artp

I did look at the ruling you cited, but it appears to only deal with gain situations, not losses. Is there something I am not aware of here ? Art

How do you handle this situation ? Facts: Total cash value $17,913.26 Surrender Value $ 16,294.86 Premiums Paid $ 25,431.28 Cost Basis $ 27,673.00 The above info was sent by the insurance company to my client. There were no loans on the policy and no interest credited. Would the $ 11,378.14 (cost basis less surrender value) be a deductible loss for tax puposes ? Where to take on the return ? I thought I had seen some discussion that there are two possible ways this might be handled. First, the more conservative approach was to put in on Sch A subject to 2% limit. A more aggressive approach was to take it as a ordinary loss. I would appreciate feedback from this Board. Need to get this resolved to file his return. Thanks, Art

Thanks. I missed seeing it. Art

What is the status of availablity on this worksheet ? I have a clergy return that I am trying to get completed. Last year (2009) TRX program had this worksheet available, but I can not find it for 2010. I have sent an email to support, but no response. Art

I posted this on the web site you suggested, but I did not see a specifice forum for TRX on that site so I am repeating it here. What is the status of the TRX 2009 conversion of ATX 990 ? We have a 990 that we need to get out early this year. It was prepared on ATX in 2009. We need the files converted before we can up date to the TRX 2010 program. Thanks, Art

Looking thru the IL 2220 instructions I do not see a prior year's tax exception for corporations like there is for federal 2220. Is this correct ? I have a small corporate client that generally has less the $ 400 tax liablity in IL, but expects next year to be much higher. How can we protect against underpayment penalities if there is no prior year tax exception and our estimates for 2011 turn out to be understated ? I know you can use annualization, but short of that is there anything else we can do ? Art

For those clients that have extensive fixed assets I have always printed a "next year Depreciation" sheet to give them a starting point for next year planning. ATX has had that feature for many years. I contacted tech at TRX and they said it is not available. Has anyone else run into this issue ? I would like to suggest that this feature be included in the future. If Ryan is on this board, could you please reply ? Thanks, Art

Thanks for the timely responses and confirming my initial thoughts. Looks like this was missed on the 2009 return as well...so will need to amend. Nice to have this forum to assist each other !

Ryan. Sorry, but that is only for SE calculation. It has nothing to do with the 1040 return qualifying for special farm return treatment that I discussed above. Art

Is W-2 income from serving as a National Guard Reservist deductible on Sch M as qualifying "Military Pay" ? The income is being reported on Fed 1040. From the instructions for the Sch M it appears to qualify. I would appreciate feedback from IL preparers. Thanks, Art

Has anyone prepare a farmer's 1040 on TRX this year? I have tried to find an input screen to mark the return as a farm return (more then 2/3 of the taxpayers income is from farming). This type of return needs to be filed by March 1st and estimate taxes are not required so it is an important distinction. In ATX there is a box to check in the general information screens, but I can not find a similar input in TRX. I have called tech support twice and only got some rookie who didn't have a clue what I was taling about. I have also send an email to tech support-no reply. I would appreciate some guidance. Thanks, Art

Thanks Mike & Ryan. We really need this forum. I will get back with you (to post my comments after the Super Bowl--a guy has to have his priorities straight-tax season or not. Art

Julie, I set up a custom letter that includes the cover letter, engagement letter and privay letter under the Settings>Custom Letter>Other Letters. After I open a return I go to Instruction Letters on the left navigation, check the box for custome letter and go to Other Letters and choose Privacy and Engagement from the pull down list. If you want to save this setup for all future returns hit Crtl D and it should bring this selection up on all future returns. (You do have to check the box for custom letter on each retrun). After you have opened the return in Review mode, all of the forms, schedules and letters should appear in left nagivation. You can then make a manual selecton of the forms to print by placing a check in the box for the forms you want to print. A better way is to select the distribution set from the Settings>Distribution Sets. Most any of the selection options will include all of ther letters so all you need to do is go to the Adv button (Advanced Form Delivery) icon and select the set you want to print. At the same time you can select a set to save to file. Hope this helps. Art

I have used the wagereportingonline software, which I think is what you are refering to. I am disappointed that the documentation is very sketchy and out of date (2009). When I tried to e-file a W-2 the notatiion in red at the top of the form says "this return has been efiled". When I click on the employee tab it shows a status of "e.file locked". What does this mean? Has the W-2 been accepted or what? Again, the user guide is not helpful and there is no support phone number or email. I have contacted TRX support, but they only have 1 individual who apparantly handles all inquiries and he is difficult to contact. If TRX is going to offer this product they need to support it better. Just my experience so far. I would appreciate others feedback/suggestions. Art

Mike, I agree with your comments. I have had similar problems, but as you said they do seem to be making progress. I finally got all of my 1040 files converted. I am told that the business entity conversion package should be ready about 01/05/11 for download. I hope this will go better than the 1040's, luckily I only have about 25 or so. Please do keep the comments coming as we need to share our thoughts on this board. Hopefully, more users will find this board and post their comments. Have a safe New Years ! Art

Ryan, I am still waiting for a response to my question I posted earlier" With respect to items 3 and 4 and the depreciation issue, if we take the time to make all of these manual corrections, will this information rollover correctly from your 2009 program to the 2010 program ? I hate to waste my time during tax season re-keying the same data again. I would appreciate a direct response ASAP. Thanks, Art

Ryan, I have gone back and converted the balance of the returns that I had not previously manually corrected to see if the "fixes" you listed below are working. Here is what I have found so far. Items 1,2,and 6 seem to be fixed for the limited testing I have done. The 1099's still have some missing state codes. Additionally, any 9 digit zip code entry will error out on e-file audit review-dont't know if this is a program error or what. Most state code errors are for DC where the program fails to recognize the state code. With respect to items 3 and 4 and the depreciation issue, if we take the time to make all of these manual corrections, will this information rollover correctly from your 2009 program to the 2010 program ? I hate to waste my time during tax season re-keying the same data again. That is all I have so far. I am very interested to see what other users have to say. Please post your thoughts. Thanks, Art

Can you please clarify. Are the corrections available now ? Is there an update that we need to run? If so, please explain. I have already run the conversion program and made many manual corrections for about 60 clients. Do I need to delete the conversions I have already processed, but not corrected ? I would appreciate a quick reply on this so I know how to proceed. thanks, Art

Mike, I am also disappointed with the converstion. Here is what I have found so far: 1. Almost all returns have an erroneous entry in the foreign address input field. 2. All MFJ returns have box checked for spouse claimed on another return. 3. None of the e-file input forms are correctly populated 4. Direct deposit information is not carried over. 5. All dates for signatures and letters default to current computer date.-no override available. 6. All W-2 input fields for SSN are blank even though the correct entry for T or S has come over. 7. All 1099 forms have missing or incorrect address fields. 8. Virtually none of the depreciation schedules are converting properly. I am forwarding this to TRX, but I based on my previous discussions with their tech support, I am doubtful that much can (or will) be done. Art

I have also being using ATX for many years. I purchased TTO at discount through TRX last year. I contacted TRX to review their own product for comparison and got them to extend the $ 299 special thru 05/31/10. While reviewing their product, I also wanted to get a renewal price for MAX thru ATX since I really did not use the extra features in the TTO product. After 4 phone calls and promises to call me back over a six day period, I finally talked to Troy at ATX. He told me that almost all of the people who purchased TTO thru TRX were "not in their system" and had to be "manually added" in order to get a price quote"-excuse for no one calling be back I guess. Anyway the bottom line was $ 800 total price for MAX which would be good thru 05/31/10. Meanwhile, I have done several returns on TRX 1040 Pro and sat in on a webex for new customers. So far I generally like what I see-yes there is a learning curve, but given a little more time and practice I think the TRX product will work fine. So far the support people have patiently answered my questions and have made suggestions to help with the transition. They assured me they will be able to convert my 2009 ATX files and I should know how that works in a few seeks when hopefully the conversion package will be available. As for now I am stronly leaning toward TRX. I will post more as I work with the software and convert some 2009 files. Meanwhile, I suggest you may want to contact TRX and see if you can get them to extend the time frame for the $ 299 special to 05/31/10. Good luck with whatever you decide.

Mike, Yes, that is still what they are offering. I am evaluating that same package now and I was able to get them to extend the time till 05/31/10. I am going to get a price check with ATX before making by software decision for next year. Art

I have used Viper from SunBelt software for seveal years. Works great and very reasonably priced. Here is the IP address. Check it out. http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/ Art

Thanks, I did try the ADS tables too. I will check out your link. Appreciate your reply.

OK Jainen, I am glad you got a chuckle out of it.

I would really appreciate your thoughts on this: John & Mary lived together (unmarried) in 2009 in John’s house. They plan on living together in 2010, but not get married in 2010. John was divorced in May 2009. He and his former spouse lived in a home which was titled in his name only for over 5 years when she moved out in 2009. John retained the home after the divorce. Mary was also divorced in Nov 2009. Her former spouse was the sole owner of the home they lived in for 6 years before she moved out in Dec 2008. Only his name appeared on the title, deed, loan, ect. He retained the home after the divorce. If John were to buy a new home in 2010 would he be entitled to the FTHBC ? NO, because he fails the 3 year rule. Agree? But could he qualify for the long-term credit? It appears he meets the 5 out of 8 year test so he should qualify. Agree ? If Mary were to buy a new home in 2010 would she be entitled to the FTHBF? No, because of the imputed ownership with her former spouse. Agree? But could she qualify for the long-term credit ? Even though she was not on the title, deed or loan documents she would still be considered an “owner” for purposes of the 5 out 8 year test. Agree ?