TAX Q&A Program

[Burke]

This morning I listened to a local program on NPR which had 2 CPA's answering TP's call-in tax questions. After the 5th wrong answer, I turned it off. It was too painful to listen to. It was obvious they did not have any reference materials on hand to look at. Why does anybody do this?

[RitaB]

It's nuts

I was listening to a report about the delay for returns with Education Credits. The reporter said that most of the returns involved belonged to students. Well, you know that's wrong. You know it's mostly parents' returns. Is it any wonder we get all these half-baked ideas presented to us by clients? It's really discouraging trying to combat all the misinformation.

[taxea]

This morning I listened to a local program on NPR which had 2 CPA's answering TP's call-in tax questions. After the 5th wrong answer, I turned it off. It was too painful to listen to. It was obvious they did not have any reference materials on hand to look at. Why does anybody do this?

Call the program and tell them for all of us:
"you don''t ask a CPA tax questions and you don't ask an EA (tax expert) accounting questions"

Okay all you CPA's don't get in a huff..I am referring to those who do not keep up with tax issues, not those who do.

[ToledoEd]

I know it is hard to listen to the radio "experts" get the answers wrong, but it can be helpful to listen so when your clients come in with the wrong ideas you can be ready to answer with a reasoned answer. Knowing what wrong information is out there makes it easier to be able to quote the correct information with sources. This also makes your client think more highly of you because you know more than the radio experts.

[taxxcpa]

I think anyone who attempts to answer call-in questions is probably going to make a lot of mistakes. Being able to prepare taxes accurately involves a lot more than memorizing everything in the tax laws. Of course you know how to handle all of the easy, repetitive type situations, but call-in questions will trip up even an EA, sometimes---and maybe a CPA, always.

There are some situations we can depend on our software to handle, like exemptions and standard deductions, so I don't try to memorize these amounts, and might have to look up the amount to be sure if someone called and asked me.

Until I spent some time on it, I had not realized that you could have both a deduction and a tax due on the same person's HSA, so if I had attempted to answer a call-in question asking if that could occur, I would have said, "No way Jose."

[Traveling EA]

tax and deduction on hsa

It is very possible, since they are basically 2 different things. One is a savings for a HSA plan, and the other is distributions from the plan. If not used for qualified medical expenses, it is added back to income and subject to a 20% penalty.

[taxxcpa]

In order to understand the way HSA works for tax purposes, I constructed an excel worksheets based on the line-by-line IRS instructions which resulted in one scenario, both a deduction on line 25, Form 1040 and Other income, line 21, Form 1040 in one example I entered.

I had other columns to illustrate situations with various outcomes--zero deductible and zero taxable, a deduction with no taxable amount and one with both a deduction and a tax.

I will probably forget everything about the way it works except that various outcomes can occur, but can always review my worksheet if I need to answer a question (but would not want to do it on a call-in program) since CPAs aren't expected to memorize everything in the tax laws.

[taxxcpa]

Call the program and tell them for all of us:
"you don''t ask a CPA tax questions and you don't ask an EA (tax expert) accounting questions"

Okay all you CPA's don't get in a huff..I am referring to those who do not keep up with tax issues, not those who do.

Some CPAs specialize in audits, some in taxes. The most expertise in taxtion is probably people who are both attorneys and CPAs and work for one of the big, major CPA firsm--the kind that Mitt Romney or Bill Gates are likely to use. I doubt if they are the kind of CPAs that go on call-in radio shows.

Those who go on call-in radio shows are probably trying to promote their practice, either if their firm is mentioned on the radio or if they use it in advertising their firm. They probably have egos that make them think they know more than they do.

Once I had a question and called one of those programs and the CPA gave me the wrong answer, so I still had to do the research to find the real answer.

[Matt Sova]

The real question

The real question is why would anyone listen to NPR in the first place?

[Burke]

Oh, you are baaadddd...... It's the only station I listen to. Well, that and BBC. Doesn't mean I am a screaming liberal..... just can't find good music these days, or intelligent conversation.

[DexEA]

EA's can get the answer wrong too.

They probably have egos that make them think they know more than they do.

For some titles can be an ego boost too! Someone without a title can be just as wise as someone w/ a title - whether it be EA or CPA. Cheers once had an episode that started out with the employee's wanting a a raise - instead he gave them titles and they liked that as much - and some even more than a raise.

[Matt Sova]

Oh, you are baaadddd...... It's the only station I listen to. Well, that and BBC. Doesn't mean I am a screaming liberal..... just can't find good music these days, or intelligent conversation.

And NPR has intelligent conversation? LOL. Just rattling your cage!

[Burke]

And NPR has intelligent conversation? LOL. Just rattling your cage!

The thing I like most about it is they (usually) are not yelling at, over top of, and interrupting each other, like some TV channels we all know and love. PS: I like public TV, too.