Today’s afterthought concerns my post “Manual Labor”.
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As you know, in my 38 seasons of preparing 1040s I have never used tax preparation software to prepare a Form 1040, or any other tax return. I prepare close to 400 individual federal income tax returns each year manually.
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As Joe Kristan suggests in a post to the ROTH AND COMPANY TAX UPDATE BLOG, I do wear this fact as a “badge of honor”.
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At a National Society of Tax Professionals seminar in San Antonio several years ago when my hand was the only one raised in response to the question “Who still prepares returns by hand?”, seminar leader Beanna Whitlock, former IRS Director of the Office of National Public Liaison and then Executive Director of NSTP and a longtime professional tax preparer, shook my hand and said in effect that I was the only one in the room who really knew how to prepare tax returns.
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As I state in my comment to Joe’s above-referenced post –
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“I am certainly not advocating that all tax practitioners should prepare all of their returns manually. I am just saying that it has worked for me for 38 tax seasons and I see no need, in my particular situation, to change now. Why should I spend thousands of dollars upfront and hundreds more each year – and have to increase my fees accordingly without seeing any in pocket benefit from the increase – when the expense would not provide any benefit to me. If it ain’t broke why fix it.”
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I also tell Joe -
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“I am not against the use of tax preparation software, and do agree that its major benefit is that when an error is discovered it is easier to fix by simply entering the correct number. On a manual return if I find an error I often have to rewrite as much as the entire return.”
.
My “afterthought” concerns something of great value that is lost by using software instead of paper and pencil.
.
While I do all my federal 1040s manually, I do use general ledger software (One Write Plus, which is no longer available) for both myself and my clients, and have been doing so for over 20 years. I do not think that I would ever go back to keeping books by hand.
.
In the days when I manually kept the books of a suburban Art Center, which included paying bills, if I wrote a check to a vendor it would remain in my memory. Back then if you had asked me six months after the fact if a certain bill was paid I could say with certainty yes or no without having to look it up – because I would remember writing the check.
.
When we changed over to general ledger software, which would generate checks as part of the Accounts Payable process, I had no idea what was and was not paid because I did not personally write a check. All I did was push “enter” to have checks written for all outstanding bills. If someone wanted to know if a bill was paid I would have to look it up in the system.
.
Similarly when I hand write a 1040, and all the various schedules thereto, much of what I have written remains in my memory for years. I will, for example, remember that you sold shares of AT+T three years ago, or that you claimed larger than usual charitable contributions in 2005, simply because I had handwritten the return.
.
General ledger software and tax preparation software are indeed signs of progress. But when thinking on this I am often reminded of the comments made by the character Henry Drummond in the classic play about the Scopes Monkey Trial INHERIT THE WIND –
.
“It’s as if there’s a little man who sits behind a table and hands out the price of progress….who says, ‘Yes, ma’am, you can have the vote and you can participate as an equal in politics . . .but you won’t be able to hide behind your apron strings any more’. And, ‘Yes, sir, you can have an airplane and travel great distances quickly . . . but the clouds will smell of gasoline and the birds will lose their wonder.’ And, ‘Yes, ma’am, you can have a telephone and you can share information instantly with others . . . but you’ll give up some of your privacy and distance will lose its charm.’”
.
For everything benefit we gain from progress we do, indeed, give something up.
.
TTFN
.
As you know, in my 38 seasons of preparing 1040s I have never used tax preparation software to prepare a Form 1040, or any other tax return. I prepare close to 400 individual federal income tax returns each year manually.
.
As Joe Kristan suggests in a post to the ROTH AND COMPANY TAX UPDATE BLOG, I do wear this fact as a “badge of honor”.
.
At a National Society of Tax Professionals seminar in San Antonio several years ago when my hand was the only one raised in response to the question “Who still prepares returns by hand?”, seminar leader Beanna Whitlock, former IRS Director of the Office of National Public Liaison and then Executive Director of NSTP and a longtime professional tax preparer, shook my hand and said in effect that I was the only one in the room who really knew how to prepare tax returns.
.
As I state in my comment to Joe’s above-referenced post –
.
“I am certainly not advocating that all tax practitioners should prepare all of their returns manually. I am just saying that it has worked for me for 38 tax seasons and I see no need, in my particular situation, to change now. Why should I spend thousands of dollars upfront and hundreds more each year – and have to increase my fees accordingly without seeing any in pocket benefit from the increase – when the expense would not provide any benefit to me. If it ain’t broke why fix it.”
.
I also tell Joe -
.
“I am not against the use of tax preparation software, and do agree that its major benefit is that when an error is discovered it is easier to fix by simply entering the correct number. On a manual return if I find an error I often have to rewrite as much as the entire return.”
.
My “afterthought” concerns something of great value that is lost by using software instead of paper and pencil.
.
While I do all my federal 1040s manually, I do use general ledger software (One Write Plus, which is no longer available) for both myself and my clients, and have been doing so for over 20 years. I do not think that I would ever go back to keeping books by hand.
.
In the days when I manually kept the books of a suburban Art Center, which included paying bills, if I wrote a check to a vendor it would remain in my memory. Back then if you had asked me six months after the fact if a certain bill was paid I could say with certainty yes or no without having to look it up – because I would remember writing the check.
.
When we changed over to general ledger software, which would generate checks as part of the Accounts Payable process, I had no idea what was and was not paid because I did not personally write a check. All I did was push “enter” to have checks written for all outstanding bills. If someone wanted to know if a bill was paid I would have to look it up in the system.
.
Similarly when I hand write a 1040, and all the various schedules thereto, much of what I have written remains in my memory for years. I will, for example, remember that you sold shares of AT+T three years ago, or that you claimed larger than usual charitable contributions in 2005, simply because I had handwritten the return.
.
General ledger software and tax preparation software are indeed signs of progress. But when thinking on this I am often reminded of the comments made by the character Henry Drummond in the classic play about the Scopes Monkey Trial INHERIT THE WIND –
.
“It’s as if there’s a little man who sits behind a table and hands out the price of progress….who says, ‘Yes, ma’am, you can have the vote and you can participate as an equal in politics . . .but you won’t be able to hide behind your apron strings any more’. And, ‘Yes, sir, you can have an airplane and travel great distances quickly . . . but the clouds will smell of gasoline and the birds will lose their wonder.’ And, ‘Yes, ma’am, you can have a telephone and you can share information instantly with others . . . but you’ll give up some of your privacy and distance will lose its charm.’”
.
For everything benefit we gain from progress we do, indeed, give something up.
.
TTFN
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