Janitor Bob

I had been filing returns for a client for 9 years with the incorrect DOB.....never rejected. Neither of us noticed that it had been wrong until this year when she mentioned to me that she had turned 65 in December.....my data was telling me that she had just turned 63. I guess as long as it has no affect on the return (i.e.senior citizen credit), The IRS does not really care what DOB you use.

What it does NOT tell me is why ATX took approx. 9 hours to get my returns from their servers to EFC. But hey, I feel better knowing that ATX "feels" that these will be considered timely filed. I guess it would be too much to know and trust that they were considered timely.

Throughout my many years, ATX has always maintained one point of reliability....regardless of other issues, I (and my clients) could always count on one thing: If I transmitted a return on April 15th, it would be considered timely filed by IRS (rejections and re-submits aside). Now it appears that ATX hs broken that trust. Kimmie's statement in another post is that ATX "thinks" these returns transmitted on 04/15 will be considered timely filed even though they have a date stamp of 04/16 as received by EFC. "THINKS'?! That's all I need to know...trust broken. Forever.

Sorry...typo....but the result is the same.....the rollover was deleting ALL assets....until I unchecked that box. I was not having this problem on returns previous to my current version (12.12).

WOW....why the hell would ATX include an option to "delete old assets" in the rollover Manager...and have that option checked by default?! I deleted the return that did not roll over the assets, unchecked that option and rolled over again....an sure enough, my assets were there. WTH?!

Anybody else experiencing this? Everything rolls over except assets.....I have not had this problem before...just on the client I rolled over today.

Agreed. I do wish clients would understand the limits of my powers.....tax prep...not therapist.

but what is the one claiming standard files first...claiming the full standard deduction....then later, the other spouse itemizes....will they go back and change the original spouse's return and send a notice? I seem to recall that this is exactly what happened to one of my clients, but it was probably 10 years ago and I cannot recall if we amended her MFS return to to itemize because she received a notice or voluntarily because she found out the other spouse itemized.

A good point brought up in another post in this community. What if she filed before he did and claimed the standard deduction? Would he then be forced to claim standard or would she be forced to amend and itemize? If one spouse wants to itemize, but the other wants the standard deduction, who does the IRS side with? The one who files first or the one that wants to itemize?

This raises an interesting question......My client is always on the short end of this stick.....her and husband are married, but do not mix paths financially...in her words, he's a "bastard sonofabitch", he always files MFS and itemizes...claiming all of the deduction because everything is in his name (and gets a substantial refund). she has very few itemized deduction and always owes to IRS. Every year, I tell my client she must itemize because he did.....but what if she refused? what if she still claimed the standard deduction? I assume she would receive a friendly notice from IRS, but what if she filed before him and claimed standard deduction....would he then be forced to claim standard? Who would the IRS side with when one spouse wants to itemize and the other wants standard?....would the choice go to whoever files first or is there some other order of priority?

They both have older adult children that live far away. He won't even let her open the mail, so she will never get the paperwork needed to "steal" the deductions....he only gives her her mail after he reviews it. their living expenses (food, clothing, etc) are totally separate, except that he gives her money on occasion when he wants her to buy certain grocery items for meals. He occasionally takes her out for dinner, but only when he needs "physical attention" I suggested divorce, but she said she was just gonna wait for him to die and hope that that happened soon.

My client is married to an "asshole son-of-a-bitch"....her words. Every year for the past 5 years, he files MFS, itemizes and takes all of the deductions (Huge mortgage interest in his name only). My client has no deductions except a little bit of state and local taxes paid. Every year, he gets a huge refund (or at least he tells her he does), and she always owes...a lot. Husband keeps a separate room (locked) where he keeps all of his financial information. Has never even let my client see his tax returns.....It is only from an IRS notice a few years ago that we found out that he is itemizing on his returns (she did not know it, so her first year we filed MFS and took standard deduction....now, we just assume he does every year. He will not confirm or deny, but she did see a 2012 1098 that showed over $11,000 mortgage interest paid....so safe assumption he does. a few years ago, she managed to sneak a copy of his 1040 return and make a copy. We looked at it and the net results would be a LOT better if they did MFJ. She explained that to him (without revealing how she knew) and he told her "I know....but I like that you owe, and I get a refund...that's how its supposed to be". She does not have enough income at her part-time job to be independent and this guy apparently knows that and and treats her like crap because he knows he has her trapped. Every year, she reminds him that his filing MFS and itemizing is costing her big bucks ($2100 this year because she only had 1099 income so no taxes withheld)....she tells me that he just looks at her and smiles. I just had to share this because she just left my office in tears after a long "what would you do if you were me?" one-sided conversation. She is financially trapped.....seems like there should be something she could do...seems like if you are married, both sides should need to agree to MFS....but that would open a different can of worms. I do not see where any type of injured or innocent spouse applies here.

what he said

I had a client offer additional "services" if I would include a Hope credit on her return for her college expenses (even though it was already claimed on her parent's return)....but I think this a different topic.

Repeat client stops by (out of breath...apparently, he ran all the way to my house?)....."I have all of my stuff...can I get my taxes done before the deadline?" "Probably", I told him.....fairly simple return with only a few 1099-Rs, 1099-DIVs, and social security. As he walk out the door, he says "Oh....except my usual three 1099-DIVs I have every year.....I lost those.....Can you just put in the same amounts as last year?"

definately NOT cost of goods sold. The end result might be the same, but it really should go under a separate expense as mentioned by jasdlm above

Thanks everyone....this is what I figured.....I just had ever heard the social security database referred to as the "e-file database"....I wanted to make sure the two were the same.

I am receiving the following e-file rejection error for a taxpayer that passed away in 2012. IND-035 'PrimaryDateOfDeath' in the return must match that in the e-File database. /efile:Return/efile:ReturnHeader/efile:Filer[1]/efile:PrimarySSN Does anybody know what this means? Client's date of death is properly entered in the filers Info section of the 1040.....What/Where is this "e-file database" and why would it not match what I have? does this maybe mean that the taxpayer's daughter (my client) gave me the wrong date of death? When I click on the red box in the error, it seems to want to jump to the 1040 EF info form...but there is nothing there related to taxpayer's date of death

GOOD POINT

If taxpayer sells main residence and meets all requirements to exclude all of the gain...and does NOT receive a 1099-S, do they need to report the sale on their taxes at all?

What is your favorite cheese? Personally, I like a good sharp Vermont white cheddar, but would not pass up a spicy pepper-jack

Once the celebratory hang-over goes away, I find myself wondering what to do with my free time....then I look around at all of the things I have neglected for 3 months....and I get another drink.

If you were a store owner and you made a cash sale to a customer in 2012 and then customer returned the item for a refund in 2013, the sale/income would still be reported by the store-owner in 2012....With a corresponding expense/return in 2013. I would assume the rental situation above would be similar. assuming taxpayer is on cash-basis and not accrual basis for reporting.

I did as MsTabbyKats stated above.....There is no way I am going to manually input or even scan 50 pages of transactions.....I just enter the total line that summarizes at the end.

You are correct. The 8879 is sufficient.....Ohio completely follows Federal and requests no additional forms or signatures. The 8879 does the job for both Fed and Ohio.