Lion EA

Just a wild guess, but probably as an agent for your client, that MD CPA must release the sales tax info to his client/soon-to-be-former client. Your client may be able to get the information to pass along to you -- either from his former MD CPA or directly from the MD governmental unit that handles online sales tax reporting and payments. Or, MD will reset his info, so you/client can log in anew with all the historic data.

A smart and a CREATIVE son, Jack. Wonderful video to celebrate the big day. The entire family looks wonderful. And, Marilyn, those baby peas are always the most awful color of green that you can't help but make a face!

I use the back-to-school specials at Staples to get a different color each year of the two-pocket portfolios for as little as a penny each. Then I pick up their store-brand vinyl folders in the same/similar color for my fat returns as well as some slicker paper folders that also hold more than the cheapest. I buy metallic ovals with the year embossed on them from M&C Mostad & Christensen for the front cover and tuck a business card into the pre-slit space on the inside pocket. I like a different color for each year (someone on this board, Catherine?, recommended that years ago) for times on the telephone when I need to tell the client to look for his green folder, for instance. I've gotten compliments on my "packaging" from clients. I'll spend more money on software and courses, but I do skimp on office supplies, furniture, etc. Returns are getting fatter over the years, so many don't fit in the cheapest folders. But, more clients are sending me their documents electronically, so I have fewer documents to return to the client/fit in the folder. Usually I put client documents in the left pocket and return in the right (anything they have to deal with and not file, such as ES vouchers, stays outside the folder), but a few this year with no documents to return got their state returns in the left pocket and federal in the right so it still all fit in the cheaper folder. Sometimes I have paperclips and such in the same color for clipping the payment vouchers to envelopes, etc.

Congratulations! And, how thoughtful to wait until after tax season so you have time to spoil your new grandson.

I try to charge a base $100 plus any new forms, schedules, worksheets -- if it was obviously the client's error. If the client is a PITA or this isn't the first time they've forgotten to bring in the 1099R for the distribution they took or the second/third 1098 because they refinanced without telling me, for instance, I aim for half the original cost or more. If the client doesn't see it as their fault (IRS issue, I didn't question them enough, etc.), I lower it considerably for a continuing client based on their perception of the problem and how much I want to keep them. I hate doing amendments. If I'm going to do it for free or cheap, it goes to the bottom of my stack.

Or, The Tax Book's All States Edition.

IL gets first dibs because she earned all her income in IL. SC will want a share for the time she resided in SC, but will settle for a share based on their formula for taxes paid to another jurisdiction on that same income. Read the IL instructions too.

So all of her income is from IL, and IL will tax her on all of it.. SC will tax the income earned in IL while a SC resident, but give her credit for taxes she paid on that income to IL while a SC resident (I think; I don't have any SC returns this year). I don't use ATX, so can't tell you how to achieve that goal. Read the instructions for SC PY returns. I'm guessing you're familiar with IL NRPY returns.... Essentially, you'll have a federal column on her states. SC will have the federal income and a SC column for income earned while a SC resident from all sources. If there's a column for SC income earned while a NR, it will be blank. IL will have all federal income and all IL income, some earned as a NR and some earned as a resident. When you divide her earnings into columns, even if you start with pencil and paper or Excel, you'll see where each belongs -- after reading the SC instructions. Also, you'll want her pay stub from her last payroll while a SC resident so you know have her Y-T-D amounts while a SC resident.

If they are states that start with federal AGI, then it may not matter how they broke out the states. Is one her resident state and the other her nonresident state where she works? Or, did she move during the year?

Is there someplace you go anyway every week or so? I go to my chiropractor and church and gym once a week or more often, so picking up from them adds no time to my routine. Or, I like KC's idea. Would the store's new owner allow your clients to drop off? My retired hubby makes pick-ups and deliveries for me. Does your husband have more free time now that he sold the store? Could he retrieve your mail for you once a week while you work on returns? There are ways you can keep the clients that you want to keep that used to drop off at your husband's store. (And, lose the clients you want to lose!)

Rita can vacation on the east coast and scare my clients anytime!

I have clients that use mail/FedEx/UPS or email me or upload to FileShare on my website. I also have drop-off points at my chiropractor's office and my dentist's office. I'm looking for a drop-off location in another town, lawyer, realtor, medical, someplace my clients would trust but also someplace that would want my clients to know where/who they are so I don't have to pay or pay very little for the service. My chiropractor and dentist don't charge me. I've given them flowers or other small gifts in the past. My best thing is a large mail slot in my front door, but that might not be allowed in your apartment building. Get a PO box or a box at Mailboxes, etc. One of my clients has a mailing address, especially for receiving packages, at one of those executive suites of offices. He seldom uses any of their other services, occasionally rent a conference room, but does use them as his virtual receptionists for telephone answering/forwarding and for receiving packages.

I transmit NY and CT and Federal at once. Never had a NY rejection. (Well, once when I forgot to check a box or something. Fixed and resent.) Never had a CT reject. Had one federal reject with a dependent with a couple of middle names. SSA had used one of the middle names as the last name, so fixed and resent. Both states were fine, though.

My clients are the more complex individual returns and small businesses as well as a few that could do it themselves but like the "insurance" of using a professional who keeps of with the constantly changing tax laws. Or, they want someone to tell their financial story to, often to make sure we're doing the best we can in planning for their taxes or just because they don't want to talk personal finances with friends or coworkers. And, the intelligent ones who could do it themselves, but they make more money spending their time on their business than they would save with DIY tax prep. Or the wife said no more spreading out all over the dining room for two months while you work on taxes every weekend; give it all to our preparer and wait for the call to go in to sign. My business and my clients have changed very little in the 17+ years I've been preparing taxes. In fact, in almost every case, their financial lives have gotten more complex, so they need me even more now than 17 years ago. I have lost one or two over that time to a broker who also prepares taxes, but not enough for me to consider selling investments.

Yeah, like those house swap deals for vacations. We could have office swaps. Knowing I could get up and leave those clients and never have to see them again would take a lot of the stress away!

I have trouble convincing my clients to keep the copies but send ME the ORIGINALS.

I'm waiting on states also. I think I'm finally up to date on federal. But, it took longer than usual for federal acks for my Monday and Tuesday efiles, so I'm not worried yet about the missing states.

I give thorough interviews, especially new clients, face-to-face when warranted, telephone, whatever works. But, I don't try to prepare the return while interviewing. I don't wait for them to find numbers on my ceiling or pour through their check registers or call their spouse or go into their bank/brokerage/HSA/whatever account on my computer. I send them home with a list of information to get -- before I start their returns -- and give back to me in one big list, hopefully. When I receive that last piece of information, I confirm receipt via email, and IF they've asked tell them my turnaround time at that time or if I'm putting them on extension. I don't charge for extensions as they spread my work throughout the year. (But, all my clients are continuing clients.) I put ALL new clients on extension to have time to review their prior year returns and add to my list of questions before starting on their current returns. I efiled almost all extensions, mostly for the reason Jack stated about having electronic acknowledgements. I mailed a very few paper extensions when it was faster than setting up new clients in my system or for the dwindling types of returns I'm not set up to efile (partnerships and some one-time states). I even efiled all the CT extensions on the CT website as CT doesn't accept efiled extensions via my software. (If any of you CT preparers have mastered the TSC, please private message me!)

Glad I completed MA returns (although, one trust will be paying late as she was in Vegas but faxed me signatures!). With church services all Holy Week, a midnight Friday deadline is no help whatsoever! I'll get back to work Monday.

I move files back to the bottom of my stack when I find missing information, and I prepare first in-first out based on the top of the stack/complete file date. I've communicated verbally re extensions, but like the more formal statement with signature above. I do email, but not consistently; at least an email with a response would establish the client's intent. I file extensions for everyone I've heard from over the last year, which means I might not have heard from them yet in 2014 but they were extended for 2013 so we worked together sometime after 15 April 2013, less than a year ago. (Block taught us the client relationship lasts one year.) I had a LOT of calls Monday and Tuesday from clients asking if I'd file extensions for them. I even filed one extension for a client with a NY rental house that had been talking about selling the house and going back to DIY tax prep; but she hadn't reported a house sale on her 2012 return with me, so I'd rather err on the side of filing an unnecessary extension than risk the failure-to-file penalty for her. If I used my Scan & Flow software more consistently, it'd generate an email of missing information for my review and to send to the client. Actually, I have something similar within my tax prep software itself, that I also don't always use. I have my note paper in their folder listing my questions as I prepare, and I call or email when I'm ready. A lot of these things could be done by someone else, if I had someone reliable. I have been getting my retired hubby to handle pickups/signatures when I don't need to discuss anything with the client at the time of signing and to make deliveries/signatures. Maybe I can get him to scan for me and do more client communication by next season.

Gave up on my big one: wash sales threw a monkey wrench into my importing, one of his W-2s reports that he's a NYC resident when he never lived there, and he made $10,000 in excess 401(k) contributions, and she hasn't told me how much she wants to put into her SEP. So, I printed out extensions for them to mail when they mail their partnership returns. I'm still transmitting extensions. Lots of extensions. Oh, well. I'll sleep in Wednesday, and do a load of laundry, and get a haircut. Mani/pedi on Saturday. Back to work.

I'm going out to see if I have a good view or not. One huge one to prepare, really fat 1099-B and K-1s and SE and.... Just finished their partnership. Then it's e-filing extensions, but CT doesn't receive via my software so have to move over to their site after I finish federal and NY and other states. Spent the last several days explaining to people why they owe so much (you made $35,000 more in SE; you w/h $3,500 less, you had no w/h because you quit your job, you took retirement distributions or unemployment benefits or..., you reduced your w/h instead of raising it, you paid off your mortgage, etc.). Back to work. It's 77 degrees in here and hard to concentrate, getting sleepy.

My virtual water cooler!

Started using that years ago at Block when they started suggesting it as a planning tool.

I thought it was RECEIVED by for amendments. However, read something last year about postmark.