THANK GOD FOR SMALL FAVORS!

This year we tax professionals are given three (3) additional 12+ hour days to complete 1040s (and 1040As)!

As fellow tax blogger Joe Kristan put it, April 15 is April 17 this year.  Plus, as it is a leap year, there is a February 29 in 2012.

I no longer work on 1040s on April 15^th, or whenever the last day of the “season” is.  TWTP readers know this is because of Maurice “Moe” Barry, a client who always came in to have his return done on the last day.  He would then take his signed finished returns to the main post office in New York City to partake of the special activities of the day held there each year.

One year Moe can in on April 12^th and we sent him away – telling him to come back on the 15^th.  This is because when we saw Moe we knew it was almost over (there was another consistent last day client who came to us in the early evening – his appearance meant that it was indeed over).

Moe Barry, a PATH police officer, was one of the Port Authority Emergency Response Team members who was killed on 9/11.

I usually stop working on 1040s (and 1040As) on April 13^th, or the second day before the deadline.  This way I can get finished returns in the mail via Express Mail on the morning of the 14^th (or this year the 16^th) and have them in the clients’ hands in time for a deadline postmark.  On the day before the deadline I write up all the GD extensions so they will be in the mail by the deadline.

While for the past few years I have returned to work on the GD extensions on the day after the due date, this year I will begin my much-needed and richly-deserved post tax season recovery at the Jersey shore on April 18^th, returning to my desk and the inevitable GDEs on April 23^rd.

I do appreciate having the extra 3 days – or about 40 hours – to try to keep the GD extensions to a true minimum.   

TAFN