JohnH

Or time to switch to MAC.

First one of these I've seen in maybe a couple of years. An employee's W-2 form has a tear-off coupon offering them a discount on their tax preparation fees at a national chain. It's actually a part of the W-2. I suppose the tax prep firm is paying all or part of the cost for preparing the W-2 forms in exchange for the advertising. It offers them $30 off their tax prep fee or $50 off whatever they paid last year if they switch from another firm. Interesting marketing ploy - I guess I'm surprised there aren't more of these.

What does "required" mean? Is the child going to be kicked out of school if they don't bring the supplies? Pooling of the supplies is important here. Some parents will buy much more than what is on the list, while others will buy nothing. But if the supplies were not set aside for the use of the specific child, I think it is a valid contribution.

I disagree. Donations of cash or goods to a public school are deductible. The parent should save the receipt for the purchase, as well as the canceled check or charge card receipt, (along with the letter from the school detailing what type items should be purchased if they still have it) . List it under Non-Cash/Check contributions showing the school as the charitable organization. No after-the-fact receipt or acknowledgement from the school is necessary. There are many charitable contributions which are deductible without having an acknowledgement from the charitable organization when paid by check or debit/credit card. One just needs to document the contribution payment properly. It is also important to ascertain that the organization is a qualified charitable organization, of course. The after-the-fact documentation issue arises only when the amount is over $250 for a single gift. This business of having receipts from the organization keeps coming up, and I'm convinced that there is lots of mis-information circulating among tax preparers on when a receipt from the organization is required and when it is not. Notice the wording from Pub 526 in the following paragraphs, especially where it says "unless you keep ONE of the following" (#2 is "one of the following", but so are #1 and #3): Cash Contributions Cash contributions include those paid by cash, check, electronic funds transfer, debit card, credit card, or payroll deduction. You cannot deduct a cash contribution, re­gardless of the amount, unless you keep one of the following. 1. A bank record that shows the name of the qualified organization, the date of the con­ tribution, and the amount of the contribu­ tion. Bank records may include: a. A canceled check, b. A bank or credit union statement, or c. A credit card statement. 2. A receipt (or a letter or other written com­ munication) from the qualified organization showing the name of the organization, the date of the contribution, and the amount of the contribution. 3. The payroll deduction records described next. Then, a couple of paragraphs afterward, it describes the $250 threshhold and the higher record keeping requirement which kicks in. For under-$250 contributions, the receipt from the organization is a nice thing to have because it helps establish that it is indeed a qualified charity, but the receipt is not necessary. There are many other ways to verify the legitimacy of the charity, especially since Google is so close at hand for anyone with a computer. Whenever this conversation occurs on a tax forum, it makes me wonder how many people are denied a legitimate tax deduction by their preparer because the preparer has set an arbitrary requirement which is not called for by IRS.

I wouldn't use it. It seems innocent enough, but there's little doubt it's a breach of confidentiality. What isn't entirely clear is whose confidentiality is being breached. There is a procedure for obtaining it, and a procedure telling you what to do if it is refused. I'd follow that procedure.

Jack: I think I'm detecting a trend here...

After watching a cat chase its tail for at least 5 minutes, two thoughts came to mind: 1) "Cats must be simple minded - they're so easily amused." 2) "I just spent 5 minutes watching a cat chase its tail."

My first thought was, IRS is going to allow you to report interest income regardless of whether you do or do not have a Fed ID number.

Office Depot has great return policies. So do companies like Home Depot and Lowes. They really focus on customer service and they deserve customer loyalty. They earn it. Worst company for return policies I know of is Best Buy. Last time I did business with them I promised myself I'd call them out in their sorry return policies at every opportunity. I never buy from them unless there is no other option. Even a better price won't get me in their store, unless it is significantly better.

Smart move. I like the way you think...

I agree totally. I think there should be a limit of some sort - maybe non-cash contributions can't exceed xx% of cash contributions. Some of these values are unbelievable, and I just don't believe someone who gives $25 to their church when they show up on Christmas and $10 to the United Way in the whole year is generous enough to give $2,000 worth of good clothing, furniture, and toys to Goodwill. They donate their junk and then want to inflate its value.

Yes, states have varied and different rules. NC, for example, imposes a flat 10% penalty on the underpayment, although they still don't invalidate the extension. But the IRS is very lenient when it comes to extensions and underpayments. That's important information when the client's back is against the wall.

They aren't required to make a payment in order for the extension to be valid, regardless of the amount owed. They will pay interest at about 5% APR plus a FTP penalty which equates to 6% APR, so the underpayment will cost them roughly 1% per month on the unpaid balance. But they will escape the 5% per month FTF penalty, which is the main reason for filing the extension. The most important thing is that the estimated balance due be as accurate as possible, regardless of whether or not it is paid - that is the only way the extension can be invalidated after the fact. Obviously it's better to pay the estimated balance due if they can, but it isn't required in order for the extension to serve its main purpose. As a matter of fact, the one I prepared today had an $800 balance due and they are not making any payment with it. But they still escape the 5% FTF penalty completely.

Just prepared my first one today. There will be many more in the coming weeks. It's always good to get that first one out of the way - it gets the ball rolling and makes the others much easier.

Thanks KC. I paid a couple of hundred dollars for a set of CD's by David many years ago, which had about 12 hours of teaching. A quick look at this 45-minute clip seems to summarize most of his key points in that series. Understanding the Matrix of Self-Management and Mind Like Water at the mid-point of the talk is really the heart of GTD.

There are several ways to preserve texts. The easiest and simplest is to just do a screenshot of the text and then email it to yourself. But most conversations via text are more along the lines of "You forgot to give me your mortgage statement, please send it", and other informational type things. We had a long conversation about texts on another thread, and I can say with absolute certainty that if a tax preparer isn't interested in texting, you will find many of your younger clients changing to someone who is (assuming they ever become your clients to begin with). This isn't important for anyone nearing retirement, but for anyone who has a professional time horizon extending out more than 3-5 years, it is critical information. If you don't believe me, just spend some time hanging out with some 14-15 year-olds and watch how they interact with one another. They are your future clients.

Thanks Mike. I didn't know that. Always good to learn something new from you, since I know it's reliable.

On a more serious note, here are the good ideas I implement constantly: 1) Extensions - start filing them around mid-March on every return as it comes in. If you finish the return before Apr 15, no harm has been done. But if you get swamped in the next 2-3 weeks, you're not wasting a lot of time & energy in early April trying to double back and persuade people to LET you file extensions. 2) US Mail - get clients to mail their info to you, rather than drop it off. 3) Email & Texting - get your clients accustomed to emailing back & forth (texting for younger clients since they rarely use email these days). Email & texting prevents them from tying you up on the phone. 4) Do everything possible to keep your clients out of your office. This will enable you to get some work done.

The book is "Getting Things Done" by David Allen. Best productivity book I've ever read. I think I'll review the main points again - thanks for the reminder Rita.

I always thank them for their business (well, almost always).

It's beyond my comprehension as to why a church treasurer would ignore this information once it is brought to his/her attention. That;s downright silly. But if that's the situation you're encountering, then there is some advice you could give the client. I'd never suggest that they dial back their giving, because a truly motivated giver has reasons to give other than the tax deduction. But he can protect himself by breaking up his contributions into amounts less than $250. If he wanted to give $450 in a single gift, there's nothing wrong with writing two or more separate checks which add up to the $450, provided neither check exceeds $250. I'd probably date them on separate days, but beyond that I don't think he has a problem, no matter how much he gives in total.

I agree with most of the points made, but a few clarification are in order. The contribution receipt does not have to be on letterhead style paper- any contribution statement layout which clearly identifies the charity is acceptable. There is no requirement that the acknowledgement be signed by anyone. The critical elements are that it must have the boilerplate wording and it must be in hand before the tax return is filed. It is also important to remember that these rules apply to any single contribution over $250. For single contributions under $250 (even if the total given to the charitable organization is well over $250) the canceled check is sufficient proof. For example, if a taxpayer gave $249 per week by check, he is entitled to a $12,948 contribution deduction even if there is no acknowledgement letter provided at all (although I wouldn't recommend that a church follow this as a routine practice). Here is a concise explanation of the potential damage from a trusted source. It won't matter to a church treasurer or administrator who is clueless about these things (as Jack has correctly pointed out), but for one who has any knowledge of the issues, the ECFA is well-respected. http://www.ecfa.org/Content/Charitable-Contribution-Denied Publication 1771 is also helpful, although it chases so many rabbits that it really should be split into two separate publications in order to address the separate matters of undesignated contributions and contributions involving some sort of quid pro quo. http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p1771.pdf

I did change the original post. But what I came around to is there is one Pi day every year in dd/mm format, which is 03/14. However, there are 31 Pi days in mm/yy format this year, which won't happen again until 2114.