I saw this a few days ago – The Minnesota Society of CPAs released the 10 most outragious tax deductions proposed by clients (the guy making the jokes aside, some of these are funny, others are just sad). Just remember if you propose I try and deduct any of these, when I tell stories about clients without naming names, I will name names! I may post it online. Beware!http://www.accountingtoday.com/news/Top-10-Most-Outrageous-Tax-Deductions-57330-1.html?ET=webcpa:e1298:204199a:&st=email
Brian’s General Musings
Today I am going to talk about something I hate: accountants that feel they are selling their time and sell it in 15 minute (or 10 or 6 minute) increments. They keep timesheets and try and bill every minute of every day. They feel more productive if they can bill all their time.This absolutely drives me nuts. Not only do I have to keep track of all that time and bill somebody 1/10 of an hour because he called to confirm an appointment (don’t laugh; some actually do this and bury it in their billing schedules as part of a project) but I feel pressured to get stuff done quickly because if I don’t the client is going to complain about the bill. Plus the client may not call me when something happens in his life or business because he is afraid of getting a bill. He will wait until his next meeting to tell me (which might be too late to do something that could save taxes or avoid other problems). Accountants have become taxi drivers and the meter is always running.As my website says, I don’t charge for phone calls and don’t bill on an hourly basis. I will [...]
Brian’s Tax Musings
Can anyone tell me what a PTIN? No it won’t get you girls or help you build big arms or a flat stomach. It is a Paid Tax Identification Number and anyone who prepares taxes for a fee has to get one before they prepare taxes for the 2010 tax season. The IRS is hoping to keep better tabs on preparers and force them to increase their tax knowledge with required classes and testing (all still in the future). Starting in January 2011 anyone who doesn’t have a number can’t prepare a return for a fee. See this article for a little more detail:http://www.suite101.com/content/irs-ptin-registration–who-needs-a-paid-preparer-tax-id-number-a301779So check you tax return. In the paid preparer area under Tax Preparer ID Number there isn’t a number that starts with a P, your preparer either forgot to put his number down or he didn’t get a number. If it is not there you need to ask him why. If the IRS sees that they might decide they need to look at your return a bit closer, and nobody wants that. (Of course I have a PTIN so if I prepare your return you know as a CPA I have already filled all the requirements.)