joanmcq

The mortage interest & taxes should be able to be manually entered for the 8829 without using the 'bring it over from the schedule A' checkboxes. I think you would have to convert the 8829 office to personal and set up a new one starting midyear for the 2106. And then set them up with an accountable plan so their corps can reimburse them for the home offices, mileage, M&E, etc and do away with the 2106 altogether.

part of RRB retirement is treated like Social Security and part is like a pension. The blue part at the top is the SS & the rest is a special 1099-R.

Thank you! She is an embarassment to our town, our profession, and even lawyers (no offense to any that might be on our boards)

Wrong account info? The auto withdrawal works best from a checking account and you need the MICR coding from the bottom of the check. The first time I tried auto withdrawal was on my own account; I used a savings account and added the credit union code that said it was the savings account. Bad idea. I should not have added the extra 'zero' to the account number. Just my experience, so I've used checking accounts ever since.

I also return emails as soon as I see them, unless the response is too long to type on my phone, if that is how I pick them up. I am always checking email on my phone, and I like being able to respond even at the ungodly hours I sometimes keep (I was conversing by email with my UK client at midnite my time, 9am his last night. I was doing it from bed). I try to answer my phone as soon as I can, but I won't if I am with a client, and sometimes I forget if I've turned the ringer down for a meeting or another reason, and don't notice messages right away.

Most of mine have CA with other states. No, the wages don't flow from the code indicated on the W-2, which is great when the W-2s are incorrect, which has been the case with a lot of my multi-states. I don't know of any software that would handle a NY mulit-state correctly without additional entries since ALL NY W-2s have the same NY income as federal. My last MA multi-state was done a few years ago, but the guy was a bona-fide resident of FL and his company was issuing the W-2s incorrectly. Software is no substitute for a good preparer.

I do some mulit-state returns, and haven't had that issue in years. You are comparing a 10 year old ATX program with what is available now. I've only used TaxWorks during the years I did VITA, which was as long ago as you've had experience with ATX, but I didn't like many of the aspects of that program. Can it add what are commonly considered 'business' forms to an individual return (the issue I raised above with Drake?).

He picked up the returns today. That'll teach him to gamble! No efile! No refund in 2 weeks!

I looked at Drake last year, and was impressed, but when I tried to do my UK client's return, I could not add a 5471 to an individual return since it is a 'business' form. The Drake rep confirmed it couldn't be done. Adding a CA 568, necessary for an SMLLC in CA was impossible as well. I also tested adding a CA return to this client just to see how CA worked with the program and found a few glitches (it added back the foreign income exclusion twice and I couldn't get it out). I had the same problem with older years in ATX where I only bought the 1040 package (I did back filing of quite a few years for this client), but I love the way MAX lets you add any form necessary to a return. So I am very likely to renew with ATX again.

Oh, I've loved efile ever since I started; back in 2003 I think. As soon as I started my own biz. I love it, my clients love it. I really don't understand all the complaining; I've had to paper file all my RDP federal returns this year (and had to explain how to paper file to some of the young'uns-they'd never done it) and its been a pain in the butt.

Yeah, I'd like to find out what it's like to read a book too. I love history, but I haven't even read a novel in a few years. Frikkin' internet. I spent much of yesterday studying "what a b*tch it is to try to get affordable health insurance when you're 50 and have pre-existing conditions", even if they are all treatable by generic meds. To all you free-market anti "obamacare" folks: The lack of national healthcare is the biggest business creation stifler out there. You have to be a wage slave or be married to a wage slave to start a business, or be old enough to get medicare. Otherwise, you are tied to your job or without insurance. One of my generic meds is $112 w/o insurance. I wonder what it costs in Canada? End of rant, now back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Yech. Oh well, having to paper file may be the kick in the pants the client needs to stop gambling.

Client went off the gambling wagon, and so the return has 33 W2Gs. Just got an error message when creating the efile that the limit (for the IRS? for ATX?)is 30. So, would you combine a few (I dont' think all that info gets transmitted) or paper-file? I think I've reached my paper file limit with the RDP returns. I've gone through more paper so far this year than I usually do in 2.

I get a lot through my CSTC meetings, as well as ASWA. They give me a chance to network and get low priced CPE. My local CSTC meetings are $22 and have a great dinner plus 2 hours of CPE. I'm hoping to start teaching too; I learned so much about the new RDP rules in CA in the last few months I think I have a bit to offer!

Not too much....I have nearly all the 80 units of CPE I need for my 2 year CPA cycle already and the cycle isn't over until Aug. 31, 2012. I've got to watch my expenses closely since I lost my job in March, so I'll miss going to conferences. But as much as I learn, I can't justify the expense...house payments and health insurance come first. Wouldn't mind learning more about Quickbooks though. I'll probably do the tutors that come with the program. I just picked up the corporate returns for a personal client, and that will help.

Buy Windows 7 Pro. It has the XP mode, and runs all my old programs. I had a bit of a problem installing some of the older year's ATX, but apparently I went about it wrong. Oddly enough, the really old years, like 1998 were fine. It was 2006 & 2007 I couldn't get to work properly. for back returns, I just do 'em on the old laptop.

Yeah, I broke my "i'm not turning on the computer today" vow just to make sure my extension didn't reject. Now I'm going away!

You can pay my estimate for CA! Wait, I already did that. Well, if I still owe when I finally get my bookkeeping and returns done, you can pay the rest. First time in years I didn't look for that penny when making sure the bank accounts were somewhat close to what I had on the balance sheet. $8.76 off? close enough, onto the rentals. I'll look for the mistakes later!

I've seen audit letters where TT allowed withholding to exceed wages (tp forgot the decimal on withholding) and they went through. Got a letter correcting the return of course, but then the W-2 did NOT say they had a million + w/h on it!

Don't know about that one; I'm working each return to get a 'decent estimate' before I extend, so I don't do mass extensions. I'm extending as I go.

There is an imput box for the date the home office started. The numbers shouldn't be the same if there were two homes. You only input the numbers on each form for the home the expenses pertain to. If the home was being depreciated, convert to personal, etc.

Yes, please! Even if I had to scan to verify correctness, it's faster than typing all those trades that don't come in as excel files....

Julie, hope it all got fixed; I can't believe someone tried that while you were there! But then again, nothing surprises me too much. Were you having a showing that night?

CA allows you to itemize for state even if you don't for federal. It just depends on whether CA itemized deductions are greater than the CA standard. However, CA doesn't require attachments of Sch A, B, M, or L. There is a checkbox in ATX to say whether any forms other than those are in the return, and if they are, then the whole return efiles. I've never checked to see if they require Sch A to be attached if the box is checked....

I think I saw it for under $4 a gallon at the ARCO station (cash or debit only for those of you not on the west coast). Over $4 everywhere else, $4.15 for name brand. I am so happy to have a commute of 'up the stairs' rather than the 32 miles I was going for my job!