JohnH

Good game so far, but that halftime show was a snoozer. Guess I'm just not young enough to get it.

It's lots of fun. But you also need to have a ready answer for that rare client who will ask what happpens if you accidentally shred somehting important. The answer is: "We can always get a duplicate. Most of the time it only takes 5-6 weeks." Be sure that you're shredding something while you say this. It's even more effective if the shredder is so noisy you have to raise your voice to be heard over the whining and grinding sounds.

The three most ignored phrases in the English language: 1. "The check is in the mail' 2. "Honey I'll love you as much tomorrow as I do tonight." 3. "We're from the government and we're here to help you."

I love opening envelopes for a couple of reasons: 1) It elminates the possibilty of the client throwing away something important; 2) If the client is sitting there while I open the envelopes, it creates some entertaining moments. As I pull out the boilerppate stuff, I immediately shove it into the shredder while I'm conversing with the client. It's just too much fun watching the expression on their face as they secretly wonder if maybe I just shredded something important while that machine is loudly grinding away.

But for that group of employees who have qualifying healthcare coverage at work, and for those retirees who have medicare coverage & no dependents, it's still just a "check-the-box" answer and move on. So my question remains unanswered - Where'e the problem with respect to these two very sizable groups of people?

So I'm still puzzled. I completed a return for 1) a retired person on Medicare with taxable retirement earnings, and 2) a single wage earning in their 50's who is covered the entire year by a plan provided by their employer. In both cases, I just checked that they had full-year coverage and a check box appeared on line 61 of the Form 1040. Both returns done and out the door. Furthermore, I don't see how any of this changes in 2015 in any meaningful way. Yes, the person working for the large company could lose their job or the company might drop coverage. Aside from that possibility, there isn't anything new or different in 2015 for them. The retiree isn't going to be dropped from Medicare in 2015. So where is all the complexity and difficulty we spoke of earlier? There's absolutely nothing of any difficulty for that subset of taxpayers. Or was this just more hyperbole and hysteria over ACA?

Having gained and lost the equivalent of a couple of people in my 67 years, I think I'm qualified to comment about your 5 lbs. I found that every bit of it was gained and lost one ounce at a time. So congratulations, Joan, you've lost 80 ounces so far.

This may not be exactly relative to your situation, but I'll post it anyhow. I once had a client who was selling his business to another company. The lawyer kept telling me it was a non-taxable event because of the way he had it structured. I kept telling him there was no way, but invited him to give me any tax-specific cites he could provide. He sent me a quirkly little article written by another lawyer, but it just tap danced around the tax implications. I finally asked him if he would be interested in preparing the return, which of course he was not. But he kept insisting that this was commonly done, and he knew lots of CPA's & tax preparers who were following his advice. TRAP SPRUNG ! I asked him to provide my client with the names of 2 or 3 tax pros so the client could retain one of them to prepare the return. I told the client I would not follow the attorney's advice and that he should be giving the client a referral. Last I heard, the attorney never followed through and I think the client self-prepared his own return. (I think 7 years have passed, so the fact is he probably got away with it. But in any case it wasn't my problem.)

I thought it meant "Awesome Tax Xpert". I think you could sell that concept to most clients.

You could do a nice screen shot of your Avatar and frame it. After all, "ATX Supreme Guru" just about says it all insofar as most clients are concerned.

Now here is something I've wondered about from time to time. Maybe when my mind was wandering. Just curious if there are any problems with this practice. Many states require that you file their extension form ONLY if you don't file a Federal Extension. Usually you're extending both, but not always. So my solution is to file a Federal Extension even if we plan to file the Federal Return before Apr 15 but need additional time for the state filing. ( Simply filing the Federal Extension doesn't mean you must wait until after Apr 15 to actually submit the return)

Rita: I like that. Mind if I use it sometime?

Naveen: I am very sorry to hear of your situation. It must be devastating to you at this moment. As many on this forum have also done, I have been involved in several situations in which a decision to discontinue life support had to be made, although not my wife. But in each situation, it was a great comfort to know that the loved one had clearly stated via a living will that this was their wish. It is a much more difficult decision when the person's wishes are not clearly understood. So your wife in her foresight gave you the peace of knowing that what you are being asked to do is according to her wishes. You are not making this decision alone, because you also have the advice of the medical professionals to help guide you in complying with her wishes. You aren't pulling the plug - you are doing what she requested be done if this situation ever occurred. But that doesn't lessen the grief, so just know that I and others on this forum will be praying especially for you over the coming hours and beyond.

Only one solution to the stress - E-X-T-E-N-S-I-O-N-S Lots of them. No giving in to the clients' demands and whining. If you let them, they will completely burn you out without giving it a second thought. Many of them think we derive meaning & purpose in our lives by being martyrs. Unfortunately, sometimes they are right. I must say, if someone asked me why I'm not at work on a given day or evening, I'd simply respond with "Why aren't you?"

Follow up on the comments about Global Entry and who they are allowing to use it. Based on what I saw last night at Philadelphia International, they may be beginning to limit usage of the kiosks only to Global Entry registrants. Don't know if that is a new procedure or only at that location on that evening. I walked past lines which were probably 60-90 minutes long and went right through the kiosk, and no other American citizens were being steered through there as I've seen in the past. The only other person from my flight that I observed picking up luggage was a passenger who had wheelchair assistance and was allowed to jump the regular line. One experience like that makes the cost of Global Entry worthwhile, not to mention the fact that I get TSA precheck on virtually every domestic flight now. For anyone who does any air travel (domestically or internationally), registering through Global Entry is becoming a no-brainer.

Congratulation, Jack. Great accomplishment. It demonstrates the same perserverance and stick-to-your guns worldview you exhibit on this forum. Well done.

Look at it this way. You are doing them a favor. They will know a little bit better what to hide from the next CPA they talk with. And you re not charging them for that service.

They're already telling you they like to take chances and they don't listen to advice. Any guesses on who they will throw under the bus if IRS comes calling?

You have to be careful with this interest/late fee stuff. This is a consumer issue and some states have very harsh laws regarding minor infractions of consumer-protection laws. If you slip up, and the client happens to stumble upon a young lawyer who wants to make a name for himself/herself, you could be on the losing end of an expensive legal threat. I'd ccertianly run any interest/late fee policy past an E&O carrier before implementing it. Personally, I just offer them early payment discounts when I anticipate potntial payment problems (or just demand payment up front in rare cases) - no interest or late charges involved.

Chicken soup, fortified with Jalpeno peppers.

Margaret: I think your letter was very thoughtful and professional. I have clients to whom I'd write a letter like that if necessary, but I also have clients to whom I'd simply say "Get Lost!" if that's what was required to make my point. A professional practice is not a cookie-cutter enterprise where everyone is treated exactly alike. The essence of good business practice is knowing when to make distinctions, and a qualified business manager understands this nuance . I trust your judgement that this was the way you needed to handle this situation. Nice job.

You're not.

I tell people I don't grade papers. If they want me to check their return, they must pay me for the time to do a preparation from the ground up. Even at that, the processing time involved in setting up a new client means the first year's return is often much less profitable than subsequent years. You can't build a strong business based on providing the cheapest service for one-time bargain shoppers. Catering to that crowd just makes you one of many people out there trying to see how cheaply they can work. It's a no-win situation for you.

I'll bet he actullly has ALL the digits memorized. That's where I am right now. The problem isn't memorizing the digits - it's getting them in the right order...

I think I'll run around in circles eating pie throughout that day, strictly to celebrate the occasion. Incidentally, how many of you have all the digits of pi memorized (like I do).