JohnH

I think all or nothing. And get paid up front. Prepare all as paper returns & hand to him for signature & mailing. The client can choose to send them in (or not) as he wishes.

H-m-m. Interesting point there, Terry. You have me rethinking this as well. Could NC make it any more confusing?

I'd say that 1/3 of those for whom I filed extensions were still completed before this week. So for that subset, the extension was an unnecessary extra step. But for the remaining 2/3, none of them are on my mind today (aside from this post). I don't usually make fun of my clients, but I did have a phone call about 10:00 this morning from one whom I asked last Nov to find another preparer. Nice client, but just required too much handholding. I'd post the audio just to prove I'm not making this up, but that's probably a privacy issue. Anyhow, here goes (one long sentence without taking a breath - I inserted commas simply to make it easier to read): "John, this is xxx and I can't find my return from last year for my new tax person, my house is on the market and I hope somebody didn't steal it but I cant' find 2016 anywhere, OH WAIT A MINUTE here's the 2015 return and, oh yeah we're doing 2016 aren't we? Never mind, hope you're doing fine." (click) This could be a great Gilda Radner skit on "SNL for Accountants" Since the call was at 10:00, and since we have a long history, I'm betting her appointment was for 10:15.

I filed extensions on everything as it came in due to my "one-pass" rule this year. I think I'm going to start using it in the future. When info came in, if I could complete the return in one pass, I did so. Anything whatsoever that stopped the process - missing info, questions, etc - meant I generated an extension before putting the file away. No compromises, no exceptions. So there wasn't much to do in the past few weeks other than work normally. A couple of stragglers did show up this past week, and of course they get extensions right out of the box. The funniest one happened yesterday afternoon, when one I fired last year called to say his new wife is trying to get their return filed by the deadline and they need info from their 2015 return. (Of course he can't find his copy - that's the nature of these things. It also validates one of my reasons for the firing). So I sent them the copy, but also told her she should file an extension rather than stay up all night. I'm betting I'll get a panic call today on how to do the extension. I'm enough of a softie to help them out, because deep down I even appreciate the past loyalty of some of those I don't care to work with any more.

And here's another explanation (more to your point, I think). Looks to me like he cannot claim the standard deduction on the MFS return. But that's just from a quick read... http://www.dor.state.nc.us/taxes/individual/standard.html

Here's a link to the explanation. http://www.dornc.com/taxes/individual/resident.html

Oh yes, I hadn't looked at your state of residence. Now that I think about it, your screen name is familiar and I know who you are. That Mexican restaurant in Charlotte is still open...

On this forum, making any derogatory comments about women may likely get you a hug from Rita. Now she's a sweetheart overall, but you don't want THAT type of hug from Rita.

I'd like to be able to write off the time I waste explaining these exact same issues to certain clients - Every. Single. Year.

Protesters of any kind get ushered to the door. And ask them to give back your business card on their way out.

Bingo!

Having total control over what the macros do is a huge benefit. Drake is so flexible you can customize them to do whatever works best - either populate the form and return to the input screen or populate down to a certain point and then wait for input on the target screen. It's almost like having customizable "bunny hops" on steroids.

My handiest one right now is the extension macro I wrote. Alt-F1 for Federal and Alt-F2 for state of NC. It checks the boxes and waits for my entry for the tax liability. I also set up Alt-W to go to the W-2 input screen & wait for entries, Alt-H to answer "Yes" to Healthcare coverage & then return to the input screen, and Alt-F for the default entry for foreign accounts & return to the input screen. . Another useful macro for me is one which populates local Goodwill address info on the 8283. I have a few others as well.

I've had some success with these types by pointing out that "the only way you owe a lot more tax is that you earned a lot more". I also tell them I can't tell them the figures on their return are "right", but they are "correct". (There's nothing right about the government seizing our hard-earned money, etc and then wasting it). Sometimes the inevitable rant about how the government wastes our money ensues, and my only response is that you and I totally agree on that. But we also have to agree that we can't do anything about it sitting here in my office - the only place to take action is at the ballot box. At the end of the day, some clients just insist on blaming us for their problems because they can't speak to a monolithic bureaucracy. But I can assure them I have lots more complaints that they do, so there's no reason for them to go there.

Terry: Glad you are enjoying using the program. Makes you wonder why you waited so long, doesn't it? if you haven't worked with Macros yet, it's worth giving them a try. Just write a very simple macro for a repetitive task. After you've done one or two, you'll begin to see endless possibilities.

I think the main reasons people buy these things are because in the face of low interest rates they are chasing yield. They have no idea that the risk they are assuming is way out of proportion to the potential reward. They also don't understand that much the payout is not actual return on investment. Finally, the main reason is the huge commission these products pay to financial advisors. If their advice was really valuable, this violation of trust wouldn't exist. After all, where are the customers' yachts?

I'm not in them office for a few more days so can't look this up to confirm. But it seems as though one of the energy MLP's I handled within the past couple of years had some odd adjustments to basis because it reported considerable COD income. (It might have been K-M). Anyhow it sure was a pain trying to explain THAT entry to a high net woth client.

That's because they have to do a quick change when they lure someone into the office. It's tough handling the dual role of Lady Liberty AND your tax pro simultaneously.

This has always been a bit confusing, although I understand the logic of the IRS position. I have a situation where a taxpayer and his wife provide a home rent-free to the wife's sister and her husband. The taxpayers own the home outright (no mortgage) and they don't take any tax deductions other than the property tax, which they pay. Wonder if IRS would try to tax them on the FMV of the rent they don't charge the family member?

Well, I've been reminded many times by clients that it's a "voluntary" tax system. Apparently he has the same philosophy.

Most of what I believe to be true about flying comfort comes from a pro sports team physician who flew with the teams a lot. His flying rules, which I follow rigorously, were: 1) Hydration - top priority before, during, and after; 2) No alcohol of any kind; 3) No carbonated beverages of any kind; 4) No sleep aids of any kind. He had even more stringent rules for long-haul flights. I always board any flight with at least 1 liter of water per 2 hours, taken in little sips. (I never depend on the flight attendants to provide enough water, although I always ask for it when they come around for cabin service to supplement my own supply, and I go to the galley & ask them to refill my bottle when it gets low on very long flights). We lose fluid via skin evaporation in the arid cabin air, but even if the excess water causes frequent trips to the restroom, that's ok too since moving about is helpful in avoiding DVT (along with mandatory compression sleeves). Sounds like your problem may be complicated by something similar to vertigo. Hope you complete the trip without too much discomfort.

Water is your friend. Hydrate excessively, beginning at least 24 hours before you fly, sipping all during the flight, and continue into the day after. Some people suggest that the discomfort experienced from flying is primarily altitude sickness. The cabin is pressurized to 8,000 ft, so the closer to sea level one normally lives, the more pronounced the negative effects, even from a relatively short flight.

This conversation has (rightfully & logically) morphed into a discussion about bad tax decisions people make when they rely upon incomplete advice. There is an interesting irony in the fact that the topic began with a question related to a beautician/hairstylist tax issue.

The past few posts remind me of something else. The potential client is clearly lying. If a couple of CPA's and the IRS said it's OK, why didn't one of those CPA's take on the project? I guess they want you to believe the conversation went something like this - "Yes, what you're doing is perfectly fine. I see absolutely no problem with it. And the IRS agrees with me. But I don't want to do the work for you. Glad to give you this free advice. Have a nice day. "

You came to the right conclusion. You don't want to be anywhere near this return. Even if 2016 is prepared correctly, the prior years are a time bomb waiting to explode. If it happens, they will try to blame you for preparing the "correct" return and thereby alerting IRS to the prior-year problems. They will just throw stuff against the wall and see what sticks, plus they will try to throw any and all people associated with any of their returns under the bus. There will probably be no end of aggravation waiting for whomever is holding the bag if/when this blows up. (I'm nowhere near being out of figures of speech, but I'll stop here anyhow).