HV Ken

Sure it is going to boost revenue, but it is also going to increase expenses due to the impact on productivity.  If I estimate a 25% loss in productivity, that means if I normally do 200 tax returns in 10 weeks, I can now only do 150 in the same time with the same resource.  This is going to require hiring additional help and it is not clear to me how to best utilize that new help yet.  After all, 9 women pregnant for 1 month each does not produce a baby!

I would say your gut is telling you something for a reason.

I know this has been asked before, but I couldn't figure out how to find it.

We have decided to begin trimming off the bottom PITA clients.  We are no longer looking for clients whose only claim to fame is the ability to fog a mirror!

With that said, we would like to send them a professional "we are no longer able to serve" you letter.

Does anyone have one of these they would be willing to share?  If you would like to email me, send me a PM here with your email and I will reply.

Thanks and Happy New Year!

Thanks KC.  I see on that site that the webinars are identified to specific states.  Do you know if you have to be a resident of one of those states to attend the webinar?

No, it does not automatically change that information, but for 30 invoices I would bet it would be no more than a 10 minute task to edit them (I am currently doing this for about 15/month).  I haven't done any research, but there are tons of after market add ons for QuickBooks and there may be one out there that would perform that task.

I have no experience with XERO, but it seems like QuickBooks Online could handle this.  It has come a loooooong way in the past two years.  I probably have about 20% of my client base on it now, the rest remain on desktop.

the problem with using QB for a lot of people is that you can't create billing rules for example.  I have 30 monthly invoice to go out and 20 quarterlies, it would be nice to have a program that would auto-generate these as applicable.  Some more expensive programs will prepare these as of the first of the month and you just have to print them, the date of service auto changes ie services for January 2014 then service for February 2014 with no input needed. We used to use such a program but it has a limitation that you couldn't pre-prepare invoices, so if the first of the month was a Saturday, you couldn't generate the invoices on the Friday before.  

Maybe I am not understanding your requirement, but it seems like QuickBooks memorized transactions could handle this?

Just got an email from ATX with the following:

If you don't think ACA will affect you, think again:

• Every 1040 taxpayer will have to make 1 of 3 choices on their return
• 41 million people are uninsured
• 7.1 million people are on the healthcare exchange

ACA is complex and any incorrect reporting can delay you client's refund.

• New Form 8962 (15 pages of instructions)
• New Form 8965 (12 pages of instructions)
• Form 8960 (20 pages of instructions)
• 1095-A, 1095-B 1095-C

As National Taxpayer Advocate predicts, it will be "the worst tax season in thirty years."

You may be interested in FreshBooks for this: http://www.freshbooks.com (I have never used this, but it appears to be a cloud based invoicing system)

Personally I am not a big fan of these cloud solutions as they come with a monthly service charge.

Of course, QuickBooks desktop could certainly handle this task and would be a one time purchase.  You could handle remote access via logmein or other computer sharing programs, many of which are free or have a small annual fee.

The IRS is doing NO verification for 2014 for any of the questions.  This from Karen Hawkins directly.  Additionally, no preparer penalties for tax year 2014 either.

 

For 2014 there is no need to go any further when the client says they have MEC.  There is no verification method, so nothing for me to keep records of.

 

2015 tax year will be entirely different.

I still want to get them trained this year.  A little time spent this year on education will hopefully reduce the time requirement in the future.

I also want them to get used to there being two charges on their invoice: the tax prep charge and the ACA prep charge.

And, all the ACA forms will have a fee, even the box to be checked that no further forms are needed.  It's not the time it will take me to check the box that I'll charge for, it's my knowledge to know what to do if I check the box or don't check the box.

Surgeons call that the KWTC fee!  (Know Where to Cut)

I was hoping this would generate more discussion.  Have people not given this issue any thought?

Not sure what your price constraint is, but getnetset (http://getnetset.com) is specifically designed for tax practices and is only $395/year.

I think this is going to be a good topic, this what I have to put up with in my city:

(2)    a "Disclosure Form," which describes and lists the tax preparer's cost of services in compliance with ordinance 4-44-030. A Disclosure Form must contain the following information:

(A)     a written list, description, and price of the tax preparation service offered by the tax preparer;

(B )    a written list, description, and price of all miscellaneous fees associated with tax preparation services, including filing fees and processing fees;

©     a written estimate of the total charge to the consumer based upon the tax preparation services the consumer has selected to purchase;

(D)     a written estimate of the period of time the consumer can reasonably expect to wait for his tax refund; and

(E)     a certification from the tax preparer indicating that the tax preparer has reviewed each disclosure with the consumer and that the tax preparer has verbally reviewed all the required disclosures with the consumer.

UGH!

I am looking forward to a big influx of new clients this year, and lots of work when the notices come out a year from now.

Hi Jack!  Have you given any thought on your pricing for ACA?

I am curious how the box stores are going to handle and price this....  

Or how the box software is going to handle this....

Ken, what is your ACA fee going to be, at recent seminars I have heard of fees from 100-200 for people that go to the exchange and had life events!

 

Also the new capitalization charges are going to add 50% to most of my real estate clients and 25% to all others with depreciation.

I discussed this with my major business clients and they say they understand, once I showed them a sample of the forms and calculations involved.

Since this is a new topic, I created a new thread for this.  Let's move the discussion over there!

Ken,,,,,,my problem with the whole thing is "FULL DISCLOSURE" to all clients.  Per the explanation I received every client, even the up-front cash paying clients, would have to pay the agreed fee which for me would have been $7,50 per return.  I don't believe many of my clients would stay with me if they found out that I was charging them monies for something they are not using.  DISCLOSURE, DISCLOSURE is always a problem.

How do you disclose your entire fee to your clients now?  I would assume in full disclosure model you must be using charge per form and then give them an itemized list for each form and the price for each form on your invoice?  While we do use a charge per form hybrid approach, I do not show those charges to my clients, just the final bill and possibly explain any anomalies.

I just spoke to my sales rep about this as I am in NY which is impacted by the law.  The solution for NY is to "socialize" the expense.  For example, in 2013 I had 400 clients and 40 took advantage of Fee Collect.  This would be $600 in fees going to the bank (40 fee collect clients x $15/fee collect client).  In 2015, I would be charged $1.50/client (calculated by taking my $600 fee collect expense / 400 clients).  I would be billed weekly at $1.50 per e-file, with that money going from ATX to the partner bank.  So if I file 400 e-files for ATX 2014, ATX collects $600 from me (weekly from start of season to end of season at the rate of $1.50/efile) and sends that to the bank.  The net result is a wash to me as the $600 was coming out of my pocket anyway.  

I actually like this, as I can steer my refund clients to this option instead of credit cards and not have to pay credit card processing charges.  I think this is better for the clients as well.

p.s. I can choose to tuck this new cost to my business, or include it in my ACA charge per client!  HA HA

lacerate, prosystem and pro series all do the state credit automatically.  With atx its not so bad doing it manually until you make a small change to one state and forget to change the home state.  If you only have an occasional return like this then you can get by with atx but if you do a lot of multistates then you need more comprehensive software.

While I agree it would be nice to have this automated, I take advantage of the LINK feature in ATX to ensure any changes on a state return are automatically reflected on the home state return (thus not forgetting).  Since I don't have that many multi-state returns, I can deal with this inconvenience.

I just took the NATP Essential 1040 and Beyond the 1040 workshops.  They covered this, but did not create an atmosphere of panic.  I did not leave the workshops with a great level of concern, but this thread may be changing that.  Looks like there is a little more research to do here!

A separate form has to be filed and franchise fee paid by Apr 15.

http://www.tax.ny.gov/pdf/current_forms/ct/ct5_4i.pdf

"You must file Form CT-5.4 and pay the properly estimated franchise tax on or before the original due date of the tax return for which this extension is requested."

S-Corp returns are due March 15, not April 15.

Does the State of NY honor Federal extension for S-Corps or is there a requirement for a specific extension form?

There is a NY extension: NY CT-5.4.  There is also a minimum payment due with the extension based on NY receipts.  If you don't make this payment with the extension, the extension is considered invalid and penalties are assessed as if you never filed an extension.

Where do you come up with this monthly fee?  Is that an assumption of using the card reader for EVERY client?  My understanding is that there is no fee unless you use it and, then, it is 2.75% of the charge. 

 

The client that I am helping to set up had a machine that she had to pay for when she installed it.  Then there was a monthly fee in addition to the percentage, which was around 5%.  She just purchased the business and got rid of the credit card machine.  Also, I am in complete agreement with Tom.  I DID look at the I-transact.  Scary!!!!

$1,500 is the breakeven point for transactions.  For example (not the real numbers, but for illustration), let's say the rate for Square is 2.5% and a terminal is 2%.  At $1,500, the cost to use Square is $37.50 and a terminal is $30.  The cost per month to have the terminal is $7.50.  So once your monthly transactions exceeds $1,500 then it cost more for Square than having a terminal.  If your transaction amount is less than $1,500 then Square or any of the other smart card swipers is a lower cost alternative.

What was scary about iTransact?  I have been using them for years and it works great.  I am also a trusted advisor with them and am able to offer merchant services to my clients at better rates than they get elsewhere.  My clients love the savings and I love the passive income from commissions.  That's not scary at all!