JJStephens

As a general rule, 3 conditions must be met for income to be considered UBI: The revenue generating activity must be a trade or business, and The activity must be regularly carried on, and The activity must not be substantially related to the organizations exempt purpose (even if the funds are used exclusively to further exempt activities). 'Not substantially related' means that the activity that produces the income does not make an important contribution to the exempt purposes of the organization other than to provide funds to advance those purposes. It does not matter that the income is used exclusively to fund exempt activities. The deciding criteria is whether the activity (itself) that generated the income is directly related to the organization's exempt purpose. It seems to me the church did not regularly carry on a trade or business of investing in real estate. Therefore, the income would not be subject to UBIT.

I went through the very easy password reset process (just eliminated the password) and now I'm in. It had 509 forms to update. That took about as long as expected. Also as expected, an awful lot of forms (including the ACA forms) are not yet available. Most of the functions look familiar--I didn't see any new tool bar buttons. A quick scan of the drop downs didn't reveal any surprises. I rolled over my own return as a trial. It seemed to take a lot longer than I expected. After about 50 seconds the progress meter had not moved off dead zero so I cancelled the rollover. Lo and behold, my return showed up in the Return Manager. I guess it was going on in the background but wasn't updating the progress meter. Opening the return took a bit longer than expected, probably because it was looking for a lot of forms that don't yet exist. It finally opened after 30 or 40 seconds. Once in, bouncing around from one tab to another or one form to another was quick and seamless. So I guess my first impression is reasonably good. I trust the rollover issues will be smoothed out as new updates are issued.

Downloaded and installed. Trying to get in now. Requires entry of ATX user name and password--my PW is not working.

They were down for awhile. I called in & they said they knew about the problem and that it would be fixed within the hour ... and it was. I just e-filed a couple of extended Forms 990.

After nearly an hour on the horn with level 2 tech support, they figured out that an e-file can be created even with a 'check return' red 4868 error if the 4868 was previously accepted by the IRS. In other words, if the 4868 was accepted, the program just ignores any 4868 errors and proceeds as usual. That is not a very satisfactory answer, but at least it's an answer and it works.

Yeah, I know. I just prefer to get things done while I'm thinking about it, because my thinker sometimes doesn't work like it used to, especially when I put things off! I did remember to add an Outlook reminder to renew later this month. Now, if I can just remember to check my Outlook reminders

Working on an extended return (mine--deep sigh!). I e-filed the extension back in April together with a payment on the anticipated balance due (the extension was accepted on 4/15). On F4868 page 1 I checked the box to lock amounts and carry extension payment to main form. Now, I'm trying to e-file the return but keep getting a red error that says 'Payment Date must be today's date or later. If this efile is being recreated due to a rejection, this date must be updated.' I tried deleting the 4868 payment info (entered it as an estimated payment) but I'm still getting the error message. I've had many returns previously in a similar situation but I've never run into this issue. Any ideas?

Well, way to go Jer ... I dilly-dallyed around with moving (home & office) and an unusually large number of extended tax returns and didn't get back around to this until the early renewal offer had expired. I need a vacation.

I'm befuddled. (Yeah, I know. What else is new?!?!) Long time client (an elderly unmarried woman) passed away earlier this year. Her daughter is personal rep. In the past I've frequently e-filed for deceased taxpayers. However, I'm now presented with multiple red errors in ATX saying things like "Court-appointed or certified personal representative can not electronically file. File a paper return" and "IRS e-file exclusion: When filing status is not Married Filing Joint, filer's date of death is entered and a refund amount is present, then Form 1310 must be included with Box C checked." Q1 Can this return be e-filed? Q2 1310 is present; however, box B is checked (because the daughter is the court appointed personal rep). The error checker is requiring the valid proof of death box in Part II be checked, even though the Part II instructions say to complete that Part ONLY if Part I box C is checked (it is not). What am I missing? Am I really required to indicate there is no court-appointed rep and complete Part II?

I just got a PTIN renewal notice from our friends at the IRS. I know some legal actions are pending that challenge whether the IRS has the authority to charge a fee or even to require PTINs. I have mixed thoughts about the likelihood of those lawsuits prevailing. I usually renew early just to get it out of the way (and not forget!). This year I'm thinking about waiting to see if something comes of these court cases. Where are some of the rest of you? Are you waiting or biting the bullet with an early renewal and hoping for a refund if the thing gets struck down?

I have never held state returns and have never had any trouble . . . until this year. In the past week I've had four state rejects because the fed e-file list wasn't timely updated. I simply recreated the state e-file and it was promptly accepted. All the rest were accepted as filed. Nonetheless, I'm curious if I'm doing something wrong. Like I said, over the years, I've probably e-filed 1500+ this way with nary a problem. What's the rationale for holding?

I've been mulling firing my all-time worst client--this guy is the very last one in every stinkin' year--and never pays a dime. Me.

Yeah, I was counting unique clients too. I have clients in about 20 states but a couple are in no-income-tax states. All my Ohio clients also have a state return and most have a city return; about half have a school district return. I suppose that adds up to 350-400 total returns.

Weigh in with your prediction of when you'll turn off the light and close the door on another year of mayhem and return to the world of the living. Grand prize to the one whose prediction is closest: 365 days of bragging rights and the unfeigned awe of all your colleagues! I"m going with a wildly optimistic prediction that I'll tansmit my last extension (probably my own!) at 7:52 PM The only thing I'm certain of right now is that I should not have gotten up with my granddaughter to try to see the eclipse this morning (had to watch a live feed on line because it was completely overcast here). Actually, I never got to sleep before hand--was up until about 3:15. Ughh!!! I just hope I last until 7:52pm!

(Yahoo! Just got one of the little buggers! One down, one to go! See OP) Thanks for the feedback. My first thought was to implement a late arrival surcharge . . . but I was afraid it might come across as punitive. I guess that's what it really is intended to be but I feared it that might just deter some folks from coming in at all. I was thinking the across the board increase with a early-bird discount would be more palatable. But maybe I'm just being paranoid/wishy-washy. What think ye?

How about "I guarantee to get you a refund if you overpaid your liability and don't have a prior year balance due."

It worked. I'm jealous! I did manage a 5 minute nap yesterday afternoon!

This was a weird year. I had an unusually heavy early surge and then got really worried as things slowed to a trickle. Then around March 25 they started showing up. About 40% of my regulars showed up on/after April 1! For the second year in a row (and third out of the last four) I'm going to have a record number of extensions. Next year I thinking about implementing an across the board $25 fee hike and then offer a $25 early bird discount for anyone who gets me all their stuff by March 25. I don't really want the extra money--just trying incentivize getting the materials earlier. I realize for some folks $25 is not a lot of money but in my niche, it's a prety good chunk of change. Does anyone else do that? How has it worked out? Any other ideas to accomplish the same thing? On another matter, I need someone to feel really really sorry for me. My home/office is in the middle of seven major egg farms. In spite of the horrendous winter, flies have been especially bad this year. As if it wasn't bad enough dealing with the joys of April 14, I have two of these demonic little critters flying around my office annoying me to death! I'd kill 'em if I could . . . but they've eluded me so far! (Argggh--just missed one of the little beasties!)

I'm not going to Vegas or DisneyWorld or anywhere else. I'm going to bed!

I'm a part-timer. I specialize in clergy returns but take all comers. At one time I was doing about 150 (my best ever was 442 back in the pre-computer hand prep days). I'm currently doing about 110 plus a handful of biz returns and about 40 non-profit 990s.

Only a denominational pension qualifies to be treated as housing allowance and then only if the denomination has so designated it (most do). 403b's do not qualify for this treatment.

Arrghh! I knew that! It's not so much that I forgot . . . I merely failed to remember Seems I have that failure a lot this time of year. Thanks KC. You're my hero!

It's late. My brain is fried. I've done this before but I'm drawing a blank. I need a clear-headed hero to come to my rescue. Client sold a rental house. When I set up the fixed asset I recorded the depreciable basis as $134,100 ($149,000 cost less the land value of $14,900). How do I get the land value back into the equation now that is has been sold? I thought I entered it as a basis adustment on the disposition form (at least that's what I think I remember doing in the past). But when I enter the $14,900 figure it has no impact on the gain/loss computation. Where am I going wrong?

TMI? I was just trying to put on a false front of modesty. I thought it was a masterpiece of prose! Yeah, I know. TMI

I did a complete reboot after I updated some other software. I did not have the problem the rest of the day . . . or this morning. Alas, it just happened again. Must be getting close to the deadline. The gremlins are getting active!