RitaB

My son's Calculus teacher is having every kid bring in a homemade pie on Monday. I personally think there is a hidden agenda there. In other news, his basketball team is playing in the State Tournament next week. First time in the history of the school, possibly the county. I am not proud or anything, but thought you all would like to know.

Agree with this. Good points. I will add that if it's the 3rd year in a row that a person gets a W-2 after filing, I tend to get a little aggravated and charge so that their memory gets better or their desperation to file early dies a painful death.

I try to make it clear before amending the prior year that less work is required than doing the return from scratch. (If that is the case.) I actually have one here that took longer to amend than to do it correctly to begin with. I charged $100 which is the same fee I charged for the 2010 return. I don't know what her mechanic's secretary charged to mess it up. Yes, the previous preparer is her mechanic's secretary. I know. I think they use the same hairdresser, too.

"What ticks you off?" People who want to talk about taxes during the 4.5 hours a week that I am not at the office. Church "friend" runs me down in Wal-Mart after church yesterday: I didn't want to bother you at church, even though Wifey said I should just ask you...but I didn't want to impose, you know, at church and all... Me: Do you have a question? Thoughtful church friend: Yeah, my buddy got that same house buying credit I got and he got a letter saying he didn't have to pay it back. I'm not worried about it, but are you sure I have to pay that back? I mean, I didn't get any letters telling me to pay it back or anything. (TCF got the $7500 LOAN. Who knows what his buddy got? That credit changed more than some people change underwear.) Me: Could you bring me your friend's letter and his last three tax returns? TCF: Also my friend's CPA said you could get a tax credit for your mortgage interest. Up to $10,000. Do you know anything about that? Me: No, I can't say that I do. And, it would not bother me in the least if you called your friend's tax preparer. TCF: Oh, no, it's not that important. (I'm walking away.) Didn't want to bother you at church and all... OK, really?

Last year I heard this. A LOT: "My portfolio lost a crap load this year. I can deduct that, right?"

The last three I have picked up are missing information. These are long time clients, too. Must be something in the water, Bert. And, it IS frustrating, because of the "start/stop/call/wait/start again" thing if nothing else. Always have a few that bring in part of their stuff like it secures their place in line, too. It does not.

"I was in the neighborhood and thought I would drop by to ask: Have you have tried to call us?" I've had their stuff for six days, and I told them I was two weeks behind when they dropped off. Been clients for seven years. SAME thing every year. Edit: So, I finish the return today and call. I hear this: "The person you have called has a mailbox that is full and cannot receive messages."

Ya'll are killin me! Hahahaha. Good stuff, and boy, do I need it.

LMAO. OK, I'm writin that down.

"Do I get anything for drawing disability?"

Beats all I ever seen... Then the guy spent 15 minutes talking about gigamegs or something. I started having thoughts about "RAMing" that laptop someplace where it will be a "virtual memory".

Client just bounced in, today, March 1, 2011: "Hey, I think you needed some info off my laptop to finish 2009." Well, thank God I kept a record of what I told him I needed. The list is a mile long. I gave it to him in August. "Here you go. Have a seat and knock yourself out." He is sittin in here sweatin it out wondering why I couldn't do it for him. Hey, Geek Squad, you put it on the computer, you get it off the computer. Unbelievable. LOL. He just said, "Well, this is gonna take longer than I thought." Now his cell phone is ringing. I see a fee increase in his future. Well, it will start with 2009 return...

Yesterday. Grandma (about 40) came in all distraught cause son (who is a parent, Lord, help us) missed the truckload of EIC that is typical in this town. Son claimed all these bogus expenses on Sch C, even Office in Home. "Showed" (don't you love that word?) a $22 loss. W-2 income was about $500. Friend did the return. Grandma wants me to amend and take off the expenses: "He didn't have any expenses. This girl really screwed this up." Uh, whatever, Granny. I love it when people are too dumb to cheat right. Son is not even custodial parent.

HOH if she otherwise qualifies and they lived apart the last 6 months of the year. If she doesn't qualify for HOH, I would go with what you think will happen you. ("He will probably not even file," and IRS default is SD.) Bet you never hear a word about it. Just explain what COULD happen in case she exaggerated about that part about him not filing. It happens, ya know?

I call the guy to tell him his return is ready and hear: "They call me Dr. Love..." No. NO. NO. NO.

Yes, unfortunately. She may even refer friends. Yippee.

I would give her the $35. You did agree to the 15th, and she will run her mouth all over town about it. Avoiding the bad publicity is worth $35. Also, Chowdahead, I believe the OP said Terry did get paid.

You know the people who call you to see if their return is ready? I like to finish their return at 6:00 am on a Saturday and call them while it's still coming out of the printer.

Yes, I have wondered that myself. In my experience, there are more "certain" distributions than not, so I would think the default would be to send it to that line. Bet it goes through unnoticed a lot.

Every year I have somebody whose child turned 17 and they lose the Child Tax Credit. I try to put an article like the following in their stuff so they don't look at me like I'm nuts and think I didn't count the kid as a dependent. I try to do this the year before it happens, but I don't always remember. http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=106182,00.html I just noticed that it's on page one of the 1040 now, thank you, IRS. Also, I try to enter the "certain distributions" on line 4 of Form 8880 every year even if the people haven't contributed to retirement so I don't have to look it up when they do.

"Quit Licking That" indeed.

I dealt with my first one of this season yesterday: "Yeah, but they held the tax out to cover the penalty, so you shouldn't put it on there." Aaugh! It finally dawned on me yesterday that I will never be able to get through to the people that withdraw retirement early. Cause there's a reason they're withdrawing their retirement early, you know? I feel alot better now that I have completely given up on that one.

Enjoyed all of these. Thanks for the coffee break! MAS, your first two look like they may be related to some of my clients.

I know you think I'm making these up. I'm telling you, TODAY is the day for stupid questions here. Lady calls and says, "You have my middle initial as "B". What does that stand for?" Me: "I'm sorry, I don't know. What should it be?" Caller: "Well, my maiden name was "Baker" so that could be right." I have put that initial on her return for ten years...

Just now, a client hands me a piece of paper where he has scribled what he THINKS to be his bank routing and account numbers: "I changed banks. Does this look right to you?"