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NT-Saturday night


jr1040

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Just wondering how many slugs like me are still pumping away at 10:30 plus on Saturday night as it gets

harder to see forms because of the pressure we feel not wanting to disappoint anyone by failing to

produce a return in a timely manner. For you english majors, I know puncuation was poor. Probably

even spelled the puncuation word wrong. Just venting.

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Only 9:30 here. But just finished helping a new client respond to an IRS nastygram related to 2010. I tried to put him off until after 4/17, but since they "asked" him to respond by 4/17 I went ahead and helped him. He asked for just a 1/2 hour of my time to help figure out how to fix. When he got here (15 minutes late) I found out he wanted me to amend it for him. Oh well. Turned into 2 hours. But it's done. He no longer owes them $8K and is instead getting a $120 refund.

So nice of IRS to find the error for him!

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I'm still up. Finished a new client, family of five (four returns) where dad picked up and paid. A client who dropped off a very long time ago checked in via telephone. She kinda gave me an opening, so I asked her if I could please put her on extension. I lost my voice and sound pretty dreadful on the telephone, so she gave me permission. Another contacted me recently with an IRS letter with a short deadline. She volunteered to call them to request more time and received until 5 May or so. I also got her to volunteer to go on extension. My lost voice is gaining me some sympathy from my female clients. The males are more adamant about filing by 17 April. I have several who need Easter delivery to accommodate family signatures. And some are calling to say they're leaving on vacation. Couldn't they have mentioned that when they dropped off? Gotta get over this sinus infection or whatever this is and get my energy back to get through the next couple of weeks. Good luck to all of us putting in late nights &/or early mornings &/or seven day weeks.

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Midnight here. I am still plugging away. About 100 returns in the hopper. Most returns now are hard with many details and even some still missing information. What is a polite way to ask TP to be put on extension? :dunno: First we had the farmers then we had the FASTA people then the CORP returns and now I have a few 1065's to get done. We cut appts off yesterday but about 25 more to come in next week. :o My eyes are as tired as my fingers and brain and don't seem to work well together. :read: Anyway is there a polite way to ask?

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Anyone who called or dropped off or finally brought in missing info from 15 March was told they're on extension. As I mentioned above, I have no voice but a squeak. So, as clients have been calling to check on my progress, depending on their attitude I ask if they'd be willing to go on extension to help me out with a time crunch now that I'm on meds. Some have said no, but some have said yes. I have a few that I want to call this week to try to convince to go on extension. I do offer a discount to those who go on extension for my benefit and not because they're late bringing me their info. Also, if you have any new clients coming in, suggest that you'll have more time after the busy season to review their prior returns, answer their questions, etc., if they go on extension. For investors, blame your time crunch on the new IRS forms and suggest that it's to their advantage to not have a rushed preparer dealing with the new forms.

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Now 11pm here and I'm back at my desk. I quit at 12:30am last night due to my fingers hurting too bad to type. I have tendinitis, and a front it coming through which exacerbates any aches & pains. Got in the hot tub last night, and finally crashed somewhere around 3:30/4am. Slept til 2pm. At first I was shocked since I had a 1pm appointment today, but luckily one of the phone messages I had was them postponing due to an emergency. Whew! They already know they are going on extension. I've been calling my 'regulars' for extension and most of them are fine with going on, as are any new clients just coming in.

After getting up for my 4pm and dealing with a panicked friend in Africa who forgot to send me some of her earnings (needs to have return to the UN by April2) and fixing & re-uploading her return, I crashed again until after 8. Does anyone else hit a 'fatigue wall' where you just can't function anymore? I've been working 12-15 hours a day/7 days a week, but every now & then this happens. It took me until 10:30 (had dinner brought to me in bed, and just laid there, unable to move) to get back upstairs. I don't even know how many I have left to do before the extensions in the queue kick in. But they are winnowing down, at least.

And my fingers still hurt. I've got scroll/right-click, left-click- itis. And my doctor won't let me take ibuprofen due to my ulcer. :(

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From NW PA, I believe in consistency - no violent swings. So I work from 5:00 AM to 7:30 PM seven days per week - and have been doing that since early January. As the filing deadline gets closer, I find myself "fatiguing out". I am dead nuts tired - but we are almost there. I did have to have a little heart to heart talk with myself yesterday about mid afternoon. I so wanted to just lay down on the floor and take a nap. Talked myself out of it and three cups of coffee within the following 30 minutes and I was fine. I did the return late last week for my client that does sleep counseling and treatment. That was a tough return - the power of suggestion was testing my will. She is going to HAVE to start coming in earlier in the season.

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I work whenever I'm awake. Like now. But I've actually kicked off, and just catching up on the boards right now. My sleep cycle is so screwy, but it works out pretty much to: sleep from 4 or 5am to 10:30-11:30 am, work until I 'feel a nap coming on', and take a 2 hour nap, and then work again until about 3am.

wierd, but it works except when I crash every couple of weeks like today and sleep for 10 hours plus two and can't get out of bed for another three. the odd thing about last night was I stopped early since my hands hurt so bad, and then crashed.

The light at the end of the tunnel does seem a wee bit brighter though!

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Clients don't care how long you work. Yes, a few of them will express their appreciation for your dedication and stamina - a few will even tell you they admire your work ethic, etc, etc.. And some of them really mean it. But the majority don't care how long you work or how much harm you do to your health, just as long as they get THEiR return finished on THEIR time schedule.

If they had any real concern, they'd get their info to you on time.

Against that backdrop, each tax preparer has to decide one simple question - "Do I run my business, or do my clients?" It's a simple question, but it has enormous consequences. It determines whether YOU decide when you begin filing extensions, or do you plead with the clients to give you some relief when you realize you're over-committed. It dethermines whether you spend every waking moment at the computer, virtually abandoning family and social life during Jan - Apr. It determines whether you ignore your physical, mental, and/or spirtual life in pursuit of some other goal for 3-4 months. Presumably that goal is worth the sacrifice.

I know some tax preparers love the adrenaline rush of working until all hours of the day & night and seeing that bank account grow extra fast during the tax season. Nothing wrong with that if that's where your priorities lie. But it should be your decision, not something forced onto you by the whims & quirky behavior of your clients.

Personally, if I were not in the tax business, my tax preparer's work habits would be very important to me. The last person I'd want preparing my tax return is an overworked, dog-tired, stresed-out individual, possibly functioning with a martyr complex. I think my financial info deserves better and I wouldn't want to risk having that type of person anywhere near my return.

Well, so much for my rant. You asked about current work status anyhow. I'm off to church now, and lunch with friends afterward. I did bring some work home with me and I may get to it this afternoon if the grandkids' ball games are called off due to rain. If not, I'll work on the returns tomorrow. Either way, there's no pressure because the extensions were filed back on March 10. (along with about 25 other extensions so far)

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I took an inventory last night and I have 60 returns in-house yet to complete and 67 yet to come in. We start telling people bringing in stuff on and after March 28th, that there is a possibility of the return being extended. With each passing date we emphasize the increasing probabilty of the extension. The biggest problem is one within myself - you see, I do not like extensions. That just means I have to work on tax returns this summer. I would just as soon get them done. But the fact of the matter, of the 127 returns in or coming in, at least 40 will be extended. Add to that the 23 corporate returns I already have on extension, and I will have some things to do after tax season

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JohnH makes some great points. I NEVER tell my clients how many hours I work and/or how tired I may or may not be. I share that info only with you folks and my inner circle of about six people. And I learned a long, long time ago that nobody really cares how tired I am - that is just the way it is. JohnH talks about the sacrifices we all make to be in this business. When my clients mention that I must be really busy, I simply tell them that every business has its season, this just happens to be mine. And if I did not absolulely love doing what I am doing, I for sure would not be doing it. There certainly are easier ways to make a living. And as to the balance in life to which JohnH refers, I am blessed to have my wife as my office manager. So I get to see her and interact with her far more than some of you folks get to do with your families. I don't think I could do this any other way. I do not concern myself with ignoring my spiritual life - my life IS spiritual. I do not make a distinction in that regard. The mental aspect I repeatedly do "gut checks" on. Things like a client calling Friday about a number that was on her return. Her return was about 150 ago - and I answered her question and told her just what the number was and why it was there without even looking at the return. So I am still as good as ever in that regard (although admittedly I am not sure that is saying much :) ). And finally the physical toll - other than being fatigued, which just comes with the territory, I have found that doing a diet plan such as Jenny Craig keeps me well nutritioned and healthy during tax season. And the side benefit is that so far this tax season, I have lost 20 pounds.

I like where I am - and if I were not in this business, I would seek out somebody just like me to handle it for me.

Yeah, the money's good, but it is the sense that I am serving a purpose that keeps me motivated. It goes way, way beyond just putting the right numbers in the right box. If that was all it was, I would have quit long ago. So yeah, the "sacrifice" is worth it to me.

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I handled this year even more sternly than most. My "welcome to tax season" letter that went out the 1st week of January flat-out TOLD my clients with lots of trades that they WILL be put on extension. My cutoff date for ALL materials IN-house is March 10th -- after that date, even if all you owe me is $3 in bank interest from East Podunk Savings -- no guarantees. I have five returns left to touch where the client met my cutoff date - and I have no reason to push myself to finish those if _anything_ is missing (and there is _always_ something missing.

That said, I work hard and I work long. But after church this morning my husband and I went out to brunch for our anniversary and just got back a little while ago.

I have found that, for me, when I am so desperately tired that I need a nap, I can sit here, caffeinate myself, and get nothing done in three hours -- or I can go take a half-hour nap, get up and get stuff done. Huge advantage to working at home - I can go conk out in my older girl's room (east side of house; dim and quiet in the afternoon), set the timer on the microwave that won't shut off until I get up and push the button. Does me a world of good.

Good luck to all. I hear from too many new clients about how their former preparer dropped dead at their desk from heart attack or stroke. Age doesn't explain all of it by a LONG shot. I am determined NOT to be one of that number, ever. Please everyone here take care of yourselves; the clients can just bloody well WAIT sometimes.

Catherine

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Just got off the phone with one who I was able to finalize all the accounting problems with his corp return-bottom numbers were fine, just how they were reported, and they said the magical words "we don't mind going on extension, you know". Yee haw, added them to my list.

I'm not going to kill myself doing returns, but one of the reasons I don't mind the schedule is that I do relish the time off I can take the rest of the year. I have three vacations scheduled, and for once, I don't have to hoard vacation time to go to my college reunion. In fact I already plan to spend a week before with my sister, and most of a week after with friends from my hometown, as well as see my brothers. And I did stop to pull weeds again on the way to the mailbox!

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