BulldogTom

I like the prior year showing on the invoice, but I have a tiny problem with it populating the Sch. A. If the client has a Sch C, F or E, I am most likely going to take a portion of the prior year fees to those schedules. If I don't watch it, I will double deduct... Tom Lodi, CA

Nah, he was the black guy on the family show with the wife that was a knockout and the kids who were perfect. Sells jell-o pudding too! Tom Lodi, CA

We are manually checking. I don't have a better suggestion. You cannot risk a reject that you don't know about. Still early and no big problem yet, but this could get ugly if it does not get resolved soon. BTW, I got an e-mail from Drake salespers bragging that they have not had a problem with e-file (federal). So I sent back a reply asking about California. No reply yet. I had no problem telling them that CCH takever at ATX is a disaster, and that CA e-file is a joke. I will even allow them to use my name and quote me if they want. Tom Lodi, CA

Deb, I will. I was just thinking through the possibilities of which state would be most beneficial to take a credit. I will look at the CA form and the UT form tonight and see if there is a way to manipulate the credit to the advantage of the employee. Tom Lodi, CA

Thanks, I will. Tom Lodi, CA

I went online to My(worthless)ATX today and they still have my 2006 materials listed. You would think they could update to the most recent material? Tom Lodi, CA

E. Dole was Sec of Transportation when I was in the CG. I was very proud to serve in her dept. What a great woman, to bad she did not become the party nominee in 2000. I was pulling for her, but of course, California primaries have never had an impact on the presidential nomination. Hopefully moving to super tues will get us some influence, but looking at the candidates schedules, I don't think so. Tom Lodi, Ca

Jainen might be confusing OR with UT. UT has a schedule S for non-residents to figure the credits I think. Just happened to run into this the other day with a client who worked in UT for part of the year. The fact set is similar to yours except in UT. I am filing as a CA resident and a PY UT resident. Not sure that helps, I may be wrong, but that is how I am treating this client. Tom Lodi, CA

More information. They did not live together. Mother of baby worked and made 8K. Don't think that there is anyone else planning to claim the mother of the baby. My client is bringing the niece in with her at her appointment. Tom Lodi, CA

One of my clients just called with a "quick question". Clients niece has a boyfriend. Boyfriend gets niece pregnant. Before the baby is born, boyfriend dies. Baby is born in December. Niece gets call from grandparents of baby. "Would niece mind if they took the dependency exemption for the baby on their dead son's final tax return"? They would make sure that the tax benefits went to the baby. I am trying not to say this is crazy, but then I can't come up with a authoritative answer on why this cannot happen. After talking to her (maybe the shock of the question wore off) I think I have the right answer, but I wanted to run this by you guys. The father of the child cannot take the exemption for the baby because he was dead when the baby was born. The baby was not a dependent yet. When the baby was born, the father only had an estate, and the estate is barred from getting a dependency exemption by the code section that allows an exemption to an individual (need to look that section up). The estate also fails on the relationship test and member of the household test. Have any of you ever heard of this? Tom Lodi, CA

Anyone have an update? Are we back up for e-file transmissions? I don't see anything on My(worthless)ATX about them even going down. Tom Lodi, CA

Funny that no one is having problems with the AUDIT SHEILD crap they added to the letter and automatically check by default. Why would I want that crap in my letter? But that seems to be the only part of the letter that works. Tom Lodi, CA

Another e-mail updated from my wife (employee): "ATX says XXXXXXXXX's return was accepted. So I went on FTB and checked and they say they received it on 1/24/2008. Anyway I am on hold with ATX and they are trying to figure out why we do not show it as accepted." This may be a breakthrough. Tom Lodi, CA

Mel, I have felt the same way about a class action lawsuit. But it ain't gonna happen, and I would probably not join. You see, the people on this board are basically decent folks. We want to be heard, and we want ATX to respect us. So we are shouting right now. But in the long run, every one of us knows that we have only been damaged a small degree, and that amount of damage would not pay the lawyer. We could all get together, and the amount we are damaged will probably pay the lawyer. But we know that we aren't going to get anything but revenge on ATX 5 years from now (if not longer), and that won't do any of us any good right now in our current tax year. And like I said, these are decent folks, and when we cool down, very few of us really want revenge. We want to be respected by our vendor. This is something that you can benefit from. We will stick by you if you will just be straight with us. We want you to succeed in the software so we can succeed in our businesses. Respect us, and we will give you what every company wants, customer loyalty. ATX has dis-respected us. We are shouting. I assume many who are shouting right now are going to re-evaluate the software next year based on what it does for their business, the availabilty of alternatives, cost comparisons, transition costs, and finally, how they feel. Some will walk, some will stay. If the software still works for someone, and they can live with the disrespect, then they should stay. I am leaving. But that is my choice. I hope to be with a company that respects me as a customer (right now, I am leaning to Drake, but that is not for sure). If you have a product, I am very willing to go with you. I think you will respect me as a customer, and I think you can put out a product that will satisfy my company needs. If you don't do that, I can't be your customer either. It is how you handle the complaints when things don't go well that shows your customers how much you respect them. I make mistakes on tax returns (yes - hard as it may be to believe), but I take care of those mistakes and do everything to make my client whole. That is all I can do. ATX is not doing everything it can do right now. (stepping off my soapbox now) Tom Lodi, CA

From reading the news just now, what they are looking at is agi + filing status + # of Child tax credits. I am sure they can run a query to get those classes of tax filers. We should see the HRB commercial by tonight that says come in and file a return even if you don't have to because you don't want to miss out on your rebate. And if you can't afford to pay us, thats all right, we will set you up with a loan. I am wondering if taxpayers can double dip. What if you are a dep claimed on parents return and parents get the additional 300 for you. Will you get the 300 also if you made 3500? I think that will be the tricky part. I wonder if my kids are going to get the 600. The article says "Individuals who pay tax" will receive $600. My kids are paying tax this year (Kiddie Tax) because I sold some stock for them early in the year. So they will be "individuals who pay tax". I wonder if my kids are going to make out like a theif this year? It is going to be interesting. Tom Lodi, CA

That is the question. I don't want to go through the advance payment on 08 taxes route. It was a nightmare the last time and ticked of more people. Don't forget the time they changed the withholding tables mid year to get everyone a bigger paycheck, then we had to explain why they had no refund at the end of the year. My sense on this is it will be a true tax giveaway. The only thing to decide is the amount. The public will see through a smokescreen like the advance refund. There is so much more media coverage and analysis of anything the government does that any gimmick will be exposed for what it is, and the pols cannot afford to tick off the voters until after the election in nov. Since the white house and congress, dems and reps are all behind this, I am thinking it will be a giveaway. Just my (not so) humble opinion. Tom Lodi, CA

Now I am ticked. I bought the Kleinrock 1040 package with the express answers last year. Never knew it was part of the package. HMMMMMMMMMMMM. Mel ought to look into getting the author of the Total Tax Guide (may it rest in peace) on his staff. That was the best reference book ever. Yes, CCH Master tax guide is good (ok, very good), but I loved the way the TTG was written. It made everything easy to understand, and it was about 40% less than MTG. The guy who wrote TTG is probably looking for work now that MTG Klienrock edition is the bible at ATX. Tom Lodi, CA

I have a suggestion for you to keep the software cost down. It is not pretty, but it works. Install the software at both locations. Only register one EFIN. On a regular basis, export and email the satelite office returns to the main office. Create the e-file at the main office. Efile from the main office. After it is accepted, export and e-mail to the satelite office. We do something like this, but not at a satelite office. We have a traveling laptop. When we finish a return, we e-mail it to the office and efile from there. It is not really as ugly as it seems. It also keeps the DCN series in order. Not sure if this works for you or not. Its the best I got. Tom Lodi, CA

My employee (spouse) got through to tech support this morning. Here is her e-mail to me about what ATX had to say. [b]"I called tech support today to see if they would say how long before they get things fixed. The girl said they started releasing ACKS yesterday at 3pm but that they had about 5000 at once so just give it more time." Hopefully this is true and we can get this cleared up by the end of today. 5000 efiles is not a lot for the state to process in one day. Tom Lodi, CA

William, I realize you must be swamped. Can you give us a real update on what is happening with CA e-file? If there is a problem, we would appreciate knowing about it and the best estimate of when it will be resolved so we can plan accordingly. Is TaxWise processing CA returns through the FTB? Thanks William. We will be praying for you this year. Tom Lodi, CA

Thanks Deb.

I am having a similar problem, but only with the state. It is checked that the return has been e-filed. The federal section comes out right, but the State says I am giving them 2 copies and to mail one with full address for the FTB. Removed letters, ran wizard. Not sure where to go now. Tom Lodi, CA

Since when does it automatically come with MAX? I have Max and it was not part of my order. In fact, I was trying to order some Klienrock material and just got disgusted with the entire process. I get disconnected when I try to call sales, and there was no way to link my software order to my book order. I just went out and got a master tax guide from another source. I was going to order 1040 express answers. Hmmmmmmmmmm Tom Lodi, CA

Thanks Jerry, No sense in me clogging up the system with more requests. It would not do any good anyway, they know about the problem, and they will get to it when they are good and ready, damn the customers! Sorry, just very frustrated with the software company this year. I was so happy last year with the way the software worked that I was looking so forward to this season when the CCH news hit. My fears are realized and it is going to be new software next year. This just sucks. Tom Lodi, CA

Please keep this thread updated with anything, or nothing, that you hear. I am interested too (how could a CA resident allow his realtor to talk him into the real estate withholding to the tune of 8K on the sale of a rental with only 15K of gain?) because I have a client who really wants his refund and is watching his bank account for the deposit. Thanks Tom Lodi, CA