JohnH

Well, I've been reminded many times by clients that it's a "voluntary" tax system. Apparently he has the same philosophy.

Most of what I believe to be true about flying comfort comes from a pro sports team physician who flew with the teams a lot. His flying rules, which I follow rigorously, were: 1) Hydration - top priority before, during, and after; 2) No alcohol of any kind; 3) No carbonated beverages of any kind; 4) No sleep aids of any kind. He had even more stringent rules for long-haul flights. I always board any flight with at least 1 liter of water per 2 hours, taken in little sips. (I never depend on the flight attendants to provide enough water, although I always ask for it when they come around for cabin service to supplement my own supply, and I go to the galley & ask them to refill my bottle when it gets low on very long flights). We lose fluid via skin evaporation in the arid cabin air, but even if the excess water causes frequent trips to the restroom, that's ok too since moving about is helpful in avoiding DVT (along with mandatory compression sleeves). Sounds like your problem may be complicated by something similar to vertigo. Hope you complete the trip without too much discomfort.

Water is your friend. Hydrate excessively, beginning at least 24 hours before you fly, sipping all during the flight, and continue into the day after. Some people suggest that the discomfort experienced from flying is primarily altitude sickness. The cabin is pressurized to 8,000 ft, so the closer to sea level one normally lives, the more pronounced the negative effects, even from a relatively short flight.

This conversation has (rightfully & logically) morphed into a discussion about bad tax decisions people make when they rely upon incomplete advice. There is an interesting irony in the fact that the topic began with a question related to a beautician/hairstylist tax issue.

The past few posts remind me of something else. The potential client is clearly lying. If a couple of CPA's and the IRS said it's OK, why didn't one of those CPA's take on the project? I guess they want you to believe the conversation went something like this - "Yes, what you're doing is perfectly fine. I see absolutely no problem with it. And the IRS agrees with me. But I don't want to do the work for you. Glad to give you this free advice. Have a nice day. "

You came to the right conclusion. You don't want to be anywhere near this return. Even if 2016 is prepared correctly, the prior years are a time bomb waiting to explode. If it happens, they will try to blame you for preparing the "correct" return and thereby alerting IRS to the prior-year problems. They will just throw stuff against the wall and see what sticks, plus they will try to throw any and all people associated with any of their returns under the bus. There will probably be no end of aggravation waiting for whomever is holding the bag if/when this blows up. (I'm nowhere near being out of figures of speech, but I'll stop here anyhow).

When they start that with me, I always hand them an extension.

Almost by default, I'm moving to a single cell phone number for everything - business and personal. It's simpler and less time-consuming. Being able to identify the caller, plus assigning special ring tones to my family members, makes it easy to take a quick look at the phone before answering a routine call. I can decline calls which are out of context, knowing that if it's important they will leave a message. Having all the messages in one place is vastly simpler than having to keep track of a business answering service and a personal answering service. My drive time has become much more productive because I can call up the list of declined calls and decide whom I want to get back to while sitting in traffic. For me, though, the key communication tool is becoming texting. It's more efficient than email, and someone who thinks before texting can compress a vast amount of information in a simple message. That saves the option of actually speaking with someone (or even composing an email) for the truly important communications. Also, I remain convinced that anyone who wants to remain in this business (especially if your growth depends upon bringing in new clients), had better become comfortable with texting. Otherwise, you can write off 80% of the young people entering the work force today. They will never become your clients.

That was exactly my point. The people who program the IRS computers have some common sense when it comes to minor discrepancies - the people who program the DC computers apparently have none. Rounding to the nearest $5 (or maybe the nearest $10), should be the norm. Anyone who doesn't understand this simple principle shouldn't be allowed to design a tax checking program for any government agency.

I think I'd tell client that the people who program the DC computers have absolutely no common sense.

My wife and I are leaving Mar 29 - Apr 5 for an Israel tour. First trip there for both of us. I wouldn't necessarily have chosen those dates, but the timing was beyond our control. Anyhow, that means lots of extensions (clients have been warned).

Texts are very easy to memorialize. Just take a screen shot and send it to a printer. (So far I haven't started twittering or snap-chatting with clients - don't know how that would play out...)

Text to Joe: "Hi Joe. I heard your voice mail. Probably can't get back to you for a couple of days - too many appointments right now. If you'll text me the answer to my question, I can at least get your return back in the queue. Right now it's on hold until I get that info from you. Thanks, John": How's that? I'd be tempted to add "Rita already gave me permission to kill you if you don't respond."

Keep a couple of boxes of papers sitting in each chair in your office. When they come to pick up their return, don't offer to remove the boxes. Most people will leave faster if they can't sit down. Plus, since you're already standing, it's easier to walk them to the door while they are gabbing. Very few people will remove the boxes and help themselves to a seat. If you really need to spend a little time with them, remove the boxes but place them within 2 ft of then front of the chair. Most people will get uncomfortable if something invades their 30" of private space and so they will stay a shorter length of time. But for me, the best approach is to keep them out of the office in the first place (so I can get some work done). That means strategic use of mail, email, and text communication as much as possible.

Thanks Miss Rita. I lost my original. It's so great to have a duplicate. Bet I was the only student you ever had who was older than the teacher.

I still cherish those fond memories of being the oldest student in Rita's math class. She was a tough task master, even making me memorize all the digits of Pi, which I can proudly say I still know today and can recite them at the drop of a hat.

I did a quick check, and a cursory look indicates it works similar to Pell Grants. It's probably taxable income unless he can produce documentation to the contrary.

I got the answer to my question. "It's hard for a man to understand something when the value of his tax deduction depends upon his not understanding it "

What does the client not understand about "lower of cost or FMV"?

I like the "tenth of an hour" idea. Reminds me of the lawyer who would come in to the office after spending most of the day on the golf course and return a few five-minute phone calls, logging 15 minutes of minimum billing for each call. So in the last hour of the day he would bill a total of 3 hours to 12 different clients. When he died, he was standing at the "pearly gates" and St Peter said, "Nice to meet you. We don't get many lawyers up here. I see that you lived 87 years." The lawyer replied "There must be some mistake. I died in an auto accident at 35 years of age." St Peter replied "Oh sorry, my mistake! I was looking at your time sheets."

Sometimes I go to comedy clubs an pay for a few laugh-out-loud moments. But during tax season, I just visit this forum, see threads like this, and get more than my share for free. Thanks everyone.

I usually enter the data, print out the Schedule A, and then put a handwritten note at the bottm of the "A" with the total crossed out. This goes in the "Client Copy" set of forms

If I were your client and I understood what you had done, it would definitely be #3. It would cause me to question what other unilateral decisions you might be making in my behalf without giving me all the info I need to make my own formed decision. But most clients won't know the difference, so as a practical matter my point is moot.

My responsibility - give the client these options: 1) Extend and wait to see if anything changes by Oct 15 2) File with penalty calculated (If the penalty is later removed, pay full price for an amended return) 3) Go somewhere else Client's responsibility - Choose one and live with it.

I still think the medical travel provided by the daughter is the most likely answer, and accounts for all the money. You can't have medical travel without a car. The math works like this: Amount received. $86,000 Less med exp: (26,000) Sub-total: 60,000 Less one car: (60,000) Net received: - 0 -