BulldogTom

Hopefully, it is. And hopefully, he is looking for Mel in Hawaii to start a new product line. His non-compete must be up by about now. But please, no airline tickets. (sorry, I could not resist). Tom Lodi, CA

It has been rumored that he was here all the time - incognito. This is peculiar timing that he "came out in the open" just as the layoffs in Maine were announced. Several ATX (or ex-ATX) employees have just recently come on the board also. Since William has not spoken on the issue, we don't know for sure why he is now visable to us on this forum. I think we are all dying to know what the reason is, but because we all want his expertise for this upcoming year, we are respecting his silence. Tom Lodi, CA

Eric would have to kick me off the site and my pastor would kick me out of the church if I told you how I really feel. This is freaking robbery. I like the advertisement on the MAX that says "no hidden fees". I guess this is not hidden? They never told me about it, and still have not officially. In some license agreement? Who reads that crap anyway? And who understands it?. This is the last straw for me. I am going to go to another software next year, and I am going to campaign for everyone to go also. There is no good reason for ATX to get greedy like this. Tom Lodi, CA

And this is why we need a lawyer. How is it that ATX can charge a fee that they don't tell us about? To our customers? What else are they taking? Our clients personal information? Are they selling tax return info from our clients without telling us? I wish I knew a lawyer so I could ask if this is legal? We could have a nice class action against these dirty @$$^0!&$ if this is not legal. I am so steamed about this - if it was not too late in the year, I would dump this pile of crap company with their lies and deception. They should be taken out behind the woodshed and have the crap kicked out of them. No wonder they closed the other board. I am going to make it my mission this year to make life as difficult as possible for this company. They deserve nothing but the worst. Tom Lodi, CA

Wow, I was suprised to see you as the newest member on the stats page. WELCOME aboard - Welcome back. We missed you sweet Willy. Tom Lodi, CA

It seems like a conspiracy theory, but with 10 guests on the board, right after ATX canned the Maine office, do you think management is monitoring this board to check up on what we are saying about the jerks? Remember how they pulled the old ATX board at the end of last filing season when they thought they were being bashed? I bet they are looking at this board after their latest slap at their customers. It is NOT paranoia if they really are after you. Tom Lodi, CA

I don't file 1040A's. My clients go 1040EZ or 1040, and the EZ is more of a marketing pitch than a form preference. It takes the same amount of time to do a simple 1040 as a simple 1040A or EZ. So the Schedule 2 won't impact me. But the education credits and residential energy credits will impact about 25% of my clients Tom Lodi, CA

How many of you are going to offer to file the tax return without the education credits and residential energy credit, and then amend at a later date? Will you charge for the amended return Just Curious? Tom Lodi, CA

I worked for a company that had a religeous backup proceedure. It was done every night, and in the morning, the tape would be removed and put in a box on top of the server. When the building was burning, the accountant who devised this brilliant plan asked the plant manager to run into the fire and get them. Because he was having an affair with her, he was willing to try. The owner stopped him from going into the building just before the roof fell in. This is a true story. I was hired a few months after the fire and the firing of the accountant. Try getting your AR recreated when you have to rely on the customer to tell you how much they owe you. Try fighting a vendor when they insist you have not paid an invoice and you don't have any records to show you paid. Try working with your bank to to get copies of all the checks that cleared (those service charges for back statements and front and back copies of checks start adding up in a hurry). And worse of all, try filing your quarterly and year end payroll returns with no records. Oh yeah, this was a farming operation with over 600 employees, most with "questionable" documentation. Those who had their last paystubs actually got a fairly accurate W2. The IRS was kind enough to waive the penalties for the late filing of the returns. I make a data cd of all returns, QB company files, and all my documents every night during the tax season, and once a week or so in the off season. CD-R's go on sale for about $5 per 50 every once in a while, and I buy a couple of spindles when they do. Tom Lodi, CA

It has been over a year since I was with Republic, so this may not be the case anymore. 2 seasons ago (2005 tax returns processed in 2006), you would not print the check out of ATX, but out of the Republic software itself. The process went something like this: Prepare return, transmit to ATX, ATX transmits bank app to Republic, IRS issues ACK, ATX transmits ACK to Republic (at this point ATX is out of the equation), Republic sends you a check authorization, you print the check out of Republic software, you transmit check info to Republic via their software, Republic sends you info when IRS funds account, when check clears bank, and when your fees are deposited. You needed to connect to the bank every day for your information. The communication between ATX and Republic was not very good, leading to lots of "Where is my ACK and why haven't you sent it to the Bank" phone calls and posts on the other board to ATX. It is why I switched banks last year. HSBC is integrated into ATX, making the process smoother (last year was the best year I have ever had with bank products - even though I don't process very many of them). I did not have a single bank product problem last year (I think I did about 12 between Rals and ERC/RT's.) I hope this helps. It may not be the way Republic works this year, but it was how it was done in the past. Let me know if I can be of more help to you. Tom Lodi, CA

Blaming all of this on Bush is not fair. AMT has been a problem for years, and multiple congress' and the presidents have been including the revenue projections from AMT into their budgets knowing that they were never going to tax the middle class via AMT. It is just getting harder and harder the longer they put it off. This happens to land in GW's lap, but it ain't all him. It is not his tax cuts that caused all of this, even if they were a contributing factor. Mostly, it is politicians lying, then blaming someone else, then lying some more that got us into this fiasco. Tom Lodi, CA

OK, this may not be correct, but if I remember my partnership classes, you may be able to get to that result. I think you need to do a complete close of the book at the time of the split, and get a complete accounting of the capital accounts. Get the hard assets accounted for next. Hopefully, you will be short about 5K (25K X 20%). Value the intangible for the difference. Distribute his capital back to him in the form of the intangible. It is creative accounting, but if you do it correctly, it might work so long as all the income is properly accounted for and included on the K-1s. This is total unresearched. I am not an expert on Partnership taxation. I am just recalling some stuff from some classes I took. Tom Lodi, CA

<<No assets or money will change hands. The 20% partner simply ceases his involvement with the business>> That partnership interest must have had some value (positive or negative). That value was transfered to the remaining partner, which is an acquistion of a partnership interest to him, and a disposition of a partnership interest to the minority partner. In addition, the value of the client list that the minority partner took should also be evaluated. He may have traded the client list (intangible asset) for his partnership interest? Are there any debts in the partnership that the majority partner assumed? or that the minority partner is relieved of? There are many questions that need to be answered before any determination of tax consequences is made. And if I am reading this correctly, the partnership disolution only memorializes what happened LAST YEAR, when the tax consequences would apply. Tom Lodi, CA

Does Tenn have income tax for businesses? If so, ask him if he has a nexus in that state, and if so, you would be happy to prepare the Tenn Non resident tax return and deduct the advertising that he did in that state. See what he wants to do then. Tom Lodi, CA

Merry Christmas to all. Congress just put the AMT present under the tree. GW says he will sign it. Tom Lodi, CA

I don't think L.S. is saying his church is going to Fund Raise in Jamaica, what they are going to do is have some fundraisers in the US to offset the cost of the trip to Jamaica. Tom Lodi, CA

Y'all are crazy. Everyone knows that you forget the peanuts and just put butter and jelly on the bread. JELLY BREAD RULES!!!!! Tom Lodi, CA

I still have not found it anywhere on the ATX websites. It does say on the MAX page that there are no hidden fees. I wonder what CCH considers "hidden"? There is nothing on the bank products page. I am waiting for some info from ATX. Lets see how this comes out. Tom Lodi, CA

<<Why Court of Claims?>> Because he has missed his opportunity in Tax Court. The Notice of Deficiency was issued in 2006, well beyond the time for filing in the Tax Court. Unless I am mistaken, there are only 90 days to file the tax court protest after the Notice of Deficency is mailed. I would very much love to petition the tax court, but I believe he is barred by statute. Also, since this is a credit, the tax is already paid and I can get him in without him having to put up more money. <<you aren't going to get awarded legal fees>> I know this. <<I don't think a taxpayer could represent himself there; he must have an attorney>> He can go to the court of claims pro se <<It is also pretty expensive >> You may file an Application to Proceed In Forma Pauperis which I think means I am a Pauper and can't afford to sue the United States. This is the same taxpayer who has not been able to get any of his child related tax benefits because of the 2003 improperly filed tax return. The taxpayer has been audited every year and had his dependency exemptions for his children (his sperm and his name on the birth certificate) who live with him year round denied, his filing status changed from HOH to Single, and lost his CTC, Additional CTC, and EIC. The prior preparers did a crappy job of representing him, making it easy for the IRS to just ignore him. This is the client who the IRS will not even acknowledge the request for audit reconsideration that I prepared 4 months ago. If you have a better thought on how to proceed to at least get a fair hearing with the IRS, I am all ears. It seems to me that a judge outside the IRS is the only options for a fair hearing. I thought about the Taxpayer advocate, but I am not sure they would not send me back into the same beauracracy that is ignoring the taxpayer right now. Tom Lodi, CA

If any one has an example of a Federal Court of Claims complaint against the IRS commissioner for a denied credit, would you be willing to share it with me? I have a client that I believe this is their only recourse. Of course they are poor, and I don't know an attorney that will take a case with a 50% chance of success pro bono. I have been all over the internet and not finding anything. The Federal Court of Claims website has the basic instructions. I am looking for an example that I can follow. Any help would be appreciated. Tom Lodi, CA

This is interesting, because the HSBC agreement limits the amount that can be charged for a loan. If ATX is causing this limit to be exceded, then the loans are in violation of the new Armed Forces Lending Law. I wonder if HSBC is aware that ATX is screwing up their rate calculations. I am sure that ATX is going to say that it is a transmission fee or e-file fee, but I would guess that if a good lawyer looked at this, it would be a part of the interest calculation regardless what ATX and HSBC call it. Could be interesting if an Armed Forces member comes into a tax shop with ATX software and gets a RAL through HSBC. I would like to see them squirm. Tom Lodi, CA

Sorry, I guess I should have made that clear. The code section 267 says that a 50% or more shareholder accrued wages or bonus may not be deducted until the day paid. The 2 1/2 month rule does not apply. The above rev ruling is deceptive, because it is before the 1984 code changes. It should be obsoleted by the IRS, but since the taxpayer losses because of the 2 1/2 month provision, I think they are keeping it as guidence for non-shareholder bonuses. Thanks Jack. I will try to follow up on my posts in the future. Tom Lodi, CA

When I go to myatx.com and click on "My Product" I only see the MAX product and the $69 Shipping fee. There is nothing about any bank products at all. In the past, Republic and ATX did not play nice in the sandbox together. I am assuming this is the same situation, that ATX is going to get paid for dealing with a vendor that they don't like to work with. Just a guess, not anything I know for sure. Eli, are you seeing anythin else on your order? Tom Lodi, CA

How did you find that out? Is it only Republic? I went with Santa Barbra and don't recall any disclosures about fees for transmitting the application. I certainly don't want to get that suprise, since I don't charge a lot for the bank products. Tom Lodi, CA

Thank you Jainen