Kinder then me...NT

[Gretel]

I noticed that recently some new posters say something like: "I need...." I never would reply to a post like that but I can see that a number of posters are more forgiving then I am.

[taxea]

I don't bother with what they say, I look for what they mean. What is the issue? Have they bothered to do research elsewhere before posting? Do they appear to be a pro?

[Jiggers]

From the "older" generation of tax return preparers, we didn't have "Google" or any of these various "Forums" to help us. We learned the old fashioned way by actually doing research in those numerous volumes of CCH Federal Tax Guide that were updated weekly by a staff person inserting tons of replacement pages.

We also read and studdied the IRS publications, and the wonderful Package X and that was expanded to two volumes.

Learning tax by actually filling in the forms and many times having the instructions side-by-side.

Teach newbies is difficult. They go straight to a computer screen and have no clue on 1245, 1250, 1231 assets and where to put them on the 4797. Depreciation is automatic, assuming you know the class lifes and methods.

So when someone posts something that is really tax 101 or they only have "3" or a similar number of posts, I am tempted to tell them to look it up. I remember my boss telling me to "...look it up".

[taxmom34]

I remember "way back when" when I started to work for HRB I had all kinds of questions, I would ask a fellow preparer who had worked for many years with HRB, and she would say "come on, let's look this up" and she would grab a book or reference and we looked it up. that was the best thing she could do for me, make me "look it up"

[Twin Turbo Z]

Im in my mid 50's and at age 10 I remember all these left over forms my father had after tax season. I would pretend to do taxes. Then my father made up W2's and other income items and gave them to me and said "do it". Of course I had to read the instructions and figure stuff out. By 16 I was helping in the business. I remember ordering forms from the IRS by the boxes. now we all buy paper by the cases Simpler times. Be nice to go back to those times.

[Roland Slugg]

We learned the old fashioned way by actually doing research in those numerous volumes of CCH Federal Tax Guide that were updated weekly by a staff person inserting tons of replacement pages.

Man, you must be REALLY old ... like me!

I not only remember those weekly CCH update forms, I was the person who put the new pages in all those big, CCH 3-ring binders.

Looking things up seems to be a concept that is foreign to some tax preparers, including several who regularly post on this forum. I learned long ago that some here ask the most basic of questions that even a fairly bright 5-year old should be able to answer ... or easily get the answer. But instead of doing that they ask basic questions that don't even qualify as Tax 101. Tax 1A maybe. There are a few here ... I could count them with the fingers on one hand and have fingers left over ... whose posts are so basic that I not only never reply to them, I don't even read them. I do see, though, that their posts always draw several replies ... from people more forgiving then I ... and Gretel. I can't help but think, though, that the kindest and best thing everyone could do for the helpless among us would be to not reply to such posts, forcing them to help themselves. They would eventually become much better tax preparers and tax advisers.

[kathyc2]

I think all of us need to remember that not one single one of us is infallible. A lot of us are one preparer offices and don't have co-workers to kick ideas around with to make sure our understanding is correct. In many cases this forum can function as a second opinion or a different way to look at an issue.

My first year was before the age of the internet and I had prior year return from a well known firm that had a major error. A partner of yet another firm was kind enough to afford me his time and opinion that I was correct that it was indeed an error and that I should amend. So, if I can do the same for someone else, I will do so.

That being said, I do agree there are people posting that obviously don't have the background knowledge attempting to prepare returns (especially business returns) that they probably should take a pass on preparing.

[Snaggletooth]

Software Dumbs Down

I too am creaky old and been doing taxes a long time.

I still do the tax form by hand and pencil in line items while meeting with the customer. When relevant, I will even do the LTCG/QDividends tax calculation. Then I will return to the computer and Drake. Out of 200 returns a year, Drake will catch me in a serious error once or twice.

Others enter client information on the fly - inputting into a computer and then when it's over, [POOF!] out comes a tax return. The process "dumbs down" the data entry process. Most of my customers prefer what I do.

Anyone who doesn't believe these IT contraptions and software doesn't "dumb down" the process should be in a checkout line at a store when the cash register goes on the blink. The cashier is unable to add, subtract, or compute tax even on a hand calculator. They have to call someone from the back (usually an old-timer like me) to come and check people out.