Crank

Thanks Kia. I emailed the lead tech manager Andy a few minutes ago

Has anyone experienced this issue? It is significant that you cant do a "standard mileage deduction" on form 4562 without selecting a depreciation method resulting in a depreciable asset being created. If you input the info directly on pg 2 of schC (with a form 4652 attached) it is ignored resuling in $0 on SchC.

Has been working fine for me. Select the Print menu the top. Select Print Preview Return, Print Preview Selected Form or Print Preview Form. then from the pop-up box check "Preview to Print" and click the Print button on the bottom. A .pdf open and you can print from there. Im using Adobe Reader X version 10.1.5

For those of you using the autobackup option it was once again deleted after the 4.0.0.13 update. You will have to reconfigure this option to reactivate it. Hopefully they will address this issue soon. I will keep checking it after each update to keep mine on.

Taxed, I understand your frustration. However Im in a little bit of a different situation. I dont prepare taxes with the client present, never have. I dont like the pressure and my clients love it. They drop off their taxes and I work on them when I have time (it could be after midnight). Then I speak with the client about all the issues, missing items, etc and complete the forms after we feel confident that we have good numbers. The client then has an appointment, knowing the results and having asked questions prior to sign and pick-up. Works much better for me in instances like this. Gives me more time to research and double check before the meeting and aviods the embarassing situations. EDIT: You may have to double check the prior year data. I always do anyway.

Well, now that its been a few hours and having thought this through I believe that my post may have come off sounding a bit too harsh. When a chunk of work is lost it can cause frustration and the internet is just to easy to post something before you have had the time to reflect on the issues at hand. With that said, I believe the SchC data that was lost through the tech support person ( a very nice and frustrated person) deleting it was my fault. I should have made sure I had a backup of my return before allowing control of the screen.

I feel like TaxExact is coming along. Would I have liked it to be better at this point? Sure, but at least it is being improved and Doug has made some (many even?) of the improvements that were suggested here and he promised would be in the software. While my first tech support experience didnt go verry well I am partly to blame for not checking that I had the return backed up properly first. Alos, I should have tested what happens when a form is deleted, not saved, and then reopend and I would have known that the software does save without clicking the save button .... TaxWorks was the same way. Hopefully the major bugs in the most used schedules and forms will be worked out this month. Of course I noticed Doug's absence from this board and was concerned in light of the missing promissed updates on Monday and Tuesday but his time is probably better spent on the product than debating it here at this late date. Its good to know that he is responding to emails but I myself would only email him if it were a critical issue that wasnt resolved after a couple attempts and a day or so with tech support. JMHO

I have a vehicle that uses the standard mileage deduction for a low amount of miles (<1000) and I also need to use form 4562 for some sec179 property. If you have form 4562 then the program grays out the standard mileage on SchC and requires the mileage to be put on the vehicle worksheet of 4562. The problem is that when you do that, even though you select "standard mileage deduction" it requires you to enter a depreciation method and lists the car as a depreciable asset. I can put a value of $1 in the field to avoid the deprectation but the autobile details still appear on the 4562 with $0 depreciation and I dont want this to throw any red flags. Does anyone know how to handle this situation?

Probably about the same time I will see my Pa. Local taxing authority form(s). And Doug said it would be in the next release back when we were on version 4.0.0.9 (now on 4.0.0.12

I dont thinkwe will see prior year data. We might alos forget about the comparison to prior year.

Close to 2 hours with tech support and no resolution to my two problems and im left with about an additional hours of work due to the very nice and extremely frustrated person. What did I find out. My two problems are known issues. (This was a rollover 1040) 1.) SchA - Lines 5 a & 5 b (deductible income taxes or sales taxes) was auto checking line 5a and the 2nd check box on 5b and wouldnt le me unchect them. They were grayed out. I wanted to used 5a and it was forcing 5b with a red field on the bottom of the form that would not go away no matter what you put into it. 2.) SchC - Was giving TWO errors of over ridden fields in the area of "Acounting Method". I had cash selected. We were on a screen share (and I should have know better) and the tech decided to DELETE the Sch C which also deleted the 4562. Then tried to add it back. No problem I thought as she didnt save. But when I closed and reopened it was gone. OK I thought Ill restore from backups as I have auto backup turned on. Nope nothing to backup. I notice once before atfter applying an update that the autobackup settings had been deleted. I forgot about it and never checked it again after several updates. Warning: Check your autobackup settings after each update. Thats assuming autobackup works So twohours talking and two hours of work to recreate the deleted SchC & 4562. Amazing. EDIT: I just started my new SchC and input most of the figures from acopy I had made and the TWO error were no longer present. This was a return that was rolled over from version 4.0.0.01 and I think that the errors were from the rollover that never left. I usually wait to rollover a client return until I am ready to work on it. Thats seem like a very wise idea not that this happened. BTW all my comments in previous about errors were based on a NEW return and not a rollover.

I have a very similar tax history, except for a year with ProSeries before Sabre. Its good to know that customer support is responsive. I havent used them yet. I also havent tried release 4.0.11 either but Im hoping for pleasant surprises to come in the 1040,1120S and the Pennsylvania state locals tax functionality and I will be much happier and less stressed.

Dep with different last name worked fine for me. On the client information sheet backspaced over the autofill last name and input the new last name.

Entering 8829 first worked for me and the indirect expenses and depr flowed to sch c. I m not in as much of a panic since I dont have returns to work on next week. Edit: yes, it is on both my screen peek and the .pdf file Also, this is fine for me to know that the 8829 has to be completed first. What cause me some concer is that are there any other forms that require a particular order. Or is this order issue rectified by using the interview mode ...which I never use.

This made me laugh. I needed that. Terry I admire your cool head.

Well, I get the low hanging fruit out f the way first. W-2s, int, dividends, Sch A, etc and usually work on the more complex schdulesand forms last (C, D, E, etc.) Actually I persort my documents that way first too.

Doug, "3) Form 8829 Real estate tax and Mortgage Interest deduction not subtracted from Sch A. causing more than 100% of those expenses being deducted. I just did the 8829 and if you do the 8829 form first and put in your indirect expenses, then choose the schedule A the unused portion of the property taxes and mortgage interest does flow to the schedule A." I would assume that the majority prepare SchA BEFORE they work on the Form 8829. At least thats the way I do it.

Yes, Don that is what I took away from the article. "The judge was required to decide if the IRS had the authority to regulate preparers, not if it was a good idea." I cant lie. as a CPA I saw this a a benefit to my business. However, I also saw it as a benefit to the consumer, but one that will inevitably come with a higher price tag. That being said, Tax Preparation is no different that other professions. I worked very hard for my credentials, which cost me a lot of time and money and continue to do so. So if people need help preparing their taxes they have to pay a reasonable price or risk going it alone. But to have a third option being the uninformed preparer (including the big firms like HRB that prey on the lower income brackets) is a bad option. Most other professions (Dr. Lawyer, etc) have similar consumer protections. My 2 cents.

This one is very important to me but unfornately not many others. It impacts EVERY return I prepare. Returns for the MANY Pennsylvania Local taxing authorities Thanks TaxMan74

In case anyone did not see this. http://mobile.philly.com/business/?wss=/philly/business&id=187531801&viewAll=y FALLS CHURCH, Va. - A federal judge on Friday barred the IRS from imposing a series of new regulations, including a competency exam, on hundreds of thousands of tax preparers. U.S. District Judge James Boasberg in Washington ruled against the IRS in favor of three tax preparers who filed suit last year with the help of a libertarian legal group, the Arlington, Va.-based Institute for Justice. Since 2011, in response to what it says has been a growing problem of poorly done returns, the IRS has sought to impose a series of new regulations on tax preparers. That included a requirement to pass a qualifying exam, paying an annual application fee, and taking 15 hours annually of continuing-education courses. Attorneys and certified public accountants would have been exempt from the regulations. The Institute for Justice argued that the IRS lacked the statutory authority to impose the regulations and said they would put tens of thousands of mom-and-pop tax preparers out of business, because the regulations were onerous and create a competitive disadvantage to the attorneys and CPAs who were exempt. The judge's order includes an injunction that bars implementation of the regulations, which have been put in place on a piecemeal basis. The competency exam was to have taken effect in 2014. Dan Alban, an Institute for Justice attorney, said the timing of the ruling is good because tax preparers who could have been put out of business will be able to work during the coming tax season. "It is also good for the public at large because the cost of preparing a tax return was about to go up" as a result of the increased regulations, Alban said. Alban called the IRS plan "an unlawful power grab by one of the most powerful federal agencies and thankfully the court stopped the IRS dead in its tracks." The IRS argued in court that it not only had the statutory authority to impose the regulations, but also had the inherent authority to do so. An IRS spokesman declined comment Friday on the judge's ruling. The government can seek to appeal. Paid tax preparers fill out 60 percent of all U.S. tax returns, according to a study from the Government Accountability Office, a congressional watchdog agency. The GAO has found significant problems over the years in the quality of work done by them. In one 2006 study, the GAO took tax returns to 19 different commercial tax preparers, and 17 of 19 incorrectly calculated the taxes due.

Same here, I one guy telling me he wanted to filed his return and do the business (Sch C) later when the IRS forms are ready. Took a while for him to understand that it cant be done without amending the original and they arent two seperate filings ...sheesh ed, thats what Im worried about. I check returns enough the way it is without having to seconds guess the software and then lose customers because something didnt go right ... or the other possiblitites that I rather not think about.

Taxed, who could have known? I used TRX for the past two tax seasons and others used it before when they resold ATX, all for a good price. So I dont think anyone had a clue that they would push their own product, TaxExact, for 2012. The part that gets me is that I, and others, specifically asked if the 2012 product would be TaxWorks as in 2011 & 2010 and was told it would be and I would receive it. If they had told me it would be their inhouse product I probably would have put more thought and research into it. But we all were told, and thought, we were goign to receive TaxWorks up until it shipped around mid December 2012. There was never any notice given that TaxWorks wasnt being sent this year. I dont know any one who asked for their inhouse product, TaxExact, for 2012 when they placed their order. Doug says he has to check the voice mail to see what was said, but I dont believe you can record a conversation without disclosing it and getting the consent of the other party, per the wire tap laws

Will ATX convert the TRX version of TawWorks?

So ATX & TaxWorks are busts this year? I cant imagine them letting down their large customer bases.

George, Let us know what tax software (and price if you dont mind) you decidet to go with please.