NECPA in NEBRASKA

Spouse of carpet layer, Sch C, just came to pick up their return to take to the lawyer that is working on an offer in compomise for many years of back taxes. She says "things will be different next year, because they made him an LLC." I said that not's a problem, he will still be a schedule C with some liabilty protection. " Oh no! They said that he won't have to pay self employment tax anymore" So I sent her to find out if they set him up to be taxed as a corporation. I explained to her a few highlights of the changes that would have to be made to their bookkeeping, office in the home, vehicles in personal names, not to mention needing officer's payroll, because they have a very hefty profit. She was floored. They didn't explain anything to them, just told him to sign the papers and pay them for the LLC papers. Better quit my griping and get back to work. Bonnie

Jainen, I reminded them about that already. I also told them that I had a hard time imagining that they would remember to always write a note with interest every time, if they were going to use it as a sweep account. Obviously, the prospective lender made it look easy to them.

Thanks, Taxbilly. I've looked at a bunch of these websites. (Like I have nothing better to do). The client will be surprised when he gets a bill. I've only been able to find a couple of places that weren't trying to sell them.

Does anyone have any experience with these new loans? Client is asking me about the advisability of refinancing their home acquisition mortgage with one of these new lines of credit. I told them that I will only advise them on the tax aspect, because I am not a financial planner. I have looked at many of the websites, and it may be an advantage to them, because they are dedicated and probably will pay down their loan faster than normal. What is really bothering me, is that the mortgage lender, is telling them that they can use this account as a sweep account and put monies from their two S Corps, into it and take it out as needed. They told them that they could do this as long as they wrote notes from the corps to them personally every time. This doesn't sound like a very good idea to me. I can't find any place on any of these mortgage websites, advising people to commingle personal and corporate money. I am worried that this will affect the deductibility of the mortgage interest. It will still be a mortgage on their personal home, but they could essentially be paying it down with corporate monies. I'd appreciate any thoughts, especially from anyone who has dealt with these loans. Bonnie

A child that is older than 16 is not eligible for the child tax credit. They should be eligible as a dependency exemption.

Marilyn, I really like ATX as a program. This year has gone really well for me until last week. I have three returns that have rejected that can not be resolved. The first one, the IRS says has no problems, but the IRS continually rejects it with the same error messages. The other two are state issues that Nebraska says are ATX errors. Lines are not showing up in the E-file. What really bothers me about these two are that they showed as IRS cleared for over a week and then rejected. My clients are expecting their money. I have two incident reports filed with ATX and absolutely no response from customer service. I called again today and while Elaine did everything that she could to help me, she couldn't help me with the bug reports that have been filed. E-filing has made my one person practice so much easier, except when it wastes my time like this.

Have you tried shutting down the program and reopening it? If that doesn't work, I'd try shutting down your computer and restarting. I always try this before I call support.

Rats! Thanks! I don't know why my two returns acted up. I'm still going to try and sync and see if it will help.

https://support.atxinc.com/myatx/index.aspx I don't know if I did this right. It's under latest news on the ATX support page

I just saw the IRS notice on the ATX E-file page. IRS says do not E-file the returns with $1 for income. They won't be processed and it won't get the people their rebate. They have to be paper filed until at least April 1. Bonnie

Has anyone else had their 1040N's reject if they have a schedule II? I have 2 returns that originally showed as IRS cleared, but then turned to rejected after more than a week. NE is slow and there was a holiday , so I wasn't worried that they hadn't cleared yet. I've called ATX for two days and it hasn't been fixed. I sent in a return yesterday, because NE says that only line 64 is coming through on the E-file, not 60, 62, or 63. I'm trying to figure out if it is just me. My clients are going to shoot me, because their money should be deposited this week. I've got another incident that I sent to ATX on form 8853. IRS says that there doesn't appear to be a problem, but they keep rejecting it for some reason. The IRS help desk says that everything is in the E-file and he doesn't know why they keep rejecting it. IRS says it could be their error so I have to paper file the return. What a pain! I love E-file when it works.

I've been on hold with ATX for 20 minutes waiting to tell them that the E-file is only going through with line 64 showing. Two of my returns that ATX had been showing as IRS cleared for two weeks just showed up as rejected. I called NE and they told me what was wrong. Somone just answered so hopefully it will be fixed.

Thanks, Byron. It only affected two of mine and they hadn't left the office yet.

Has anyone successfully E-filed a form 8853? I only have one so far, but it keeps rejecting for error 357 and 176. Basically they are saying that the 8853 has not been included in the transmission and that the MSA amount is not included in the line 34 total. I didn't find anything in the knowledge base, but I'm sure that this in another programming error. I dread calling, because it took me an hour last time even though I told her immediately that it was a programming error. This time, I know that I didn't mess up. Thanks! Bonnie

Booger, The original information was that the IRS was going to get the imformation from SSA, but they changed their minds this week. Now, they have to file a 1040A or 1040 showing their SS, USRR or some VA benefits on line 20a or 14a. I am concentrating on my current clients also, because I am only human and have my client base pretty much set at my maximum capability. I will tell callers about the VITA 800 #.

Linda, I just did 2 returns today that both had the state taxes carried to the 6251. Maybe you should discard the form and download a new one to see if that works. Bonnie

Tom, The IRS released notes this afternoon explaining that they will have to file returns. The IRS will not be getting the information from SS or the VA. They will have to show at least $3,000 of qualified income on the return, which includes SS and RR retirement. I left the E-mail that I recieved from our state liason and don't remember what else was included. It did not include portfolio income. If you go to IRS.gov, I'm sure that they have the info out there. I know that I'm not going to file a bunch of these returns. VITA will be busy.

I'm giving out the 800 # for VITA to people that call me, because I'm not going to prepare returns for free or really cheap. I need to take care of my current clients, before I would take anything else on. I told my last customer to use free file for his mother-in law because she wastes an hour of my time every time I have to talk to her. That may sound mean, but my husband and mother are both ill and it takes everything that I have to keep this business going too.

Thanks, Eli. I get asked this questions every year by the same guy. Every year I tell him no. Bonnie

If they have 2008 Quickbooks and you have 2007, it won't work. You won't be able to open the files. The files are not backwards compatible. That's why I have so many versions on my computer.

I always try to E-file multiple states, because it is so much easier. I don't know the specifics of what is filed with each state, but I haven't mailed additional copies for several years. It is my understanding that you need to send them in if requested by the state later. I haven't had a request, yet, so I'm assuming that they are getting what they need.

I received mine, too.

I've received two acks from NE, so we're in business now.

Angel doesn't have the humor that Buffy did. I loved Firefly, too. Nothing helps tax season for me like a dose of fantasy.

Are you really a Joss Whedon fan or is that a figure of speech? I am a huge fan. My son finds me a huge embarrassment. He says that I'm too old. Bonnie