rfassett

Agreed, Lion. Those were my thoughts as well. Document ad nausem. The good news, as you point out, is the court opened that door wide open - as long as the documentation is in order.

Thanks Jack!

Score one for the good guys!

I just opened my 2011 ATX to efile a late return. When I went to the e-file manager to select the created return, I expected to find just that return. Instead I found 959 of 1205 e-files in the "created" status. These returns, with the exception of the one mentioned, have all been efiled and accepted long ago. What would change the status of these in my software? More importantly, how do I fix it? I have to say, I honestly felt a twi-light zone moment there when I first saw this. Any thoughts?

My understanding is that unless notified by the IRS that there is an issue, it is one and done. No repeated registering is necessary.

I agree with Lynn's comments. And I would add additional commentary and suggest that this is just another attempt to prostitute the tax prep business. Tax preparation is becoming more and more a commodity at the lower level and spreading to the middle level prep work. Fortunately for many of us, there is still a need for non-commodity prep work. And that is where my practice will continue to reside. I probably have a half dozen clients that might sign up for such a service, but they are not my mainstay clients. If my practice ever gets to that level of commodity brokering, I will get out of the business because it would mean the business and the work I do for my clients is no longer challenging.

All of my 1099 and W-2 from 2011 are there. I had them as separate files, i.e., separate from the 1120, etc returns, if that makes any difference in your case. You might need to call customer service to get it straightened out.

On the rollover drop down menu on the rollover manager tab, did you "browse for last year's returns"?

I remember some discussion when Exporer 8 came out that there were some issues. Caused me to step back a little. By the time I installed it a couple months later apparently the bugs were worked out. I have been using 8 on all of my machines (7) for some time without issue.

Thanks for sharing. I often counsel folks to live their lives in a manner of no regets but now realize how shallow are those words. Your reference really puts substance to their words. Thanks KC!!!

Not so much. My wife did mention going into November that she hoped this November's collections were better than last November. She said it seemed as if nobody wanted to pay us last November. This November was fine. So far this December is looking OK. I have about twice what you have outstanding and fully anticipate collecting at least half of it before the end of the month. Anything more than that will be a bonus this time of year. So I guess I am in about the same boat, but I plan for it to be that way. Been in the business long enought to recognize these issues. On another note, I just went and checked - in spite of losing three significant accounts at the beginning of the year, income is up by 3%. Those three together would have pulled the numbers down 4% so I feel good about that. Merry Christmas!!!

I hear you Tom. I use ATX's write-up package which can be mapped to import directly to the return. But before that became available I had gotten pretty efficient at entering the trial balance to the return manually. I can input a corporate return in less than 20 minutes and know where everything went. I suppose mapping has its benefits but I like my method.

I love ATX and have used it since 1995 or there abouts. It has evolved into a very respectable program. I will correct something Tom said above, the program does link between returns and does populate the K-1 simply by importing that info which is slam dunk easy. The schedule D info that Lion imports from excel can also be imported into ATX. I imported over three hundred stock transactions into a return this past year and it took less than five minutes. Of course we don't tell the client that. As to the support issue, I have never experienced the negative issues that others seem to have experienced. The few times that I have needed support, the calls where answered promptly and support stayed with me until the issue was resolved. My practice does in excess of 600 returns running the course from 1040s to 1041s to 1065s to 1120s and 1120Ss to 990s most of which have something that makes them complicated. I do one consolidated 1120 and lots and lots of multi-states and e-file everything I can.

Well - are all of your ideas assinine and infantile? Or do you really have a not-so-secret admirer? Hiding behind the name of "Lynne" the person is no longer nameless, just faceless and spineless. Jack, I don't know what you did, but perhaps a public apology is in order. NOT!!! Curious though how you were singled out. Sleep well my friend. :)

I finished up my last one Thursday. I do have a 990 that is due today that the client dropped info off Friday but that got extended Saturday. My same house rule applies for October 15th as April 15th. I will bust my hump to get things done so that I can coast through the last week putting out fires. That means that I should have been done preparing last Monday. And but for the one I did Thursday (an one hour and a half return that I charge $330 for), I was done last Monday. Since then we have been focusing on quarterly payroll reports and sales tax reports. And I am playing around with a financial statement review today. We are in very good shape and it is a good thing because Thursday I am leaving for Disney! :spaz:

KC - I am so sorry for your loss. You will continue to be in my prayers. And even so, Lord Jesus, I come to You even now, beseeching that You will wrap Your loving arms around KC and her family and friends even now. Father, You know better than any the road that Don has travelled and now You give him peace. Thank You for that, O Lord. Thank You that Don has entered that place where there will be no more sorrow, no more pain, no more death anymore; where the streets are paved with gold and where he will reside in that house not made with hands forevermore. Jesus said that I go to prepare a place for You that where I am You may be also. Praise God! Praise God! Praise God! Yes, Lord, KC is hurting and my heart is heavy for her. Help her, I pray, to know that peace that defies all logic - that peace that can only be found in my Lord and Saviour, Jesus, the Christ. And Father, as time goes on, and the hours turn into days and the days to weeks, I pray that You will help KC to seek out You and her friends. You have told us in Your Word, Father, that the grieving process takes time. And long after the friends have shown their love KC will still be grieving. Father, please, I pray, be with KC in every breath that she makes and every step that she takes. Hold her in the palm of Your hand as she goes forward, I pray, and let her continue to feel Your love and Your peace. Father, I pray these things in the name of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, And in all things, O Lord, we will be careful to give You all of the glory, all of the honor, and all of the praise that is due Your Holy Name. Thank You for hearing my prayer, dear Lord. Thank You! Amen and amen!!!

And of course, you are correct. I was quoting the total basis. The depreciable basis would be something less than $650,000 but we have no idea, given the facts, what that number would be - assuming there was some significant time lapse between the original purchase and the demolition of the old house and construction of the $400,000 new house. The $150,000 FMV of the land at time of purchase is immaterial in a period of volatility in the real estate markets.

I don't think so. The basis would be the lower of cost or market at the time of conversion. Since costs were $670,000 and the market value, theoritically (I would want to see an appraisal), is $650,000, I believe it would be $650,000.

Assuming arms length transactions and all of that and that this is the taxpayer's primary residence, your capital loss would be a non-recognized $20,000 on sale; or your rental basis would be $650,000, or the lower of cost or fmv at the date placed in service. If an investment property and never intended to be the taxpayer's primary residence, then the answers would be different.

Yep - greed is a very ugly thing. I am in Mercer County. I understand some of the prices in Lawrence County were jumping all over the place, but by the time the lease brokers moved into my county property owners had pretty much organized and the prices stabalized, albeit pretty high, in my opinion. Crawford County and Venango County to the northeast are seeing even high prices because of the Utica reservoir. Margaret, I do not disagree one iota with your sentiment. It is not going to be pretty.

Hi AnnieR, it is my understanding that any deposit for the winning bid at a sheriff sale is a non-refundable deposit, as your client is finding out. I suppose if your client is not treating his enterprise as a "business" he would be restricted to a capital loss write-off. Good luck in your upcoming retirement. BTW, oil and gas leases are going nuts to the right of the border as well. Most of my county leased for $3,875 an acre with 18% royalty. I understand the county to the north may be doing even better.

Without looking and just off the cuff, I would say it is probably a school district tax. Besides the locals in Ohio, now you have to look at the locals within the locals.

I think favoring the employee is just the way of the land anymore. The employer is scum and is owed and deserves nothing. I tell my clients, "if you want to advance employees do it in such a manner that you don't ever expect to get re-paid. If you do get repaid, that is a bonus. And if you want to punish the ex-employee, you will need to find some way to do it other than withholding his pay." I think Arkansas is just late coming to the party, KC.

Oh, and I missed it in my first response and it should not go un-acknowledged: congratulations on having multiple backups. That certainly eliminates those senses of panic in situations like this. Good luck!

I agree with Elrod, contact customer service before you do anything that might contaminate the whole database. Your returns are most likely there, it is just that the program is not locating them. ATX support will probably login into your computer remotely (with your permission, of course) and have the issue resolved pretty quickly. And if it takes THEM longer than "pretty quickly", it is something that you should not be messing with anyway. My experience with support indicates that they are willing to stay the course until the issue is resolved. Call them.