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Married couple with adult son also living at home. Home is titled solely in husband's name and he died in late 2013 without a will. Home is now titled in adult son's name. Both mom and son still live there, and mom has lifetime right to live in the home. Mom makes the money and pays the mortgage and real estate taxes. Son made enough to have to file a return but not much more. Does mom have a life estate, and does that allow her to deduct the real estate taxes and mortgage interest?

The response isn't surprising; it probably came from someone that isn't looking at the law but only their programming, and are also ignoring what you wrote. Is it possible to override one of those boxes, either 8a or 8b, with a .01 so that it prints as -0- but the program thinks there's a figure higher than zero to allow creation of the e-file?

Catherine, you should change your method of selecting the e-files so that it is a multi-step process. I have my Drake set so that it requires me to use the EF screen to mark them as ready, and then I have to go out to the client manager and create the e-file transmission file from the EF drop down menu. The other thing you could do very simply is to flag a field on the demographics input that will definitely stop the processing. I use an override for the fee that I'm billing on that screen, and Drake remembers that from the prior year so that field rolls over as flagged from the start, and I leave it that way until I'm ready to file. It's easy to remember and find. I hope you feel better. I've been fighting off the remnants of a cold from a couple of weeks ago. Husband told me last night that his shop has that nasty stomach bug circulating around. Two guys have been out sick on different days with it, and he was called in yesterday to fill in for one of them. I hope he doesn't bring that home within the next week!

He sounds like the guy I'm meeting with tomorrow, although mine does know that when he sells something big he will pay in something like an estimate. He uses the estimate vouchers like deposit slips and pays them at odd dates or adds several together. Last year I gave him the extension for his federal return with explicit instructions, and he sent that in on May 8th because he didn't have the funds on 4/15. Then he tried to say I didn't tell him. I'm supposed to meet with him tomorrow to deliver his personal returns and returns for 2 LLCs, and the adult son's returns too. I received an email this morning from their attorney's assistant that the 2 of them decided to gift the dad's ownership in a third LLC that dad and son own together over entirely to the son. Gifts dtd 12/31 splitting part of dad's ownership to the mom and then further breaking the gift down to be on 12/31 and 1/1/15. They just decided this 2 weeks ago and no one ever mentioned this.

David, to add to the above, those #s make sense under provisions of the ACA (see below for the $1200 family limit) and you said that the employee put in 6350. That amount along with the employer's 1200 total to the 7550 shown on the W-2. Maybe this will clarify: Small Employer Contributions to HRAs and HSAs under the ACA, small employer group health plans must mmet the actuarial (AV) of a metallic level (platinum, gold, silver or bronze) plan. One of the items considered in calculating the AV is the employer contribution tward an HRA or HSA. Since the employer contribution is entered into the AV calculator, plans with HRA or HSA contribution amounts must be predetermined and are therefore pre-set for each designated HRA or HSA compatible option. If the designated employer contribution to an HRA or HSA compatible plan for an individual is $600, the employer contribution to such a family plan is $1,200 (2 x $600).

Box 12, code W includes employer contributions AND contributions the employee elected to contribute to the HSA through a cafeteria plan. That amount coded "W" does not create a deduction on the return because the employee has already received the tax benefit via reduced federal taxable wages in box 1 of the W-2. If that amount isn't at the maximum, it is a limiting factor in how much additional the employee may be allowed to contribute to the HSA though. Your client's HSA has received the maximum contribution allowed for the year. It appears that you are simply misinterpreting the W-2.

WTG, KC, and thanks for posting that answer. I learned something new today from that.

You can't lump those sales of ABC that have different sale dates during the year. You can lump those sales of ABC that are short-term and sold on the same date that were purchased at different times by entering "various" as the purchase date. Then you can also lump all the long-term and sold on the same date that were purchased at different times by entering "various" as the purchase date.

From the instructions to Schedule D - Reduced exclusion. Even if you do not meet one or both of the above two tests, you still can claim an exclusion if you sold or exchanged the home because of a change in place of employment, health, or certain unforeseen circumstances. In this case, the maximum amount of gain you can exclude is reduced. For more information, see Pub. 523.

If the client isn't filing 1116 with a limitation calc'd there and client meets the requirements to not file that form, then the limitation is the lesser of $300 ($600 if joint) or the sum of lines 44 and 46. The sum of those 2 lines is the regular income tax plus the repayment of the PTC. Based on that, I think it should be allowed. Is the FTC being disallowed for some other reason, perhaps that the IRS is not recognizing it from its reporting source like the 1099-DIV or flowing through on a K-1?

It's impossible to see and feel the difference in speed without being proficient on both and having used them. Drake definitely beats ATX in speed in all of the areas that John mentioned. It rarely crashes or has problems with printing letters and sets and such that users of other software complain of. There is a learning curve which I didn't have much trouble with. Other users might, especially those that *need* that bunny hop or green arrow. I know Tom mentioned that he likes and used that, but in his instance he mentioned that he recognizes a spot where an entry is needed and the arrow takes him there. Drake will do that in forms entry mode as well by having the links on the form. That being said, Drake software will not hand hold the preparer that uses those bunny hops as a crutch as a replacement for truly not knowing what one is doing when preparing a return. I'd hope that all here are above that skill level, but unfortunately I see questions on a variety of tax forums that leave me wondering at times about the skills and knowledge of some preparers, and I'm not talking about asking for some reassurance either, because many of us get tired and do that at times.

Terry, I sent you a PM with a pdf that might help.

My house is a disaster and no way I could entertain anyone! Luckily we will go to my Mom's for dinner tomorrow where I will do most of the cooking.

Well, yes! I agree with that, but in your original post you did not indicate that you were requesting a waiver and that is the reason my post was worded as such. If you don't request the waiver then the shortfall is the full amount and the penalty is 50% of that. If you are requesting a waiver, follow the above. Whichever you choose, your original post of your input was incorrect.

Price, silly. Because the low cost of the ATX product is attractive, even when they've had to go out and purchase new machines and additional hard drives to run that program that, when in actuality they could raise the price of each existing return by $5-10 and more than cover the cost (and then some!) of a more stable higher-end program that would probably make them faster or more efficient too and would allow for growth of their practice.

JM, are you using ATX MAX? How much do they charge for the extra user? Maybe you should consider purchasing the Total Tax office package that includes up to 5 users and would give you the research package too. I used MAX for years and then found that purchasing TTO actually saved me some money because I was able to eliminate other research products I was purchasing separately.

If the dividends are being reinvested to purchase more shares (mutual funds or drip plans), then yes, the brokers are including this for the dividends paid that are considered "covered" securities. For funds that were held prior to the brokers being required to track this, then there will be some transactions that are "not covered" securities, and some are showing the basis that isn't reported to IRS and some aren't. Most of the broker statements that I've seen this year do have all of the information on them. The ones that haven't had it were because the clients had switched brokers or advisors at some point in the past and the information was not available to be included.

Line 52 - "subtract line 51 from line 50" Line 53 - 50% of line 52 Why not request a waiver? Is this the first year's distribution? Or is this a first time offender and every other year has been had RMDs received timely? Requesting the waiver requires that you provide a reasonable explanation for the error and describe the steps that your client has taken to remedy the situation and also so that it won't happen again.

You will have to reconcile the APTC they received and work through the Shared Policy Allocation worksheets. See the form 8962 instructions that start on pg 7.

Said like a true accountant! This made me laugh because we think like this. My husband would have eaten a whole row, or half of a row if it's a large package.

Your client will split the proceeds and basis with his former spouse with each reporting 1/2. Even though your client files a joint return with his current wife, because he owns the home jointly with another person that isn't his spouse, he can only exclude up to $250K as long as he meets the requirements. The same is true for his ex-wife, although you aren't concerned with that return. Pub 523, use CRTL-F and search for the word "divorce" and you'll have your answers. I DON'T THINK THIS IS YOUR CASE, BUT JUST FOR INFORMATION'S SAKE: His situation would be different if the house was transferred to him as property settlement incident to divorce and then it was sold. If he was sole owner, then he and new wife would meet the "ownership" test, and then they'd each work through the "residency" test to determine how much to exclude. He'd most likely exclude all of his 1/2 (of the $500K, and the new wife would have to determine what % of the 24 months out of the last 5 years it was her principal residence, AND not have excluded any other home during that period also)

I would also choose to convert it to personal use. I think, but not entirely sure on this, but I think converting to personal use won't trigger the depreciation recapture until the home is sold. That would be my choice as well because that is what has happened. If you change the business use to that .001 as cbslee suggested, that would trigger the recapture because the business use fell below 50%.

I was on Firefox when I got the odd message for a brief time.

Mine is working again too. Must have been a brief downtime to make a fix.

I get that now too. It was working when Lee first posted about it and when I made the picture.