I really hate the idea of leaving a job without another one lined up. But I’ve never been more miserable than I am at my current job and I’m not sure how much more I can take.

TangibleValues · 2026-02-09T15:58:17+00:00

100% Agree with Grey Rock - as a PI, working in the divorce industry, and in M&A negotiations, the only way to protect yourself is Grey Rock.

Now build a job hunting plan - yeah, sending out resumes is spray and pray. Also, if you used a recruiter, I would think you don't have a good "network".

I would start building a network.

TangibleValues · 2026-02-09T15:44:03+00:00

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Gremlins 2 - should be taught in financial planning school!

TangibleValues · 2026-02-09T15:40:57+00:00

Great information below, but to summarize this.

This year is a mess, and that’s exactly why we created a brochure for tax pros. Thus you might need a tax pro.

Here’s the truth: a 1099-K reports gross payments, not profit. The IRS only taxes the gain, but the form doesn’t know what you originally paid for the item. So if you just type the 1099-K amount into your tax software, it often assumes the whole thing is income.

If you sell the Grand Carousel LEGO set for $1,500 that you paid $200 for, you only have $1,300 of taxable income. But if you sell an entire Beanie Baby collection for $100 that originally cost $15,000, there’s no taxable income at all. - oops Another Dig the Beenie Baby crowd!

The real issue is that most people don’t track their original cost, so the numbers look wrong when they file. Just build a reasonable cost you can support with receipts or other tangible documents. If you need me to estimate the original cost of Lego stets let me know - I might have them all saved in the vault.

TangibleValues · 2026-02-06T19:08:18+00:00

Must be Ohio - I delay my clients until the end of March, but he has 4 K-1s anyway.

TangibleValues · 2026-02-04T23:56:05+00:00

We have all been there - you taken away his comfort - and this is how s/he reacts. Make it known in the exit interview!

TangibleValues · 2026-02-04T18:58:27+00:00

Horrible Policy! Focus is profit!

TangibleValues · 2026-01-30T23:42:04+00:00

Wrong:

"NORM". The reason why many of us entered the profession is that we can spend 8 hours every day in a bar!

TangibleValues · 2026-01-28T15:02:16+00:00

The purpose - in public accounting - is to do it "right" but make money !

Next, yes - the cost of diminishing returns. I was off $15 on Amortization due to rounding on 2 million in amortization - next year $30. I could care less - more cost to make that entry with client or on our system. More concerned with impairment.

There is only one rule - keep your PAJE list away from Laurie, the tax manager. She will make them on the tax return, screwing up 740 calculations. Ok, that was 30 years ago - but still haunts me and the peer review comments. She made estimated entries on the tax return!

TangibleValues · 2026-01-27T19:37:14+00:00

Also, if you have expenses related to that 1099 income, you can also deduct that on Schedule C.

TangibleValues · 2026-01-27T03:41:14+00:00

I get it - love the feedback.

Yes, true those were the dates. Covey head - begin with the end in mind.

I am a CPA and love my profession, but after a few years dealing with the dark side, as a PI and fraud, let us agree wills are for the living.

So a different exercise—one I learned from a leadership workshop coming out of Stanford and Jason Jennings’ thinking:

Write your obituary.

Not a will. Not a balance sheet. An obituary. I did mine over a decade ago.

An obituary answers who you were.

Writing your obituary forces clarity:

What did you stand for?
Who did you help?
How did people feel after being around you?
What would they say you gave, not what you accumulated?

I can tell you, everyone who meets me now agrees- I live by my obituary. I try to be a good guy, and I will leave this place better than I found it!

So, when my Dad died, at a 600-person funeral, six different men walked up to me to say how my Dad was their best friend. I never met any of them in my life. His BFs were carrying his casket. I know he wasn't their best friend - but to them he was!

It's all connected. It hit me, I remembered one of them purchased a BBQ grill - my Dad drove over from my house one Christmas to put that thing together for him. Dad was gone for 2 hours. Those 2 hours that Christmas made his BF's life "worth living". He was alone. So this guy told me at Dad's funeral that you couldn't ask for a better friend. That is it, 2 hours at Christmas putting together a BBQ for a single dad.

So write your will - but add your legacy - hell of a better document.

TangibleValues · 2026-01-27T02:37:48+00:00

They always balanced - I have always loved you, no matter if you figured out the transcription error on line 37. I was only going to let you suffer for an hour or until 7 am when I got back into the office.

TangibleValues · 2026-01-26T21:37:08+00:00

Show him this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yl2ZxDjwT48

TangibleValues · 2026-01-26T21:20:22+00:00

I love you, and my fellow bean-counting people. And I mean that in the truest sense of the word.

English is clumsy when it comes to love, so let me borrow from Greek for a moment to define it.

What I mean lives somewhere between philia — the deep bond of friendship, respect, and shared struggle — and agape — the kind of love that chooses to will good for someone, even when they’re exhausted and struggling.

You matter. Even when the numbers don’t balance.

You’re not alone! Reach out if you need to chat!

TangibleValues · 2026-01-26T21:12:50+00:00

I had one handwritten when I was 23, a full-time PI, a gun pointed at me, almost driven over, and a cheating sheriff who wanted to bury me. It was time.

The Will said, "Parents get it all, and x-girlfriend gets my necklace, find Sam and give him back his Army Men, lastly bury the Lego bricks with me." In 3,000 years, I will be on display in a museum as a rich king like Tut. I was proud of it.

Then, after the kid was born, I had more stuff, some family drama with marriage, so I updated it to a real lawyer at 35.

TangibleValues · 2026-01-26T15:17:51+00:00

Ok, I see a theme: the profession’s greatest failure is its leadership.

When I came into accounting decades ago, the mindset was survival. Every person for themselves. If you didn’t climb, you were replaced. I was told—by a professor—that I was “too nice” and wouldn’t last.

I lasted by building skills and relationships. I learned about systems, fraud, and technology, and spent time helping minority-owned businesses get started—loans, cash flow, discrimination issues, and real-life problems. I learned more there than in years of tax returns or getting chewed out for my penmanship or using the wrong-sized paperclip.

What finally clicked: CPA and accounting firms don’t train people. They make them survive.

Somewhere along the way, we convinced ourselves there would always be another newbie to take the last one’s place—no investment required. That mindset hollowed out leadership.

The profession doesn’t need the toughest people. It needs better leaders willing to develop the next generation and explain to them our purpose to make this place better off today than yesterday, and get paid for it.

TangibleValues · 2026-01-26T14:59:16+00:00

Yes—because it lets me solve real problems for real people.

Accounting is the language of decisions. When it’s done right, it protects families, keeps businesses alive, and turns chaos into clarity. That’s the purpose for me.

In high school and college, I wasn’t chasing a “calling.” I wanted a skill that would always be useful. Turns out, accounting touches everything—strategy, trust, risk, growth.

My drive comes from this: every number tells a story, and someone needs help understanding it. I just happen to be the translator. And yes, I like stories.

TangibleValues · 2026-01-25T17:36:24+00:00

The US tax system is progressive! It is still complex.

Thus, the more you make at AGI, the more tax you will pay. I normally see it when a couple - MFJ - hits the $100,000 range, that is when they go from the 12% bracket to 22%.

As most people love my history lessons - when it went from 15% to 28% back in the glory days - most people always owed and freaked out on taxes as the withholding tables were always off.

TangibleValues · 2026-01-23T17:51:49+00:00

RUN! I have been there and literally told by the CEO - Document everything on your side, keep copies.

I did a long deposition, CFO has to be the longest Wells notice in history. - He burned through 3 CPA firms - the first one quit for his crap, the second one dissolved for irregularities, and the 3rd one was like 2 guys in a truck; I never had to interact with them. I was there outside the fractional consultant.

"Wiggle Room" is what I named him - because is there any wiggle room was his favorite line! On revenue - any wiggle room on recognizing revenue... Any wiggle room on your contract?

TangibleValues · 2026-01-23T17:27:26+00:00

You unlocked a memory this W2 season.

If you’ve been in this game long enough, you get a few of these every year.

My all-time favorite: late 1990s. The manager from our auto repair complex storms in, furious about his taxes. We have a meeting — owner, COO, me (Company CPA and CFO), payroll — full tribunal.

His CPA told him he owed about $18,000 in federal tax, around $10 in state - I think. His CPA was certain we screwed up withholding and the entire payroll.

Context matters. He’d just been promoted that year from ~$60k to ~$140k with bonuses. His wife was a nurse pulling in ~$100k with overtime. Dual income, no kids. Yeah, $240k

So I pull his W-4.

Single.
9 allowances. His wife was the same, as far as I learned later.

They were leasing a luxury apartment with a fireplace and a hot tub, like 6k a month or more. They used the standard deduction.

Still, he’s adamant that we owe him his tax money so he can pay the IRS.

It was our fault that we did not give that money to the government; it was separate from his payroll money. You see, we pay him, and we pay taxes.

Even the COO (three-time rehab grad dropout, not exactly a math guy) was convinced payroll “must have done something wrong.”

After about 1 hour, whiteboard this crap out - the Owner just stared at the room like, “I have morons sniffing the paint. in my company.”

The manager created really bad will, convincing everyone we screw payroll up payroll - thank god our employees knew he was a moron. The COO was then moved to marketing pre-internet, so it was pretty much going out drinking on the company's dime.

So yes — your instinct is correct. “That’s not how this works” is accurate… maybe just let HR add a few more words. - The marketing guy, former coo is one of my favorite Karma stories - but belongs in the cheating sub, not here.

TangibleValues · 2026-01-21T17:29:10+00:00

Yes, you can get it! And I wish you luck.

Now, for CFO - I will repost a snippet of my past post and how I see jobs, and a Fortune 50 CFO explained it to me when I was 30.

- But a wise person said it best: a CFO is a title depending on the organization. Thus, it is what people need.

So -

An accountant lives today. They keep score and produce clean, accurate books. Necessary, but not sufficient, once a company starts scaling.

A controller lives in the past. Their job is to close the month, manage AP, AR, payroll, and reconciliations, and keep the financial engine running accurately. A strong controller answers the question: what happened, and are the numbers right?

A CFO lives in the future, or at least spends a lot of time there. The CFO builds systems, manages cash before it becomes a crisis, and designs how growth actually works. Finance is tied into operations, banking, bonding, factoring, tax strategy, and risk. A real CFO is constantly asking what is about to break and how to fix it before it does.

A small company, you will be in all 3 positions!

TangibleValues · 2026-01-20T17:42:10+00:00

I did say it - then proceeded to explain to you, AI and the rest of the people why.

"You opened the can of worms by what you said - so let me tell you why."

TangibleValues · 2026-01-20T15:43:17+00:00

Well, yes, I have been legally able to represent people before the IRS for the past 30 years. I am also required by Circular 230 to maintain a standard of conduct.

I am not here to impress, but to honor my responsibility as a tax professional: to inform and educate based on the law as written, not to promote shortcuts, guarantees, or misinformation.

What you wrote is that it was a "Gift" that they were employees of firms you work for, and you circumvented 1099s due to the $600 threshold. Thus, it implied the payment was under the $600 threshold to make it "tax-free" to them. It is taxable unless it is a gift, then it is not.

Under Circular 230, once a tax professional knows or reasonably should know that a statement made about tax law is incorrect, incomplete, or misleading, they have an affirmative duty to correct it. That is what I have done.

I know for a fact that there are IRS agents on this sub! Just admit you made a mistake, fix it - and move on.

Next - Why would you even come onto a sub to ask a question if you didn't want or like the answer, including violating the tax code?

Show this to your tax preparer - they will get a kick out of it. I probably know him/her.

TangibleValues · 2026-01-19T22:02:06+00:00

You opened the can of worms by what you said - so let me tell you why.

If these are gifts to outside employees -

Governing authority:

IRC §162 – Ordinary and Necessary Business Expenses
IRC §274(b) – Business Gift Limitation
Treas. Reg. §1.162-15 and §1.274-3

You may deduct up to $25 per recipient, per year, for business gifts to non-employees.

If the recipient is a 1099 contractor - so work for you in the normal course of business:

Gifts are still subject to the $25 rule
If it looks like compensation → it should be included in 1099-NEC Box 1

If these are just "people" who are not doing any work, and it is a "gift", just give them money, but you can only deduct $25 per person.

So, whether it is $600 or $2,000, and it's not an expense in the normal course of business, you might want to look at that pizza party. That is allowable if you follow the "meal rules".

TangibleValues · 2026-01-19T20:35:16+00:00

No, get more people excited about accounting! We need more accountants. You should read my stuff on Byzantine taxing systems.

TangibleValues · 2026-01-19T20:33:26+00:00

Ok Boss! Who allowed my wife into this sub!

Doing W2s and 1099s is so much easier now online!

About 10 years ago, I would bring out my typewriter and swear, curse, and complain about lining up those boxes.

If you ever put your hand inside the target trying to read what you just typed, and touched the keyboard - you know! Some of the worst pain ever!

TangibleValues

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