JohnH

Having gained and lost the equivalent of a couple of people in my 67 years, I think I'm qualified to comment about your 5 lbs. I found that every bit of it was gained and lost one ounce at a time. So congratulations, Joan, you've lost 80 ounces so far.

This may not be exactly relative to your situation, but I'll post it anyhow. I once had a client who was selling his business to another company. The lawyer kept telling me it was a non-taxable event because of the way he had it structured. I kept telling him there was no way, but invited him to give me any tax-specific cites he could provide. He sent me a quirkly little article written by another lawyer, but it just tap danced around the tax implications. I finally asked him if he would be interested in preparing the return, which of course he was not. But he kept insisting that this was commonly done, and he knew lots of CPA's & tax preparers who were following his advice. TRAP SPRUNG ! I asked him to provide my client with the names of 2 or 3 tax pros so the client could retain one of them to prepare the return. I told the client I would not follow the attorney's advice and that he should be giving the client a referral. Last I heard, the attorney never followed through and I think the client self-prepared his own return. (I think 7 years have passed, so the fact is he probably got away with it. But in any case it wasn't my problem.)

I thought it meant "Awesome Tax Xpert". I think you could sell that concept to most clients.

You could do a nice screen shot of your Avatar and frame it. After all, "ATX Supreme Guru" just about says it all insofar as most clients are concerned.

Now here is something I've wondered about from time to time. Maybe when my mind was wandering. Just curious if there are any problems with this practice. Many states require that you file their extension form ONLY if you don't file a Federal Extension. Usually you're extending both, but not always. So my solution is to file a Federal Extension even if we plan to file the Federal Return before Apr 15 but need additional time for the state filing. ( Simply filing the Federal Extension doesn't mean you must wait until after Apr 15 to actually submit the return)

Rita: I like that. Mind if I use it sometime?

Naveen: I am very sorry to hear of your situation. It must be devastating to you at this moment. As many on this forum have also done, I have been involved in several situations in which a decision to discontinue life support had to be made, although not my wife. But in each situation, it was a great comfort to know that the loved one had clearly stated via a living will that this was their wish. It is a much more difficult decision when the person's wishes are not clearly understood. So your wife in her foresight gave you the peace of knowing that what you are being asked to do is according to her wishes. You are not making this decision alone, because you also have the advice of the medical professionals to help guide you in complying with her wishes. You aren't pulling the plug - you are doing what she requested be done if this situation ever occurred. But that doesn't lessen the grief, so just know that I and others on this forum will be praying especially for you over the coming hours and beyond.

Only one solution to the stress - E-X-T-E-N-S-I-O-N-S Lots of them. No giving in to the clients' demands and whining. If you let them, they will completely burn you out without giving it a second thought. Many of them think we derive meaning & purpose in our lives by being martyrs. Unfortunately, sometimes they are right. I must say, if someone asked me why I'm not at work on a given day or evening, I'd simply respond with "Why aren't you?"

Follow up on the comments about Global Entry and who they are allowing to use it. Based on what I saw last night at Philadelphia International, they may be beginning to limit usage of the kiosks only to Global Entry registrants. Don't know if that is a new procedure or only at that location on that evening. I walked past lines which were probably 60-90 minutes long and went right through the kiosk, and no other American citizens were being steered through there as I've seen in the past. The only other person from my flight that I observed picking up luggage was a passenger who had wheelchair assistance and was allowed to jump the regular line. One experience like that makes the cost of Global Entry worthwhile, not to mention the fact that I get TSA precheck on virtually every domestic flight now. For anyone who does any air travel (domestically or internationally), registering through Global Entry is becoming a no-brainer.

Congratulation, Jack. Great accomplishment. It demonstrates the same perserverance and stick-to-your guns worldview you exhibit on this forum. Well done.

Look at it this way. You are doing them a favor. They will know a little bit better what to hide from the next CPA they talk with. And you re not charging them for that service.

They're already telling you they like to take chances and they don't listen to advice. Any guesses on who they will throw under the bus if IRS comes calling?

You have to be careful with this interest/late fee stuff. This is a consumer issue and some states have very harsh laws regarding minor infractions of consumer-protection laws. If you slip up, and the client happens to stumble upon a young lawyer who wants to make a name for himself/herself, you could be on the losing end of an expensive legal threat. I'd ccertianly run any interest/late fee policy past an E&O carrier before implementing it. Personally, I just offer them early payment discounts when I anticipate potntial payment problems (or just demand payment up front in rare cases) - no interest or late charges involved.

Chicken soup, fortified with Jalpeno peppers.

Margaret: I think your letter was very thoughtful and professional. I have clients to whom I'd write a letter like that if necessary, but I also have clients to whom I'd simply say "Get Lost!" if that's what was required to make my point. A professional practice is not a cookie-cutter enterprise where everyone is treated exactly alike. The essence of good business practice is knowing when to make distinctions, and a qualified business manager understands this nuance . I trust your judgement that this was the way you needed to handle this situation. Nice job.

You're not.

I tell people I don't grade papers. If they want me to check their return, they must pay me for the time to do a preparation from the ground up. Even at that, the processing time involved in setting up a new client means the first year's return is often much less profitable than subsequent years. You can't build a strong business based on providing the cheapest service for one-time bargain shoppers. Catering to that crowd just makes you one of many people out there trying to see how cheaply they can work. It's a no-win situation for you.

I'll bet he actullly has ALL the digits memorized. That's where I am right now. The problem isn't memorizing the digits - it's getting them in the right order...

I think I'll run around in circles eating pie throughout that day, strictly to celebrate the occasion. Incidentally, how many of you have all the digits of pi memorized (like I do).

Interesting personal development over tha past few days while I was reading and responding to this thread. I had a client who came on board about 3 years ago whom I was reluctant to take on from the start, but social circumstances & church connections simply did not permit me to say "No". (Long story - we all have them). Last week, a couple of days after I sent out my client letter, this client called to let me know they were changing preparers. I happily didn't ask the reason and just told them to let me know if the new preparer has any questions about the prior 3 years. I strongly suspect the reason was that each year I had insisted on filing extensions (because their situation isn't simple and I don't want to fool with it before Apr 15.) I had emphasized in this year's client letter a blanket statement that even more, and longer, extensions might be necessaary, especially due to continuing late/revised brokerage statements and potential ACA issues. Lessons learned: 1) Adopt a strict extension policy and let the clients know up front they cannot control your time. 2) More importantly, learn to say "NO" at the outset, regardlesss of the exterrnal pressures. I have #1 perfected, but unfortunately still working on #2 even at my age & proximity to retirement.

I seldom collect when the return is completed - I just mail them an invoice. Over the years I've had a few who didn't pay, or didn't pay in full. Not many, but enough to remember. Most of the time I came to the conclusion that not collecting the balance due was a reasonable price to pay for the relief of not having to deal with them in the future. I did have one guy who was really gutsy. He owed me money, & failed to show up for a couple of years. I assumed he had gone somewhere else. But then he dropped two year's worth of tax info in my night drop, along with a note that IRS was pressuring him to file his past due returns. I put it all in a box in mailed it back to him with a bill for the past due amount, plus an estimate for the cost to do the new work, and a mention that the work would begin when he paid the entire amount. I included a note saying the estimate was probably high, but if his final bill came out lower then we could refund to him after 6 months if IRS didn't ask any questions about the returns after filing. Never heard another word from him. As I said, the old bill plus the postage to send his stuff back to him was money well spent.

Makes me think of a sign I saw at every workstation many years ago when visiting a local payroll processing service (probably back in the DOS days). "ALWAYS obtain a supervisor's permission before pressing the 'Delete' key. Otherwise, the payroll record you eliminate will be your own."

" Intangible religious un-benefit ? "

Is any reporting required, since the church is tax exempt?

But what about the financial impact on your time? After all, you continually spend hours working on this forum which could be spent with your family, reading, hiking, skiing, taking a nap, etc.