JohnH

Would this be a good point for anyone interested in the software to call Drake directly and ask THEM about the reseller?

So in whose universe should property taxes and state income taxes be considered "special tax breaks" ?

Are you going to bill them $360 for researching the issue and writing the letter? Even if you discount that amount down to some lower figure, it's still a bargain for them.

See Rev. Proc. 84-35

Guess I didn't explain myself well enough, and possibly I made a wrong assumption. I assumed that the original question implied that the three siblings desired to split the credit because they were splitting ownership. Since that isn't possible because only the one who actually lives there is entitled to the credit, I was suggesting that if this was their intent, they could accomplish the same thing by having that person claim the credit and split it equally among them.

But if they trust one another enough to share ownership, it seems they should be able to trust the one claiming the credit to pay each one's share of the credit back to them.

I'd say the 6 separate deposits would increase the probabilities of an IRS processing error by a factor of at least 36.

The Tax Book can be purchased as separate books or combined. Funny the Master Tax Guide shoudl come up in this post. Somebody from CCH called this AM to ask if I wanted to buy it AGAIN this year (for $89, I think). I told him I don't know why he would use the word "again", since I get it from ATX already, but of course he didn't know anything about that. What WAS I thinking? Why would anyone from the same company know I was already a customer? It's perfectly normal to try and charge someone for a publication that your subsidiary is already giving them, isn't it?

Quickfinder is good, but have you looked at The Tax Book? I switched to TTB a couple of years back, and personally I like it much better. Plus, they have a great Forum.

KC: Wouldn't it be better to ask for the 50% discount at the outset, and then settle for around 10% at the end of the negotiation?

Wanna bet they won't offer the discount if you call them, but they will offer it if they call you?

I don't recall all the details, but a couple of years back I was asked by an existing tax client to help with their tax filing for a business with a foreign presence. When I read up on the requirements for filing the FBAR for a business, I bowed out simply because I didn't want to be asssociated with anything carrying those types of penalties. In my case the business was a corp, but with an LLC you might have even more exposure, especially if it chooses partnership treatment.

I just HAD to come back & post the follow-up to this little episode, just to show how stupid and self-centered some people can be. After I had time to reflect on all this & gather the data, it turns out the numbers were much more manageable - he owed about $2K as MFS and she owed $4K as HOH. On a joint return they owed slightly over $4K, for a net savings of just under $2K for him. When I explained it to her, she said she didn't mind paying a little extra even if he didn't step up to the plate for the taxes, because that might give him a chance to get his life on track and someday help out with the kids. She has the income to pay it off over time using an installment plan or loan. After stalling around for 6 months, this past Monday he came by my office to discuss the situation. He, being the smug know it all, decided he'd just file MFS because that way he can pay the $2K and HIS problems are over. He didn't want to be on the hook for any of the $4K on the joint return - he's way too smart to fall for that. Never mind the waste of money going down the governnment rat hole, never mind the fact that he can't even pay the $2K, never mind that she's the one with the good stready job while he flits from one job to another selling cars and making next to nothing. And never mind the kids - they're HER responsibility anyhow. If it isn't obvious by now, I DETEST people who won't support their kids, either by working or by helping care for them to enable the higher-income spouse to work. Only one good thing happened in all this. At least I had the satisfaction of seeing the expression on his face when I handed him back his W-2 forms and his extension forms, and told him I can't prepare his separate return (conflict of interest and all that, you know). "Oh, and don't forget you need to get it done by Thursday". End of rant - hope everyone had a good extension season.

Had an interesting call this am. This client always calls on Apr 14 or 15 for an extension, then usually files late anyhow. She called this morning to say she's dropping off 2007 & 2008 info. Doesn't expect the 2008 return to be completed today, but wants a copy of her 2008 extension because she's trying to get a refinance done. Any bets she will be calling me back tomorrow to say the lender says the extension won't help? Follow-up - it gets better. She came in and handed me 2 year's worth of paperwork - a stack about 8" high. I gave her copies of the extension. When she began telling me how I could get back in touch with her today if I had questions, she looked puzzled when I told her I won't be able to work on the returns for at least 2 weeks. She then said maybe she should go through the paperwork and condense some of it, so I gave it all back to her. I wonder if she's going to take it all to someone else. At least I can hope that's the case.

Does the 2-month extension of the filing deadline when out of the country apply to the Oct 15 extended due date? Answered my own question - "No"

Your Mileage May Vary

How large is the variance? Is there a large discrepancy or is it relatively minor? Is it a simple matter of the bookkeeper trying to adjust withholding downward to help an employee meet a financial emergency, or was there a repetitive pattern here? It's easy for someone to adjust the wrong figures if they don't know exactly what they're doing. I'm not justifying their actions, but it sure would be a shame to see someone get canned over a momentary lapse in judgement, and how you handle the situation might make the difference between someone losing their job vs a slap on the wrist.

Somebody probably edited something they had previously posted - I think an edit anywhere in a thread will bump it back up.

Defending the president doesn't always equate to defending the country. Sometimes OPPOSING the president is the best way to defend the country. That fact was very evident to a large number of Americans from 2000 - 2008, because they constantly reminded us about it and tried to convince us & themselves that they honestly believed that to be true. But now they're trying to convince us that those rules don't apply any more.

Has the board gotten too political, or just too much out of phase with your political views? Seems to me that when a thread is clearly labeled as being NT, then the door is thrown open for whatever takes place on that thread. It's easy enough to skip over any thread that offends your sense of propriety when it's labeled properly. Besides, whatever political differences any of us may have shouldn't detract from the fact that we respect and appreciate one another's tax knowledge. There's simply no linkage between the two.

The best protection against being vaporized by a nuclear bomb is still the deterrent effect of having plenty your own, plus doing whatever is necessary to prevent more nations from getting them. Making foolish "agreements" with other nations to give up our advantage is beyond naive, and any leader who would actually do so is criminally negligent. I'd compare it to having our police give up their weapons because organized crime bosses agree to give up theirs. I doubt that the whole world is electrified by his proposals. Some who share his incredibly amateurish world view may be, but there are plenty of other leaders who are thinking that maybe there are enough neo-Chamberlains in charge to fool them into agreeing to this sort of nonsense.

Bush & Reagan are out of office, haven't been proposed, and I'd suggest that it's time to move on & get over THEM.

What's political about quoting Desmond Tutu and Jimmy Carter?

Nah. Having good intentions & making people feel hopeful are enough.

I'm sticking with my original hunch. Start by mapping the "Payroll Items" - you can print the "Payroll Items" list and compare how everything is set up. Then print a payroll summary by employee. I think the answer will pop out pretty quickly. But, as jainen says, mark your billable time from the outset. Finding the problem is probably the easy part - making adjustments to payroll in Quickbooks can be a major headache.