Gail in Virginia

Too True! I lost one of my jump drives this fall when I gave a presentation for the local Edward Jones clients, but fortunately I had nothing on that drive but power point presentations about taxes. I do have a couple that I used for client data, however, and I have been even more careful of those since losing the unimportant one.

The easiest way I have found is from within the e-file manager, select the rejected return, click on E-file in the upper left corner, then choose Display SElected E-file Rejection Errors from the drop down menu. This will open the return with a box at the bottom that shows what the problem is. Once you have fixed the problem (assuming it is fixable) you can then create the e-file again and move on to the next problem. Hope this helps.

We have always provided printed copies to our clients for them to mail to SSA when we prepare their W-2s for them. We usually ask them to hold them for a couple of weeks after they hand out the employees' copies in case someone suddenly remembers that they changed their name this year or moved. We have always given them red copies, and a 9x11 envelope for mailing because the W-2 forms say "DO NOT CUT, FOLD OR STAPLE." Is this really necessary? I hate using these big envelopes and paying extra postage, especially for the smaller employers who only have three or four pages total to put in the envelope. But I like not having to remember to go back and e-file everything, and instead putting it onto the the employer to get these filed. Anyone have any experience with what happens if you fold (gasp!) a Copy A W-2?

Does he qualify for Free File from the IRS? If you are already familiar with taxes and know your way around a 1040, it might work. I have only used it to show college students how they can file their own returns, but I know my aunt used to use it to do her return until she missed the long term care deduction and started paying me to do her returns.

If it is a gift, then it would all be reported on a gift tax return and would only be taxable if the brother has exceeded his lifetime exclusion. But when you give something in exchange for something, it is not a gift. It sounds like rather than a life lease, the term you want is life estate. And that would give her all the rights and responsibilities of ownership until her death when it would transfer automatically to the owners set up when the life estate was set up. And that would leave it in her estate. However, I have never heard of anyone "selling" their right to inherit. They don't really have ownership of anything until she dies, and if they should predecease her for some reason they will never have ownership of anything. So Pacun might be right and it might be more of a gift since you can't really sell something that you don't own. I have not ever seen this, so I can't really say that I have an opinion, and I think you are going to need more than someone's opinion - you are going to need some kind of cite because I think someone is going to be unhappy no matter what you do. The question is whether it is the brother or the sisters. Good Luck.

Thanks, Jack. I will be in touch after tax season. I would have to be in emergency failed mode to try this now.

Okay, Jack, you have me worried. We are running on a Server 2003 environment and have not had a problem with 2010 or 2011, But we plan tentatively to replace the server next spring/summer. Are we going to have difficulty restoring our data from those years when we change machines? I guess there is no point in borrowing trouble.

I think you are probably officially the last one for this year; if you want to be first, you have to wait until midnight Jan. 1, 2012.

This is an interesting thread. I just signed up for ProAdvisor for the first time. We paid the $749 price, which was less than the cost of the accountant's version of the software plus the accountant's payroll subscription ($395+399.95=794.95). For this we get the software, the payroll subscription, the phone support, free online backup (which we probably won't use), free remote access to our clients (2 unattended, and unlimited attended) plus we can accept credit/debit cards through Intuit using a smartphone swiper they provide at no charge for 23 cents a transaction plus 1.61%, with no charge per month. I don't know that we will use that either. I agree that I don't like to pay such a high fee for the software and payroll, but so many of our clients use it that I don't see a way to not buy QuickBooks, and if I have to buy it anyway I hate to buy something else to use in house even though I am sure there are better programs out there. But I would have felt a little better if I had gotten the $549 price.

What beautiful pictures! Thanks for sharing! And a Merry Christmas to all of you!

Merry Christmas, everyone! i hope everyone's health holds up through another tax season, and that the spouses all get well and stay well also!

Several of us are members of NATP, and the benefits of membership have been discussed on this forum before. This is a fairly recent discussion (if the link works) I just did a quick search on NATP, but it seems to me like I remember an older discussion. I personally appreciate the weekly emails and the monthly periodicals that discuss tax issues. Most of the professional organizations, such as NATP, NAEA, etc. offer similar emails and publications. For me, it just reminds of things I haven't used lately or teaches me about areas that don't have much impact on my practice (yet!) and lets me view other positions on tax law and how to run an office. It sounds like you have been offered a good deal on membership.

WOW! I cannot imagine the effort just in getting this glass harp tuned, much less keeping it that way and playing such a complicated piece on it. What a beautiful sound and sight. Thanks for sharing!

A belated Happy Thanksgiving to all of you! I have so much to be thankful for, and am thankful for my refrigerator stuffed full of yummy leftovers from yesterday!

Same applies to Virginia as all of the other posters. It has been my experience that the system is heavily weighted in favor of the employee. A local contractor "suspended" an employee for three days for drinking on the job. The employee did not come back to work but instead filed for unemployment. The contractor contested it and said the employee could come back to work but would not be allowed to drink on the job sites. The employee go unemployment because of a hostile work environment. Now the contractor's rate is about 3 times what it would be if he had no claims filed against him. The original determination is done by phone; in order to appeal, the contractor would have to spend a day driving to and from Richmond to appeal in person, plus whatever time the actual appeal took. And even if they appeal, odds are not good that the employer will prevail. Employees can file regardless of the situation and it is then up to the employer to demonstrate that they were dismissed for cause.

I have also been hanging around, and checking to see what someone else would post. I hope that your eye improves, bstaxes, and I hope that they can either figure out what caused your episode or else you never have another one, necpa. My husband has been dealing with atrial fibrillation attacks since last February and he finally had a cardiac ablation done in September hoping that would cure the problem. He has had two attacks since then, but they tell me that it takes about three months for the scar tissue to fully form to prevent the attacks so I am still hopeful. And I am thankful that he is otherwise healthy and with me. During tax season we all post more frequently, I think, as we have questions and need our electronic "water cooler." But the support and help on this board is one of the things that I am thankful for in this Thanksgiving season.

I believe that if a student has a Coverdell Education IRA, they can also use funds from that for any educational expense required, including computers and books. And this is available for Kindergarten through College if I am not mistaken.

How was your friend's LLC filed at the federal level? If it was a sole member, and he filed as a Sched. C sole proprietor, VA would expect an individual VA tax return beginning with the federal return's AGI. IF there was no income for the individual, then VA will probably not question the lack of a return since they begin with the federal AGI.

If instead of clicking on the post, you click on the dot to the left of the post topic, it takes you right to the first unread post in that topic. After that, if instead of going "Back to General Chat" you click on "Next Unread Topic" it takes you to the next unread post in the next topic.

http://www.phoneslips.com/home.aspx We use Phone Slips for scheduling, as well as addresses and telephone messages. I know the latest version is 64 bit compatible, but I am not sure what the limit is on entries. It is limited in number of users as well (at least the version we use is.) It might be possible to buy additional licenses. The program itself is extremely easy to use, with almost no learning curve. And the price is reasonable, IMHO.

There was a rumor in this area last year that one of the tenants in a section 8 housing unit had purchased Turbo Tax to do their tax return. They noticed that if they increased the amounts on their W-2, their EITC went up. So they played with the program until they were getting the maximum amount of refund. Then they helped all of their friends by doing their taxes for them. I don't think that filing the 8867 will help with fraud like that. Nor will my asking more questions. Unfortunately, if people decide to cheat they can only be stopped after the fact, if then. By the time the IRS matches the real information to what was put in to get the most credit, the people involved will probably have moved on, or at the very least the money will be long gone.

And I am thinking that if there is no actual trust instrument, just the will, then the granddaughter inherited the assets but did not have control over them due to the trust. Therefore, her will (if she had one, not likely under 18) or the laws of intestacy in Texas would control and the assets would go to her next of kin. But I am not a lawyer nor am I from Texas. I hope you get better assistance from someone more qualified.

Why not a gift card to their favorite restaurant? That way they can celebrate their anniversary on you!

If that ever could be done, I don't think it is an option any longer. According to the IRS website, the 1023 has to be filed and the user fees paid in order to reinstate the organization as an exempt organization. I think the reinstatement can be made retroactive if the missed filings are sent in with the application for exemption. You might want to look at the FAQs on the website at http://www.irs.gov/charities/article/0,,id=221600,00.html for information. A revoked exemption is when a non-profit organization that is exempt from taxation under section 501( c)(3) has its exemption revoked and is therefore no longer recognized as an exempt organization.

I like that suggestion, Mike. The topic is broad enough that it might generate more than just an occasional post, and yet it does define a topic other than tax questions.