JohnH

I usually wait until the last minute for most things, But out of curiosity I decided to log in this evening while relaxing at home. It took about 10 minutes and I was all finished. I pay by e-check and I think that may speed things up. When it came time to pay, I just told the system to use the same as last year. (have seen some complaints about people having to wait for credit/debit cards to be approved).

Agreed. Plus, we teach kids it's cute to extort candy from strangers with an implied threat of some sort.

NC doesn't.

Mr Pencil and I agree completely. Sounds like they may want to drag you into the conversation so if anything goes wrong they can try and blame you. When I get these type of inquiries, I tell them about the gift tax implications and I tell them if they have ANY OTHER QUESTIONS they need to pay an attorney specializing in Elder Care to advise them. I usually try to put that in an email so I've documented the advice. If I had a client who doesn't use email, I'd probably put a footnote on the bill for their visit, or send them a memorandum if I chose not to charge for the visit.

You're correct. It's even helping me and I'm no longer an ATX user. It's helping me make a decision about my backup plan.

Could it be that there are some things they just don't want to talk about?

Surely you know they're going to drag it out.

Are they going to let former uses see it? Or are they so insular and narrowly focused that they are going to miss yet another opportunity to bring some customers back? This is as much a test of their marketing acumen as well as their programming abilities , whether they acknowledge it or not.

Sadly, many times these are the same people squandering money they really can't afford to waste on Lottery Tickets, all in the vain hope of scoring the big jackpot.

Absolutely! For some reason the Iraqi Dinar scam got entrenched among some church groups, and I had to stifle my laughter when trying to rationally explain to several people the folly of listening to that garbage. A couple of times I told people they would get a longer-lasting return by investing in "diners" (or even "dinners") rather than "dinars". Generally speaking, they didn't appreciate the humor, but (as one would guess) that didn't stop me.

A couple of years back a client called asking me about that same matter. He had been told to convert all his retirement money to gold. Not gold funds or anything of that sort, , but to actually buy gold to keep on hand. When I asked him why he would do that, he began to describe some sort of scenario whereby the dollar becomes worthless, the social order breaks down, and nothing has any value. I told him if that happens he won't need gold - the only metal which would have any value would be lead.

Wonder if maybe they got asked to assist with an emergency Federal Contract of some sort and had to detail some of their people out to handle it. (Just a thought...)

I think I'm going to write a book someday. The title will be "How to Make A Small Fortune Day Trading" Chapter 1: Start With A Large Fortune Chapter 2: Begin Day Trading Chapter 3: Stop When You Have A Small Fortune Chapters 4, 5, and 6 : Go Back to Chapter 3 !!! Chapter 7: Self-Explanatory

If she continues day trading for very long, it's likely that she won't be able to afford your fees no matter what they are.

There's always the option to donwload a fillable pfd from the IRS web site. These forms are sometimes available before software vendors get them approved.

Yes, let's not have.... Oh, never mind... Sorry, wrong forum.

A dignified woman is patiently standing at the airport gate check-in counter while the agent checks her seat assignments on her remaining flights. Suddenly a man barges ahead of her, slams his ticket on the counter, and announces to the agent: "I have a first-class ticket on this flight and I need service right now!" The woman slowly slides his ticket back to him and whispers "Sir, first class is a way of life, not a boarding pass."

I think I'm going to set my cutoff date for filing extensions as Feb 4, 2014. I've never tried to file an extension before IRS was accepting returns, so this might be a new and exciting experience.

Well, there is that general rule that says if it isn't excluded, it's taxable income.

i think you have the right attitude about EIC returns. About 3-4 years ago, I told the few that I prepared that they needed to start going to HRB, Liberty, or someone else with deeper pockets than I have. I explained the preparer penalties and told them that even though I don't doubt their veracity, I'm still not wiling to take the chance with the bureaucrats.

You're exactly right, Judy. The average sales person tries to sell features & benefits, bells & whistles, toys & playthings. The exceptional sales person figures out what the customer needs, and especially where the customer has pain. Then he/she makes sure he/she educates the customer so they realize just how bad that pain can get. Providing relief from the pain is a whole lot easier than selling features & benefits. It doesn't even require being the low bidder. Getting the order is almost an afterthought. But you must have a product that will deliver relief - guaranteed. No excuses. Right now I don't know how the ATX sales reps can overcome that hurdle.

I sell capital equipment to medical facilities, pharmaceutical companies, and research institutions. For some of it, I know a great deal about how it works and what it does. But for quite it bit of it, I don't have a clue about how to use the end result. All I know is how to get the result. When I'm talking with them about that equipment, I do the same thing the Drake rep did - I tell them the truth right up front. Most of my customers appreciate the honesty and the fact I'm not trying to BS them, although I'm sure there's an occasional doctor who asks why they don't have MD's selling this stuff. I suppose my answer would be the same as what I speculated about the tax software sales rep. Or I might try a little humor by reversing field and tell them about the sales rep who asked for $300 per hour to prepare a price quote. The doctor objected and said even he doesn't earn $300 per hour. To which the sales rep replied, "Don't feel bad - I didn't earn $300 per hour when I was a doctor either." It all depends upon the circumstances and the audience.

Maybe most tax software sales reps are not people who can actually prepare tax returns because tax preparation pays more than selling the tax prep software. I'm a sales rep in my other life, and I just don't see how the pricing struture for low-end software could ever produce commissions sufficient to make it worthwhile to sell tax software rather than prepare tax returns.

My suggestion. If you will break the obsessive dependence upon forms-based software (if you suffer from it), discard the affection for bells & whistles, and focus on software being a tool for getting work done fast in order to increase your productivity and potentially earn more profit, you'll likely change your attitude about Drake.

I agree. In this case, it sounds very much like greed. Unless the mother's dementia is such that moving her to a facility & unfamiliar surroundings would send her further off the deep end, destroying the only remaining connection to anything that brings a little joy into her life. There are sometimes things more important than physical comfort (and even safety) when it comes to mentally impaired people. I've seen that firsthand with a couple of relatives and had to accept the associated risks while the situation played itself out a little more. But given the totality of this person's worldview as Ms TK has presented it, I somewhat doubt that what's best for mom has entered the equation.