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I don't think charitable deductions should be allowed since they are discretionary expenses. What should be fully allowed are medical expenses and employee business expenses since those are not discretionary and hit some people disproportionately. People who donate to charity are not motivated by tax deductions. They give because they want to promote something they believe is worthwhile. Political donations are also sometimes motivated by the same thing in the case of smaller donations that do not buy special personal benefits, but these are also not something the tax laws should address.

I recall a situation in which one employee did not want to contribute to the United Fund because part of the money went to unwed mothers. He said he would be willing to contribute if his contribution could be sent to a Retarded Children's fund which participated in the United Fund. However, if his money went speciffically to that organization, it was subtracted from their share of the general pot, which he found unacceptable. He finally gave in and contributed after constant 'talking tos' by his boss who wanted 100% of the office to contribute.

I had a client who technically qualified for the EIC and did not want to claim it so I checked a box indicating "NO" by the line for the EIC. He got a letter from the IRS asking him to respond if he wanted to claim it. He did not respond and the IRS did not pursue it further.

If you want to go paperless, the first thing you need is a really good scanner. I just recently bought one from this web site http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx...-_-NA-_-NA-_-NA In addition to getting a scanner, Adobe acrobat comes with it at no extra cost. I scan my bills, my bank statements, client W-2s, 1099s, worksheets, mortgage info, donation lists. It is so much easier to organize and find things by just a couple of clicks on the computer than looking through file cabinets.

Another advantage of e-filing is that some people don't know what to do with the 1099 if you don't e-file it. I had one client who gave me the red copy of a1099 for use in filing his form 1040.

When I read about how good accounting makes you money, I think they are oversimplifying it. If you have no idea what your income and expenses are, it is possible that good accounting could make you aware of things that you need to change. However, if you keep no records whatsoever but buy low and sell high in your business and don't spend any money on non essentials, then good accounting won't increase your income. Letting your accountant write the checks, make the deposits, etc. is not good internal control, but if the accountant doesn't steal the money, then it won't matter, but I would never recommend letting one person have complete control of the cash flow through the business even if the person does not steal since any shortage would look like theft even if it were not.

E-filing 1099s is almost a necessity if you do very many, since printing those red, scannable copies is such a nuisance. If you e-file them, you can still print a copy on plain white paper if you like paper copies. Instead of buying five file cabinets, I prefer to back up files on an external disk and with an online automatic backup system. Instead of getting up an rummaging through a file cabinet, I don't have to leave my desk to view and print a copy of anything I need. But if you don't back up everything, then some good fireproof file cabinets are probably the way to go.

You may be trying to make the AAA equal Retained Earnings. AAA can only be reduced below zero by losses, not shareholder withdrawals which reduce Retained Earnings, but not AAA.

Same here. I start mine the day I get my tax software and enter all the income and deductions that I am aware of at that time, then make estimates for some items which I will change when exact figures are available. This not only tests the software but also lets me know if I need to send in more estimated tax or maybe skip or reduce the Jan payment. I work on it off and on and wait until March to file it in case some last-minute form comes in for something that I have failed to anticipate. My own return is the most complicated one I do so it helps get me used to feeding the data into the computer before I start doing other peoples' returns which begin in February other than one who files in January.

My payroll program has a pop-up reminder that the preparer has to type in his name, date and then sign the 941. I believe that after entering it the first quarter, then the typed portion will roll over to future quarters, but I believe a manual signature will be required unless there is a PIN option.

I notice that Drake still gives you the choice on Schedule C for 'T' 'S' or 'J'. I haven't used the joint designation this year, but apparently it depends on your software company's interpretation.

You can't create a negative AAA balance by withdrawing money in excess of basis. It can be negative due to business losses, or timing differences between the books and the tax return but not by excess withdrawals.

I agree. If the title was in someone else's name, it would be their sale. I've always heard "He who sells what isn't his'n goes to prison."

IL got a Fujitsu from Newegg.com for about $ 400. Here is a video demostrating it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oH3mQZLpL8

When you go online and obtain an EIN, you receive a message telling you not to e-file for two weeks since it takes that long to get the EIN in the data base. I kept getting a rejection for that reason, so the next time I filed for a newly-established Fiduciary, I held off submitting the e-filing for two weeks, and everything went through with no problem. The name control is usually the first four letters of the last name, so John Smith Estate would have a name control of SMIT. My tax software explains about name controls when I right-click in the space where I enter the name control.

I generally compare the return to the previous year and explain what changed--increased income, decreased withholding, self-employment taxes this year vs all salary last year. Then I explain why they owe more this year. The only problem is if someone else did their return last year, they will assume they made a mistake by switching to you. In that case, unless you see the prior return so you can explain it,they will probably go back to the first guy next year and you can't convince them you did it right.

It does not sound like rent and if it is not payment for production, it is not royalty, so it must be "other income" to go on line 21.

So you have decided to take 'early retirement". I thought I wanted to retire at 60, 70, 75, and now I am considering 85. The nearest to retiring I've come was to dump all of my PITA clients and making no effort to attract new clients, but after moving a few times and losing more than I wanted to, I've started making some effort to pick up new clients and have added several new quality clients this year. By slowing down instead of retiring, I now just relax and enjoy it when a lot of non-billable time is consumed by clients who spend a lot of time talking about irrelevant matters.

People who speculate on commodities often sell short, so there may be sales that are outstanding short sales for which there is no purchase transaction. Also, to keep things confusing, people trade on a very small margin, so you buy $ 100,000 worth of pork bellies for a deposit/margin of 5% --so if the price goes down 5% you lose your whole investment, but if it goes up 5% you double your money. The broker should also provide a statement showing the actual net results.

I had the same problem back about 2003 with ATX. I finally bought Tax Act for about $ 99.00 in order to handle K-1 loss carry-overs into a year that had passive K-1 gains. ATX just handled the gains and did not deduct the prior losses. I tried several programs and Tax Act, Lacerte and ProSeries all did it OK. Other programs did not handle it properly, including the program I use now -- which may or may not handle it correctly now, but I believe it would do it now.

I don't have any trouble with doing family members' returns, but one former co-worker who is now 87-years old is becoming a problem. He used to be extremely intelligent but with age he seems too confused to be able to understand what he needs to do. I sent him some 8879s including one 8879-F. He returned the 8879s but didn't recognize the 8879-F since it looked a little different. Later he called and said he found it, but only mailed the other two. Also he did not mail his check for my low, low special fee I gave him since we were long-time friends.

Tax his cow, Tax his goat; Tax his pants, Tax his coat; Tax his crop, Tax his work; Tax his ties, Tax his shirt; Tax his chew, Tax his smoke Teach him taxing is no joke. Tax his tractor, Tax his mule; Tell him, Taxing is the rule. Tax his oil, Tax his gas Tax his notes, Tax his cash Tax him good and let him know, That after taxes, he has no dough. If he hollers, Tax him more; Tax him till he's good and sore. Tax his coffin, Tax his grave, Tax his sod in which he's laid. Put these words upon his tomb, "Taxes drove him to his doom." After he's gone, we won't relax. We'll still collect inheritance tax.

It is very helpful if they explain that the document they hand you is a W-2. Otherwise how would you know?

I think that is carrying political correctness to an unwarranted extreme. I grew up in South Texas where many people were of Mexican descent. Some grew up to be excellent, contributing members of society. Lauro (Larry) Cavazos became president of Texas Tech and was Secretary of Education under George HW Bush. His brother Richard became a Four-Star Generan and as a First Lieutenant won the silver star. Other people of Mexican descent, became bums just like a lot of people of all other ethnic groups. If a white anglo-saxon protestant went back to some other country of origin, I don't think it would be inappropriate to call him a German, Englishman, Irishman, Swede, or Lower Slobovian. Calling a Mexican a Mexican is less insulting than calling a Southerner a Redneck or calling a German a squarehead. Perceiving an insult from the word "Mexican" is as illogical as perceiving an insult if you are called an "American" or a Canadian is called a "Canadian." Political correctness has developed to an extreme in its own way just as much as the extremes of racial prejudice used to be.

It would be more appropriate to say persons of unknown ethnicity went back to Mexico.