Mailing Completed Returns to Customer

[Black Bart]

Good points, Bob.

Yes, new preparers need to do many double checks.

...you must pay attention to establishing a routine...to control the appointment, don't let the client run you all over the tax return...

But some of us old preparers need to do double checks too.

Still, if you can make 'em "sit down and shut up" because you will control the horizontal and you will control the vertical, then more power to you (I'll bet your clients feel like they're goin' to the principal's office).

[BOB W]

Yep,

and that is the way I like it. Most of my clients like it too.

They hate doing taxes and I just make it business-like. They don't waste my time and I don't waste theirs.

[BOB W]

All of my interviews.......

........ start with Hi how are you doing? Was 2006 good to you? Let's get started.

The very first thing I do is review home address, email address, dependents, child care expenses ( my program has an input next to the dependent 's name). Then I go to elf tab and verify agi from last year and set all up for ELFing, as well as bank account info. Now I am ready to enter W-2 info after I review each W-2 for unusual issues, like working out of state, or flex plan issues, and go forward with the tax return.

This I learned the hard way many years ago, with just taking the W-2 and entering just the normal stuff.....

[ChEAr$]

Everybody is happy

Mailing Return

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"95% of my returns are done with the client present. Client looks over the return, signs the 8879 and pays the bill. This way, no second trip. Works well in most cases."

Except, they follow along with me as I do their return, my computer screen is on the side of my desk so each of us are looking as I make my entries. I mail ALL finished returns as soon as the ack is in. I get paid when they are sitting in front of me.

gets paid this way: IRS gets paid (tax is settled up); the client (if due a refund) will
get paid, and I get paid.
And as a local lawyer advetises on TV, "And when everybody's paid, everybody's happy!"

Holiday ChEAr$,
Harlan Lunsford, EA n LA

[Black Bart]

But there are (or were) such capable folks.

...something a teacher in college once said . Only an arrogant accountant uses a pen instead of a pencil.

Years ago I clerked for the owner of a large cotton plantation. He had a CPA (and his assistant son) come from Little Rock to do a full audit of his dozen or so entities -- and had been doing so for several years. I was doing a little bookkeeping on the side and was astounded to see that their calculators were tapeless, display-only ten-keys; operated by touch, of course. This was in pre-computers days when the old, thick woven cloth-bound journals, ledgers, and steel post extensions to add pages were in use and everything was posted by hand. I watched them for a week. I never saw them make a single, perceptible error. They added literally hundreds of figures and many, many pages without a slip. Those pages balanced.

Sometimes when I make a calculator error on one or two pages, I think of those mens' feat long ago. It's quite humbling.

[sea-tax]

Good story BB , I too worked once for a man who had the came skillz. He used to tell me that he never made a mistake he was only misunderstood.

[BOB W]

I remember......

.... those days too. My calculator skills were one for my clients to be amazed at. It gave me great "WOW" credentials. Typing I was never good at and I never get that WOW look any more.

[Black Bart]

Tapeless

Yeah, most of us are probably pretty fair hands at "touch" operation of a calculator, but it was daunting to think of adding up forty or fifty journal pages without a tape to find an error on if out of balance -- no choice but to start all over again from page one.

[Bird Legs]

Those were the days

The first job I had was with a Licensed Public Accountant. He had a Comptometer
with a crank on the side. You would enter your number then pull the handle. This was
back in 1957.

[Black Bart]

Hey sea-tax,

Good story BB , I too worked once for a man who had the came skillz. He used to tell me that he never made a mistake he was only misunderstood.

I used to know a man who had fast fingers too, but with a pistol instead of a calculator. He shot a guy, spent a few years in the federal pen, and said the same thing -- he didn't make a mistake -- he was misunderstood.

[Black Bart]

Say Bird,

The first job I had was with a Licensed Public Accountant. He had a Comptometer
with a crank on the side. You would enter your number then pull the handle. This was
back in 1957.

I worked for a lady in '64 that used one of those, except it was electric instead of manual (no pull handle). It seems like it had ten rows across of ten keys each (lots of keys). To multiply, for example 245 by 12, you would put your fingers on the 2-4-5 keys of the first three rows starting at the right side and push them down twice. Then, fingers still at the 2-4-5 keys position, you'd move over on the next row to the left and push them down once. Is that the way you remember it? If not, how was it done?

P.S. I guess your brain is not too frozen or calcified because that was a pretty good answer about the preparation of a W-2 that you gave to Josh on the SE health insurance thread back there.

[sea-tax]

I used to know a man who had fast fingers too, but with a pistol instead of a calculator. He shot a guy, spent a few years in the federal pen, and said the same thing -- he didn't make a mistake -- he was misunderstood.

Oh Yeah ! Did he shoot him just to watch him die? Wait that was someplace else I heard that, sorry

[Bird Legs]

B B - the comptometer

worked exactly the way you described. "Those were the days, my friend, we thought
they'd never end. We'd laugh & sing forever and a day. Those were the days, the good old days."

[newbie]

........ start with Hi how are you doing? Was 2006 good to you? Let's get started.

The very first thing I do is review home address, email address, dependents, child care expenses ( my program has an input next to the dependent 's name). Then I go to elf tab and verify agi from last year and set all up for ELFing, as well as bank account info. Now I am ready to enter W-2 info after I review each W-2 for unusual issues, like working out of state, or flex plan issues, and go forward with the tax return.

This I learned the hard way many years ago, with just taking the W-2 and entering just the normal stuff.....

Just curious, how long does it take you to prepare your average return and what do you charge for a 1040, Schedule A and 2441?

[BOB W]

Newbee

Generally between $150-200 and it takes "Tops" 20 minutes for the interview plus 5 minutes for elf, printing and mailing .

I usually try to take that "5 minutes", inbetween clients. I schedule every half hour. Some of the bigger clients will get an hour appointment.

What I find helpful is to be mentally sharp but physically relaxed. Clients like to see self confidence. When I do get flusted I take a break, even if the client is still there. Go to the bathroom or get a breath of fresh air to get recomposed.