Comments on: Thoughts on tax day

By: waltj

waltj — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 11:14:03 +0000

I can relate, as the saying goes. Back in my accounting days, I used to take some of the overflow from a CPA with a tax practice. He had recently left the corporate world and had not taken on any partners, so he was going through what your dad went through. I knew the Internal Revenue Code quite well back then, and did right by the clients, but my accounting interests lay in other areas, and I mostly took the work to help out my friend. He got paid well for his efforts (and so did I when pinch-hitting), but I had no burning desire to be faced with 20-hour work days seven days a week from mid-January to mid-April every year.

By: Henry Scuoteguazza

Henry Scuoteguazza — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 10:58:36 +0000

Your post brought back similar memories of my childhood. My father worked in a mill assembling railroad cars then during tax season he sequestered himself in a tiny office to work on his client’s returns. He subscribed to a service which sent him monthly tax updates. He paid my brother and I to put them into binders and to pull the superceded or outdated rulings. The binders must have taken up 6 ft of shelf space! This was back in the 1960s when I assume the tax code was simpler!

By: rickl

rickl — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 01:36:19 +0000

My boss, a small business owner, was audited many years ago.

The auditor came in and told him, “My job is to maximize tax collections.”

My boss replied, “No, your job is to ensure that I paid the tax I owe, and not one penny more.”

My boss is scrupulously honest, and very good with numbers. He walked out of that audit without owing anything.

By: Gringo

Gringo — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 00:15:07 +0000

Software is a lot higher than $20.
With the exception of special deals, you are correct.
Search “tax software” at
http://www.frys.com/

I don’t guarantee the price will be there tomorrow, but Fry’s has had some available @ $20 for at least several weeks. And does every year.

BTW, I had a very pleasant experience at the PO. As my local was closed at 5, I went to the main one after 5. There was a a balance to weigh letters, but not user friendly- difficult to tell what it meant. There was a special table of two postal employees in the lobby especially for April 15. One went and weighed my IRS letter and told me I was fine.

By: njartist49

njartist49 — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 23:26:56 +0000

My post office wasn’t open late.
Software is a lot higher than $20.

By: Gringo

Gringo — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 21:13:40 +0000

I remember my parents spending AT LEAST several days preparing their tax return every year. There you have 32 person hours in preparation, at a minimum.

These days, with tax preparation software, it takes me an hour or two to do a tax return. Well worth the $20 for the software.

One year when my parents got audited, the IRS auditor they dealt with had been one of my father’s students. Apparently the IRS auditor didn’t hold any resentments against my father for his earning a C in the course, and granted the deductions my parents had claimed.