what.

For some years now, when people ask if my fees are negotiable, my response has been, "Yes, but only UP!"

Join the club! I am SO done with this tax season.

Tell him SURE - but the fee (including your time) goes on HIS bill, 'cuz it will just be for him. Report back on how many colors his face turns before you tell him you were joking.

This is all quite true. However, they *could* put a stop to the outdated-before-sent automatic letters (pull the plugs!) and use those printers (or at least the paper and toner!) for other purposes.

They're printing a whole slew of outdated-before-printing LETTERS demanding tax either not due or already paid, that makes our clients call US in a panic!

Judy has a great point. The foreign school must be on the list of eligible foreign institutions. The school will know; I don't know how else to find it. But I had a client who took a specialty course in eastern Europe a year or two ago; that school wasn't on the list so we had to forego any credits.

You are correct. So every fancy overpriced coffee bought from a fancy overpriced coffee chain, paid by BitCoin, goes on Schedule D and Form 8949. Most of those who actually use the stuff (as opposed to getting given a fractional BitCoin as a Christmas gift - had one of those this year) sign up with one of the online tracking services that give a tracking document or spreadsheet at the end of the year. Just like a summary of trades from one of the standard brokerage firms. In the past, we had our own spreadsheets we made up and tracked people's crypto purchases and sales with. And we charged them a lot for that, too, cuz boy oh boy oh boy was it ever a pain in the hindquarters!

I won't touch ANY representation work without a retainer (unless I'm willing to do it pro bono). They are already proven to be fiscally irresponsible, so if I respect my own time and expertise, I have to get that retainer. It's also an excellent way to weed out the ones who are not going to follow through. Once they've handed over money, they are invested in the process - which makes it worth my while to dive in to the work.

A colleague who does a lot of these talked once about his frustration seeing the same folks come back every two or three years with the same bleeping problems. Not filing, missed a payment and killed their IA, not making ES pmts, we all know the type. An older man at his firm said to him, "You just need to look at them differently. Instead of calling them "problem clients" instead see them as "walking annuities!"

I had one guy send in documentation and PAYMENT on a CP2000, well before deadline. They cashed his check and then sent a 90-day letter! So he has a tax court petition ready to mail in time for the deadline, and we're waiting to see if they deign to respond to the documentation sent by ... something like the end of June.

Yes; gets you 1/2% off.

Then your people are getting different letters from the ones mine are getting. I've gone over five-page letters with a fine-toothed comb and had my assistant look too, and there is no phone number to call. Address for correspondence. On rare occasion, a fax number. But no phone. Not in the past year or two.

Sounds like the best procedure this year is to send the first "installment" payment with the return, and have the client make monthly "installment" payments online via Direct Pay. Then get the real agreement going online once they get the assessment. A new twist on "fake it till you make it!"

and duct tape and staples. While Slippery Pencil may never have had an issue, I prefer to give whoever at the IRS sees the paperwork first absolutely no reason or excuse on God's green earth to take any action other than the one I want them to take. And I always assume that the person opening the envelope is the newest hire with a forged GED, and word everything so that s/he cannot help but understand exactly what I want done.

The half-of-SE deduction is because that part "isn't supposed to be" income but rather the employer contribution that the employer, in this case, can/need not pay. So excluding that portion from taxation of income is appropriate and proper.