taxxcpa

I bought an S 510 last year from NewEgg. It didn't cost too much and does an excellent job for me. If you have a large practice, you might go to a more expensive model. As a bonus, you get Adobe Acrobat. I try to scan every document my clients bring. I also use it to scan all kinds of personal documents. I have scanned all of my credit card bills, utility bills, various legal documents, etc. in addition to tax and accounting-related documents. I got rid of most of my file cabinets, and eventually will need even less storage.

In my opinion you should explain that you are unable to predict the future and also point out that you have not audited the client and accordingly cannot express an opinion. If you are not a CPA you are not allowed to audit or review financial statements and if you are a CPA and HAVE audited the client, you still cannot predict the effect without making assumptions that may or may not be correct.

It is not legal to charge tax on interstate commerce. However, if you have a representative in some state other than your base of operations, sales shipped to that state are taxable. States are trying hard to find some way to tax sales shipped into their state.

I went to my doctor the other day. He seemed to think the extreme fear of swine flu was exaggerated and that only a few people have serious complications.

If you fired an employee for a good cause, you just need to explain the circumstances. Bring proof if you can. A friend of mine where I used to work fired his secretary who was a militant Black. I know he did not discriminate because of her race and, also, he was later promoted to a higher-level job. It may have helped that he was a lawyer and knew how to document his case. I've also heard of other similar cases in the same company and the people accused of discrimination always won. The company had a very strong anti-discrimination policy.

My guess is that the employer is voluntarily paying more than half of the amount due, and reducing the employee's salary in a way that allows the employer to get the full deduction, including extra SS while paying the employee the same as if he gave them a higher salary but deducted the full tax. It might not work out to be exactly the same net pay, but close enough for government work.

The world has not changed appreciably since Obama was elected. Maybe some expectations have changed, but is that enough to merit the peace prize? If they had offered it to me, I would have accepted it like Obama did, but would be very puzzled as to why I got it. All I have ever done is complain about the wars Bush got us into, but none of my complaints have accomplished anything. I complain about representation without taxation too, but the welfare programs and EICs continue unabated.

The "perfect" program would preclude the need for the prepare to know taxes. All that would be necessary would be for you to scan all the forms, notes, etc., ask any questions that might need answereing, and the program would spit out a complete, accurate return. For a few dollars more, it would also tap dance.

In Drake, if you type Ctrl+G a form 1040 will show up and you can click on the 1040 line and it will take you to the Drake screen. There are also some "macros" you can use to quickly move you to the exact line on certain screens. I have a macro that generates a PIN for myself and the client, another one to check the boxes on Sch B that there is no foreign interest, and another one to take me to the screen where I enter the client's payment to me so that my client status manger shows my accounts receivable. A similar function does not yet exist for forms 1120, 1065, etc., but there is less need. In time you get used to some of the screens, but the Ctrl+G is great for those you forget.

It would take too much effort to postpone it until Oct 16

Tell him to call the IRS and ask if they audit people that they don't like. I'm sure you would get an answer you could depend upon.

I let my tax software calculate a charge both on an time basis and a per-form basis. Then I make a seat-of-the-pants adjustment to increase or decrease one or both. If the time billing or the per-form is under $ 100 , I raise the fee. If it is over $ 500, I usually decrease the fee. A form may take an hour in one case and five minutes in another case. A return may only take ten minutes, but you need to have some minimum fee since it is not worth dealing with a client if you can only get $ 50 for his return.

ATX is counting on people to renew regardless of how frustrated they get. One big incentive for renewing is that if you switch you have to learn how to use the new software--which may not be all that easy.

I would like to wish a happy birthday to those whose birthdays will occur this year and next year.

They passed a marijuana stamp tax in Texas several years ago. I think they sold some as "collectors items" rather than to pot dealers. A client who worked for the State Comptroller showed me one he had bought.

Took me ten hours, and I got the wrong answer.

How many of you remember when soda pop was still a nickel?

Too bad we don't have him in Dallas.

They could omit all income from self-employment unless there was a 1099 and make sure they deducted all business expense. This is what is known as tax simplification.

Both parties want handouts, deserved or undeserved. Both parties and both liberals and conservatives support the right to work, but some politicians also support the right to avoid work by allowing generations to live on handouts. Conservatives tend to support the obligation to work somewhat while liberals find all kinds of reasons/excuses why the non-workers are unemployed. Redistribution of wealth is seen by some as a guiding principal. Extremes on both the liberal and conservative viewpoints seem to be gaining ground in the two major parties. Republicans want to enforce their religious beliefs and similar social issues and are more concerned with that aspect of government than in dealing with the real issues. Democrats are focused on gay rights and other similar social issues which have little to do with running the country. Politicians are more concerned with whether abortions should be legal than with whether we should invade Iraq or bail out California.

The moral to that story is that you will never get out of this world alive. I completely agree that you cannot trust the Republicans any more than you can trust Democrats. Both want their hands in your pockets up to their elbow. Democrats want to spend it all on welfare. Republicans prefer to spend it on warfare, whether provoked or unprovked. Spending is the name of the game. You can vote for the lesser of two evils, but evil is still evil. The liberal philosophy is based on the idea that everyone should live in comfort whether they produce or not and whether the rest of us can afford it or not. While most of us would agree that some degree of government help is desirable in some cases, there are limits to what we can afford. If Bill Gates can afford a Mercedes and all I can afford is an old pick-up truck, one school of thought is that Bill Gates should be taxed to the point that all he can afford is maybe a new pick-up truck once every ten years.

The cheapest CPE I've found is CPE Depot. It's like one of those "All you can eat for a dollar" restaurants.

THE GRASSHOPPER AND THE ANT MODERN VERSION The ant works hard, in the withering heat, all summer long. He builds his house and stores supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks that the ant is a fool. He laughs, dances and plays the summer away, preparing nothing for the coming winter. Winter comes, the ant is safe and warm. The shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and fed, while others are cold and starving! CBS, NBC, ABC & CNN show up to provide pictures of shivering grasshoppers, next to a video of an ant in his comfortable home, with a table filled with food. America is stunned by the sharp contrast! How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer this way? Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah, with the grasshopper. Everyone cries when they sing "It's Not Easy Being Green". Jesse Jackson stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house, where the news stations film the group singing "We Shall Overcome". Jesse then has the group pray for the grasshopper's sake, and reminds the group to contribute to his group, so that he can "continue the fight" for grasshoppers, everywhere! Ted Kennedy & John Kerry exclaim, in an interview with Tom Brokaw, that the ant has gotten rich, off the back of the poor grasshopper! Both call for an immediate tax hike, to make the ant pay "his fair share"! Finally, the EEOC drafts the "Economic Equity For Grasshoppers Act", retroactive to the beginning of the summer. The ant is fined for failing to hire the proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his house is confiscated by the government. Hillary Clinton gets her old law firm to represent the grasshopper, in a defamation suit against the ant. The case is tried in federal court, with a jury comprised of unemployed welfare recipients. Surprise! The ant loses the case! The story ends, as we see the grasshopper finishing up the last bits of the ant's food, while the government house he lives in (which happens to be the ant's old house) crumbles around him, due to lack of maintenance! The ant has disappeared in the snow. The grasshopper is found, dead, in a drug-related incident. The house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders, who terrorize this once-peaceful neighborhood. The moral of this version? Don't vote for Democrats or liberals.

I don't think the prohibition was on taxing income although that would be the effect of the clause requiring states to be taxed equally which would preclude a federal income tax, but would not preclude a state income tax. Each state was originally regarded as something like an independent county that was part of an alliance among equals.

Not only the democrats but the republicans are guilty of running up the deficit which is just as bad. If the government saved for a rainy day instead of spending more that they take in to support welfare and warfare, this country would have a surplus. I agree that raising taxes is not a good idea. Ideally, the government would collect more tax than they spend in good times and less in bad times which is exactly the way an individual must manage his affairs. I try to spend less than I take in, but if some big emergency comes along, I can usually spend some of my savings instead of going deeper into debt or stealing some of my neighbor's money to cover the cost. The government has no savings, so all they can do is steal what they need from the taxpayers or borrow it from the Chinese. Look for the dollar's purchasing power to drop. We will soon look back at $ 4.00 gasoline as the good old days. I remember when it was 30¢ a gallon too.