JJStephens

If the taxpayer resides in a taxing school district, a SD return probably must be filed. In most cases, the SD return begins with Ohio AGI (which, in turn, is based in part on federal AGI). Therefore, the fact that the W2 showed no income may not be the determining factor in whether to file a SD return. A couple Ohio tax issues are kind funky. School district tax is one of them. I know this is TMI . . . but here it is anyway. School district tax is based on the school district in which the taxpayer resides. Not all school districts have a tax (I don't know the exact ratio but my guess is it's about 50-50). Further, income for most school district income taxes is based on Ohio AGI (comes from the Ohio income tax return) but a handful are earned income only (i.e., only wages, self-employment, farm income are taxed). Another wrinkle is that the only withholding that can be applied is that which was withheld for the correct district. Withholding for another district cannot be applied. If tax is withheld for the wrong district, the taxpayer has to go back to their employer to get the incorrect withholding amount refunded. City tax withholding is based on the municipality in which the taxpayer works. The workplace city is permitted to keep the entire amount withheld/remitted by the employer. If the taxpayer's residence city has a city income tax, the taxpayer must complete a city tax return (a few cities waive the filing requirement if the taxpayer's only taxable income already had city tax withheld for the residence city). Each city is allowed to choose to give full, partial or even no (!) credit for workplace city tax withheld. In any event, no city allows a credit greater than its own tax rate (i.e., a taxpayer who works in a 2% taxing city will not get a refund if (s)he lives in a 1% city). It really sucks when a person works in a city with a 2 or 2.5% city tax and their residence city gives no credit--especially if the residence city rate is high. Taxable income includes wages, self-employment, farm, and rental. Self-employment, farm and rental losses cannot reduce wage income. Most cities allow for a 2106 deduction if a 2106 is required to filed with the federal return (if the 2106 is optional, the 2106 credit is disallowed).

Ooh, Jack. I like that! As long as it's someone else, of course. I'll have to give that a try!

I've only had one failed e-file transmission all year. I've had four today. Not a good time for this to be happening! I hope it's a problem at the EFC and not something on my end. Anyone else having trouble?

This is on one me. In addition to tax prep/accounting, I'm also a pastor. Sunday morning our children's ministry leader thought it would be hilarious to hide my Bible and sermon notes! I didn't find them until about five minutes before service time! I didn't think that was near as funny as the time I did the same thing to someone else !

Back by popular demand. . . . In recognition of newly recognized executive powers to modify the law any old way I feel like, any time I feel like it, with or without congressional approval . . . (see, I was against that before I just now decided I'm for it! I just didn't properly understand its benefits ). My earlier 10 minute power nap pronouncement is hereby made a daily requirement for the duration of tax season (including extensions and loading/testing of next year's software) for all tax preparers and is extended to a minimum of 25 minutes. Sweet dreams!

By the power vested in me by MM&I, I hereby direct that all tax preparers shall immediately upon reading this proclamation take a ten minute power nap break. If your supervisor objects, tell him/her you're merely adhering to an official proclamation and that(s)he is also covered by it. If that doesn't work, just have him/her call me . . . . 555-1212 (ask for Jerry).

I ran into a similar thing a year or two ago. The bank wanted to take the easy way out. We finally forced their hand on issuing a corrected 1099-R (alas, it took them two months to do it). That's what I'd suggest.

I have a stand alone install. Did the update. My machine slowed to a crawl. All resources maxed out. Rebooted. Now everything is running fine. I generally reboot after major upgrades/updates anyway. This time everything went south before I had a chance to. You might want to close just about everything else before installing the update. And I would definitely reboot afterward.

Once had a co-worker who was evicted for reporting an unsafe furnace. I told him he could camp out with us for a day or three until the new apartment he rented was ready. He, his wife and two kids moved in. They brought a bag and half of groceries when they moved in. A couple days turned into six weeks when the new apartment had to undergo more repairs. Throughout that time he complained about my wife's cooking, made special requests for meals, took showers so long that there was no hot water left when I got in, etc. Not once while they were there did they offer (much less pay) for anything. After four weeks wifey and kids moved home with mama (in a huff) because my wife was making her feel guilty by doing housework while she (his wife) was watching soaps all day. A couple weeks later I finally had to tell him to find another place to stay. In an amazing coincidence, he instantly found a new apartment just down the street. A few days later he knocks on the door and sheepishly tells me his wife had sent him over. He said she remembered bringing some groceries when they moved in and she needed them back. My wife & I loaded up a half dozen bags to overflowing and loaded them into his car. He protested that he thought that might be a little more than they had brought. We assured him that the last thing we wanted to do was to take advantage of them and sent him on his way. I never heard from him again. Which was okay with me

Thanks for both replies. Lion: The usage issue is a great question that I need to confirm but I'm pretty sure the usage remains 100% biz even though the biz has scaled way back (I believe due to the owner's health issues). BTW, still in awe of your avatar adventure! KC: Thanks for the Pub 946 guidance. That never showed up when I googled "Section 179" and "amended return"

I'm confused. Situation is biz owner bought some big ticket equipment a couple years ago and elected a 179 on it. Soon afterward he radically downsized and now he's wondering if the 179 carryover will outlive him, given his minimal annual net income. So here's my question. Can a 179 election be revoked by filing an amended return? I've seen several seemingly authoritative cites that indicate it was possible only 2002-2008 and others that say it was extended through 2013. Before I wade into the regs for an answer that I may not get a penny from (my son-in-law promised his best friend he'd find out from me) I thought I'd check with the sages here. Anyone know the answer off the top of your head?

FWIW, I updated and have had no problems. I'm a one man shop so no server issues. An update or two ago, my sluggish performance issues diminished considerably. Hope it continues. Now, if I could just get a similar update for me!

Aw, that's nothin'. I could do that . . . . In my wildest dream!!! (Just before they carted me off to the hospital). Pretty cool. TFS.

I rarely do . . . but this year I did go to the Amazon basin in Brazil for two weeks from Jan 29 - Feb 11. I'm on the board of a missions group and that was the only time everyone else could go. We did a board meeting and some missions work. It made for a bizarre year-end processing season in January and frantic catch up since returning . . . but it was worth it. The only problem was it was 85 when I got on the plane to come home and 8 when I got off the plane in Columbus (OH). You'd think someone could have arranged a warmer welcome! Back in 2005 my mother died on March 17 and a few years before that my sister died on April 8. In both cases I had to take some time off. I was somehow able to make it all happen but it was misery upon misery.

Years ago I created a spreadsheet that tracks everything soup to nuts. I'd be happy to share it with you if you PM me.

I guess I'm the oddball. So far, I'm not a happy camper. I was out of the country late Jan and the first half of Feb so I'm getting a late start. Other than being agonizingly slow, I didn't have any major problems last year. I was looking forward to this year's iteration being a lot better. So far, that has not materialized. Other than somewhat quicker printing, I haven't seen any speed improvements. In fact, a few things seem even slower. I don't think it's my hardware. It's not top end but should be more than adequate: Win 7 home premium on a 64 bit dual core 2.6ghz processor and 8gb of memory. All my other software seems to cruise along just fine. Other than two disastrous years with TRX, I've used ATX since Saber days. I've always been happy with it and would not look forward to changing (the old dog/new tricks syndrome) but if it doesn't improve . . . .

Like many of you, I'm a one-person shop. I try to be conscientious and do a good job and I do a quick self-review of each return. Most of the time it works. But every now and again something will slip through the cracks and I mess up big time. I just got an e-advert for a $95 'How to Review Tax Returns' system. That got me thinking. Why blow $95 when I've got a million dollar network of colleagues on this board, many of whom could probably write the book?!?! So, how do some of you one-person shop folks do QC reviews?

I've never had it either. Thought about it a couple times and even filled out an application a couple times (most recently 4 years ago). Since then the premium went from $290/year to $500/year! Same policy, same company, same limits. As we used to say back in the hills, 'that don't make no sense.' Not sure why it's been on my mind lately. I've never come close to needing it. I might reconsider.

I'm a one man shop with limited resources so I'm always looking for ways to save a few bucks. With something as important as E&O coverage I don't want to be 'penny wise and pound foolish.' But I would still like to find reasonably good coverage for the lowest premium possible. Anyone have any suggestions?

Like MAMalody, my practice is almost exclusively internet based and clergy-centric. Most of my clients are scattered all around Ohio but I have clients in 21 other states. Many started out here in Ohio but moved; others somehow heard about me and contacted me. I created my own organizer many years ago and just update it each year (still working on the 2014 update). It's a 9-10 page fillable Word form. I'd be happy to share it with anyone who wants to take a look at it. Just PM me.

I use cubby (www.cubby.com) to keep data on my laptop and desktop synced. Every time a file in one of my designated folders changes, it automatically syncs it with both of my laptops. It works a lot like skydrive and dropbox and several others but has the advantage of being able to sync any folders I so designate, not just the default folders set up by the software. I have not tried it with ATX files . . . but I wonder if it would work. I'll check it out and let you know.

I was in Mrs. White's 4th grade classroom in the basement of Franklin Elementary School in Vincennes IN. We got three announcements: that JFK had been shot, that he had died and that school was being dismissed early. I remember Mrs. White saying, "Fifty years from now you'll remember that you were in Mrs. White's classroom the day President Kennedy was shot." Sure 'nuff, I remember! I remember when I got off the school bus being shocked to see that my dad was already home in the middle of the day. To my young mind, that was almost as jarring as the events in Dallas.

Not me! I used to fly for the Navy (back seater on a carrier based jet). I never found a good reason to abandon a perfectly good airplane!! Twice I had occasion to have my hands on the ejection handle and once even had a little tension on it . . . but we were able to recover and land safely. Still, I have a ton of respect for what you did!

Both of those are hilarious! Thanks for sharing them!

DItto. And to make it even more galling, they continue to send me promotional material (despite several requests to be removed from their marketing list). About a month ago I called one of the people I got a marketing email from and asked (for the umpteenth time) for a refund. I told her that no one was responding to my requests. She promised to get back to me. She didn't, but their sales manager did via email. She was outraged that I said no one had gotten back to me. She informed me that she had personally told me last June that I did not qualify for a refund. I responded saying that I was referring to the more than a dozen requests since then to her, Doug and numerous others to reconsider in view of the fact that many others in exactly the same circumstances did get a refund. As I expected, I got no response. I do not understand how these folks can expect to stay in business. If I treated my clients the way they do I'd have no more clients . . . come to think of it, that seems to be what's happening to them! I feel really sorry for the unsuspecting folks they dupe into signing on for their 'new and improved' product.