SFA

see if their vendors / suppliers have any statements that may help. If you are interested in helping them, do the best you can. Good luck.

Depends . . . (not refering to diapers) . . .

Hmmm... creative. Thinking outside the box! Are any of these items still depreciating?

Per IRS installment agreement: "When you pay your taxes after the due date, we charge a penalty of 0.5% (reduced to 0.25% on installment agreements) of the unpaid amount due per month, up to 25% of the amount due." A small concession, but installment agreements also do not show up on credit reports, and the interest rates are less than credit card financing. And taxpayer always has the option to pay off the balance early. I recommend that my clients negotiate for the lowest monthly payment possible, then pay as much as possible. I have one client who pays $25.00/month on a $10,000 balance due. He is in a hardship situation but not eligible for an offer-in-compromise.

OK

About H&R Block--it is easy to pillory Block for the confusion over the completion of the Education Credit form. This year, all these changes were made last minute and rolled out at a time that we are on the firing line. The extra work to complete the due diligence on EIC, energy credits, education credits, the new forms associated with capital gains, et al. Every box must be perfectly checked. When I graduated from college with an accounting degree, I had no idea how to prepare and assemble a personal tax return. I learned the fundamentals from Block. This was in 1975 when we did returns by hand. No computers. Kids didn't even have social security numbers.

Just remembering my first efile. Many years ago. I asked each of my clients . . . do you want to be my FIRST e-file???? Heck NO! So, my son was the guinea pig. I was so nervous. The IRS efile center walked me through the steps. At that time I was filing directly to the IRS, not through a third party like ATX. I was using an old DOS program: Dunphy.

I slept in this morning. Hangover from last night. Decadence for sure. It was fun, but here I sit at midnight making up for it....

somebody has too much time on his hands. perhaps you are on hold with ATX?

I agree with jainen. Stay professional. Sometimes the criticism hurts more when there is a kernal of truth? I know from experience. when clients are frustrated, sometimes they don't say it in a perfect way. Forgive where you can, fix what you can, and move on when you can.

He can meet me at some really great vacation spot, as long as he picks up the tab, and we keep the meeting brief!

Thanks "HV" Ken. Don't know why, put the billing program is working just fine again. AbraCadabra!!!????

Something NEW on only one of my computers. When I am creating invoices, and go to the billing manager to adjust the rate that I charge on a particular form within the client file, the ATX program shuts down. This is not happening on my other computers. Is something corrupted that I can fix without calling ATX tech support?

It's ok. I can take criticism like a big girl. No problem. So now this makes 16 posts. BTW, I'm wearing Chanel No. 5. I do pass the smell test.

Wonder if we should get this info out to our clients who depend on their large refunds. When asked if anyone has had a client who has been rejected for IT, quite a few hands were raised at one of our recent PSPA chapter meetings. It can and does happen. I'm encouraging my clients to consider changing W4's to reduce the size of next years refund.

We are mailing the Form 8453 transmittal (with the box checked for Form 8949) and attaching a copy of the brokerage house's transaction statements. The only entries that we are making on in the return is one line for each group type of trades (such as short-term A, short-term B, Short-term c, etc. Our entry says something like: "Edward Jones - See F8453 attached statement." We didn't make this up. We found this in the instructions.

WOW. New computers arrived today and are up and working. What an amazing improvement. Now, hoping that tomorrow's ATX update doesn't mess it up! If ATX had worked this good on day one, I would have no complaints. My only problem now is to catch up on the backlog of work.

Thank you for this information. To know your client is always a good starting point. Exactly, we are not private investigators. Tax returns are like snow flakes--each one generally has something unique. In the case of this minister, you are also right, he has been sweet and truly just wants me to prepare his return like a professional. I did quite a bit of research, and was surprised to find that his church does not need to issue any documentation to the IRS regarding the housing allowance payments since he is not receiving W-2 compensation for services. Some of the points made in this thread have really helped me prepare for this return. Thank you.

I am just about finished with a clergy return. Small church with a minister who's compensation is all "housing allowance" no W-2 issued. He has some Sch C income, and lots of mileage. He is a new client this year, so I asked him what his clergy credentials were? Apparently, in his faith, the requirements are that you must believe in God and declare your intent to minister! His congregation accepts that and pays him a housing allowance. I googled his church and they have an EIN and are recognized as a church and publish their services locally. OK, so how much investigation do I need to do regarding his credentials? And how about him not receiving anything from the church to document his housing allowance? Argh.

Joan I am sorry for loss. I should have posted my condolence first and not my dog story. I am new to this forum. I can be a real clod sometimes.

My dog rolled in sh*t this morning. Had to give him a bath. Without my pets, I would need serious therapy. Looks like I am in good company with others on this forum.

I just entered a comment in the "emails to support" thread. Probably should have posted it here. My sales rep: Gil Watts, is not responding to my emails. I also copied his supervisor. Still no response. I renewed on December 27. By that time ATX knew that severe problems were in the works. He gave me no heads up. We also had problems last year, but somehow, ATX convinced us that the problems were ours. Our Server, our workstations, no problems on their end. Really? Then if all was honkey-dorey, why invest in a rewrite? In hindsite, I spent a lot of money on outside technical support, downtime, upgrade of computer memory, etc. because it was all our fault. And that's just last years investment! We have a network of 7 desktops and 1 server. This year we did some serious upgrades prior to tax season, and still having problems with slow computing. Hey Gil--I think you have something to answer for!

I emailed my sales rep: Gil Watts several days ago to ask for my money back, and to receive next years program FREE. No answer yet. Also reminded him that I renewed December 27. By that time they knew that serious problems were in the works. Then I also said that I may join any lawsuits that are in play. Having said that, I am still hoping that ATX survives and to continue to use the program successfully this year and in future years. Just hoping that he does not force me into a corner where I will feel that I have no other recourse than a lawsuit.

OR: Form 2016: employee business expense? Does he receive a W-2? The Sch C expenses are to offset only the Sch C income items--not his W-2 compensation. I'm still thinking 100% Sch A charitable contributions.

Every time that I open a return, I go to the M&M drawer. I'm going to get fat waiting for returns to open!