JohnH

Carter - what a joke. He should stick to the only thing he's ever done well - sawing & hammering for Habitat. He's spent the intervening years trying to put lipstick on that pig of a presidency he mismanaged, but it just won't work. The incredible thing to me is that he continues to try and insert himself in international affairs when he single-handedly handed the Islamofascists their permission slip to continue misbehaving during the Iran hostage crisis. He did more to empower their movement that any American who ever lived. The president of the most powerful & prosperous nation on earth puts himself under "house arrest" because a small band of thugs manages to break into our embassy and violate every basic tenet of civlized society. We're still paying for his lack of leadership and will continue to pay for decades. And we haven't even mentioned his sneaky anti-Semitism, recession, high mortgage rates, gas lines, and famous "malaise" speech, which was actually a pretty good illustration of his sorry leadership skills. He was a whiner when he was in a postion to lead and he continues to be a whiner in trying to rewrite his own history.

Ditto (on both Old Jack & taxbilly's posts regarding eflinging)

Mike: Nice response you got there: "I seriously doubt that the sales representative you spoke with would have allowed the sale to go through without disclosing the change in e-file fees." How close is that to saying...? 1) You must have a really lousy memory; 2) Our people don't make mistakes; 3) You're lying to us. Seems to me they could have been more succinct. How about "This is the way we do business. You're only a customer - get used to it!"

Bob: Good points, but then I haven't read the fine print in their agreement since I think you can only get to it by renewing. And I'm sure that if this were in the plan, they've paid their lawyers much more to write the renewal agreement than any of us have paid our lawyers to review it. Although lots of people would threaten to sue, very few (if any)wouild actually go through with it. After all, what are your damages when you have alternative vendors? And what lawyer would start the case without a huge upfront retainer? All over a $1K software package? In any event, I suspect that they could get by with just refunding the money to anyone who balked, and that too would figure into the strategy. When it's all about the botom line, things get a lot more focused and risks are actually a little easier to predict & manage. As I said, this is pure speculation. But I'm doing 3 things to keep my powder dry: 1) Actively evaluating alternatives & planning a fall-back position; 2) Forgetting completely about any early renewal (the savings are peanuts when compared to the risk of making a mistake) 3) Holding out for an extended cancellation period (no questions asked & with full refund) to be sure the product is as advertised once it's delivered.

Just speculating, but there could be another "contest" at work here. What if CCH were pitting its three products against one another during the early renewal period, with the intention of eliminating one (or two) for the 2007 season? So those who had signed up in advance for one of the losers would then get a nice letter about how, after careful review, it's "not in the company's best interest" to continue their product. If this happened late in the year, many would be sucked in simply due to inertia. This would be followed, of course, with a nice run of corporate doublespeak about how the upgrade to the more expensive product (maybe even with a puny price concession for a season or two) will really benefit your firm and so on and so on. This whittling down process can be quote effective in retaining customers who get trapped and just don't have adequate time to research the alternatives late in the year. I've seen this exact scenario played out in another setting, and when all the winnowing was done the company came out much better financially that if they had tipped their hand early in the process. The only losers were their customers, but who cares about those dolts anyhow as long as revenue targets are being met?

Next thing they'll be offering is to mention the code, do a little pirouette, and click your heels together 3 times. Are they selling tax software or used cars? I received an Ultra Tax mailing today that took on the question of how long CCH will continue to maintain and support 3 different tax software systems. Looks like they have set themselves up for quite a marketing battle. The good news may be that deals can be negotiated this year that are better than the "ealry bird" offers that anyone is tossing out there right now.

It is a fine balance, but I do follow the philosophy that if I don't get an occasional complaint about by fees, I'm probably not charging enough.

Bob: So at what point in the conversation did you say: "Why don't we meet at my office and continue this conversation? I'm happy to answer general questions off the cuff any time, but when it gets this complicated we really need to have a sit-down. My rate is $xxx per hour."

Pacun: As a practical matter I'll do pretty much the same thing because I also keep a couple of rolls on hand all the time. And I'll pat myself on the back when the next rate increase comes along. Assuming it's two years from now and the amount is 6 cents, I'll congratulate myself for saving $12 on those two rolls of stamps at that time. (Minus the $10 the money would have earned during the same time period). Of course, if the rate increase is only 3-4 cents, I'll just keep quiet.

The "FOREVER" stamp is a cute attention getter, but I'm still trying to figure out it is a good deal. Assuming the money invested in the stamp would earn 5% per year if invested in a safe investment, the next postal rate increase would need to be a multiple of 2 cents per year, whenever it occurs, in order for the holder to break even on the original investment in the stamp. And that doesn"t even factor in the probability of storing the stamps while waiting for an appropriate increase to have made the original invesment worthwhile. Beyond the "novelty" effect, it seems like the only time to buy & hold "FOREVER" stamps would be just before the next rate increase, and given the track record of the USPS, I'm betting they will just happen to run short on supply at about that time.

That's a diplomatic message they have up there, and very timely (meaning AFTER the tax season ended). Too bad they didn't have someone on staff with similar communications abilities and sense of timing charged with handling things for their sister companies back on Apr 5.

And he woould have enjoyed playing around with the: "(i) having happened at a time different from the time it actually happened;" assuming that it happened at or near the speed of light. I think the Australian Tax Office has found a unique way to deal with this whole space-time continuum thing... just let the Commisioner declare it to be and it becomes so.

Who is reported to have been completing his tax return and said: "This is much too difficult for mathematicians; it's a job for philosophers"?

Well thank you for noticing. I've had lots of practice.

It could be that you were too reserved in expressing your opinion, but I think it's really because I failed to mention that I'm keeping a running record on who agrees with me or doesn't. So you are in the "NO" column on my agreement record because you answered "YES" to my original question. And after thinking over your reasoning, I agree with you and disagree with myself.

So I'm thinking I'd log you in the "NO" column.

They were getting an overabundance of spam, but I'm sure their motivation had more to do with what was in the company's best interests than any concern for their users. After all there is a history here...

This was probably discussed on the old Community , but since there are no archives to search... When setting up depreciation on a residential rental condominium, does anyone make an adjustment for land value? I just always use acquisition cost for the basis, because the condo owner has an "undivided interest in the common elements", which means there is no way to value the land separately from the structure. I'd be interested if there is a difference of opinion on this question.

You're right - I'm a paper filer, so the efile limits aren't a big issue for me, at least until I'm forced by the govenment into becoming an eflinger. I do have the complete Zillion forms as a part of the TKO package, all states, all forms (including W2, 1099, 941, etc.) , and all interactive. I also have access to all the research on the ATX site. I'm sure there's something I'm missing, but can't figure out if it's important or even worth the difference. Before I switched everything to ATX a couple of years ago, I was using Creative Solutions for 1040 work and ATX for business returns. Saved quite a chunk by migrating over to ATX for the 1040 work without giving up much. I'm not even sure how I would up with this combination rather than TTO, but it worked for me and it was well worth the cost. Like the rest of you, I'm getting their renewal offers. I don't intend to jump at any of the early renewals, but am trying to figure out what I'd likely need from ATX (if anything) if I switched to someone else. This is the year I think it will be worth foregoing the early discount to avoid making a wrong decision. At the least, I plan to get an extended time to cancel without penalty. If their sales dept can't offer that concession, I'll probably bail out on them anyhow. Come February 1, everything has to be right or else a mistake can turn into a huge headache.

I've remained in a state of confusion about the exact combination of products I use from ATX. I have been buying the ATX1040 Office package plus the Total Kleinrock Office. The price for 2007 before discounts & freight is $595 for ATX1040 plus $699 for TKO, for a total price of $1,363. This combination appears to give me the same features as the Total Tax Office package, which costs $1,595 before discounts & freight. I tried on a couple of occasions to get the ATX sales dept to explain the difference to me, but nobody was able to do so. Since the package met my needs & I got busy, I quit asking. Does anyone on this forum know what I may be giving up for the $232 savings?

I'm looking for them to develop a pair of glasses I can wear that will automatically cause the data to jump into the computer when I stare at the document & click my heels 3 times. For that, I'll pay an extra $1,000.

Bob: You may have identified a unique marketing opportunity for savy software vendors. They offer free conversion prior to purchase, then the customer is poised to jump ship to them at any point without giving it a second thought if they are provoked. As a matter of fact, given the right circumstances I might even be willing to pay a reasonable fee to convert with the understanding that the fee would be deducted from the software purchase if I decided to follow through. That would be a great back-up plan.

That's an interesting comment by the tax advocate. I wonder if access to a lot of info in IRS computers was somehow trashed or rendered unreliable in the preparation & run-up to Y2K. ???

Understood, but my sales rep alter ego sometimes pops out at the most inopportune times...

KC: Another side of the coin - the calls & emails may be a nuisance, but how else will you know about their "specials, deals, & promotions." ?