Yardley CPA

I just customized my 1040 EF Info master form to decline Protection Plus. I'm curious as to what other types of customizations you are all doing for individual returns.

Good to know. Thanks for sharing this.

Great summary. Thanks for posting it.

I've used Acronis in the past and it worked okay for me but I found it cumbersome when I tried to restore files. I've since switched to the free version of AOMEI Backupper. Very straight forward and easy to use. I'm considering purchasing their upgraded version. Here is their website: http://www.aomeitech.com/

New client who divorced during 2014. Child was in daycare center for which the client provided their EIN, Name and Address. Childcare payments were paid for by the client ($3,000) and exspouse ($7,000). These payments were made while couple was still married but the exspouse paid his share of expenses from his business account. Can client claim the full $10,000 in expense on 2441? She has indicated that exspouse would allow this and he is not claiming any childcare expenses. Thoughts please?

Thanks very much for the replies.

Just want to make sure my understanding is correct: If taxpayer(s) had health insurance or COBRA for the entire year through their employer or purchased on their own (not through the exchange), including those on Medicare, all that needs to be done is to check box 61 on form 1040? No additional forms need to be completed? Thanks very much.

Very sorry to hear of this and I extend thoughts and prayers.

What a great cheat sheet this string is. Thanks to all who contributed.

Naveen...here's hoping that your wife is on the road to recovery. I hope all goes well for you and for her.

Thanks very much.

Can someone give me a quick scoop on what PaperPlus is? I know that its to help you go paperless but is it part of the ATX package or does it cost separate to use it? Any thoughts on how effective it is?

Thanks to everyone for your feedback and offers to help. Very much appreciated.

I have a new client who came to me for the first time last year and I prepared their federal and Pennsylvania returns. Husband and wife who filed MFJ with no children and standard deduction. Straight forward return as both husband and wife were W2 employees in corporate America. I received an email this year that the couple moved in the middle of 2014 (from Pennsylvania to North Carolina) as the husband obtained his first pastor position of a church. I've been told that the husband will receive a 1099 form from the church and he does receive a housing allowance. I have never completed a tax return for any type of clergy in my 25 years in the business. Can anyone provide me with a general understanding of what tax benefits clergy have and where I can go to find out more information? I would appreciate any insight you can provide. Thanks very much!

At my day job, I mainly use HP printers and they have worked well. For my personal tax prep business, I have two Lexmark laser printers, an Optra S 1255, that is easily 15 years old and just keeps printing. That unit has retired to the family printer. My newer Lexmark laser is a T 650 and has treated me very well. I also have a Lexmark CX410 multifunction that scans/copies for me. Good luck with whatever you choose.

I recognize that Windows 7 may be the preferred environment to run ATX but I was hoping to hear from those who run the program on a standalone computer with Windows 8? I have read previous posts and know that Jack has indicated Windows 7 is the way to go. I was just curious as to what type of issues Windows 8 users are having?

All great suggestions and input. Thank you.

Thanks everyone for chiming in. I appreciate it.

I've posted about Landscaper client of mine in the past. He is a Schedule C, small operation out of his home. Four trucks, nine employees. Does not provide benefits to employees. All payroll is handled through a payroll service. Recently hired a "salesman" to help grow business. Wants to contribute to salesman: Cell Phone - $40/month Personal Car allowance of $400/month Health Benefits - pay $250/month toward salesman health benefits How are these expenses reflected in the salesman's W2? Are they broken out or are they included as part of wages? I don't have much experience on the payroll side and would appreciate any thoughts on this. Would the Landscaper show these expenses as part of salary expense? Thank you.

Thanks very much. I planned on efiling this as a single return but I believe it is looking for a federal attachment.

Is anyone familiar with the rejection error "The Submission of a State Submission must match Submission Category of the Referenced IRS Submission. In other words, RESERVED?" I tried efiling a Pennsylvania RCT101 form by itself and it was rejected due to this error? Any ideas?

Schedule C barber currently rents a one chair barber shop. He has an opportunity to "purchase" an established shop since the owner is looking to scale back and only cut hair four days a week. I guess he is really purchasing the name of the shop and will then hire the current owner as an employee until such time as the current owner completely retires. The current owner rents the location and is not the owner of the building. The purchase price will be determined once the financials are reviewed and they agree upon a price. I have little experience in the purchase of an established business. How would the purchase be handled? Is the amount paid expensed or amortized? Is sales tax involved on the purchase price? Any info/guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks very much for all your replies. Very much appreciated. Sounds like it may be all business miles. Additional info: It is a small schedule C landscaping business. Office for the business is his home where his four trucks are "garaged." These trucks leave from that home address and are brought back to that home address each day. He has 7 total employees.

Schedule C Landscaper who has an office in his home. Trucks are also kept there. Would commute miles be from his home to his first stop each day (for each truck) and then everything inbetween would be pure business miles? Does anyone have any experience with Landscapers in this regard?

Article from AccountingToday: Identity Theft and Tax Fraud Washington, D.C. (September 22, 2014) By Michael Cohn The Internal Revenue Service is being urged to move up its W-2 filing deadline to January 31 and to lower the threshold for requiring electronic filing of W-2 returns in an effort to curb the growing trend of identity theft related tax fraud. A new report from the Government Accountability Office suggested that additional actions such as these could help the IRS combat the threat of tax refund fraud. Based on a preliminary analysis, the IRS estimates it paid $5.2 billion in fraudulent identity theft refunds in the 2013 filing season, while preventing $24.2 billion in such refunds, based on what it could detect. The full extent of the fraudulent refunds is unknown, however, because of the challenges endemic in detecting identity theft-related refund fraud. Identity theft-related refund fraud takes advantage of the IRS’s “look-back” compliance model, the GAO pointed out. Under this model, rather than holding refunds until completing all of its compliance checks, the IRS issues the tax refund after conducting selected reviews. While there are no simple solutions, one option is earlier matching of employer-reported wage information to taxpayers’ returns before issuing tax refunds, the GAO noted. The IRS currently cannot do such matching because employers' wage data (from Form W-2s) are not available until months after the IRS issues most tax refunds. As a result, the IRS begins matching employer-reported W-2 data to tax returns in July, after tax season. But if the IRS had access to W-2 data earlier—through accelerated W-2 deadlines and increased electronic filing of W-2s—it could conduct pre-refund matching and identify discrepancies to prevent the issuance of billions in fraudulent refunds, according to the GAO report. The Treasury Department proposed earlier this year that Congress accelerate W-2 deadlines to January 31. However, the IRS has not yet fully assessed the impacts of this proposal, the GAO noted, and without this assessment, Congress does not have the information it would need to determine the merits of such a significant change to W-2 deadlines or the use of pre-refund W-2 matching. Such an assessment is consistent with the IRS’s strategic plan, which calls for analytics-based decisions, and would help the IRS ensure effective use of resources, the GAO pointed out. The Treasury Department has also requested authority to reduce the 250-return threshold for e-filing information returns. The Social Security Administration estimated that to meaningfully increase W-2 e-filing, the threshold would have to be lowered to include those filing five to 10 W-2s. In addition, the SSA estimated an administrative cost savings of about $0.50 per e-filed W-2. Based on these cost savings and the ancillary benefits they would provide in supporting the IRS’s efforts to conduct more pre-refund matching, a change in the e-filing threshold is warranted, according to the GAO. Without this change, some employers’ paper W-2s could not be available for IRS matching until much later in the year, due to the additional time needed to process paper forms. The GAO recommended that Congress should consider providing the Treasury with the authority to lower the annual threshold for e-filing W-2s. In addition, the GAO suggested, the IRS should fully assess the costs and benefits of shifting W-2 deadlines and provide this information to Congress. The IRS neither agreed nor disagreed with the GAO's recommendations, and stated it is determining how these potential corrective actions would align with its available resources and IRS priorities. “The ability to narrow or close the gap between the time tax returns are filed and the time at which third-party information is available for use by the IRS is a concept with the potential to yield significant benefits to the government and to taxpayers, but can also impose burdens that must be quantified and carefully considered by policy makers,” wrote IRS deputy commissioner for services and enforcement John Dalrymple in response to the report. “Implementing such a change to the tax system would be a substantial undertaking, and we agree that the Congress needs to have a well-informed understanding of the costs and benefits in order to determine the best course of action.”