Lion EA

Sometimes it is just a joint venture between two Schedule Cs. And, sometimes if potential clients don't know what business entity they are and don't know where there finances stand and have no plan at all, it might be a hobby! With realtors, it's location, location, location. With tax preparers, it's question, question, question. Keep asking questions.

Equifax has made it clear in print on their site that you do NOT waive your right to sue. I still think the're sleazeballs, but the public outcry or states attorneys general or both made them remove the waiver and state their new offer.

I usually work with clients when they bring in all their tax information EXCEPT those pesky K-1s that might not arrive until after 15 September. It was good to get a handle on the entity they worked for sooner rather than later, especially that time since it turned out they work for a C-corporation. That way I knew to ask for W-2s, told them what they would receive/not receive from that company, let them know the low value of unreimbursed employee expenses ($0 in their case of high AGIs), and talk to them about fringe benefits. By the way, they still call themselves partners; some things you can't change.

Ask all your clients who receive K-1s from a partnership to give you a copy of their partnership agreement. You can learn some interesting things! (I had some guys who called themselves partners, but it was a C-corp!)

Read the partnership agreement.

I've had to unfreeze to add one of our kids to our cell's family plan, to get some dental work done, etc., I ask who they use. Sometimes they have to call corporate, but I've always gotten it. I do a temporary unfreeze online for that agency only, you have a few options, at no cost and account is automatically refrozen at no cost. Freezes are often free for senior citizens and anyone who was a victim of identity theft. A few states allow charges of $10; CT does and I think PA. A few states do not allow charges at all. And, the rest allow charges from about $3 to about $6. Consumer radio talk show host Clark Howard's web pages: http://clark.com/personal-finance-credit/credit-freeze-and-thaw-guide/ http://clark.com/personal-finance-credit/equifax-free-credit-monitoring-data-breach-dont-sign-up/ For those who don't click on links, Clark Howard has changed the name of his website to Clark.com, so start on his homepage and search for the topics that interest you.

And, a counter won't stop cats!

It could be very helpful for those not able to itemize charitable contributions. It gets the full wage amount to charities without an employee getting a lesser amount after taxes and then donating that lesser amount. The employee chooses this if he wants to give (lose something, in your words) as a way to give more than his after-tax wages.

Step up or step DOWN for the percentage owned by the spouse that passed away.

Jack, the freeze on Equifax did us no good, because someone who isn't us was able to access our information anyway.

We froze our info on all three agencies a few years ago when Anthem was hacked. Now that Equifax was hacked, that freeze is useless! Like you say, nothing we can do short of leaving the grid entirely. Hubby received an email to click on a link to see if our Equifax info was leaked. Hubby does NOT click on links.

I have received calls from ME, from my home landline to my home landline and to my office landline! So many others must be receiving calls from "me."

I saw Cirque du Soleil Zarkana (some zombie-like characters but very musical with a great pianist and singers as well as the acrobats) at the Aria where you can carry in food/drink. There's a large buffet on the same floor with a coupon on your show ticket. But, I didn't want that much to eat. There was also a pub-looking restaurant that said they'd do take-out when I asked, so I bought a vodka & tonic and truffle fries to take to the show. I stayed at the Cosmo which had lots of great restaurants, bars, and grab & go areas. A couple blocks away was an ice cream shop which had burgers and sandwiches. One event took place at Brooklyn Bowl or similar name with food. A friend moved over to The Linc to save money, and there were a lot of restaurants around that. Ask the locals where they like to eat; ask the bellboys, chambermaids, retail salespeople, etc., that aren't beholden to anyone. If you're using Uber or Lyft, ask your driver and fellow passengers.

If you're POA, you'll get duplicate IRS letters, right?

If you use QB for your own accounting, you can email an invoice with a link your client can click to pay you. One of my clients has been using it. $0.50 per use, at least it was the last time he mentioned it to me.

I have some OH college student clients and know the strange tax things in that state (and get help from Jack). But, have you checked with OH to see if there's an alternate ID if no current DL? It's still cheaper for OH to do direct deposit than to generate and mail a paper check. You are e-filing the current and two prior years, right? Even fussy NY allows for any DL (most of my clients have CT DLs) and even no DL and still does DD.

A client with LOTS of transactions (inn & restaurant) shopped around. The lower the price, the worse the customer service. She went with lower price. Her daughter (bakery) compromised to include better service for reports for sales tax and phone help. Not sure about either one, but they have small local PA banks, so not much good comparing them. My point is that you need to shop around. Contact everyone and give them your typical pattern and have the salespeople work for your business by pricing out what they have to offer you. Start with your bank for help and recommendations. I don't have a lot of transactions, so I use Intuit (ProAdvisor saves me monthly fees, so just the transaction costs) and have PayPal on my website also.

Reading the Fall 2017 edition of TaxPro Journal which reviews software: every one they reviewed has pay-per-return pricing, all 11 of them, including ATX.

CCH has pay-per-return and pay-per-efile on most if not all of their software. I use ProSystem fx pay-per-return.

Wow!

Hubby called them late afternoon and kept them talking for a long time. We managed four calls to them from our four phones. Scum.

I knew they'd go to a new phone number quickly. The two hours or less that that number was live was barely enough to get any call backs, especially from people at work who won't be calling them until this evening. They must make a lot of money in a short time to make it worth it.

The "IRS" called to say it's my final call prior to a lawsuit. I've called them back on my home phone, office phone, and cell. If you have some free time and want to join in on the fun: 657-347-3732 They called Rita Lewis/Stephen Lewis on our home phone 203-227-4795. Enjoy!

Is it unicorn season?

Another unicorn sighting!