Are You Still There? Hello?

It's been far too long since I last blogged. It has been a very busy two weeks.

My period of non-blogging began with great news, perfectly suited to a blog entry. So, here it is, as it should have appeared two weeks ago:

***

Results came back from the test I took at the IRS in September, and I passed Part 3 of the exam, which means I have passed all four parts and am now eligible to apply to become an "Enrolled Agent."

What does this mean? Essentially, once the IRS completes its background check and makes sure I haven't filed any fraudulent returns for either myself or my clients, I'll be licensed to represent anyone who is having a dispute with the IRS. In other words, if you get audited, I can represent you, even if I did not prepare your tax return. (Currently, I can represent you only if I prepared the return which is being audited.)

In reality, there's probably not much call for this license once I'm back in Salisbury, and probably not that much in Manila, either, but it may help me find some tax season work here. Things are changing so quickly in the tax preparation world that I don't know how many more years I'll be able to make any money preparing other people's taxes. More and more are preparing their own taxes online (which is what I'd do, too, if I wasn't already a "tax professional").

Doing your own taxes can be a good thing or a bad thing. Sure, you'll save the hundred or two hundred bucks that you'd pay me to do your return, but you might not get back all the money that you're entitled to. Shelly will kill me for telling this story, and she might disagree with some of the details in my version of the story, but here's the story I always tell potential clients when they tell me they can do their own taxes:

The first year that I worked for H&R Block, I offered to do Shelly's taxes. (This was before we got married.) She declined, saying that she had always done her own and could do them very well herself, thank you very much. She finally agreed to at least let me check them over before she filed.

Shell worked through her 1040, and presented it to me with a rather smug look, as I recall (this may be a point she differs on). She was getting a refund -- $1 -- and was quite happy with that.

I looked at it for less than a minute -- honest! -- and said "Great! You're getting a dollar back. What about the thirteen hundred dollars that you're entitled to, but aren't asking for?"

I tell this story to potential clients not to harass my wife or to make her look bad, but to demonstrate that the extensive training I've gone through gives me knowledge of tax credits they may not be aware of. I snagged a $300 credit for Shelly that year through the "rate reduction credit" that is far too boring to go into here, and a $1,000 through an education credit she qualified for.

Back to the present. I took this test for three reasons:

1. The IRS is slowing moving towards requiring some sort of certification or licensing of professional tax preparers. Being an enrolled agent should meet this need for certification, which will put me at a competitive advantage versus other tax preparers, providing there's still such a thing as retail tax preparation when that day rolls around.

2. I took the test for the first time last year, when I was unemployed and had ample time to study. (Did I study enough? Obviously not, or I would have passed all four parts the first time around.) I like multiple choice tests, and I can usually do quite well on them. I hate studying, which is why I failed Part 3 last year.

3. As more and more people do their own taxes, the future of the tax prep industry may well be in defending people who have decided to do their own taxes.

Sometime next spring, the background investigation will be completed and, unless there's something in my background that I'm unaware of, I should be, officially, an enrolled agent. Yay!

And, Shell, if you think I've maligned you with any aspect of this post, the comment link is below! :-)

***

I'm trying to figure out how to structure this post. If I make it too long, you'll get bored. Since that might happen anyway, I'll steam ahead.

***

I had checked the IRS Web site on Sunday, December 11, and found the results that day. I had been checking periodically for a couple of weeks, and was flying high when I got the results.

That all came crashing down, quite literally, the next day, when I broke my laptop. (For a second time in the three months that I've been here, Shelly's advice to bring my old workhorse of a laptop proved prescient.)

I learned at least four things from breaking the laptop:

1. Never put your laptop on top of a stack of dirty clothes in the laundry basket. If you want to put it in the laundry basket, you're better off putting it under the clothes.

2. It doesn't take much of a drop to really mess up the LCD screen on a new laptop. Mine slipped off a laundry basket that couldn't have been more than three feet off the ground.

3. The LCD is the single most expensive part on a computer. I did some research before calling a nearby Apple Center, and knew I was looking at something in the neighborhood of a thousand bucks to get it fixed.

4. "51,000 pesos" sounds a lot more expensive than "925 dollars."

***

So, between a broken laptop, writing Christmas cards, wrapping Christmas packages, attending Christmas parties (one more tomorrow night), going out for multiple farewell dinners with the three Americans who were here working with Shelly and completing three freelance projects, we've been incredibly busy.

Things should quiet down for a while. Larry and Jamie left last Sunday, Jim left this afternoon, and my three freelance projects will be done before I go to bed tonight. There's a company Christmas party Friday afternoon that I'll be attending with Shelly, and we have visitors from Saipan staying with us December 25 & 26, but it will be a far less-hectic pace than the previous two weeks.