8879

[Philip1117]

What do you do when a client has not paid for the return but has signed the 8879 and its beyond the three day window? What do you do when spouses sign 8879 for each other? How about when they return an undated 8879?

Phil

[Jack from Ohio]

1. What do you do when a client has not paid for the return but has signed the 8879 and its beyond the three day window?
2. What do you do when spouses sign 8879 for each other?
3. How about when they return an undated 8879?

Phil

1. The three day window is not a concern. We have e-file over 15,000 returns in the past 5 years with not a single reference to the "three day window." Reality does not allow that rule to be adhered to.
2. Your question about spouses signing for each other... We don't allow it in our office, but who knows who is actually signing when it is sent to them?
3. Undated 8879 fits #1

[Philip1117]

Thanks I prefer the reality method.

[kcjenkins]

What do you do when a client has not paid for the return but has signed the 8879 and its beyond the three day window? What do you do when spouses sign 8879 for each other? How about when they return an undated 8879?

Phil

You need to have a standard policy. Either you agree to file the return and get paid later, or you don't give it to them to sign until they pay.

Spouses can't sign for each other. Send him/her out to their car to get the other spouses' signature.

[JohnH]

And while the spouse in the car is signing, the client can look in the glove compartment for the check book.

[Jack from Ohio]

I never file before being paid, and receiving the signed 8879. Both happen before I click transmit.

[Lion EA]

1. I wait for payment.

2. I tell the spouse with me that BOTH need to sign. I do not spy on him/her to see if that was the case. (I had a colleague long ago that used to hand his client a black pen and a blue pen!) Many of my 8879s are uploaded to FileShare on my website or emailed, with BOTH spouses getting the notification or emails. Note: I am much stricter about this if I know or suspect a divorce is looming.

3. I add the date I received the completed form when I sign and date myself.

[michaelmars]

I never get paid up front since I mail all my returns along with the authorization forms. Maybe got burnt 1 or 2 times over the last 27 years but since all my clients are referrals, its not a big issue. My invoices also call for $25 late fees and interest which cut my ageing time significantly. By 5/1 I was waiting for about 15 of my over 200 fees. Now its 3 people that still owe but they always pay me late.

[Pacun]

What do you do when spouses sign 8879 for each other?

Phil

If you mean that the husband signs on the wife's space and the wife signs on the husband's space? If that's the case, I make a couple of arrows and file it.

If one of the spouses want to sign for the other, I DON"T ALLOW IT. I tell him/her, "YOUR SPOUSE MUST SIGN, please take the form and bring it tomorrow"

Most of the time I stay in the office and I don't follow them to their homes. BUT all the time the other spouse signed at home.

[RitaB]

Regarding the 8879, I am always amused that the clients are so particular in signing EXACTLY how "they" (I) have it on the form. I always want to say, "Just sign already; you didn't give two 's about anything else on the return. Now is not the time to get concerned with accuracy."

[Kea]

I don't spy on my clients, either in regards to making sure the forms are signed by each spouse. I did get concerned one year when the spouse misspelled her own name (changed from an "a" to an "e"). There are some misspellings I don't worry too much about. I've been known to leave letters out of my own signature.

[Jack from Ohio]

I don't spy on my clients, either in regards to making sure the forms are signed by each spouse. I did get concerned one year when the spouse misspelled her own name (changed from an "a" to an "e"). There are some misspellings I don't worry too much about. I've been known to leave letters out of my own signature.

How the signature looks, how it is spelled, or legibility is not important. If the person signs the document, whatever or however they choose, it is a legal signature.