BulldogTom

Are you going to keep rubbing it in. Give it up already. I said I was a dufus, what more do you want? Tom Hollister, CA

Because I so distrust everything that comes from CCH that I never read anything from them. I hate that company. I only believe what I read on this board. Sometimes I am such a dufus. Tom Hollister, CA

perfect. Thanks Tom Hollister, CA

It used to be a tab on the Sch. D. Now I can't find it. Any help appreciated. Tom Hollister, CA

Sweet, Thank you. That is something we have been looking to get for years. One more question if you don't mind. I have a client that is a partner and a shareholder in an S Corp. I do both entities, plus her personal. Can I import both of the k-1's? Thanks Tom Hollister, Ca

Whoa! Explain this again? Are you saying that I can now import the K-1 that I created in the Corp or Partnership return and have it pull directly into the partner or shareholder 1040? This is a big deal. How do you do it, step by step please? Thanks. Tom Hollister, CA

That seems to be the biggest change from prior years on the backup (I know Jack - forget everything you know about prior versions of ATX). But you will see the green bar showing you the progress of the backup. I don't really understand all the techie terms for what is going on, but selecting returns to backup is not how it is done anymore. Tom Hollister, CA

Normally, these are re-assessments by the county for property taxes and should be included on the schedule A for property taxes. Make sure it is based on the value of the land and not bond payments. It happens all the time when a property on the county books for X dollars of value is sold for a higher amount. The property taxes go up, and the county issues a special assessment to get the difference in the amount of taxes from the day of the sale to the date that the regular assessment is made by the county. Hope this helps. Tom Hollister, CA

Jack, Please help me understand what is going on, because I am clueless about how the technology works. What I understood was that only the returns that changed since the previous backup would be backed up to the external source. When my backup got done, it says it backed up 134 items. I did not do that many returns, nor did I do any combination of adding that many new payers and returns and form rates since the last backup. So, is it backing up everything every time or just what changed? I am very confused, but it may just be that the days of the 5 minute backup are over and 30 minutes is the norm. Tom Hollister, CA

So at church this morning, the Pastor says in his sermon that we are going to get audited by God some day. On the way home, my 18 year old son says he isn't worried about that audit because he will have a mileage log and his receipts when he gets there. He must be listening more than my wife and I think when we talk about clients at home. Tom Hollister, CA

Or at least I think it is not working as advertised. I only have about 75 returns in the software, and it took about 30 minutes to back up to my flash drive. If it is only backing up what has changed since the last time, it is very slow. I think there is still a problem in the backups, but I don't know enough about the technology to know what I don't know, which means that I don't know what I know either. But I know that this doesn't feel right. Anyone else get that feeling? Tom Hollister, CA

I think I see him on other tax boards using Ranger. Maybe he forgot what board he was on. Tom Hollister, CA

About 10 years ago, I had a new client in the same situation. (funny, I just did her Daughter's tax return 2 hours ago). The mother had physical and legal custody of the kids, but the dad kept filing first. I got involved late in the situation, and the client had a 90 day letter from the IRS. We filed a Tax Court petition and gathered all the documentation. The school records, birth certificates, and the lease for the home she lived in. The IRS sided with the taxpayer. The next year, the e-file rejected again. Same situation, father filed first. We sent in a paper filed return with a copy of the dismissal from the tax court from the previous year. Check arrived in 6 weeks. Never had an issue again. I still do her return and both of her daughters returns. Tom Hollister, CA

I don't have the software in front of me right now, but there is a check box in the worksheet that say use simplified method or use actual method. If you check either box, the amount will flow to the 2106. I think you have to link the office to the form as well. Sorry, if I had it in front of me I would point out exactly where it is at on the form. Tom Hollister, CA

I am not sure if I am correct, but I have always used the machinery code (7 years) for trailers that we use in the construction industry. The other choice, because they are registered, is to put them under autos. Maybe someone else will chime in. Tom Hollister, CA

It gets back to KC's question. If the company includes the value of the vacation hours into the employee's gross wages, it is a deductible contribution. If the company just takes 3 days away from the employee's accrued vacation time and makes a donation with a notation that it came from this employee, not deductible. Tom Hollister, CA

Its good to work for the IRS. They don't do anything very fast. Bet they gave her every opportunity to clear herself. The Service wants to show that they are clean and tax preparers are dirty. You don't think they want this kind of story out there, that their own employees are dirty. If this had been an H&R Block or Liberty or one of the big advertisers of "pennies on the dollar settlements", this would have been all over the news. Tom Hollister, CA

Did he take the rewards miles in as taxable income at some point? If not, he can't deduct. The concept is that the previous flights or charges that he made on his credit card were discounted by the rewards that he earned, so if they were used as a deduction, they would have been overstated by the value of the rewards earned. So when he uses those rewards for another deductible flight, the value has already been deducted. Here is a simple example. Executive X takes 20 business flights during the year. He properly deducts the cost of those flights. The credit card company rewards him with a free flight, which he uses for business. The 20 flights actually were discounted by the amount of the 21st flight taken, so the cost has already been deducted when those 20 flights were deducted as business expense. Does that makes sense? I know it is a very simplified example. Tom Hollister, CA

Self Employed may not use the lodging portion of the per diem rate. All lodging on a Sch. C must be substantiated. Tom Hollister, CA

OK, now that makes sense. Every once in a while I get that on my traveling laptop. Never knew why it did not happen on the main computer. Now I know. I have the laptop set to go to sleep in 10 minutes if inactive. Thanks Jack. Tom Hollister, CA

Well, I am trying to talk my youngest son into applying to Vanderbilt, but he is not so keen on the idea. But if I can get him there, we will have to meet up at a Commodores football game. Love SEC football and Nashville, but I guess that is not a good enough reason for my son to spend 4 years there. Tom Hollister, CA

Rita, you keep changing your avatar. For a while there, I thought you were the spokesperson for an insurance company. And weren't you in Colorado before? What is with the TN address now. Is that your daughter in the picture? If so, I have a son I would like to introduce her to. But I am still afraid of you, so, maybe I shouldn't introduce my son to your daughter.......hmmmm Tom Hollister, CA

The legality is very simple. A regulatory agency (ie the IRS and Treasury Department) get their authority from Congress. Only those regulatory actions specifically granted by Congress can be carried out by the agency. The IRS tried to sidestep this constitutional requirement. The court said that the law of 1894 that the IRS was relying upon for their regulatory authority was not valid. They need to go back to congress and get specific regulatory authority to regulate tax return preparation. For those of us who are EA's, CPA's and Attorneys, we are regulated under the authority to "practice before the IRS". This goes back to the Revenue acts passed during the post civil war era, and are specifically granted authority to the Treasury Department. The IRS has tried to make the argument that tax preparation is "practice" and has been shut down by the courts. This latest attempt to regulate "preparers" was shot down as well, as the court found that the law did not contemplate tax return preparation as a area for the Treasury Department to regulate. So IRS can appeal or drop the fight in the courts. Their best bet, in my humble opinion, is to go to Congress and ask for the specific authority to regulate preparers. I am for licensing of preparers. I am also for regulation of IRS employees to the same standard that the preparers and practitioners are held. I would like to see the OPR become an independent agency of the Treasury that writes the rules for preparation, practice, and discipline for preparers, pracitioners, and agents of the Treasury department with full authority to disbar or discipline any preparer or Revenue agent that does not follow the rules. Tom Hollister, CA

Personal tax return just had this same issue. We gave a donation over $250 to a local church to help with their Vacation Bilble School. We have no children who attended the VBS, just knew that they were short on funds. We asked the pastor if VBS was budgeted and if we could designate our giving to that cause in the church. Yes, it was a line item in the budget and he was thrilled to get the help for the porgram. Fast forward to Jan 31st. Giving statement comes in from the church and shows the amount as non-deductible. We called up the administrator and he was adament that any designated gift was not deductible. My wife threw a stink. It did help when she indicated that she had been doing taxes for 14 years and that her husband (me) had set up and processed donation reciepts for churches in the past and that if they wanted to meet with me and review the rules, I would be happy to do so. They reviewed the issue and resent the reciept showing it as deductible. Just a lack of knowledge for a complicated tax code. Tom Hollister, CA

Just got back from church and took the brisket out. It is resting right now and will be cut up into delectable little pieces in about 20 minutes. I could just pull it apart, it is very tender. KC, you could get here in time for dinner. I will save you some. Tom Hollister, CA