JohnH

Excellent article, and GREAT clarifications, Max. There is lots of actionable information in these two posts. Next to preparing an accurate return, helping a worried, overwhelmed client navigate a scary situation with the IRS is one of the most valuable services tax preparers can provide.

He is under age 55, but thanks for asking.

German citizen has been in the US working legally for 10+ years. Has been putting money into a 401(k) regularly. He is under 59-1/2 years of age. Has now decided to return to Germany permanently and will need to terminate the 401(k) since he will no longer have a valid US address. Does anyone know of any provision for him to avoid the 10% early withdrawal penalty? I've told him I know of no exception, but this is a first for me so I thought I'd ask around.

No sticker on their copy of your invoice for last year? "Exorbitant Fee for Tax Prep"

The PA preparer is probably so happy to see the client gone that he will tell him whatever he wants to hear, just to be sure he doesn't come back.

You could call him and tell him you have good news and bad news: 1) The bad news is he owes IRS $ 9,720 2) The good news is he only owe you $ 972 for all the double-checking.

I'd handle it by telling him to take his business somewhere else.

I will add that I would continue to give them their mail, in spite of their infantile behavior. You're wasting your time trying to teach a pig to sing. All you get for your efforts is bad music and a frustrated pig.

When I send out my year-end letter to my clients, I include two return address labels. It's fascinating how many of the regulars will stick that label on an envelope and mail their stuff back to me. I then correspond with them by email or text if I have questions or if they left out something. Keeps them out of my office so I can get some work done.

I don't think you have any reasonable recourse against these people. There are people out there who just won't act responsibly or perhaps they enjoy injecting a little confusion into the process. Especially when someone else makes a mistake, their default is to compound the error rather than do the logical thing or act with dignity and common sense. So I think your only real solution is to get a PO Box. Anything else you try to do is a colossal waste of time and mental energy.

You heirs won't need top know what you paid for your stock. =========================================== It's easy to make a lot of money buying stock. Just take all your savings and buy a good stock that you know is going to go up. When it goes up, sell it. If it don't go up, don't buy it. (With apologies to Will Rogers)

I decided to make "incorrect" my common password. That way, when I enter it incorrectly, the site will tell me "Your password is incorrect." Thank you...

You could always just sign up for Drake and kill three birds with one stone. 1) Best program for the money, by far. 2) Top notch customer support (which you will rarely need). 3) Increased profits/profitability because the program is more efficient that anything in its price range. It kills the competition with its speed, which directly translates into money in your pocket.

Michael: You got my attention with just the descriptions. I don't happen to owe you any money, do I?

OK. So what's the penalty for "You could probably do my return in your sleep." ??

Foregoing your fee on this one (if that is what happens), should be considered an investment in your long-term productivity and peace of mind.

At the rate he is going, this client may not last until December. You might need to fire him before the return is filed.

Going back a few years, I did have a client who was eager to get his return filed before Apr 15, but his brokerage statement had that little blurb that they might be changing it. So I told him we could file based on the info in hand, but if the subsequent statement gave us any significant difference, he would have to pay for an amended return. He agreed, so we filed based on the first 1099-Div/B. As it turned out, the final 1099-Div/B did have an adjustment which was slightly in his favor, but my charge for the amended return would exceed the tax savings. He chose to just leave things as they were. So all's well that ends well. At least we had properly set the table for what was to come.

So far I've seen less brokerage statements with the "You may get changes" notice this year. But for the past 3 years I've been telling alll my clients who receive brokerage statements that we will probably need to file extensions. That takes Apr 15 off the table as a relevant date and enables me to avoid a crunch in those situations. Better to give them advance notice than to be scrambling in early April.

This old discussion popped up on my screen this morning for some unknown reason. I agree with Catherine that cloud-based software isn't a good idea, especially with tax preparation. The mention of the demo not going well reminds me of a friend who was showing a new high-tech medical device at a trade show years ago. When a potential customer would show interest, he would always mention that the only sound you hear is the cooling fan when you start it up. As he was doing the demo for a doctor, the unit malfunctioned and the doctor commented that he didn't hear the fan. Without halting his presentation, my friend replied "This one has a solid state fan."

Thanks for that heads up. I found I was running the 32 bit version as well, so I immediately upgraded. That also spurred me to add the Chrome browser to my iPhone. I think it is faster than Safari, although Safari was pretty efficient already. It's nice to have both, giving me choices.

Looks like I need to change that attachment to "Got Pounded". Great game, Denver.

OK, it's Super Bowl Sunday...

I understand the frustration, but I don't charge for missed appointments. Most of my clients mail or email their info to me, and appointments are only for those who simply MUST bring their info in and hand it over (hopefully not one piece at a time). There's always something on my desk to be done so I just turn to something else and don't consider the time for a missed appointment wasted. But I'd probably have a different attitude if I kept a full appointment calendar and a missed appointment throws it off schedule.

Monday appointments are a real pain. Legitimate problems come up over the weekend but clients can't figure out how to call & leave a voice mail message, send an email, or dash off a text to let you know they can't make it Monday as planned. They don't show up, then later will tell you "I didn't know how to contact you over the weekend. I meant to call on Monday morning but I forgot." Yet, if they have a tax question they want answered immediately, they're blowing up your voice mail with multiple calls at midnight Saturday or Sunday. Funny how that works.