BulldogTom

I hope for better for my boys. All I can give them is a christian home, a strong work ethic, and hopefully a few dollars for college. The rest is up to them. If they really want to come back to the business, that would be OK, but I would hope they will pursue their own dreams and ambitions. They hate the fact that I hand their paychecks to their mother, she shows it to them, and then the entire check goes straight to the bank to fund their Roth IRA's. Since they will have had the Roth's for over 5 years when they get to college, they can use the money then. They may not like it right now, but hopefully some day they will look back and appreciate that the money was not wasted on video games, junk food, and movies. Tom Lodi, CA

They better still be or I am in trouble. Hired my kids as sign wavers this year in front of my office. No crazy costumes, just a big sign. They were so excited to get a job, until after the first 15 minutes. Then they started asking when they got the first break. It is a good thing they are exempt from child labor laws also, or I would be in a world of hurt for making them work 55 minutes of every hour. Tom Lodi, CA

I have a client who gets these also. Right under the amount on the 1099 Input screen is a drop down that will list your schedule C if it is already in the return. Click it and everything will flow to the right place. Treat it like any other 1099 Misc. Tom Lodi, CA

If it is a client I already know, I make sure I can give them the exact reason why they owe what they owe. The Prior Year Comparison form in ATX is excellent and showing what changed. Depending on the client, I will usually break the news over the phone and then schedule the appointment to look at the final return. I don't go into much detail until they get to the appointment. For new clients, I ask them to bring in their prior year return and we talk in person. Tom Lodi, CA

This is exactly what this case is about. The Independent Republic of California has decided that all income from every state is subject to the CA LLC Fee for every LLC registered in CA. There have been several court cases challenging this fee, and the courts are siding with the taxpayers, in part. CA appealed to the S.C. when they lost at the lower level. Since the S.C. is not going to hear the case, it looks like CA will have to back down. Your client will need to watch this carefully to see how he is going to have to apportion his income for the purposes of the CA LLC fee. Tom Lodi, CA

Linda, I only do two partnerships and neither is an LLC. But I played with them and added the LLC fee in and this is what I came up with. Go to line 7 and put in a <800> and call it CA LLC Fee. That brought my year end balance to what it should be. I had to enter the LLC Fee on the K-1 CA adjustments to bring income up in CA, On the M-1 I had to manually add it to Line 4d and on the M-2, I had to manualy subtract it from line 7 to get it to reflect the ending capital accounts. I don't know if this is correct, but the numbers came out right when I did it that way. BTW, I did not over ride any number in the return. I just kept adding the 800 dollars to the three places I mentioned. Sorry I can't be of more help. Tom Lodi, CA

I don't think that flies. Off the top of my head, I think tuition and fees are deductible for that credit. The travel is not part of that credit. The fees for the class are. I look at it like this. I pay tuition to go to Harvard, but I can't deduct my travel to and from California every semester to attend classes there. I think you are in the same boat in this situation. Whether the class is accross town or accross the country, the travel to and from are not tuition or fees. However, if the training does not qualify the person for a new occupation (as in he is already a paramedic and this is just an additional certification), you may be able to get a deduction for unreimbursed job expenses on the sch. A. It sounds like your client was not a paramedic already, so I don't think that flies either. I don't have another way to get that deducted. Sorry, wish I could offer something brilliant to help you out. Tom Lodi, CA

Does that mean I will be seeing less Ronnie Duetch (sp?) commercials about settling your IRS debt for pennies on the dollar? Fat chance. Tom Lodi, CA

Must be part of a program of study towards a degree or certification. If he took the bartending class at the same school where he took his other classes, it could slip through. If there is no certification for the class, it would be non-deductible. Tom Lodi, CA

You are not dumb. It is just that time of year. We are trying to remember all the hard stuff and the simple stuff just won't come to us anymore. I had the same problem on the 6251 trying to find where to put the AMT NOL. It was right there, I just could not see it last night. It was still right there this morning. Amazing the difference sleep and coffee make in our lives. Tom Lodi, CA

Thank you Maribeth. It is amazing the difference in your understanding after sleeping for a while and coming back and looking again. I could not see that item last night even though I read through that form a dozen times. Today, it is right in plain sight. Thanks again. I appreciate your help. Tom Lodi, CA

Am I confused or is ATX just not acting right. My understanding is that the NOL just has to be recomputed for AMT and the difference added back. Is this correct? ATX is adding back the entire NOL. Am I missing a box or just totally screwed up on NOLs and AMT (a distinct possibility). Thanks for any help Tom Lodi, CA

My bad. I did not see that you had posted that link. Tom Lodi, cA

cdallen7 - I just had this same issue. There is a really cool website that will walk you through this and give you a nice printout for your file of the new basis. I don't know how to link that site to this message, but if you go over to page three of the board and look for my post of March 31, you can get the site off that thread. KC was the one who posted the link. It is something like costbasis.com. Check it out, you will be very glad you did. Tom Lodi, cA

There is another way to get the K1. I am not at my software, but if you go into the global options on the K-1 page, there is a checkbox for just printing the K-1 package. You can select the partner numbers that you want to print. It completes the partner letter and the codes as well. It is a pretty neat feature I found this year. I wish I could describe it better, but I know it is on the global options tab of the K-1. Tom Lodi, CA

Next questio is bank products? Do you have to go through the CCH site to process them like in ATX? Or do they have another way of working with the bank? Is that $10 charge in play with the TRX version? Sorry for all the questions, but I am seriously looking at dumping ATX this year. I am looking at Drake, but if I can get ATX without the bank products headaches, I may go that way. Tom Lodi, CA

Here is my big question. IF I purchase TRX $699 ATX package, will all my returns roll from ATX 2008 to TRX ATX 2009? Anyone have any insight on that. I use a lot of the ATX forms that are state and local, like NV Sales and Use, Sacramento County 571L, CA Sales and Use. I wonder if they will still be there? Tom Lodi, cA

We need a new title for Kyle. After that one, "Advanced Member" just does not seem to adequately describe his stature on this board. Tom Lodi, CA

Thank you Kyle. I wish you had thought to record the conversation on the phone so it could be posted here. Eric is a great man, and we all owe him a lot for what he did in putting this community together. But he needed to get paid back for what he did to us yesterday. Can you from memory give us a blow by blow of the conversation? Tom Lodi, cA

KC - you wouldn't????? Yeah - you would. tom Lodi, CA

Trying to e-file and not getting a response from the server. Called ATX and they said they were updating the server and it should be good to go in an hour. Still not getting to the server. Is it just me? Tom Lodi, CA

OK, this should go to the other board on the site, but I never read that one, so I am posting it here. Are any of you CA ATXers going to the Drake 4 hour seminars in CA. They are doing a bunch of them. I think I will go to the Burbank one on the 25th. Since I am going to SoCal anyway that weekend, I can make this a deductible business trip. And 4 free hours of CPE doesn't hurt. Tom Lodi, CA

You need to find out for sure if the tax has been assessed. Call the agent in charge of the audit and just ask if it is closed or not. If the case is closed, file an amended return. If not, share your information with the agent and they should fix it. The 1099R has the details, so it should be a non-contentious conversation. The trick is going to be getting in touch with the agent. Tom Lodi, CA

ERC - you SUCK!!!! That has to be the best April Fool ever. My heart was in my shoes. I could not believe it was going to happen again. You got me good. Tom Lodi, CA

Thanks all. That is a cool website. Tom Lodi, CA