The Big Day

[Black Bart]

Tomorrow's the day and I feel like a paratrooper might at the door of the plane. It's the night before the "big game" and all that. Only thing, I may have lost my parachute. I just downloaded the '06 ATX disk and "DRAFT" is stamped across the 1040 and state forms.

Guess I could go to the website and see if there's an update, but I'm afraid of what I'll find so I think I'll wait 'til morning and hope they worked on it all night. If it's not there and a client comes in, then I'll run a draft and hand-copy it to an IRS 1040; but what a way to run a railroad! "Yes, yes, our sign says we're a tax preparation firm, but we don't really mean it"...or..."check back next week and I'm sure we'll be doing taxes"...or....some other crazy response.

[BOB W]

It is .......

.... just to soon too process tax returns. Elf isn't open yet and most state tax programs haven't been completed yet.

Whatever you do, don't jump out of the plane yet. Your parachute is coming.

[Joe Btfsplk]

Shopping for a CHEAP parachute

You might get a cut-rate deal on a used parachute at an estate sale. (the estate of the former owner of the parachute).

[Snaggletooth]

No Documents

Fortunately, I can sell the idea of not doing 1040s without documents. Some of my clients have histories of rushing the process with W-2s, and swear they have not made any more income. But then come 1099-R rollovers, and 1099-Bs for bond redemptions and any number of other documents which are reportable items, income notwithstanding.

The absolute worst are K-1s from limited partnerships and S-corps, which don't have to be processed until March 15th. I have a few customers who cannot schedule an appointment before then because of limited partnerships.

January doesn't really crank up until around Jan 25th for most customers, so I use the time to get corporate and partnership work done as best I can.

[BOB W]

If

... I had to wait for every K-1 until it get issued, I'd be doing returns on April 15th. I tell those clients to come in without the K-1s so I can get everything else entered. Then I just have the K-1s to go when they do come. Zip Zap, they're done upon arrival...... Yes?

[Joe Btfsplk]

K-1s

Most of my clients don't have K-1s, but one guy has about 25 K-1s from S Corps and LLCs, plus some Rent income and a working interest in an oil company and a few other things. . Every year there are new corps and LLCs and several are disposed of.

I have to work on his return on a piecemeal basis as he gets the documents and faxes, emails or snail-mails them to me.

A lot of the K-1s come in April. The ones for K-1s in which he is the managing partner or S corp owner, I prepare much sooner.

[Jiggers]

Early Filers

I insist that my clients have all the documents. I have one elderly client who wants to file ASAP. However, he has numerous stock and fund transactions, lots of dividends of all sorts. He wants to use his year-end statements. I insist on all 1099B's & DIVs. Sometimes I have to bend the truth a bit and say that "my software isn't complete yet" or something like that to get him to hold off until those 1099's get here.