joelgilb

Although I have already renewed ATX, I have started looking into the long term tax solutions and alternatives. Was wondering if anyone out hare has used and or compared Redgears Taxworks to the ATX software. Note that since I am also an Attorney, ATX's extensive ofrms library has always been one of its important features to me. Wondering if Redgear can even compete with that. Although I guess I could still add just the ATX forms as a seperate product. Thx (in advance) Joel

Judge Roy Bean (aka Joel), Bringing my Foot Back.... And Getting ready to administer some western justice Says. Judge Roy Bean, You ask and you shall receive Unless of course you have money for whiskey

And now 104. By the way, if anyone finds any published rates on the net and wants to add them or update them and upload it back here ... well I am not holding any "Copyright" on this spreadsheet and won't hold it against you. Maybe we can just consider this the start of a Work In Progress?

he was probably wearing an aluminum hat

Received a call this afternoon. Caller blocked his phone number and would only give his first name. Thought I would share the conversations. Note that the conversation below is not a joke, but the truth. Caller - Hi are you guys CPA's and Tax Attorneys? Me - Yes, what can I do for you? Caller - Well I have a TAX question? Me: - This is Joel, What is your name? Caller,- I would rather not say? Me - I would like to know who I am talking to? Caller - You can call me Mark Me - Ok Mark, what is your question? Caller - (now talking at about 250 miles per minute) - Well I have a neighbor that is a retired IRS agent, that lives in a town home next to me and his water is leaking into my unit. And well I was wondering if I sue him or report him will he cause me t get audited? Me - What? Caller - Well I was just wondering if you know if he still would have connections and could be vindictive because I go after him for the damage he is causing to my unit. Me - I really can't answer that question. Caller - Well have you ever had clients that have complained about an IRS agent they know that has done something to get revenge or something lie that? Me - Again I can't answer that, you have a nice day. And then I hung up.

My guess is that we are only going to to see the low end publish their rates on the internet and so that is what I found. I accumulated them mainly because I was curious. I start with my hourly rate and Mark Up from there.

Been Paperless for years.... Just can't see my desk because of all these white and yellow 8.5 x 11 things on it Not to mention all the piles around the desk Wondering what they are, since I am paperless?

Happy Birthday. Not Late here, just Date Challanged

ROARRRRR ROARRRRRR HAPPY BIRTHDAY! And have a ROARRRING GOOD TIME!

Agree. I bill what I bill. You don't like it, go somewhere else!

As far as charging by the hour, you essentially need a decent time clock software. I used to use TimeSlips and then switched to the QB Timer bundled with QuickBooks. If someone calls that I am going to bill, just switch to a new timeslip (lingo I still use from TimeSlips, but QB calls it an activity) without turning off the clock at all, and immediately the new slip is accumulating your time. I can look, at any time at Time Activity Log and use it to add a bill int ATX and still export to QB for my own records. Has abilty to accumulate time in multiple rates, items, add classes etc. You can add additional and specific descriptions which will be added to the default descriptions from your items listed in QB, upon import into QB. One of the few things Intuit did right (for those of you that know me you know I HATE INTUIT). I can also use it in conjunction with Intuit's Billing Solutions (a pay for service of Intuit/QB) and Merchant Services (Intuits Credit Card Service) to facilitate getting paid by credit card and emailing bills to clients. And Billing Solutions will send out automatic reminders of unpaid invoices to my clients that I bill. Its like have a billing clerk without a salary! And well for an Attorney, the Courts often require us to have very detailed line by line bills. Only thing it doesn't do well that TimeSlips did is round invoices to the nearest "?" (you fill it in - tenth, sixth, or quarter hour or nearest multiple of $5, or $10), and I find I have to manually round off my billing items.

Nope, Eric setup a nice site for us with lots of features. Look at the post where I uploaded the file, at this point 80 downloads!

Lion, Just noticed that you graduated to ATX Master. CONGRATS!

Well I see a number of you are downloading the spreadsheet I created. Any comments?

Won't be much longer that we can use ATX anyway. CCH trying to create a totally new tax preparation software and discontinue both ATX and Taxwise. Couple of years maybe? I only hope they understand the 2 products enough to save the features that both base of users have come to appreciate. Of course I am sure we can expect this "Improved" (sarcasm intended) New Tax Software Package to come with a higher price.

and my divorce was on 09/12 Hmm that's today. Had mixed feelings on 09/12/01. First I had to celebrate getting the divorce, but in light of what had happened the day before it didn't seem right. Also, remember going to Court that day with the heightened Security Levels. Usually there was a seperate line for attorneys that let us get past the security lines. Of course that changed on 09/12/01. Almost all the attorneys, myself included, stood in the regular line and understood the reasons. BUT of course there was one of my brethren that was not happy and very antagonistic when he was not let through the special short line (now non-existent). Almost got arrested and when he was sent to the back of the long line, you could hear the applause from all the other attorneys for blocks (again, myself included)! So now, Yesterday I mourned and today I celebrate!

on the money KC, as always!

Although I bill by my time (with appropriate markups when necessary), I did some research a couple of years ago and copied fees from a few sites and then created an Excel Spreadsheet to compare them. Most of it is by form, and I have found if I had charged by the form my rates may end up being too high. Note that some of the fees here are a few years old and therefore out of date. Still it may be a helpful guide Note that the spreadsheet also has a range of hourly rates from roughly $75 to $250. Also a lot depends on where you are located. Fees in New York, Los Angeles or Chicago for instance are much higher than Little Town USA. Anyway here is the spreadsheet for any that want it. Tax_Ret_Prep__Fees_Comparison_ATX_User.xls

been buying the ones from Nelco (that ATX's own site links to ). Although they are more expensive, they seem to be the only ATX compatable folders that can handle over-sized returns. Of course you must have a heavy duty stapler and sometimes this is not enough. They do come in a few different colors, so you can (and I do) rotate colors to between years. Clients seem to like the color coding between years. Have even been able to use them to bind returns of a couple hundred pages (not easy though). Used to use the cheap 2 pocket folders but... as for saving the cost on the folder... I have had nothing but compliments from existing and new clients regarding the professional look they provide. And I easily passed the extra cost to the clients with a modest fee increase. I will look at Tenenz though to see if any of their folders can handle large returns

It is ok to have a negative AAA, but you should understand why it is negative. For instance, if the taxpayer took out loans and then draws on from those loans, you have a valid reason for the AAA to be negative. As for ATX forcing distributions, I am not sure I have ever seen this. I have always entered the draws and distributions manually. You are indicating that: BB = (32272) Inc = 36494 oth red = 550 and dist = 11210 You should not have to force the above, just enter the Dist and everything should flow then AAA looks like it should be (7538)

A little late in replying to this one as I have been mysteriously missing from the board as of late. But I have demo'ed the ATX Document Manager (and I believe this is the same product) and well int two words - "IT SUCKED!' It is not a true document manager

Just thinking that maybe this will help. Your client is taxed in Vietnam because he worked there and had a tax nexus to that country and their tax laws. Your client is taxed in the USA because he is a citizen here and USA (in general) taxes the worldwide income of its residents/citizens. To avoid double taxation between countries, our the countries enter into Tax Treaties to indicate where the taxpayer should be taxed and how. If you really wanted to see how the USA dealt with Vietnam you should read the treaty we have with them. But, essentially the USA will give a tax credit for taxes paid out to the other country. This will cause your client to be taxed at the higher of the countries rates. Should Vietnam be higher he will not get a credit for the full 28000, if USA is higher he will get a 28000 credit. The best analogy to this would be the State tax credits for taxes paid in another State

My 2 cents. Maribeth is correct follow her advice.

I see Jainen in a whole new light. Its bright and seems to be shining down from somewhere up above. Either that or he caught the swine flu. JK LOL

Looks to me like the home is temporary. But think LBB has a good point, not so sure that this is not a career change. Might want to look to see if there any cases on point.