SFA

Hey Florida Tax Man, feeling a little testie? It's ok to vent here (to a degree), it's healthy and fun to disagree, but I don't think it's ok to attack another member in this way. Cool it.

NEVER!

I like the zoom slider in the lower right corner. I use it to double-check routing & account numbers.

We updated this morning. We are on a domain server. No noticeable problems so far. Actually, we have been having a problem with the refresh rate on the Return Manager. Sometimes, the menu is different on different workstations. We also are noticing that the "Tax Summary" report does not always agree with the actual state return results. The only fix is to delete the "Tax Summary" form and re-add. Since we don't want to call ATX support, we were hoping that this update would address these issues. Again, too soon to report. Biting our nails . . .

Cool. Found the little envelope! Thanks.

Argh! I had a new couple come in years ago with outrageous deductions on the schedule A, most of if just fabricated. No supporting docs, just all listed out on a piece of paper and a copy of their prior year return. The odd thing is that they were older, he had a small job. Even with the standard deduction they wouldn't have had a penny in tax. I told them we just were gonna stop the nonsense if they were having us work for them. Turns out they were afraid to stop the wild stuff for fear of it throwing a red flag when they put the truth on their returns! Anyway, years later, they are still coming to my office, and I am the only one they trust with their VERY simple return. Actually, I look forward to their visit. They are kinda fun. Good for you to put your foot down. This client will be yours forever.

aawwww.Now this thread has turned into a tax question topic?! "Write off some of it?" OK let me look it up. . . . Yup. Go for it!

I will also have more than a few drinks . . .

Just day dreaming for a minute. Thinking of April 16th. After sleeping in, I'm going to spend the day in the fresh air. Soak up some sun and spend a quiet day by myself. No phone calls. Anyone have a better idea?

In spite of what the ATX technician recommended, (which we are faithfully doing), after reading all these posts regarding the "export" of returns, we have now added "export" as another protective step. What more can we do. Oh yes, pray. Thanks to everyone for helping us to understand the difference between the "ATX backup" and "ATX export" features.

Rich, that's a good idea. When a client leaves, I have to admit, to a little disappointment--especially when they make a point to let me know they are leaving.

There's a lot of fish in the sea. There's a lot of fish for me. NEXT.

Joel, Not to insult you, but it is time to lighten up on the relentless bashing of ATX. You have made your point and you appear to have made your move to Drake. Some of us have our own process to work through and we will, without further nudging from you. Drake may be in our future. I appreciate all the positive feedback that you provide about the comparative benefits. But your bitterness toward ATX is seeping through and getting tiresome. I only started to follow these forums this year and have found the information and comradery very helpful. A lot is at stake for all of us. With three weeks yet to go, those of us still using ATX just need to get to finish line. Wish us luck. If I am out of line for expressing this, let me know.

We saw that same info on the website only a few days ago. Like taxes, it's reading and following instructions that makes the difference. Also known as "GIGO" (garbage in, garbage out). We laid the foundation for our problems.

If we switch for next year, I may buy one stand alone ATX license so that I can rollover our clients. Then we will have a fall-back option if we hit a snag on returns that ATX is better suited for. I am expecting that ATX will at least offer some attractive options to renew.

We are waiting until Monday or Tuesday to update to 12.12. Don't want to be down without Tech Support. Do they offer Sunday support this year?

TAXD OUT, Joanmcq, et al. We thought we had turned the corner regarding the quality and speed of our program. Here is what happened to cause the loss of returns: this is the first year that ATX separated the payroll program from the rest of the tax return program. When we loaded the two programs, they both (I think by default) loaded to the same directory. The programs were co-mingled. We saw this, but didn't uninstall and setup two different directories. When we went to "create efile" to transmit all our W2's and 1099's we couldn't create ANY of them. ATX coached us through separating the programs, all looked good until the next day when our income tax returns disappeared. The technician said that we were not the only ones that this happened to, and he had worked with others to correct the problem, find and restore the files. ATX is working pretty great on our five i5 and i7's. Slow on our three AMD computers and impossible on the XP. All have Windows 7. I think we are going to install ATX 12.12 on Monday or Tuesday. We still get bumped out of the program on all the computers. That might be what is creating the 1kb backkups?

I know that calling ATX tech support takes time, but you may want to call them and ask them to check your files and help you make repairs if needed.

I believe you. I think we had a miracle. You are right about the corrupted backup files. He looked in something called "formset" and that was an essential piece to restoring our latest files. Not only in backup. But he did more than that and I do not have the expertise to relay the details. Again, got LUCKY. For anyone else who is nervous, I cannot reassure you with my experiences.

Update: ATX technician called US! He was terriffic and we are now fully restored to our most recent client files. He was amazing, but doing things that are waaaaayyy above my level. We could not have done this without the technician from ATX. For now we just want to get back to work. He also recommended that we do manual backups of our files to another directory. Then our routine backups of our server should include these files within the ATX program directory: 1. Backup Folder 2. Efiles 3. EFIN Enrollment 4. Network Share Folder (which includes "Formset") He said that if we have these files, they can recreate our returns.

Udate. Our backups are corrupt. The corrupt and missing client files are random and random dates last worked on. When we go to the "restore" feature, the most recent file is never salvagable, but for some files, we can go back to an earlier working session and salvage some or all of the data entered into the clients return. In our "restore" menu, the missing files show as a blank line. There is no client name. On closer inspection, it is not 400 returns, more like 100. The sun has come up, and we are going to push our way through this. Also, I think that there is a way to retrieve our e-filed returns from ATX. So it is our work-in-progress files that need some touch-up.

I know. I've now had a few hours of sleep. I will try to reset today. I'm just very discouraged and have to catch my breath and work with my employees to come up with a plan of action. I am just not used to feeling so vulnerable and worried.

Well, yes, we too get the annual H&R Block letter. I don't want to talk numbers on this site. However, tonight I had a serious discussion with my husband about about my retiring and selling my practice. After today's surprise at perhaps having lost several hundred returns, I am now on my second Crown Royal and ready to call it a night. Let's see what happens when the sun comes up. Nite. Nite.

Yes, we scan every finished return. Yes, we can reconstruct our work-in-progress from good interview checklist and notes. But it's the manpower that is a problem. Everyone is already putting in 50-60+ hours just to stay on track. Finding the "extra" to re-input the returns. I don't know how much more I can ask of my employees, let alone the additional $$$$$$. I may just think about retiring this year. I'm just not having fun anymore. Anyone interested in buying a practice in PA? And oh, yes, you might just have to re-enter several hundred returns next year from scratch instead of rolling them over. But no problem, that's next year's problem.

We may have lost 400 files. I am sick.