Tax filing 2017

[Number Six]

Is this going to be a tougher season for citizens and for tax preparers? I went to one of the local volunteer outfits and they did not seem that eager to help the self-employed, suggest I get TurboTax. I went to the local IRS office which is under-staffed IMO. They said it was no longer first come first served, but appointment only. One week wait.

[Pottapaug1938]

It may be that the volunteer places might have all the work that they can handle. My wife has worked for H&R Block and Liberty Tax in the past (but is not doing so this year due to her health issues); and this is usually a slow time of the season (the people who are expecting refunds have already rushed to file, and those who will owe money are stalling until the end of March or even early April.

The IRS has been understaffed for years, as far as she and I can see.

[Number Six]

One of the things that the library volunteers insisted on is that if you are buying and selling you must do an inventory which I have never heard of working with Liberty tax, HR Block and CPAs. I went into a local Liberty tax place where there did not seem to be a lot of competence in the one guy who was working very slowly, and the Liberty gown people working their signs outside. Intelligence and competence can be in short supply in some of the tax preparation places then you interact with a tax person that is fast, competent and impressive.

[Pottapaug1938]

My wife told me that the quality of the help in H&B Block and Liberty could vary widely. Her offices, in Quincy and Weymouth, MA were quite good, which is why she worked there and we will be going there next month.

[Arthur Rubin]

On (one of) the tax preparer forums on Yahoo!, it was reported that Liberty is problematic, both for customers and preparers.

Of course, offices may differ.

[The Observer]

I recall Liberty having a problem a few years ago with some of the franchise offices getting involved in fraudulent refund scheme for its customers.

[Arthur Rubin]

I tried to send #6 a PM about the inventory issue. In short, VITA rules may be more restrictive than (and sometimes inconsistent with) IRS regulations; but they may have a point about inventory. In IRS publications, there are examples of inventory being required which resemble what #6 is saying.

[Number Six]

Many of the cheaper tax services' quality can vary widely. I have had help from a Liberty tax office, the guy was sharp and fast, from OK City. Jackson Hewitt is another franchise, HR Block is better, a little more expensive. Getting filings through the giant maw of the IRS computers without a hitch can be the problem. It would be interesting to hear the confidential communications with those who really know what is going on that might be shady, but it is likely to be in coded language anyway. "Ou-yay ow-knay at-whay o-tay o-day. Et it-gay?"

[Pottapaug1938]

On (one of) the tax preparer forums on Yahoo!, it was reported that Liberty is problematic, both for customers and preparers.

Of course, offices may differ.

They do indeed. My wife worked for the Liberty offices in Quincy and Weymouth, MA; but from personal knowledge and from conversations with her boss, she knows that there are some offices of Liberty (and also H&R Block, Jackson Hewitt) and so on which would be financially and legally dangerous to visit.

[Arthur Rubin]

Do Liberty tax customers get a discount on handling casualty gains from Liberty insurance claims?

[Pottapaug1938]

Do Liberty tax customers get a discount on handling casualty gains from Liberty insurance claims?

No connection.

[Number Six]

I had a number of decent tax preparers, one barrier that led to my non-filing was zero exposure to the lawful requirements of running a self-employed business in K-16 school classes. You get a degree from a college and may have a lot of idealistic notions of how life could be theoretically. But without exposure to real life examples, the law, business classes you are probably not going to be able to do your own taxes unless you have an innate aptitude for that or have someone who shows you how.

As a result having my hands full in a self-employed business and not having an accountant or tax person I knew or who was willing to go over my books I got behind. Around 12 years of unfiled taxes with well over $10K going through my checking accounts some months. Net profits were not that high if you work in all deductions. Buying and selling precious metals with losses in many cases is more a tax liability if called on the carpet than a profit center. By the time I got around to filing, being totally in the dark even with extensive study, I had no idea how far to go back. I should have just filed moving forward, the IRS was totally indifferent to my situation. And zero social security credit for filing more than 3 years so again a reason not to file for old years. There is so much mis-information, incompetence, ego-based pushiness, fear mongering, and other irrational zingers employed by phonies, ultimately it is up to the citizen to do their own study on legal compliance issues, not file all unfiled years when they don't care, government employees 90%+ of the time are just after their own salaries and promotions.

When I went to one CPA in Vermont who had taken over the business from a retiring guy I was shocked by his giving me three different version of a particular year, 3 returns! And he had all types of other illegal ruses, but no one is going to pay taxes except what they need to do to move on. I ended up filing the right amount and later reporting the guy to the accountant oversight government agency out of MD. But I guess I did not provide enough evidence. Other accountants were more honest but less was at stake. My brother in law was a Coopers and Lybrand accountant but he never lifted a finger as a volunteer helping family members or if he offered to do something it would be full of negative emotions; and his brother was an IRS lawyer then went on to work for a hedge fund and would get calls from IRS employees hoping for a job opening at the hedge fund.

[webhick]

My wife told me that the quality of the help in H&B Block and Liberty could vary widely.

My job is running a team of people who put stickers on things. H&R Block hired a girl who couldn't hack it putting stickers on things. They did not fire her. She quit because her manager simply could not understand that although this stupid shit agreed to a 9 am start time, she could not be expected to haul her ass in the door before 11 am. Or do taxes. Or talk to people.

Although I should point out that we didn't fire her either. We have incredibly low standards.