Discussion:Question About This Board

Even your advertising slogan on the opening screen says "Free Online Tax Research Resource and Community for Tax Professionals". You even have disclaimers regarding this in logging in that this site is meant for tax pros. I realize of course that opinions expressed here only give guidance and should not literally be relied upon in leiu of actual tax researching on my own. However, within the past week alone I've noticed the following topics on this board that tend to discourage my relying on this site as a practitioners' resource: 1) An employee of a security company being treated as an outside contractor instead of an employee. 2) An employee being asked by an employer to pay the employer's share of FICA and Medicare because the employer "can't afford to pay it". 3) A student asking a test question on "Accrual Basis" to answer. 4) An employee on a new job questioning outdated payroll withholding tax charts. 5) A CPT in US Army asking about taxation of a bonus. 6) A Fla web development S Corp owner with numerous tax issues he wants answered. I'm sure there are more - but you get the idea.

I'm really turned off with this as I feel that if this board is meant for tax practitioners to interact with one another, why are non tax preparers permitted to use this board as well? I took time out of my business to travel to and learn about an Intuit product, and feel that there are many public boards that outsiders can use to get their questions answered. It appears that from the cases listed above, except for #5 who upfront disclosed he's not a tax professional - why should I waste my time trying to read through a scenario for someone else's benefit when this is what I get paid to do for clients? It's not fair to us for Intuit to permit this. I don't mind helping out a fellow professional - but do mind answering a person who is non cognizant of all the tax facts that might be involved in a situation, a homework cheat, a person attempting to short cut things by doing-it-themselves. I see that this issue has been discussed on other post threads, but has just been left up in the air with no conclusion.

Don't. No one has to read all posts or answer any.

Read Discussion: Court Order for Payment of Delinquent Property Tax for what can be accomplished.

Philly Tax, with all due respect, lighten up. If you don't want to read or answer the question, then don't. No harm, no foul.

If it is obvious that a DIY'er is fishing for free advice, don't answer...or remind them to do a search if something that has already been answered. Keep in mind, it's the non-professionals who ask the questions that keep us professionals in business!