RitaB

Well. I will check my calendar and get back to you. Thanks. ;-)

That's funny. Hey, wait a MINUTE...

Whew, oh Lordy, I will have abs of steel from laughing at that one.

Been able to create (and transmit) the e-files with Sch A, except for one which still has that red message to wait til mid to late Feb. Hmm. In an unrelated matter, would love to be able to print 1040-ES forms for people picking up returns cause you know I'm going to forget to mail them to em. Not complaining, it just sounds like it...

Caller: Do you do regular people's returns? Me: Yes. (Thinking: You take Magnesium supplements, don't you?) Caller: I don't have all my forms. Can you tell me what you charge? OK, I realize that was two questions...

As far as I know, my clients getting the refundable credits are entitled to them. Sorry, I did not mean to infer otherwise. I send the ones trying to find their self-employment records on my ceiling tiles elsewhere. I kinda think someone else IS doing the return, though. I do have clients that tell me stories of their married friends each filing as HOH and splitting the kids. Not sure if it's true, but I don't have any reason to doubt what they tell me.

I have not done an official study, but I'd guess that 2/3 of the returns I've done so far have had refundable credits. Some in the neighborhood of $8,000. I just now had a lady bring me her water bill, her mortgage payment voucher, a letter from her mortage company saying they got her payment from Western Union. Nothing I can use for her tax return whatsoever. Oh, I will go back home and get that... she says. OK, SHE is on the clock and has time to run around making unnecessary trips. As long as we work to pay taxes that will be distributed to her, she will be happy to ride the clock at her crappy jobs and draw unemployment in between. Last but not least, EIC has succeeded in drawing out the non-filing self-employed. Only now, instead of just NOT paying, they GET paid.

I have seen the message, too. No problems, but it bothers me. What is REALLY killin me (Smalls) today is that I am working on a 1065, and it is taking FOREVER to calculate after any change. I remember this happened to some extinct in the past, but seems worse than ever. I just want to cry. I am sooooo behind. Also, how is it that ALL these people have so much time to yak when they come in? EDIT: OMG I put extinct instead of extent. Do you SEE what they are doing to me?!

Client brought his stuff in this morning, when I looked in his file, I had to chuckle a little: 5/21/10: Joe (I'm in the Money) Taxpayer called to say he was going to receive a $20,000 settlement and inquire about the possible tax consequences... blah, blah, blah. 8/23/10: Joe (I'm not in as Much Money) Taxpayer called to say that he was NOW going to receive only $5,000 in the settlement...blah, blah, blah. I just looked at the letter from the attorney after the DUST "settled" on November 19. Settlement was indeed for $5,000. And after attorney fees, Joe (What Money?) Taxpayer received $1,923.

Well, I feel kinda bad that I didn't charge her twice as much, and that way I could have helped her avoid writing at least one other check. Maybe two. I will know next time... Experience - you always get it right after you need it.

Client just picked up return, handed me a check with these instructions: "Please cash that as soon as possible." I thought she was joking. Apparantly not. She calls the bank every time she has to write a check to see if she has enough money. Well, far be it from me to mess up THAT foolproof system. Headed to the bank right now.

For bookkeeping clients, I charge $5 each plus $10 for the W-3 or 1096, minimum $25. For others, I charge more depending on the PITA factor. If they give me what I need to sit down and enter data, $7 per, plus $15 for transmittal. If I have to run down the information, I add a PITA charge depending on the client's attitude and potential for training, but it's still not worth it to me. I hate doing W-2's and 1099's. It always goes through my mind: "Oh my gosh, I could have done 3 hundred dollar tax returns in the time it took to do that..." or whatever.

Thank you. It needed to be said...

I went to a hockey game once and decided it was like WWE on skates. Only fewer teeth.

That's awesome! Thanks for sharing your good news!

Yeah, I always print the Sch A the first time around, no charge, to show them. Years 2 - 100, if they keep bringing me their $800 in medical and $327 in "tithes" (Wow, Jack, your folks are REAL philanthropists), I just charge them and say nothing.

Gal just in here told me her friend said she should do her own taxes, that she was crazy for paying me to do it. But, gal says she told her friend that she trusts me "explicitly." (That's good to know, but kinda sounds R-rated.) OK, she is single, no kids, two W-2's. I have been charging her $45. Guess I'm busting her proverbial chops. Also while here, she tells me her mom said I ought to be writing off her meds. Me: "Sure thing. How much did you spend?" Client: "Probably $800. Maybe more. Also, I should get that Earned Income Credit." She made $17,000. I am so glad my clients pay me these outrageous fees when they are the real experts. I lead a charmed life, ya'll.

I e-mailed ATX, and here's the fix, (which is what rfassett said, and I didn't grasp, I guess because I had a return open): "To rollover Payer Information If applicable, close any open returns. Select the Rollover Manager tab. On the Rollover menu, click Rollover Payer Information. In the Rollover dialog box, click OK." I really don't understand why anyone would NOT want the prior year payers to rollover, and therefore why it is necessary to manually tell the program, "Yes, I WOULD like to save time and make my life easier. So please DO rollover all that stuff I entered for the past 10 years." What's that? Yes, a little cheese with that whine would be nice. Thank you very much. ;-)

Hey, guys, thanks for your input. I already had the box checked (and list payers "by name"), so I unchecked it, re-checked it, applied, re-booted computer. Nothing. Then, I did a manual update, clicked all, re-booted. Still nothing. As a friend on another board says, "Some days it's not even worth chewing thru the restraints." As Daddy used to say, "There is a fart crossways somewhere."

I notice the W-2 and 1099-R "Quick Entry" Payer pull down list only has payers for returns I have rolled over. Didn't it used to have them all, even before you rolled returns over? Wasn't there a Payer Manager in a past life? Is it there and I missed it? Do woodchucks still chuck wood? Returns for people new to e-file would go alot faster if all the payers were in the pull down list.

Marco, you win for best thread title for 2011 so far. "You don't say" - haha. For a while there, I thought we were fighting the deficit one cabinet sppointee at a time. Nice to see that IRS agents are helping with that, too.

Good ole "Peggy." Hahaha, I've talked to "her", too. Seems like the sound track of hell was playing in the background...

And, I bet she had an All-American name like Ann, Beth, or Carol. I talk to a lot of "James's" (not necessarily at ATX) that say stuff like: "Haal-looo, thees es Jame-zzz. I WILL be most hoppy to help you wit thot." And I keep thinking: "OK, when, 'JAMES', when? Is 'Bill' not there?"

Hi, Marco. I appreciate your reply. I have over-ridden amounts to make sure all the original reports and W-2's are correct. My client simply makes errors on the CHECKS and I adjust FIT (that's the heading on Peachtree payroll register) to accomodate the owner's errors in calculating SS/MC. When you enter the FIT on the CHECKS in Peachtree, you normally do indeed enter a negative. In my original example, the Peachtree Payroll Register shows -17 for the FIT amount. That is absolutely correct. Box 2 of the W-2 SHOULD say 17. Peachtree SHOULD take the absolute value of the SUM of the FIT entries, (and the sum is -17), and print 17. For Box 2 of the W-2, Peachtree is adding the absolute value of all the INDIVIDUAL FIT amounts and printing 27. I have already over-ridden the amount in Box 2 of the W-2, just wanted to help others. First time in 16 years I have had a client this bad at multiplying by 0.0765. It will be worse for 2011.

I have a company here where the owner frequently made errors in the SS/MC tax witthholding. (Can't wait to see what she does for 2011.) Anyhow, when I post her payroll checks on Peachtree each month, I just adjust FIT to take care of her SS/MC tax error. At times, I have had to enter positive numbers for FIT. The payroll register adds correctly. The W-2's however, do NOT consider the sign of the FIT amount. So, if an employee's FIT amounts were: -10, -12, and +5, the amount in box 2 of the W-2 is showing 27 dollars withheld. This is not cool, and I thought I might save somebody a headache by posting this disturbing experience. I will also notify Peachtree.