JohnH

I bundle them if there's little or no anticipated tax liabilty. But those with large payments and/or large balances due each get their own envelope, complete with Certified Mail and Return Receipt. That's about $6 per envelope, but the client's paying for it so I really don't care. Pretty cheap insurance IMO. Now if I were doing the volume some of you are doing, I MIGHT have to reconsider the cutoff point for the bundled ones. I'm sure that those paying in the range of $3-5Kor more would probably still warrant their own separate envelope.

This is another place that email is so valuable as a business tool. You can answer all their follow up questions at your leisure, plus there's a record. Just print off the conversation and stick it in the client file.

Glad to help out, and thanks to you for bringing it up again. It's been a few weeks since I played it.

So they might owe a maximum of $1,200 when the k1 figures are entered. Probably less than that since you said they have a refund as things are. The FTP penalty and interest will be about $12 per month. Hardly worth the trouble to do anything. You could paper file with the new info and a check. Even if IRS gets confused about the whole thing, the tax has been paid and you can probably get any erroneous penalty removed. However, if it were me I'd tell the client it will cost them more than $12 of my time to straighten out any potential problems. So their best bet would be to leave it as it is.

"Ding-ding-ding-ding". That sound you're hearing is the scam alert alarm

Same here. This is a great group of people.

Happy Birthday KC.

There are a couple of mule routes at the Grand Canyon. One begins early in the morning and takes about 5 hours down, an overnight stay at Phantom Ranch, and 6 hours back up the next day. If you're in more of a hurry, the other one begins at the same time, but it only takes 20 seconds and two bounces to get down to the ranch.

Very risky policy, unless you're extending them all.

Too late. Sorry...

Yes, it matters. For the reasons stated above and others as well. No matter whose fault it may be if your initial estimate surprisingly turns into a balance due, the client will expect you to cough up the totally unnecessary FTF penalties. And the client will be correct.

Just filed my 51st extension today. One or two more and I'm done. Allowing for a few new clients whom I extended, a couple of old ones who left, and the fact that about a half-dozen of these are "protective' extensions only, I'm slightly under my normal number of extensions. But I digress from the main point, which is... ...there's no reason to care about the Apr 15 date with a little advance planning coupled with good client education about the realtive meaninglessness of this deadline.

Probably zero chance they will extend the date since routine extensions are so easy to obtain with Form 4868. It would be nice, but who has time to petition them to change it?

Jerry: So if you did your sermon outline in your sleep, would I retain more of the message if I fell asleep DURING that sermon? I have an urgent need for an answer before next Sunday.

I had a very similar situation earlier in the season with a potential client. They rented the property to someone a month and a half before the holding period had expired. Looks like that first rent check cost them $8,000. I explained everything to them and they decided to just "do it themselves". Well of course I believe them - you needed to ask?. Wonder how many preparers they had contacted before me, or if they've now figured out what not to tell the next one.

Very smart, Catherine.

Thanks. That's good to hear. Sounds as though the conversion on these should go fairly smoothly. Reviewing and rearranging "Other" expenses should be easy. Looking forward to getting started on them in May or June,

I extend all my entity returns, and the individual clients affected (mostly S-corp shareholders). So about the only asset entries I have to deal with on personal returns prior to Apr 15 are a few with rental properties and a couple of Schedule C's. I guess I'm fortunate because the clients I need to extend are fairly cooperative. After Apr 15, I will look into running the conversion program to convert the entities with depeciation schedules. From what I was told by Drake, I think this can be done on a case-by-case basis. I think I can already visualize how that's going to work. I have become more familiar with the program by working on clients with small asset schedules, so it will be much easier to transfer that knowledge to larger ones.

Do you use dual monitors? If so, try running a Drake Tutorial on one monitor while preparing the return on the other. Their forum is also very helpful for software questions. I agree with ari - Drake is super fast once you get used to it. Using Ctrl-G does help simulate forms-based entry, but it doesn't take long to abandon that altogether once you get accustomed to navigating from the keyboard. Looks like I'll be filing LESS extensions this year than I have in the past, thanks to my having switched to Drake back in Feb. And that includes time to re-enter basic client data. (I didn't run a conversion program - am just doing everything from scratch on every return).

Hi Kerry: Great to hear from you. Hope things are going well for you and your family.

One week for me. I plan to have all extensions in place next Friday the 12th. Office will be closed from then until Apr 22 - goin' to the beach for a week. (A getaway does wonders for the "letdown" thing...)

I'll tell them I'm no longer an ATX user. But they can send me a full working version of 2012 (and 2013 when it's ready) if they like . I'll evaluate both of them - might even file a couple of extension returns using their software if time permits. And if they pass the test I'll consider ATX as my backup vendor if anything goes wrong with Drake in the future. That's exactly the same thing I've been telling Drake and Taxslayer these past 8-10 years when I was using ATX. This past January I was sure glad I'd been doing that.

My folders aren't pretty - they're durable.

You need to read up on the 4361, including the timing and conditions under which it is filed. It's all right there in the instructions and in the statement that the signer is making. Listen to what what Mike just told you. The 4361 is not even a part of a tax return. http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-prior/f4361--2011.pdf

When they get that large, I switch to a heavy Globe-Weis or Smead hardboard folder (they come in blue and green). It has Acco Clips permanently mounted on both inside sections, so all I need to do is punch the papers and slip them into their proper place. It will expand to about 1-1/2 inches and it's very durable. I like those folders, and I like producing the invoice that goes along with them.