Tax Prep by Deb

It's good to see you saying what many of us have been feeling! CCH doesn't appear to be the brighted Company in the world! Deb!

To get the information for the state e-file you have to go to the state letter, click on to the options tab and then make your appropriate selection. Then it will show up on the combined letter. Hope this helps! Deb!

You are right about "required" but I have had several come through as normal distributions with nothing withheld. So "required" and "doing" are sometimes two different things! Deb!

I also had one that according to IRS schedule (not a guarantee) should have been deposited today. Earlier this week I checked the status and it moved to Tuesday the 26th. This morning I checked and now it has been moved again to March 4th. I don't know what has happened either, except I can say that it did happen a couple of times last year as well. If IRS workflow is anything like mine I have done the majority of my expected clientel between January 15th and February 15th this year. I'm well over half way through my expected. So if I've been that busy, perhaps IRS has been as well and just can't keep up with the flow. Deb!

I was finally able to get my acks, but I had to synchronize with ATX to do it. The normal channel only gave me the acknowledgement for the one return I sent today. I am currently up to date and able to access the e-file site without any problems. Deb!

Thanks to all who replied. I did think of using the dispositon tab to force the correct depreciation. As always I respect all of your opinions. Deb!

I agree in theory, however I personally feel that when the tenant moved out she put the house up on the market and hoped it would sell. I know I need to ask her more questions regarding it, but lets say I'm right here and she did not try to rent it, for example advertise or list it with a property management? How would you figure depreciation using ATX?

I have a client who had a rental property (house). In 2006 she rented the house for the entire year. For 2007 however the renter left and my client was not able to get a renter in the house for the remainder of the year. She is propabably not going to keep the house for 2008, as she cannot afford the payment, however the market has dropped and will not be able to sell it for what she has in it. My question though is what to do about the two months she rented it. How do I get the depreciation to reflect only two months use? If I take full depreciation for the year she will have a huge loss, and I'm not sure if she tried very hard to rent it versus just putting it up for sale. Any thoughts! Deb!

KC I had a client who for the past two years has filed the 8379. Her's was not due to back child support, but rather her husband owed back taxes before they were married. We wrote letters, sent a copy of marriage certificate, and anything else we thought would help. My client was told by the IRS agent that this does not protect the innocent spouse from his debt. This debt was incurred before their marriage! So therefore my client didn't get anything. In the case of child support, a couple of years ago I had a client that I filed the form for and again the innocent spouse was denied her 1/2 refund. I had another case several years back in which the client did get the refund but only because she kept calling IRS and complaining. Eventurally she did win. So basically I tell my clients that it's a 50/50 shot because I've yet to figure out why they denied the other two. Deb!

I agree and have done just that with out any problems. Deb!

I am so glad that someone discussed this issue. I agree with Tom. Many times a senior will come into my office to file and it is obvious that they are barely making it. My parents are also seniors living on fixed income, and believe me when I tell you it's tough to get by especially in California. So if I have seniors calling asking for pricing I may quote $10 to $20 to do the return however if they bring me the papers and I can see were they stand I will probably waive my fee. These types of returns really do not take that much time, and I have found in the few cases I have done in the past, that little good will goes a long way. In the case of my clients who have children that work but still can be claimed as dependents, I often to the childrens return at no charge, the exception of course is if the child is getting a good refund. But I will never charge more than what they expect as a refund, in fact if the refund is less than more normal fee I don't charge at all. The parents are very pleased with this and it often results in referrals. I have a case were I do the daughter and son's return and this year they asked me if mom needed to file. I told them it would be best to bring the info to me and let me run the figures, and it turned out that because of the stimulas package she does need to file, but also there is a small amount due of $10.00. Again I'm not charging for this. The daughter and son think I'm wonderful. They are happy, I'm happy. I have another client who from day one has been hounding me about this. He's just that kind of guy. I kept telling him to hold off until it has actually been signed and we know exactly what needs to be done, but he kept on and on. Finally I quoted him a price of $25.00. The phone stopped ringing! The bottom line is that our seniors have worked hard and contributed much to who and what we are today. I feel this in a small opportunity that we have to show our respect! Deb! Just my two cents worth!

I paper filed the husband. But right after posting this I got the acknowledgement back from California rejected because of how I adjusted the withholding. I'm currently trying to figure out how to rescend, but haven't figured it out yet. I will keep you posted. The main problem has been with the federal line 7 and now the state withholding. I was able to figure the 1040 issues out but can't seem to find the magic button for California Deb!

Actually the way I understand it you need more information. Your client needs to provide you with actual amounts they paid. I would apply the scholarship or grant to books tuition ect. (there is a list of items that grants, scholarships can be used for). Remember that the education credits for the most part only apply to tuition and related fees, not to books, equipment, ect... that the student may be required to purchase for the classes. That's were the grant/scholarship comes in. It can be used for several different expenses. Expense it out first. It could actually end up with the student paying more out of pocket for tuition and able to take a larger deduction. Please correct me if I'm wrong, as this is just my take on this situation. I have very few clients who do anything more than community college, very limited! Deb!

:P UPDATE!!!! Well Bulldog Tom & Julie, I DID IT! There is actually good news and bad new to report on e-file of CA MFS. You were on the right track Julie when you suggested using the 1040 line 7 worksheet to adjust the income. Here is what I did in addition to the 1040 e-file community property worksheet: Put wives w-2 information on her return, added both income together divided by two and adjusted the difference on line 7 worksheet. Then went to taxes withheld on 1040 pge 2 which also has a worksheet to bunny hop to and added all withholding from both spouses and divided by two and made adjustment there. This allowed me to create the e-file and transmit and was accepted. Now the bad news, tried exactly the same on the husband but couldn't create the file. The reason I could would the wife is that I adjusted income up (she made less than husband). The program would not let me adjust income down on line 7 worksheet. So therefore I could not create the e-file. I'm sure there is a workaround on this but husband was only getting a small refund and in all likelihood wouldn't get it due to an offset anyway. But just wanted to let you know that it can be done. If you figure anything different please let me know! Thanks, Deb!

Welcome! Deb!

Thanks to both of you! I'm not prepared to give up trying, so I will keep you posted! Deb!

Have either of you e-filed a married filing separate return using the community property worksheet tab on the 1040 e-file worksheet? If so can you explain to me how to do the return. Do I include all the w-2's and then split everything in half? Do I overide to do that? I know we are suppose to be able to e-file it but I can't for the life of me figure out what I'm doing wrong. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Deb!

Question? What do you do about imputing the W-2 info? Do you put both husband and wife on same W-2 worksheet then split the amount on the front of the 1040? Or do you only include the wives and then overide the amount on the 1040 to include 1/2 of the combined? This might be why I haven't been able to get it to work. Supposedly in California we have been able to electronically file MFS returns, but I have not found the secret of doing so within the 1040 program. (ATX 1040) Thanks for your response. I agree it's not my place to judge, that's their business. Deb!

No Problem! I do agree with you, however there are some extinuating circumstances surrounding the reason why my clients want to do it this way. I worked it both ways, and your right it comes out the same, however I am able to shift the dependents in such a way that the innocent spouse will receive her due refund. We discussed filing the injured spouse form with the return, but my success in getting IRS to accept this is at best 50/50 even though from what I have researched my client should be entitle to 1/2 of the refund. The problem is if they file jointly the refund will be offset by some rears child support for a child that my client just found out he had. He has since petitioned the court and won custody of the child, however the mother has skipped town and can't be found, therefore is now wanted by the Law for abduction charges. His fears are that if he and his current wife file jointly the money will somehow find it's way back to her and gives her even more money to travel even further. At least wise that's what they tell me. My feelings on it are that to receive the money, she is going to have to surface somehow and what better of an opportunity to nab her then! But again, I don't know all the facts, but doing it this way works for the best for them now. Was just curious about being able to file electronically. There is a worksheet in the program, but in the past I could not get it to work. I was hoping it was different this year. Deb!

Thank you fredazcpa. You explained it the way I was trying to. I can see it clearly in my head but sometimes things get lost in the translation between head and mouth or in this case fingers. What you explained is exactly what I was trying to explain, however you did a much clearer job of it! Deb!

Also the program calculate the difference between the sales tax deduction and the state refund. The only part of the state refund that is taxable is the amount over what they could have claimed had they taken the sales tax deduction instead. I was over riding this last year until I looked closely at the instructions and found that I had erred. Deb!

I orginally posted this on the e-file forum but I had no takers, so I'm posting here! Does anybody know if we can e-file California returns when the client is filing married filing separate? If so what is the trick? I've tried doing this in the past years but was not successful. Perhaps I'm missing something? I see the worksheet on the 1040 e-file info sheet, however in the past I filled this out but couldn't get the return to e-file. Also what do you do about the W-2's? My clients are married living together as husband and wife but it actually works out best for them to file separately, but I'm just not sure if it can be e-file? Any help would be greatly appreciated! Deb!

Does anybody know if we can e-file California returns when the client is filing married filing separate? If so what is the trick? I've tried doing this in the past years but was not successful. Perhaps I'm missing something? I see the worksheet on the 1040 e-file info sheet, however in the past I filled this out but couldn't get the return to e-file. Also what do you do about the W-2's? My clients are married living together as husband and wife but it actually works out best for them to file separately, but I'm just not sure if it can be e-file? Any help would be greatly appreciated! Deb!

Just check my acknowledgments and there was a notice that states that starting Monday they will be able to transmit all of the forms we've been waiting for. They did ask however that we hold the returns until after the 6:00 p.m. drain. If we transmit before then they will be rejected by agency. They also stated that due to the expected heavy volumes, IRS will be behind on their acknowledgements. Hope this helps! Deb!

In all fairness to ATX it was disclosed on all information I received. I however held out and did not renew early and eventualy received an offer for the program less the early renewal discount and I agreed to pay a flat fee of $200.00 for unlimited e-file. In my case that represents approximately $1.00 more per return for e-file instead of the $5.00 that they originally wanted. It's my understanding however, that as the year came to an end they were not offering deals like mine. Deb!