JohnH

Yes, Gene's advice is correct. I'm telling all my NC clients that the only advice they should give their employees is to enter their marital status and -0- exemptions. NC has essentially eliminated personal exemptions and made several other adjustments, while lowering the tax rate. Presumably, it has negligible effect on most taxpayers (well, at least until they begin creeping the rate up in years to come). I ran a few just for kicks in the past few days. Taxpayers in the $30K range will see a difference of about $2 - 3 in weekly withholding under the new scheme of they claim zero exemptions. So just how much trouble do we want to go to in order to increase or decrease the refund/balance due by $150? Not worth anyone's time to read the 10 pages of instructions that they're sending with the new forms. And as noted in the OP, the employer instructions say to withhold at the zero exemption level if the form isn't returned, although I imagine most employers aren't going to be happy if the employee doesn't fill in the new form.

Merry Christmas ChristmasTrees.pdf

Despite the increase, my fees are still below “the competition”. I invite you to compare my fee with any other tax preparation service. Here's what I thing your'e communicating, without meaning to: I work cheap. Check around and you'll see that's true. Here's how some clients might interpret that "I wonder what short cuts she's taking. ? ? ?" 1) I don't think you gain anything by calling people's attention to price. 2) Being the lowest-priced person around really isn't anything to brag about. 3) If you encourage them to look around, they will probably find SOMEONE who will work cheaper than you. And once they've done that, they make take your advice and switch based on price.

I like Mike and Michael's answers. Also, you will be pleasantly surprised to hear some clients say "I wondered when you were going to go up. My brother-in-law pays his tax preparer twice what you charge me, and I know for a fact his return's a whole lot simpler than mine."

Personally, I still like this. It's in my client letter: "Fees & charges for basic tax preparation will again increase an average of 6% - 8% this year. Also, some schedules involving more complex tax matters may incur additional charges exceeding the general increase. The type of items most affected are returns reporting rental income, returns reporting multiple transactions involving the sale of stocks or mutual fund investments as noted in the previous paragraph, and returns reporting income from self-employment. I encourage you to ask for an estimate if you have any concerns about what it will cost to complete your return." Then say nothing about the fee increase unless they ask. I find that very few ask. ============================================ There's a principle in sales which applies to many other situations in life - "any time you're explaining, you're backing up." By signaling that you feel a need to explain in advance, you're inviting people to question you. You're turning control of the conversation over to them before they even show any interest in pursuing the matter. It's much better to assume that reasonable people will understand that you need to increase your fees from time-to-time. For those who don't, you need to decide whether they're worth taking the time to explain yourself to them. In some cases, your answer might just be - "that's what I'm charging now for your type of return."

Thanks Eric

I like the idea of making it a part of the name

H-m-m. So what we learn from this entire conversation is that there are good and bad online providers and there are good and bad in-person seminars. But neither is good or bad based on the means of delivery; only the content determines that. Is this something we didn't already know?

Nice post Judy. After the last round of conversations a few months ago about personal attendance vs web-based learning, it was clear to me that there's a wide range of opinion and and a fair amount of misinformation about the subject. I personally prefer self-paced learning because I often find seminars boring and a colossal waste of travel time, but others see things just the opposite. I also dislike hearing people at lectures ask questions to which they already know the answer just so they can impress others with their knowledge, which I notice happens frequently. Then about a month ago (in my other job) I was touring a brand new medical school in NC and the program director showed us a classroom with traditional theater-type seating. Well, traditional except for the high-tech lectern, video camera, and video screens/electronic white board across the entire front of the room. She pointed out that each student was issued a "clicker" which they could use to answer diagnostic questions as the lecture progressed, and the instructor could immediately display a frequency distribution on the screen. This instant feedback allows the instructor to tailor the lecture and reemphasize points which were missed by too many students. After all, the instructor's responsibility to communicate the information is as important as the student's responsibility to absorb it. This instant feedback enables them to adjust "on the fly". They also have the capability to store and review all answers, and then speak privately with students who consistently miss too many questions (without embarrassing them publicly) I commented how effective this is for 80-100 students at a time, and she replied it's actually a much larger class at times. They have the capability for students to log in via the internet and drastically increase the number of students served, some in locations far from the campus. Plus they record the lectures for review and later replay for students who were unable to attend for health, emergencies, other reasons. I supose high-tech learning is fine for medical students but not so useful for tax preparers.

Have you tried sorting on some other field, then re-sorting on customer name? http://support.quickbooks.intuit.com/support/articles/SLN40562

Same here. I avoid nice courses - out of respect for the game. But on those rare occasions when I do play, no matter where we play or who I'm with, I always claim bragging rights for the lowest average cost-per-shot.

It works for any phone number, because you are introducing calculations which cancel one another out. In the process, you are providing the relevant information in steps 2 and 6 + 7, (after netting out the sum of 6 +7 in step 9 by dividing by 2). Enter it all in a spreadsheet and you can get a visual of how it does its magic.

I don't bother with handling my Medicare payments as a SEHI adjustment either, mainly because II don't think it's worth the trouble. And I'm sure it isn't required. So you can just disregard it insofar as the S-Corp is concerned if you wish. Another point. if you happen to have enough total medical expense to derive a deduction on Schedule A, then you get the benefit of deducting the Medicare premiums anyhow. So in that case the only deduction you gain is a reduction of the 7.5% haircut, which on a $1,200 SEHI adjustment is only $90. The tax savings would be $15 - $23, depending upon your marginal rate. That's not worth doing a lot of paperwork at year-end.

Happy birthday Eric.

But far better to be dead wrong here, where it costs us nothing, than to give wrong advice to a client. I've seen a few conversations on this forum where I was on the wrong side (Politics Forum Exempted), and avoided a mistake or two when it came time to deal with the situation with a client.

Did we ever ask how much tax is involved? And compared to a thousand or two in legal fees with possibly the same outcome, how does that stack up?

Since this is a 1099-C, I think she would get a notice even if she filed MFS or single in the year it is issued. Doesn't the 1099-C tie to the social security number rather than to the tax return? I'd bet both she and the ex are getting the same notice.

We didn't have Fels Naptha soap - it was either 20-Mule Team Borax or Octagon soap. And where I grew up, one grocery chain had S&H Green Stamps and the other had Gold Stamps. I think Winn Dixe stores (usually known as the "Dixie Home Store"), gave green stamps. As a kid, I would dutifully paste those stamps in the book each time my dad came home from the store. Never could bring myself to redeem them, though, because there was always something I wanted that cost just a few more pages or another book or two.

Now Rita, as my former math teacher, you know that some day tax preparers are going to be called upon to solve the Twin Prime Conjecture or some other problem plaguing the academic world. When that day arrives, the ATX Community will have the computing power to lead the charge.

That's a good one. Wonder if she ever thought of peeling the oranges & lemons before buying them?

Speaking of cheap, reminds me of a business dinner years ago in my sales business. A company I was contracting with had sent a chemical engineer out to call on customers and train me on a new product. At the end of the day, Rob suggested that we eat at a nice steak house. Turns out Rob was the guy whose picture is beside the words "wine snob" in the dictionary. He grilled the waiter mercilessly & repeatedly about several wines on the menu while lecturing me on the chemistry of each wine, etc. He never picked up on the glazed look in my eyes or my total lack of interest in his musings. I don't think he noticed the two or three times the waiter rolled his eyes either. After an unbearably long period of time he made a selection and we FINALLY ordered dinner. When the check arrived later (with the single bottle of wine costing more than both our meals combined), he took a look t it, pronounced it correct, and HANDED IT TO ME! At a sales meeting a few months later, another rep said of him, "Rob's a great trainer, but if he comes out to work with you, take him to McDonald's to eat. If you go to a nice restaurant, he'll keep you there 3 hours ordering the wine, and then stick you with the check." Yep. Right on all counts.

I must have an unusual set of old geezer clients like myself. There are exceptions of course, but most of those in the 50-70 year group are perfectly comfortable using email to communicate. The younger ones (in their 30'a and 40's) tend more toward texting.

You could always send an email with the news letter, noting that the hard copy and calendar would also be coming via snail mail. That way you accomplish # 2 and # 3 even though you skipped #1. I think #2 and #3 are the real focus of the exercise anyhow.

A suggestion about mailing costs and process. Email a pdf of the letter to all clients for whom you have an email address. Mention in the letter they can respond with a request for a hard copy if they want it, and if they have any questions. Emailing the letter serves three purposes: 1) It saves postage, envelope stuffing, etc. 2) It enables them to ask you questions, give you information, and get the conversation started before the rush hits. For those of you who book appointments far in advance, it can also be a way to handle that task. And all done without that time-wasting process of telephone calls (unless YOU DECIDE that a phone conversation is actually necessary). 3) It helps get clients into the mode of communicating with you in the most efficient manner. That can pay off immensely in March & April.

If my clients were willing to pay triple and not worry about their penalties, I'd file them all in November. :)