HV Ken

I often wonder what the tax prep process is like at the box stores? Do they also offer the compassionate listening ear? Or is it strictly mechanical and transactional?

We always joke we need a two-sided sign in our office - one side says "Tax Prep" and the other side says "Counseling". Somewhere during our time, we flip the sign. It would certainly be nice if we could bill them hourly for the time spent in counseling!!

Well this is much more information from your original post! I wasn't trying to imply anything - there was no indication originally that you put in all this effort. My vote is for TO DUMP. There is peace of mind that comes from parting ways with a PITA. I am willing to bet you put way more into this client than the fees you have received.

The IRS would not know if he was insolvent and will say by definition that cancellation of debt income is taxable. Form 982 is what is used to determine if his cancellation of debt income could be excluded. This is work that is done by the tax preparer.

Did you check to see if he would qualify as insolvent as a way to handle the Cancellation of Debt ? Perhaps that is what the CPA did for him. It is not a trivial process and if this did happen, it would have come with a pretty nice return fee. See Form 982 - http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f982.pdf Purpose of form: Generally, the amount by which you benefit from the discharge of indebtedness is included in your gross income. However, under certain circumstances described in section 108, you can exclude the amount of discharged indebtedness from your gross income.

So you are saying if you fill in the Schedule A line 21 worksheet, you don't include that? That's not intellectual property - that's filling out a supporting worksheet with information the client supplied to you. Wow - we have a very fundamental difference of opinion of what makes up quality customer service....

You don't owe it to me - you owe it to your client. It is part of the product/service they pay you for.

What kind of cat (kat) is afraid of mice ???

If tax preparers used professional courtesy and included the information, wouldn't this all be so much easier???

I have a simple process to ensure this doesn't happen. I do not generate the final version for e-file until I have the signed signature pages. Then head right over to the e-file manager and transmit.

Thanks gfizer. That's all. In NY, if you have local taxes withheld and they don't apply to you, you can get them refunded. Was just looking to confirm that is not the case in KY.

Client lives in and has W-2 from Kentucky. They live in Grant county. The W-2 has local income tax for withheld for both Georgetown and Scott counties. Is that just automatic and correct? I can't find anywhere on the KY forms nor in the KY instructions to cover this. Thanks!

I don't mean to be morbid, but what if you die? We have picked up a few new clients this year whose previous accountant either retired and moved away, became unreachable, or died, and now there is a big hole that does not get filled. Not good for the consumer. Ultimately, we have a fundamental difference of opinion Tom - I believe this schedule is part of the product they paid you for.

...when tax preparers do not include the depreciation report in the client's copy. Now you are sitting there with a new client, looking at their last year's tax return, have a nice depreciation number, and no idea what the details are behind it. I think it is professional courtesy to include the depreciation report in the client copy. We always do.

Gee thanks jainen. I have never seen where they convert from direct deposit to paper check as a result of additional processing. Only when the direct deposit information is invalid. How can additional processing have an impact on how they deliver the refund?

I'm with jainen. Quoting Pub 970: IF you: do not claim an exemption on your tax return for a dependent who is an eligible student (even if entitled to the exemption) THEN only: the dependent can claim the American opportunity credit. You cannot claim the credit based on this dependent's expenses. Seems pretty cut and dry to me.

Client sent me a copy of the following letter received from the IRS: Notice: CP53 We had to do some additional processing on your tax return. Therefore, we weren't able to honor your request for direct deposit of your tax refund and are sending you a check instead. As a result, you should receive a refund check in the mail in 3-4 weeks. I have never seen this one before. Anyone have any idea what this could be about?

Tom - If we were in the same location, sounds like a nice barter! Hmmm.... Would that be income? LOL

That is really splitting hairs. If you prepare them, you can't advertise tax preparation services. If you don't prepare them, you can advertise tax preparation services.

This happened to me on a return that included Fee Collect. I clicked on the receive acks icon, let it do its thing, and then if I remember correctly the return moved to the proper state to allow for e-filing. Next time I process a Fee Collect return I will keep an eye out to see if I can capture the steps.

Correctamundo!

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Looking through one of my emails from Accounting Today, there is this story "IRS: Don’t Advertise Services with W-2 Forms". See: http://www.accountingtoday.com/news/IRS-Advertise-Services-W2-Form-65965-1.html?ET=webcpa:e6788:210568a:&st=email Just in case, here is another link: http://bit.ly/13KRHfg Wouldn't you know it, the next W-2 I open up, on the back of the mailing address is "H&R Block is offering special discounts" How come the big stores keep getting away with things us little folks can't ?

Because they broke this in 12.10. It is supposed to be fixed in a subsequent update.

When this happened to me, I noticed that the Bill looked corrupt. Check the bill first - if you see things like #value instead of numbers, delete the bill and bring in a new copy. This stopped those crashes for me. One more thing to check in every return....