JohnH

Then it appears that Mike gave my powers of observation too much credit and I did the same for you.

Mike: I think the number must be 34 or less, since Zeke had to have noticed that he had "advanced" prior to posting # 35.

And this doesn't even address the changes that would be required if Charlie Rangel gets his way - a 4% surtax and higher capital gains tax rate on the "high income" taxpayers. This would be anyone earning over 150K sngle or $200K MFJ.

When I do tax planning, I like to "Duplicate" the return and then alter the name enough to let me know it's a current-year estimate but still keep it in alphabetical order. I prefer keeping the original return in its as-filed form in the data base.

Its a designation you can put on your business card and charge your clients higher fees. Just add "Advanced Member - Unofficial ATX Community". Your clients will immediately recognize the significance & happily pay more for your services.

Wow! Changing passwords every 45 days, confusing screens to do a simple thing like sign onto your account, plus getting nickled & dimed on junk charges with undecipherable names. The benefits just keep on coming... And we were worrying a few months back about whether the new ownership would disrupt the quality of customer service. How silly of us to worry about these things - what WERE we thinking???

kc, jainen, OldJack: Thanks very much for your thoughts on this issue. This helps give me some direction.

I'm off to a great start here. Helping someone prepare an OIC on a pro bono basis and I don't know what to enter in the name fields. Husband died earlier this year, but the amounts due relate to joint tax returns for several years past while he was dying of cancer. Since he is no longer living, do I simply enter the wife's name on the 433-A & 656 and then explain on the attachment, or do I enter both names since all the paperwork related to the liability is in both names?

I'm with you Wayne. I haven't renewed and haven't decided whether to do so or not. Still waiting, with an alternate solution already sitting on go in the wings.

Do you know if he filled out any loan documents or applications claiming this was gonig to be his personal residence in order to get a lower interest rate? If so, he may have a problem.

What a concidence. I just received a return receipt for one I placed in the US mail last month.

Here's the link: http://www.dol.state.ga.us/ This is a means of accessing the 1099G. It requires a PIN, but it appears to allow you to work around it with the proper info. https://www.dol.state.ga.us/WS4-MW5/cics.js...p;FRMNAME=BP80A

All mine are finished, picked up, & in the mail - including my own which I finalized yesterday. As someone said on another forum, I like to prepare my return after I've practiced on everybody else's.

Highlight the entire name by sweeping your cursor from right to left with the left mouse button held down. Then retype the name That should get rid of any extraneous characters or spaces.

Ditto! It amazes me how many people put the bulk of their retirement funds in every risky investment they can think of and then get mad when normal market forces drive the value of some of their foolish gambles DOWN. They seem to think they have a God-given right to gains no matter how much risk they choose to incur. Mention "Asset Allocation" to them and the first thing they say is "But I can't score any big hits with that Fixed Income stuff." They forget that sometimes return OF one's principal is as important as return ON the principal - even more true as we get older.

I just went to their knowledgebase and also accessed my account data and everything seemed to work normally for me. (I assume it worked normally. I was able to pull up info on the knowledgebase and my account info is current as of May 2007. I haven't decided whether to re-order so there isn't any current or recent info to be posted on it.) Have you tried holding down the "control" key while accessing the ATX site?

So I'm betting you have even less sympathy for us Neandertals who further waste IRS resources by insisting on paper filing & not even bothering to become ERO's - right? Like Taxbilly, reading KC's post makes me glad I don't have a dog in this fight.

Sorry, I don't have a template. I just construct a spreadsheet to fit the circumstances whenever I need one. Usually, if the spreadsheet presents a clear path showing how you got to the end result, that will be accepted in response to a mail inquiry.

I'd prepare spreadsheet showing how the amounts were derived. Be sure the spreadsheet ties back to the numbers on the return. They love spreadsheets.

If you're willing to pay enough money, you can probably get a program which will have almost no mistakes. But no vendor is going to guarantee perfection, and as Wayne points out, you are taking a huge chance relying on any program to do it all right. No software is a substitute for your judgement and experience - putting all your faith in the software is guaranteed to trip you up.

I just used it and it works fine. I liked the old one better because you could complete the whole thing on one page whereas this one takes you through a dozen screens. However, I can see how it is better for someone who is not familiar with the form or who needs help in answering some of the questions.

Don't know where my brain was - I responded thinking you said 1991. Time to go home - I'm banning me from the forum for the rest of today.

Yes, it was May 1997. I assume you've checked with the real estate agent and the closing attorney to ask if a copy of the HUD-1 is still available. Also might be able to get a copy of the HUD-1 from the buyer's lender or even from the buyer themselves. Some people keep old records for a long time. (For example, if the buyer were my client I'd have kept a copy of the HUD-1 in my files to support the deduction for points paid on purchase, if any. And in 1991 I was keeping copies of all HUD-1 forms because at the time it was still necessary to track basis on personal residences). Lacking any of the above, some info might still be available in the public record. In NC, for example, it's possible to determine the amount paid for "Tax Stamps", which is a local govt fee based on the selling price of the house, simply by looking it up on line. Usually the tax stamps are only $300 or so, but the income tax on $300, plus penalties & interest on a late-filed return for 16 years woiuld add up to enough to more than pay for the research. I'd rather try to help the client rather than help the IRS punish him. They will do a good enough job of that, and helping him avoid some P&I might build some long-term client loyalty.

I have a couple of clients who would gladly pay the estimated tax penalties if they could be sure that meant their wives wouldn't speak to them for months.

Hopefully he was telling you the truth, although I've got to admit that sometimes when people feel compelled to tell me how honest they are, my cyincal side kicks in and I get uneasy. Reminds me of the old phrase about inviting the local politician over for dinner - "The louder he proclaimed his honesty, the faster we counted our spoons."