JohnH

Those clients provide a nice comic diversion during the day. I like to engage them in conversation while I sift through the envelopes, pulling out the one piece of useful info, and shoving all the boilerplate stuff & envelopes into the shredder. I always make sure the shredder is sitting where they can see it gobbling up the paper. The look on their face a while I'm talking over the noise of that shredder loudly grinding away is priceless.

My original hometown was Forest City, NC. But if you "ain't from around here" and you ask a local the name of their hometown, you'll think everybody came from somewhere else. That's because you'll swear they said "I'm from Far City".

It's "Tar Heel". But when you hear us say it, sometimes it's hard to tell the difference between "Heel" and "Hill". Just remember that "Hill" and "Heel" and "Heal" all have two syllables. With some North Carolinians, it's also hard to tell the difference between "Tar" and "Tire", but that's another lesson.

Identify something unique about his return or his filing situation. Then just tell him you think he needs someone who has a focus in that area and it isn't something you are interested in pursuing. That's what I tell people with EIC. Or else you could just tell him you're fed up with his nonsense and you know he won't want to pay 4 times last year's fee for the same work. Either of the above is effective. Just be sure to slam the door shut on any possibility that you'll change your mind. He has 10 weeks to find someone, so he'd better get busy.

If I'd know how much fun being a grandparent is, I'd have tried to figure out how to skip being a parent altogether and go straight to being grandpa.

Congratulations. Become a grandparent changes the way you view everything in life. Especially the long view. Every new grandchild is the best one ever born. Enjoy them at all ages. Sooner or later they'll be old enough to get their drivers license, and my oldest of 3 grandsons just did. All of a sudden you're thinking "2 more years and it's college time."

My standing desk is the only one in my office connected to the internet. It also runs my tax software. So I'm at it most of the day. I do have a bar stool at the standing desk, so probably 1/3 of the time I'm half-standing/ half-sitting. And the little pedal exerciser gets a workout when I'm sitting on the bar stool However, I have my workspace & monitor height arranged so that I'm most comfortable standing. I think it's great for circulation and alertness.

I assume you stood up and corrected the judge. They are usually very receptive to being corrected since their goal is to see that justice is done, even at the expense of their personal egos.

The first thing to do is to erase the macros that Drake provides. That frees up some additional keys that you might want to use because the letter is intuitive. I don't think I use but one or two of their pre-loaded macros, which are there just to show how to write one.

That one's easy to respond to.... "Sure, I can call sometime. What do you want to talk about?"

This one is pretty handy. It answers "no" to both "Foreign Accounts" questions on the Schedule B and returns to the main screen. There may be a simpler way to do it, but I just do what works. (There are 27 of the ">" symbols between the two "N"'s.) B3>N>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>N~

Here's another macro for times when the taxpayer has no ACA issues. It jumps to the screen, checks full year coverage, and returns to the main screen. HC>x>~

Most of my macros are state-specific or unique to my practice. For example, I have one macro which opens Form 8948 and fills in my E-flinging Waiver Number & some other info, then returns to the main screen. I have to do that on every return I file, and the macro runs so fast I'll miss it if I look away. I also have macros which jump to the state returns and check the boxes for paper check refund (not debit card), and "no use tax". Here's a simple one. It opens the Social Security benefits screen, marks it for "taxpayer", prefills the box for Medicare Premiums paid, then backs up to the box for benefits and waits for an entry. It works for any taxpayer who pays the basic $1259 for medicare premiums. I listed it because it shows how a macro can prefill info down the screen and then revert back to an earlier entry box to await more info. I launch it with an Alt-S, although that is strictly user-determined. It can also be modified to do the same for a spouse when there is one, but the macro gets a little more complicated. SSA>T>>>>1259><<

For many years I refused to give out my cell phone number. But now I give it to anyone who wants it, and I encourage them to text me (or email, as they prefer). Any amount of back-and-forth associated with text/email is still much more convenient than speaking with them by phone, which is the second-biggest time waster in our business. (The biggest time waster by far is having the client sitting in the office) Texting and email leave me in control of when it is truly necessary to have a phone conversation. There are times when I reply by telling the client I'll give them a call. But that decision is mine, not theirs.

Thanks Jack. It made sense to me, but I's still gun shy about ACA. I appreciate the confirmation.

I don't know about all the other work-arounds you suggested, but you can always paper file. Just attach the explanation staement to the return. If the client uses direct deposit, the difference in time for them to receive their refund will only be a couple of weeks at most. If they owe, who cares if the return is paper filed? Maybe you would give them a small discount on the fee to show your appreciation for their business while you wait wait for IRS to sort this out. Consider the discount an investment in client relations that will pay off in the future. You might even find necessarily to have them actually write you a check (what a burden!), but at least you keep everything clean and simple in this transition period.

I have to hand it to Drake - this program is nearly impossible to beat. I was out of the country much of January, and decided today (Jan 29), it's time to get serious about taxes. Went online and renewed Drake in about 5 minutes. The download took about 10 minutes, I entered some basic information, then loaded my states and immediately ran updates. The whole process took less than a half hour and I was up & running. Completed a couple of returns today and am now tweaking some macros to update them for 2015 so I can gain more speed in the data entry phase. All that is to say that nothing in its price range can touch this program. Its speed and efficiency are unequaled. Learning to use it will make any tax preparer more efficient and thereby put money in your pocket. The only thing necessary is to break that addiction to the vastly overrated "forms based" entry process and to recognize bells & whistles for exactly what they are - expensive, time-consuming, resource-hogging gimmicks.

First client with ACA issues gave me their info yesterday. He retired in late 2014 at age 63 with a buyout, and was paying for COBRA coverage until June 2015 on himself and his wife. He then bought a policy through the exchange for the rest of the year for himself. She turned 65 in June 2015 and thus she enrolled in Medicare at the same time the COBRA ran out. So at this point she has a 1095-B from Medicare showing coverage Jun-Dec. He has a 1095-A from the marketplace showing coverage July-Dec, with some advance payments. (The coverage dates were no accident - he negotiated this as a part of his buyout). He's a smart guy, good with numbers, and thanks to his working with his insurance guy he winds up owing only $24 of his subsidy back. I suppose his tax preparer can take a little credit for helping in the "projecting income" department as well. Seems like they will still be getting a 1095-C from his former employer for the period Jan-Jun. Of course, the employer doesn't know when they will get it done and they advised everyone they have until Mar 15 to actually send them out. I know for certain they had COBRA coverage with MEC Jan-Jun 2015 because they are personal friends and this was all a frequent topic of conversation during the year. So it seems I have all the info I need to prepare their return, because I already know what the 1095-C is going to show. Is there any reason I should tell them we need to wait for the 1095-C? Am I overlooking anything?

But Marilyn, your priorities are all wrong. It isn't about YOU, it's all about HER !

TaxGuy2040. I believe you are sincere when you say you gave Drake an honest effort. But you are wrong on so many levels. You gave it a test spin around the block a few times, but you never took the time to really learn its capabilities. Your naïve statement about the "speed" issue is just one example. Its speed in backing up, navigating from one screen to another, and update time run circles around anything in its price range. And I haven't even mentioned the huge increases in efficiency (time saved) that learning how to write a few macros can provide. So you took a cursory look, filed a few returns, threw up your hands, and moved on. Nothing wrong with that. As for the refund policy - everyone has them. A good businessperson learns the ins and outs of the refund policy before buying anything new. You failed to do that and then tried to whine your way out. No sympathy here for your failure, but maybe you learned a lesson that will serve you well in business in the future. Learn the lesson and apply it. Drake takes a little investment of time and commitment to really discover its power. If you're high on the latest bells & whistles and you like tech gadgetry, then Drake is going to look pretty pedestrian. But then a 1040 looks pretty pedestrian too. Your software doesn't need to launch the space shuttle - it needs to produce an accurate tax return which is nothing more than a glorified Excel spreadsheet. So I agree that someone like you should look elsewhere for your tech thrills. Just don't fool yourself or others into the notion that you actually evaluated its capabilities. You never even came close.

We already know. It isn't really very much. Not enough to even bother with. Just go ahead and complete the return without it. But NEXT year it's going to be HUGE. And she will keep meticulous records. No doubt about it.

No, he absolutely should not pay the company the balance of the loan. YOU should pay the company the balance of the loan as a penalty for not reading his mind...

With respect to the 1095 and retirees, it seems to me that the SSA-1099 showing a full year of Medicare premium deductions would be sufficient evidence that the taxpayer met the courage requirements. The 1095 is just a redundancy in this situation. Now if they retired during the year, that might entail some additional proof, and of course if there are other family members some more digging is needed.

I like the "genius" commercials. I think I'll start preparing tax returns on my smart phone and just pressing a single icon button to make sure everything's fine. No doubt t that's a great business plan.

Good luck with Ultra Tax. I used it before switching to ATX and I loved the features it offered. Just couldn't afford to keep it after my introductory price ran out. I tried to get another discounted deal the year of the ATX meltdown, but UT wouldn't work with me on price. Thankfully I found Drake, which runs circles around anything out there insofar as speed & efficiency are concerned, and at a fraction of the price anyone else can offer. In any event, you'll find that Ultra Tax lives up to its name.