Abby Normal

Agree about the letters. I spend more time fixing them on almost every return. And we need direct access to the master letters without having to be in a return. And a default font, including size, that you choose for the letter text under preferences should be added. Often when I'm editing a letter it defaults to 10pt Arial or Georgia, neither of which I use.

The 1099R did not have the estate's EIN on it, so either way, the IRS is going to have to find the withholdings and move them to the right account. 1041 may be correct but 1040 with surviving spouse works and it's faster. I know. I've done it.

And the 5 year rule is only for Roth conversions, but older people have been being advised to do these conversions to save their heirs taxes.

My question is, if you use the "Other" section, is the pdf sent to both the feds and the states or just the feds. I wanted to attach some K1s with nonresident withholding to the state because the state always sends a letter asking for them but it's totally unclear what using Other does.

I'm not sending the IRS any broker statements this year as a test to see if they ask for them. I don't think they have the time or the inclination to check all those PDFs or paper copies. As long as the taxpayer's total sales proceeds equal or exceed the total in the IRS' computer, they don't flag that return. Eventually they'll be able to check basis too and they've already tipped their hand that they just want totals on Sch D for box A & D transactions. I put totals on Sch D for years before I learned that you're supposed to send the IRS detail sheets and I never heard a peep from them, so I doubt I'll hear a peep now. And if I do, I'll just say, Oh, did my office manager forget to send those to you? I'm sorry, she's new. Here you go.

I'm not using those boxes because I use the totals on the Detail page to tie to the 1099B(s), so I find those boxes inconvenient.

I charge $25 more for paper filed returns. Sometimes it changes their minds. Sometimes not.

The answer is to override box 5 "Total 2013 payments" so it's more than the amount on line 4 "Estimate of liability" so box 7 "Amount you are paying" is zero. Box 4 is the only box that matters if the IRS is going to challenge an extension and that only happens in rare cases. It shouldn't happen at all. It's bullshit, but it is the law.

I just want to go on the record as saying I hate the extension process and the whole concept of having to file for an "automatic" extension with a reasonable estimate of the tax liability, or the IRS can (and has) reject it. No tax software I've ever used has made the process automated or easy. My idea: if you don't file by the 15th you automatically have until 10/15. No "request" made to the IRS is necessary. That's why I think when I hear the word "automatic". As for ATX, we used the batch process to create (and print - we turned our printer off then killed the print queue) zero amount extensions. Then we're going into each unfinished return and overriding the tax amount and the amount paid payments so no amount is owed. Check the lock box, put in our PIN and create the efile. Then we'll just have to remember to delete the amount paid on the 4868 when checking the final return. Nothing flows to the 1040 if no balance due on 4868. My employee who's doing them all says it's great compared to what we did last year in TaxWorks.

Thanks! I'll try that on the next one. I was getting red errors unless I entered dates, country, etc. so I was just feeding the beast what it was asking for.

The Fixed Assets form appears when you add the 4562. Delete and re-add the 4562.

Prior preparer was wrong. Amend those returns and depreciate the house (and take all the expenses) on the day care Sch C directly.

Anyone else notice a speed improvement?

It's just called "paperless"? I've not heard of it.

Well that's good news! The letters have been driving me crazy.

Try running a Check on the return. I had ghost assets appear after doing this once. Then I deleted all the ghost assets.

And then they never repay it and what do you do? Plus you're stuck with imputed interest which creates phantom interest income on the S Corp. No thanks!

The most important thing you do on a computer is SAVE, SAVE, SAVE! If your computer "takes too long to save", get a new computer. I was entering 5 W2s yesterday and I saved after each one. I save after entering each asset. I was saving less in ATX early on until it crashed and I had to reenter a K1 and Basis worksheet. I would rather spend a 1/10 of a second pressing Ctrl-S than 3 or 4 minutes reentering a K1, not to mention the frustration. Ain't nobody got time for that!

On audit, the IRS would move it to distributions anyway. Might as well do it right to begin with. The shareholder clearly did not intend this to be a loan. "penalties of perjury, blah, blah, blah.

Haven't used that line and it's filled with N/A on mine too. Not sure what I would ever want to put there. If it's a biz exp, I'd put it on Sch C. Just leave it alone. You might have to delete/re-add form.

Jack was telling me just the other day that I shouldn't save as often as I do. I save early and often. I do this in ANY program I use (spreadsheet, text editor, email, etc.) I've lost data in ATX on crashes several times in the past few weeks, but it is always just one form because I save before switching forms almost without fail. I hit Ctrl-S about every minute or so. Whenever I'm ready to hit Ctrl-B, I always hit Ctrl-S first. You don't even have to release the Ctrl key.

It's amazing how many people get this wrong. Most of my S corps' AAA does not equal retained earnings. But then again, I have no idea why we track AAA. I've never used it in any calculations, even on liquidations.

I would rather have capital gains distributions than W2 wages. It's all money coming form the business to the individual. I used to dread it when there were distributions in excess of basis but then I realized it's not a problem. The losses get suspended to be used against future income.

I have QB back to version 11 running under Win8. I'm going to tell all my clients that have to upgrade to at least 2012 this summer because all my computers are going to be Win8. I have XP installed in a VMWare virtual machine in case I really need to run any old software. I actually have one client still using an old DOS accounting system! I almost had him convinced to switch to QB but he got cold feet at the last minute. <sigh>

I've never issued a 1099 and I don't think you should because it's already reported on the K1. Excess distributions are capital gains so if you were going to issue a 1099 it would be a 1099B. I would not treat it as a loan to shareholder because it's not evidenced by a note and the loan will never be repaid.