JohnH

He's 45 and taking money out of his 401(k)? Probably an advanced tax planning technique. If he does that on a regular basis, he won't have to pay tax on any of his Social Security benefits when he reaches retirement age.

Done!. I consider it an investment in professional and mental peace of mind, as well as showing appreciation for all Eric does for us.

Thanks for the reminder

If there are two or three major ones, I enter them separately on my supporring sheet and then enter the balance as "Per Client List". I also photocopy their info. That is only for my records, since nothing goes on the Schedule A but the total. One thing I do is to check for the "No Goods or Services" boilerplate on their contributions summary if they have any single contribution of more than $250. If that isn't present, I alert the client and suggest that we not file theri return until they obtain a properly worded statement. If they only provide me a list without the contributions statement, I warn them about the boilerplate requirement.

Response # 1: I can handle your return, but right now we need to file an extension. That relieves both of us of the travel deadline and allows me to get your reteurn into my normal rotation. If you happen to owe any penalties or interest for underpayment of your tax, that will be your responsibilty. Response # 2: (silence)

In most cases the problem resolves itself. If the 2% harcut doesn't wipe out the benefit of the deduction, then there isn't enough income on the return for the deduction to matter very much anyhow at the client's marginal rate. So unless there is a business to divide or some other sizable income-related issue, the calculation is a waste of time. Nice how the lawyer knows enough about tax law to know there may be SOME deduction, but conveniently hasn't bothered to know enough to know the client needs a breakdown of the fees. Typical buck-passing maneuver.

The First Time Abatement guidelines are clearly spelled out in the document linked below - scroll down a ways to get to this provision---.> 20.1.1.3.6.1 (08-05-2014) First Time Abate (FTA) http://www.irs.gov/irm/part20/irm_20-001-001r-cont01.html As Old Jack said, e-filing puts the tax preparer in the line of fire, whereas paper filing puts the responsibility on the taxpayer - where it properly belongs. This is why I continue to obtain waivers from the e-flinging requirements, and plan to do so until I retire. I'm a tax preparer, not a tax filer. I'll do my job by preparing your return - you do yours by satisfying your filing responsibilities. I'm not interested in becoming a data entry clerk for the IRS, not am I interested in assuming other people's responsibilities. As for the OP by Naveen, your client can probably obtain the first-time penalty relief by following the FTA procedures. I recently had one who never got around to filing his 1120S which had 3 shareholders. Glad he had to worry about the $7K penalty rather than me. It helped me sleep better at night and nap better by day. Affter a couple of letters which I wrote for him, and which IRS ignored, he finally called IRS and they took care of the abatement on the telephone.

Pacun: Our local police aren't going to involve themselves in something like this. A couple of years ago, they couldn't even take time to figure out what to do about an illegal gambling establishment operating in the same office complex I'm in. They didn't shut it down until someone broke into the place and an officer had to enter it to see if there was anyone injured inside. When the poker machines were staring him in the face, he had to do something about it. If they won't deal with something in their own jurisdiction, they're sure not going to take on a problem across state lines.

They called back about 30 min later, then another call after 15-20 more minutes. I didn't answer - no message left either of these times. I'm guessing it's a part of their scam - they begin by raking you over the coals for not responding to their message. If I weren't trying to get out of the office for a weekend getaway, I'd tie them up on the phone for a while. At least that would delay their getting to their next victim. But they do have me a little paranoid now, because I'm wondering if they work various area codes in sequence. So I've called a couple of my elderly clients to personally warn them about this type of scam. Bottom line is, these idiots are cutting into my play time.

Caller ID showed 703.828.0423. I didn't answer but they left a threatening message on my voice mail about suspected fraud and all sorts of dire consequences if I or my attorney didn't call back. The person had an accent (Hispanic I think), and the syntax was a little convoluted, but not enough to notice if the hearer wasn't tuned in enough to know it's fraudulent. I can see how unsuspecting people can get sucked into this scam because overall they make it a very intimidating conversation. I feel sorry for the people who answer these calls and don't know up front that it's OK to hang up on them.

I think I see what stopped the horse's forward progress...

Long-time client & friend brings me his tax info. For years and years, has always paid when he picks up his return. He had some recent temporary financial setbacks (which I already knew about). Client: "I'm running a little tight right now. Is it OK if I pay you when I get my refund? Me: "Sure, no problem. I'll put a rush on your return. Than way you get your refund quicker and both of us benefit." Client: (with sly grin on his face) "H-m-m-. Mind if I start paying you when I get my refund every year?" Me: "Touche"

Give him time. If he keeps day trading, eventually he will go back to working as a security guard.

Talk about the ultimate photo bomb... That cow gets first prize.

Next time they call, have some fun with them. "Today I entered your income from your W-2 form. Tomorrow I'll get the withholding entered. Then maybe the next day I'll get to your wife's w-2. By the weekend I'll have your home mortgage interest and property taxes entered. These numbers are all pretty large, so it takes time to get them right. Then I'll start on your interest & dividend income. (That won't take too long). So as you can see, it's going pretty good overall. And with all this time it's taking, especially adding in the time to take your phone calls & give you progress reports, I'm really happy to see how your bill is adding up."

I'd try that, but I'm afraid some of my clients might want ME to submit to a personality test. That's when the real problems would surface...

What he really meant was: "It should only cost $260 a month. Then with my $257 subsidy, I'd be paying the difference. I think everybody should pay their way on this thing, and I'm willing to come up with my $3 fair share."

Here's a handy macro for Drake. For all clients who have no ACA issues, it marks the form appropriately. It launches from the main data entry screen and returns to the same place. HC>x>~ I used Alt-C because the keys are close together. (It meant overriding whatever Drake had pre-entered there - I don't remember what it was but I don't use theirs anyhow).

Why no extensions last month? No sense waiting until the last minute. Extensions take the due date off the table.

Or "what did we claim last year?". As though that had any bearing on this year...

Wonder what mandarin pie would taste like?

He could tell her that the last 2 years of returns might need to be amended to reverse the erroneous deduction claimed. And maybe she should consult her tax preparer or a tax attorney. That might convince her to leave him alone.

I was hoping my favorite math teacher would jump in here, and she did. She is the one who taught me to memorize all the digits of pi. That was a breeze. But I'm still working on getting them in the right order.

I decided to merge the throught on pi day with the thread on Form 8283 and the rounding discussion. If I prepare any returns today with non-cash contributions over $500, I'm going to divide the client-furnished FMV by 3.141592653, and the truncated result is the number I'm entering on the 8283. Thaty will probably be a more accurate figure than what the client thinks their junk is worth.

I think the value should be based on a per-pound average. They could just weigh each bag when it's delivered and write that on the ticket. A good value would probablly be 82.83 cents per pound - easy to remember, and probably as accurate as any other method.