Lynn EA USTCP in Louisiana

MAMalody - my issue re clergy (I have 2 clergy clients - both cantors) is that the congregations will NOT issue the proper tax reporting documents. One congregation issues a 1099-MISC with the full amount shown in box 7, no reduction thereof for the allocated housing allowance. Here, the payroll is done by a volunteer treasurer. The other congregation issues a W2 will all (Fed WH, SS and Medicare) withholdings. And NOTHING notated in box 14 for the allocated housing allowance. This congregation uses a national payroll service, which in my experience does a poor job of reporting variances in W2 reporting (clergy, S corp SH health ins, or personal use of company vehicles). For the second, when I do the SE calculation I 'back out' the W2 wages for which SS and Medicare have already been deducted - is there a better way to do this? No amount of 'education' on my part will get them to change the way they report the income. Not really asking for advice or suggestions, though any and all are greatly accepted. Just venting. Lynn Jacobs, EA Kenner, LA

Margaret, since this is a leased vehicle, try entering the vehicle information on the schedule C vehicle information tab, and NOT on the 4562 vehicle information tab. A leased vehicle will not be depreciated so it makes no sense to me that the information for it would be entered on the 4562 tab. Let us know if that makes a difference. Lynn Jacobs, EA Kenner, LA

At ML, RRA refers to ROTH IRA. Lynn Jacobs, EA Kenner, LA

My clients' (brother and sister) 85 y/o father has lived in PR for several years. He is unable to manage his own affairs, and moved to a nursing home facility in the fall of 2008. They (the brother and sister) now have a POA over his affairs, including tax matters, and have asked me to file his return. He has a US Pension and Social Security. Do I file JUST the PR return? Or both the US 1040 and the PR return? Any and ALL guidance gratefully accepted. Thank you, Lynn Jacobs, EA Kenner, LA

Meals will come into play only if as a requirement of their job the police officer is required to eat meals in a public restaurant adjacent to a roadway whenever practical, report by radio when they eat, and advise the telephone number or the code number of the restaurant where they are eating. The restaurant must be open to the public and may not serve liquor. The police officer is prohibted from eating meals at home during working hours and may not bring meals from home and eat in the patrol car. The requirements must also detail the time at which the office may eat, the time allowed for the meal and the number of officers who may eat together. The above is from a Tax Court case, Christey v. United States, KTC 1988-79 (8th Cir. 1988). Lynn Jacobs, EA Kenner, LA

I saw that the IRA worksheet was 'not yet approved' for e=filing. But I went ahead and e-filed a return with the IRA. Lo and behold, that return was NOT rejected; it was ACCEPTED. Lynn Jacobs, EA Kenner, LA

Nothing came up in when I did a 'search'. I tried doing a 'batch create' for the 2008 tax organizers. That was a mistake - froze the program. (In other programs I've used I would create about 10 at a time to avoid that problem.) So now I'm back to creating the tax organizers on a return-by-return basis. I see there's a 'batch print' for the tax organizers. Questions: 1) is it wise to do several batch prints, of perhaps 10 organizers at a time, to avoid the program freezing? 2) with the batch print, will it print only to paper? Or will it also batch print to a .pdf file? Many thanks, Lynn Jacobs, EA Kenner, LA

This is for my 'own' tax return. In the 2008 program I did a projection and find that my 4th quarter estimated payment will be unnecessary; expect to have a refund even without it. When I completed my 2007 return I set up within the ATX program for the federal estimated payments to be automatically deducted from my checking account. I checked the EFTPS system and it wasn't processed through them. Is there a way to cancel the 1/15/2009 estimated payment when the instructions were sent from within the tax program when the return was e-filed? I'll call or e-mail Tech Support if I have to but thought I'd start here. Call or e-mail directly if necessary. Thanks. Lynn Jacobs, EA Kenner, LA 504-469-1025 [email protected]

Gail, I've been using Howell Client Writeup for 15+ years for writeup clients. It's a VERY easy program to use, reasonably priced and excellent customer support. Mention my name as a referral - see www.howellsoftware.com . They have a demo of the writeup program as well as stand-alone fixed asset manager, payroll and bank reconciliation. Their writeup program includes an after-the-fact payroll function which includes all quarterly/year end reports, W2, W3, 1099 and 1096. Lynn Jacobs, EA Kenner LA

My client with the largest asset list had HUNDREDS of assets. Every year before I started working on the income section of the return I reviewed their assets, to see which were disposed of and if any new ones were purchased. I don't know about any shortcuts as I always listed each and every asset. Maybe some others with more ATX experience than I will be more helpful with this. Lynn Jacobs, EA Kenner, La

According to my sources on other webboards, the CAF centers are running at a week backlog instead of the usual 2 - 3 days. Lynn Jacobs, EA Kenner, LA

The form I received about my stimulus rebate gives the following phone number 1-866-234-2942 Lynn Jacobs, EA Kenner, LA

I've been using Client Accounting by Howell Software for 10+ years. They are VERY affordable, and very user friendly. The program has only improved over the years. They offer several different programs (client accounting, live payroll, fixed asset manager, bank reconciliation) but I only use the Client Accounting to do the after-the-fact writeup and payroll. Don Roberts in Florida is the owner. I have only good things to say about them. Here's their email and website: email - [email protected] website - www.howellsoftware.com telephone number - (407) 323-1983 Fax - (407) 323-3892 Give my name as a reference. Lynn Jacobs, EA Kenner, LA

All my federal returns and extensions have been "ack'd". But I have 6 state returns (LA) which still show in some other status than "ack'd", either validated by EFC or something else. I went to the ATX website and checked on the status for these returns there. 3 of them show as acknowledged, so I asked for the ack to be sent to me. The other 3 (sent in March) on the ATX website still show as validated even though I've called the state who assure me these 3 returns have actually been "ack'd" and the acks have been sent to ATX. ATX denies receiving the acks on these 3 and say it's a state issue. I'm still waiting for the acks 3 which show as ack'd. Lynn Jacobs, EA Kenner, LA

There are different rules for exempting retirement, depending on its source. But, federal retiree benefits, including railroad retirement, are fully exempt from LA state income tax. Also, state retirement benefits, state teachers benefits, municipal teachers benefits are also fully exempt from LA state income tax. Other retirement benefits, such as an IRA are exempt up to $6,000 for each taxpayer who receives the benefit, if the retiree is age 65 or older. Go to www.rev.state.la.us for more FAQs. Lynn Jacobs, EA Kenner, LA

DILEMMA: I have 3 tax returns which were e-filed (Federal and LA state) on 3/6/2008. The 3 federal returns have been ACK'd. The 3 state returns still show IRS CLEARED. I called Tech Support and was told they'd look into it and get back to me. So far, this hasn't happened. So I sent an e-mail to LA E-file Help Desk. Didn't get a reply by Monday noon so I called LA E-file Help Desk and was told that those 3 returns were ACK'D by the state on 3/7 and the refunds have been sent out. So far so good for my clients. Kathy from LA E-File Help Desk (to whom I had sent the email) called me this morning; when I relayed what has transpired so far she said she'd call ATX and find out what's going on. Tech support thinks my issue has been resolved. It has not. My system still shows those 3 returns as IRS CLEARED. I have done a "synch" with the ATX system 3 times, the most recent one within a few days; those 3 returns are still IRS CLEARED. Tech support keeps suggesting I call them; I think it should be the other way around - they should be calling me. Lynn Jacobs, EA

DILEMMA: I have 3 tax returns which were e-filed (Federal and LA state) on 3/6/2008. The 3 federal returns have been ACK'd. The 3 state returns still show IRS CLEARED. I called Tech Support and was told they'd look into it and get back to me. So far, this hasn't happened. So I sent an e-mail to LA E-file Help Desk. Didn't get a reply by Monday noon so I called LA E-file Help Desk and was told that those 3 returns were ACK'D by the state on 3/7 and the refunds have been sent out. So far so good for my clients. Kathy from LA E-File Help Desk (to whom I had sent the email) called me this morning; when I relayed what has transpired so far she said she'd call ATX and find out what's going on. Tech support thinks my issue has been resolved. It has not. My system still shows those 3 returns as IRS CLEARED. I have done a "synch" with the ATX system 3 times, the most recent one within a few days; those 3 returns are still IRS CLEARED. Tech support keeps suggesting I call them; I think it should be the other way around - they should be calling me. Lynn Jacobs, EA ATX Customer EFIN 720028 telephone 504-469-1025 e-mail [email protected]

Are those really "Health" insurance premiums? Or are they your investment in that contract? Lynn Jacobs, EA Kenner, LA

9325

I haven't had that response, yet. Mine are still showing "validated by EFC". I've been asking for ACK's all day and have received nothing. Maybe they're now holding off on sending the ACKS until they get that problem worked out. I didn't see anything listed on their MyATX site about your error message. Lynn Jacobs, EA Kenner, LA

Are you eligible to participate in the IRS e-services program? If you are then I highly recommend a program - TaxScripts -. The 2848 may be inputted via TaxScripts and, voila', within a matter of minutes your POA is on file and you may download whatever tax information you desire. Lynn Jacobs, EA Kenner, LA

Corporate extensions are filed via Form 7004. Lynn Jacobs, EA Kenner, LA

In most instances these pensions are taxable, but not hte full amount. Upon retiring these retirees should have received a notification from the retirement program of how much of their pension would be taxable (or vice versa, nontaxable). So many of them, however, didn't even keep (much less read and understand) these letters. But I have had very good experience in calling the retirement board and getting them to help me with this; usually this is done while the t/p is in my office so they give the person on the other end permission to send me the requested info. Does the 1099-R have any amounts in box 5, "Employee Contributions"? Lynn Jacobs, EA Kenner, LA

AND his choice of residency will affect not only his income tax rate (MS is higher generally), but ALSO his homestead exemption. He needs to see which state has the higher property tax rate as well (MS is also generally higher). If he files as a resident of LA and nonresident of MS he will maintain his homestead exemption in LA and LOSE it for MS (and vice versa). Lynn Jacobs, EA Kenner, LA

Tom, there is a section for "Elections". You may have to add it to your return. It has LOTS of elections, applicable to general returns, only to 1040, only to 1165, only to 1120 or 1120S, etc. I think once you find that you'll be able to make your 195 election. Lynn Jacobs, EA Kenner, LA