BulldogTom

I am sure it has to be there and I am just a dufus for not seeing it. I like being able to go straight to the last unread post in a thread. Where would I find that button on the new forum? Tom Newark, CA

I should say my son loves his professors. They are not part of my rant. Tom Newark, CA

My issues with San Jose State started with the transfer process. My son followed every instruction given at the orientation he attended. One of the instructions was to send an official transcript from his Community College. He received the transcript on June 1st and immediately sent it on to SJSU. 3 weeks later, he still could not enroll. Numerous phone calls and emails later, with no response from the admissions department, the professor in charge of his scholarship calls him and asks why he has not enrolled? Classes that he needs are filling up, and he cannot get approval to sign up. I finally called and was told that only the student can make inquiries. So I left a blistering message on the voice mail of the head of admissions phone. I got a very nasty response from her on my vm telling me that my son failed to follow directions. They also called my son at work and left a vm for him that his father had gone off the rails and that he needed to call them. By that time, I had called back and had a long conversation with the head of admissions, who finally admitted that they did have everything, and that it simply had not been processed by staff. She chewed me out for my manners, and never apologized for her staff not doing their job. It was 3 more days before my son could sign up for classes, and what was left was early morning and late evening classes, which left 3-6 hour gaps in his schedule 5 days a week. Problem #2 with SJSU My son goes into his advising session with his counselor and is promptly told that he will never be able to complete his degree in 4 years, because as a transfer student, he will not be able to withstand the rigors of a real university education. He is given a list of the classes that are allowed to transfer in from his community college and told what he needs to take to complete his degree. There is a class on the transfer list that is a pre-requesit for other classes he needs to take. In semester two, he tries to sign up for one of his classes, but is told he does not have the pre-requisit class and so is not allowed to enroll. He goes back to the department and shows them the transcript from his community college and the counselor list of transferred classes to show them that he meets the requirements. They tell him that yes, the class transferred for credit, but not for content and that his advisor should have told him that. Without that class, my son had to push all his classes back 2 semesters. Now he has a 5th year with 2 classes, 9 total units over a 1 year period (one 3 unit one semester class and his senior project which is a one year, 6 unit class). Had he been properly advised on the transfer classes, he would be graduating in 4 weeks. BTW, my son has a 4.0 GPA at SJSU, was hand selected by a professor for a research project, and tutors Calculus and Thermodynamics at the school. Did that dirty bastard with a cushy counseling job and benefits the rest of us could only wish for have any repercussions for the crappy job he did? Does he have to pay for costing my son a year of his career? Did he even get reprimanded or have to go through training so this would not happen to the next transfer student? Hell no, there is no accountability for the admin staff at SJSU. They are protected by their union and are hired for their diversity rather than the quality of their work. Rant over. NO it is NOT....I HATE SJSU. AND YES I AM SHOUTING. Rant over. Tom Newark, CA

Bittersweet to hear this. Always enjoyed your posts. Wishing you a long and happy retirement. Tom Newark, CA

My son would be graduating next month as well if not for the incompetence of the "entrenched bureaucratic incompetence" at San Jose State. He has to return for 2 classes, NINE UNITS, that he could have completed if those idiots would have just read his transcript correctly. It is costing him a year of his career. I hate San Jose State administration. They think the university was created for them instead of the students. Tom Newark, CA

Difficult to do sometimes. Don't get me started on the incompetence of administration workers at California Colleges. I have a real issue with them. Tom Newark, CA

Judy, I don't see any shouting. I think he was pointing out (just like you did with the bold in your earlier post). We all post to confirm our thought process, and Jack just pointed out that he was getting his thought process confirmed. I think you read too much into his post. Just my 2 cents. Tom Newark, CA

The age old question, how to prove a negative. Tom Newark, CA

I have a candy dish on my desk, and I ask every one of my clients to take a piece. I tell them if I am audited, I am going to call every single one of them as a witness at tax court to get my $24 deduction every year. Tom Newark, CA

Jack, You need to see the settlement docs. My first blush is it is all taxable, but the costs of the litigation may be handled differently depending on what the settlement docs say. 1. Lost wages should be paid on a w2 to the recipient. These are fully taxable and subject to employment taxes. The defendant is also subject to their portion of the payroll taxes. 2. Punitive damages are fully taxable on line 21 unless they related to injury or illness. 3. If the award is for discrimination, the taxpayer can take the legal fees as an above the line deduction on line 34 of the 1040. You need to see the settlement docs. Did I say that already? Tom Newark, CA

His suit is based on an Ordinary Refund Claim. Not an originally filed return. Two separate issues. You can charge a contingency fee on an amended return, but not on an originally filed return. I just scanned these articles, but they seem to bear out my point. Tom Newark, CA

Not saying you can't charge for the preparation of the EIC forms. And you can charge however much you want for that service. But the charge cannot be based on how much of a refund the client gets. It is a fine distinction, but charging based on the amount of the refund on and originally filed return is a circular 230 violation. You can charge by the hour, you can charge by the form, but you can't charge based on the amount of credit that comes from that form. Tom Newark, CA

My preference is for Sunday. No clients. No work really. But I have no objection to you taking it down any time you want. Whatever works for you. Tom Newark, CA

Really......that is interesting..... Tom Newark, CA

However, I believe that ruling did not apply to EA's. They are regulated by and subject to Circular 230 at all times in practice. Tom Newark, CA

<< If it contains EITC $160 to $$210 depending on how much EITC. >> It is a Circular 230 violation to price an original return off of the amount of the refund. Tom Newark, CA

A UCC1 is a lien on a specific item. I deal with them all the time. The bank usually takes out a UCC1 on their customer's property (like backhoes, trucks, tools,etc). They are normally not used on buildings. At my day job, our bank has a UCC1 filing on our equipment. I think a bank knows what a UCC1 is. And I don't have a PhD. Tom Newark, CA

My fee starts at $85 for a 1040/540 e-filed. Every form I add increases the price. That includes every W2, Every 1099, every Schedule, every stock trade, and Every K-1. I show my clients my price list with all the forms entered. My average fee is about $142. We did about 150 returns last year. That is down from about 200 before we had to move from Lodi. I feel like each client should be treated the same. So if they have a rental, then there is a charge for that form. How efficient I am that day with my entry should not matter. You pay the same for your rental as the next guy. Then only place I screw around with that charge is a Schedule C. If I have to basically do the books for them before I can prepare the form, I will add some more to my fee. If it is a very simple business and the books are in order and I have a few line items to put in, I will discount it. I price my services as a value preparer, because I have a day job that pays the bills and I am looking for this business to be my retirement occupation in 10 years more or less. I would like to get to 300 clients by that time and then I will start moving my price structure up quite a bit. I will not be positioning my practice in the "value" category at that time, but positioning it as a full service, year round preparation and representation firm and I will price accordingly. I will also be positioning it for a sale when I move to full retirement. But that is a long way off. Tom Newark, CA

This is just me talking here, but you are giving your services away. You don't have a software issue (not saying ATX does not have issues, but that doesn't look like your problem). You have a business model issue. If you want to place your business in the value category below the Big Boxes, then be at 85% to 90% of their cost. You may lose a few customers in the short run, but in the long run, where are they going to go? To the big box to be treated like cattle with no off season support? How about those 990 clients? They going to go to the green box for that work? Or a CPA who is going to charge them a boat load because they have a soft heart for their profit margins and not the client? Again, positioning your practice in the value range is fine, but do some research on what the big boxes are charging, what CPA's and EA's are charging, and price accordingly. 60% of the big box store is giving it away. You seem to have a great client mix that you can work from. (Not sure why you would do 30 freebies, but that is your choice. No value judgments here). Some are captive (990's, P/S, 1120, and any of your Sch. C's & E's), so those are probably going to stay or get a real education on the going rate for business and non profit returns. The 30 freebies are not leaving either. Just my humble opinion. Have the moderators delete if you don't want to look at it again. Tom Newark, CA

Thanks for the tip Rita. We used to toggle from the Return Manager tab to the e-file tab checking to make sure everyone was filed. Took for ever. Last night was a breeze. Tom Newark, CA

It normally applies in situations where Highly Compensated Employees (HCE's) make deferrals based on an estimate of what the allowed amount will be after the discrimination testing is done for the year and they have deferred more than allowed. This used to be a common occurrence at the company I work for. There are so many low wage workers who will not contribute to the 401K plan that the HCE's got to defer almost nothing based on the testing. We put in a Safe Harbor plan and the owners are very happy about it. Tom Newark, CA

You must not be as good of a shot as you claim, because if the easter bunny came into my garden, there would be no easter eggs for the kids the next year. Tom Newark, CA

Just wondering where you found that out? It is one of those little tidbits I need to keep in the back of my mind. I thought that would be the case, but I would like to see it in writing somewhere if you would be willing to share your source. Thanks Jack. Tom Newark, CA

Bring it on. He should be nice and happy that the ex is out of the picture and he does not have to pay her anymore. A potentially happy client. Tom Newark, CA

I think it has to be an obligation ordered by the court or it is not deductible. Tom Newark, CA