JohnH

Interesting question about the odds changing. It's true that extending the eligibility date would change your ACTUAL odds since more people would be brought into the lottery by extending the eligbility date. But if they didn't have as many sign-ups as they expected initially, then the extension might not change the STATED odds. Of course, none of this addresses the other issue that OldJack just pointed out, which is the bingo-parlor mentality that their marketing dept brings to the table. I think it's another indication of a particular mind-set under the new management. Maybe this type of stuff works well in Europe. (?) PS: I hope some of you on this forum who elected to renew early win the prizes, but I'm still holding out for a coffee pot or toaster oven.

We will all be interested in hearing what you find out from this client. Could be a legitimate reason for his wanting to switch the income to his personal return, but there could also be a host of nonlegitimate reaons involving everything from simple misunderstandings all the way up to blatantly illegal business practices. BTW, my practice has always been to feely give advice at parties, church, on the phone, etc. It has resulted in plenty of new business and enhanced friendships along the way. I find people to be genuinely appreciative and I think it pays off tremendously. The key is to know when to say "we're getting into territory that's too complicated for an off the cuff discussion and we need to meet at my office". I'll tolerate the few freeloaders I encounter because they are irrelevant when compared to the many benefits derived from sharing information when it's appropriate.

Pacun: That's an interesting question, but I can only answer for myself. I'm only responsible for my bottom line, not ATX's. As long as they have competitors, it's their responsibility to invest the necessary resources to insure that their product is as good as or better than their competitors' offerings in all areas of service, performance, price, reliability, customer satisfaction, etc. If they became a monopoly my answer might be different, but in that case we wouldn't even need to have this discussion.

Marilyn: Same here - still thinking it over. However, I made the decision weeks ago that I won't be taking any "Early Renewal" offers from ATX or anyone else - don't plan to make the final decision until 4th quarter. I don't think the $100 or so of savings is worth the risk of making a mistake. In the meantime I'm evaluating other software as a precaution and have already arranged a conversion if I decide to switch to one of the competitors. BTW, as I recall the airline ticket class action was actually a clever marketing scheme coupled with a unique way to solve a potential legal problem gthe airlines had at the time.

This is all well & good, but I want to know when they are going to throw in a coffee pot or toaster with every renewal?

Pacun: This was posted over on the TMI board and might be helpful to you. http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/fi...005-16770-1.pdf

"... the whole point of political rhetoric is to make it unnecessary for you to have to go into the specifics before taking sides. You don't need to know any economics to be in favor of 'a living wage' or 'affordable housing.' In fact, the less economics you know, the more you can believe in such things." excerpt from a recent article by Thomas Sowell entitled "A War of Words". There are numerous other gems of Sowell's usual wisdom & wit in the same article.

I think Karl Marx, Chairman Mao, Lenin, Joe Stalin, and others of their ilk did a pretty good job of showing us what "fairness" looks like when government is expected/allowed to define it. After all, enforced egalitarianism seems so logical to the simple-minded. Hillary has certainly borrowed heavily from their ideas, and it appears she just can't wait to get it right where they failed. The people who are sucked in by her simplistic pronouncements just have no sense of history, not to mention a deficit of basic character judgement.

It's neither diplomacy or extortion - it's capitulation. It may even yield some seeming results for the short-sighted, but in the long run we will pay dearly for this appeasement which is being forced by people willing to sacrifice long-term security for short-term political advantage. Our children & grandchildren may curse this generation for having sold them out if things continue on the path we appear to be taking at the present time.

News of a recent bear attack in Yellowstone Park makes this a prudent time to issue a reminder for anyone hiking in the woods, as this is the prime season for bear encounters. Hikers should be sure to sing, talk, and make lots of noise to scare away bears & avoid accidental confrontations. Many hikers wear tiny bells on their clothing & shoes to make additional noise and they carry pepper spray to deter attacks. It is also helpful to look for signs of bear activity and to be aware of the types of bears are active in the area. One reliable means is to examine bear droppings. Brown bear droppings are generally filled with pieces of twigs, berries, and insects. Grizzly bear droppings have a distinctive pepper smell and are filled with ground up pieces of tiny bells.

Looks like the pressure is intensifying. I received both a voice mail and a fax this week from ATX/Kleinrock concerning renewals, in addition to the emails & mailings already sent in the past couple of weeks. It would have been nice if they had been as diligent back in April about keeping the lines of communication open with existing customers whose money they had already collected.

Yes, and in hindsight that's my only defense for voting for him. All the signs of incompetence were there at the time I cast my ballots. I also like the quote that "a liberal is just a conservative who hasn't been mugged yet".

Thanks Bob. We were just pokin' a little good-natured fun back & forth. Neither post was intended to be serious.

I certainly can't argue with your logic with respect to the other elements mentioned, although in the case of the cursive signature I'm OK with saying there's neither a requirement nor a need - either word is OK with me (or both). And although there's no requirement that I be quite so precise on this forum, I can see there may be a need for more clarity in how I state certain things.

As I mentioned before, I enlarge the font and change it to script. Having done all that, I still also sign the original, but not the copies (although taxbilly now has me thinking about doing that). My thinking is that if I forget to sign the reutrn, the script might just fool the taxpyer and they won't bother asking me. And of course, if they do call at 11 pm anyhow, I can tell them the printed signature is just fine, and to leave me alone.

Jack/Mike: I'm puzzled by why you would want to do this. Most tax programs now offer the option to print your signature on the signature line, which is acceptable to IRS . (I modify mine in ATX to make it a larger font and script, but that's just because I can, not because it's necessary). In any event, there's no need for a cursive signature - original or scanned.

Hey, let's cut them some slack here. Conducting all sorts of social experiments with other people's lives and finances is grueling work. It requires real effort to get things as wrong as they do on such a consistent basis. And you've got to admit that dollar for dollar we have the best politicians money can buy.

And I haven't mentioned the worst part - I VOTED FOR HIM! My only excuse is that I was young, just out of the military, and a bit of a Liberal. Of course, this was a time in my life when I had a big heart and a little brain.

Carter - what a joke. He should stick to the only thing he's ever done well - sawing & hammering for Habitat. He's spent the intervening years trying to put lipstick on that pig of a presidency he mismanaged, but it just won't work. The incredible thing to me is that he continues to try and insert himself in international affairs when he single-handedly handed the Islamofascists their permission slip to continue misbehaving during the Iran hostage crisis. He did more to empower their movement that any American who ever lived. The president of the most powerful & prosperous nation on earth puts himself under "house arrest" because a small band of thugs manages to break into our embassy and violate every basic tenet of civlized society. We're still paying for his lack of leadership and will continue to pay for decades. And we haven't even mentioned his sneaky anti-Semitism, recession, high mortgage rates, gas lines, and famous "malaise" speech, which was actually a pretty good illustration of his sorry leadership skills. He was a whiner when he was in a postion to lead and he continues to be a whiner in trying to rewrite his own history.

Ditto (on both Old Jack & taxbilly's posts regarding eflinging)

Mike: Nice response you got there: "I seriously doubt that the sales representative you spoke with would have allowed the sale to go through without disclosing the change in e-file fees." How close is that to saying...? 1) You must have a really lousy memory; 2) Our people don't make mistakes; 3) You're lying to us. Seems to me they could have been more succinct. How about "This is the way we do business. You're only a customer - get used to it!"

Bob: Good points, but then I haven't read the fine print in their agreement since I think you can only get to it by renewing. And I'm sure that if this were in the plan, they've paid their lawyers much more to write the renewal agreement than any of us have paid our lawyers to review it. Although lots of people would threaten to sue, very few (if any)wouild actually go through with it. After all, what are your damages when you have alternative vendors? And what lawyer would start the case without a huge upfront retainer? All over a $1K software package? In any event, I suspect that they could get by with just refunding the money to anyone who balked, and that too would figure into the strategy. When it's all about the botom line, things get a lot more focused and risks are actually a little easier to predict & manage. As I said, this is pure speculation. But I'm doing 3 things to keep my powder dry: 1) Actively evaluating alternatives & planning a fall-back position; 2) Forgetting completely about any early renewal (the savings are peanuts when compared to the risk of making a mistake) 3) Holding out for an extended cancellation period (no questions asked & with full refund) to be sure the product is as advertised once it's delivered.

Just speculating, but there could be another "contest" at work here. What if CCH were pitting its three products against one another during the early renewal period, with the intention of eliminating one (or two) for the 2007 season? So those who had signed up in advance for one of the losers would then get a nice letter about how, after careful review, it's "not in the company's best interest" to continue their product. If this happened late in the year, many would be sucked in simply due to inertia. This would be followed, of course, with a nice run of corporate doublespeak about how the upgrade to the more expensive product (maybe even with a puny price concession for a season or two) will really benefit your firm and so on and so on. This whittling down process can be quote effective in retaining customers who get trapped and just don't have adequate time to research the alternatives late in the year. I've seen this exact scenario played out in another setting, and when all the winnowing was done the company came out much better financially that if they had tipped their hand early in the process. The only losers were their customers, but who cares about those dolts anyhow as long as revenue targets are being met?

Next thing they'll be offering is to mention the code, do a little pirouette, and click your heels together 3 times. Are they selling tax software or used cars? I received an Ultra Tax mailing today that took on the question of how long CCH will continue to maintain and support 3 different tax software systems. Looks like they have set themselves up for quite a marketing battle. The good news may be that deals can be negotiated this year that are better than the "ealry bird" offers that anyone is tossing out there right now.

It is a fine balance, but I do follow the philosophy that if I don't get an occasional complaint about by fees, I'm probably not charging enough.