JohnH

You can prepare an SS-4 and have the client sign it. With that in hand, you can get an EIN in about 5 minutes online. (Or you can have him come to your office and you can apply for it with him standing there)

All but a couple of my 941's & 940's were completed by mid-month. (But then, I'm still doing them the inefficient way by paper filing them - guess I need to get up with the times)

Could it be that they just have a keen sense of how to appeal to their target market?

If we start getting slack on contributing, maybe erc could send us a subtle hint, like maybe taking the site down for an hour or two. Hey, wait a minute...! Seriously, I just sent in my third payment. Want to be sure this forum stays active.

I receive this email a week or so ago: For those of you who cannot get to the TaxTalk website make sure you are going to the following web address. The old one is no longer working. http://list.kleinrock.com/read/login/?list=taxtalk

You mean they left something out of Cliff Notes? I thought it was just really small type.

Years ago I read a story and I've always wondered about whether it actually happened. A couple of deputy sherrifs in a small town in Texas were questioning a suspect and they told him they were going to hook him up to a lie detector. They put a metal collander on his head and ran some wires from it over to a copy machine. When they'd ask him a querstion they would press the button on the copy machine and it would spit out a piece of paper that said "He's lying". After a half-dozen copies he confessed.

This story reminds me of the guy in Virginia a few years ago who was representing himself in a convenience store holdup case. The investigating officer was on the stand, and whenever the officer mentioned the store clerk in his testimony, he referred to her as "the witness". Finally, in frustration, the defendant/lawyer blurted out, 'Man, why do you keep talking about a witness. There wasn't anybody there but her and me!"

I haven't been able to figure out how to get the data into an Excel spreadsheet to print labels, but one way (very inelegant) is to print an extra copy of each receipient's Uni-Form, cut out the address with scissors, and tape it to the envelope.

Most of the time when someone complains about their fees and I actually review things, I find that I'm not charging them enough.

Marilyn: If the client doesn't know the amount of their Part D premium or if it can't be dtermined, I guess they will have to wait until after Jan 25.

In the past, I've run labels with the required info on them and just stuck them on the outside of a regular envelope.

For someone who has been drawing SocSec for years, you can calulate the SocSec benefit by taking last year's figure and factoring in the percentage increase to arrive at the current year's benefit. So if the client has lost their form, absence of the SSA-1099 isn't a big issue unless they have deductible medical expenses.

Eli: Is it possible that he's trying to set you up as a scapegoat in case he gets his hand called on the 1099's? You know, the old "you should have told me if this was wrong" argument. You might want to make your recommendation to him in writing, and also furnish him a blank SS-8 to look over while you're at it. (Or better yet, tell him you don't have itme to do it.)

Mike: I don't think you gave them any new information. I also don't think they care about your opinion (or mine).

I'd assume there would need to be a phased investment schedule withat least three components - maybe more - based on certain benchmarks. Each phase would be successively less risky, with the initial phase being a big roll of the dice. But anyone putting money into it would need to understand that their commitment would need to be for the entire project, and they should be ready to step up to the plate when called upon to do so as each benchmark is reached. Mel: If you decide to pursue this, I look forward to hearing more about it and I definitely believe you need to set up a closed board - please put me on the list if you do that.

Compared to the price increases we may be facing within a year or two, investing in a startup with people who have a track record and whom we already know might be a real bargain for all of us, even if it took a couple of tax seasons to mature into a top-notch product. We certainly know there are some excellent tech support folks in Caribou Maine looking for work right now. We need to keep in mind that if ATX does try to shift us to significantly higher-priced products with less features in the future (which seems very likely), their competitors are going to notice. We might also see the other companies we've discussed in the past (Drake, Tax Slayer, ProFX, etc) suddenly decide to raise their prices in a significant way since their lower-priced full-featured competition is gone. Personally I'd be glad to invest in a startup, and I wouldn't draw the line anywhere near $250.

I saw one of these a couple of years back. An employee of a client was being audited and he asked me to look over the return. For the year in question he had been working as a taxicab driver, and the tax preparer had claimed a couple of thousand dollars for the fuel tax credit. Of course, the tax preparer was long gone by this time. I asked if he had spent his time driving the cab acrosss parks, woods, and ballfields. When he said he hadn't, I gave his return back to him & just told him he has big problems. I notice that he is still having money garnished from his paychecks each month.

OldJack: I know you have a burr under your saddle about TaxBook, and probably for good reason. But The Tax Book has changed significantly as they have grown - I guess it took them a while to get out from under all the problems associated with the buyout (an maybe some non-compete issues). They are a far cry from just offering a single book. Since the TaxBook is written by the same people who produced the original Quickfinder, I expect them to continue to improve their offerings. Their Web CD is especially nice. I'm not trying to shill for them, but your reaction has the appearance of being driven a little more by emotion than by realities. Only my opinion - others' mileage may vary.

I'll have to agree with the comments about the sales department. One reason my my late renewal was a little negotiation I was carrying on with them on a relatively minor matter, partly because I believe the sales department gives one a pretty good indication of management's respect for their customer, or lack thereof. I was trying to add some info on whether this is a company I want to plan to do business with for the long haul. The non-accounting half of my work life is spent selling biomedical capital equipment in a professional setting, so I have some strong opinions on what constitutes valid sales practices vs gutter selling. I'll have to say that my experience with them was nothing for them to be proud of. Each sales person tried their best and did a decent job of trying to service the customer. However, when my requests caused them to consult with their manager, the response they were told to give me was only worthy of the sleaziest car dealer I've ever had the misfortune to deal with. Very disappointing and not an encouraging sign for any future relationship.

If TaxWise ever had a board, I'm betting that at some point it was shut down in a rude & abrupt manner in order to "maintain their commitment to a high level of customer satisfaction." The Tax Book also has an excellent forum which is managed by its owners, but isn't beholden to any software provider. As an added bonus, they publish a top-notch reference book which rivals Quickfinder and IMO is much better in many ways. Enrollment is open - you don't have to be a TaxBook subscriber to participate in their forum, but they do enforce some pretty strict rules about what is & isn't appropriate (some on this Forum might even call them arbitrary). http://www.thetaxbook.com/

Gail: I just now tried it and it worked fine. My new password uses exactly the same letters and in the same sequence as the original, but the last 2 digits are "02" rather than "01". Only problem is, I'm now using my Feb password during Jan and I can't change back (but I'll adapt, for the good of the team)

At some point you've got to do what's best for you and complain about the service with your feet next year if you believe that's what's called for. I only renewed this past Thursday afternoon; didn't get the promised email, so I called on Friday afternoon. The rep gave me the code over the phone and followed up with an email. As KC pointed out, my spam filter may have trapped the email, but it was easier to call & ask than to search the spam inbox for something from them.

Remember to change that password at least every 45 days as well. And you can't revert back to a previous password until it's buried 10 deep in the list. I'm thinking a good way to handle this would be to select a password that ends in two digits. For these two digits, just use the curent month (01, 02, 03,...12). The on a certain day (ie. the first Monday of each month), just remember to change the last 2 digits of the password to the current month.

Yeah, you're right. No reason to be unrealistic. He should have only promised 900%