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OK ..but what does that mean? All I see in MACRS, ADS, ect

Pleading confused. Does anyone know what ALT depreciation method is? Prior accountant tax depreciation scheduled showed a 2007 SUV with a purchase price of $31,912 and 2008 bus use 49.84% business use %, no special allowance or Sec 179 taken in prior year, 5.0 YR life HY convention and A/D of $ 3879 and 2008 depreciation of $ 2672. I cannot work back to those figures. Client cannot find 2007 return or depreciation schedule and prior accountant went out of business. Can you give me a hand on this? Thanks

I signed up today as well. Got them to extend the date till May 31st to give my more time to review the software. If I am not satisfied I can get a full refund.

Please disregard the above post. Found answer in Pub 225

Looking at the rules under Sec 179 "single purpose agricultural or horticultural structures and storage facilites"-- grain bins seems to fit. Correct ?

Yes, that is what I was trying to convey in my original post.

Her will provided that her interest went to the children upon her death. Or is there somethng I am missing in your response?

Thanks for your replies. In the heat of tax season the brain cells sometimes get overloaded and I need some feedback from the people on this board.

I guess I did not clearly state the facts. I am talking about the 50% interest that W had in her name when H died in 1982. That 50% went to the children from W at her death in 2000. That is where the 2nd step-up issue came from.

OldJack, Just want to clarify my understanding of your response. Are you saying there is no separate step-up for the portion of the property that passed from W to the children when she passed away in 2000?

H & W owned several farm parcels In IL (not a community property state) which were inherited by their 3 children. H died in 1982. W died in 2000. In 1982 per H’s will 50% interest in parcel A was transferred to his son, the other 50% went into a trust with an income only benefit to W for her life and remainder interest to each of the children as 1/3 undivided interest in the land. Trust held title to the land until W died and the children inherited. While the parcel was in the trust the children could not sell, convey, encumber or do anything with the land until M passed. Question 1. At what time does the step-up in basis occur? In 1982 when title passed to the trust or 2000 when effective ownership was passed to the children? Also in 1982 per H’s will 50% interest in parcel B went directly to W with the other 50% going into the same trust as above with the same provisions. On W’s death in 2000 her 50% went to the children. Question2. At what time does the step-up in basis occur for parcel B? For the 50% interest that went into the trust-1982 or 2000? For the 50% interest that went to W and then to the children 2000 ? My take for question 1 is that the step-up occurred in 1982 since title transferred at that time from H to the trust. A step-up happens at the decedent’s date of death even though the children do not have effective control of the property until W passes. Same answer for question 2 for the 50% that went into the trust. The other 50% that was inherited from W would get a step-up in 2000. The two daughters sold their interest in both parcels to their brother in 2009. So it would appear that they would have the following: For parcel A basis from 1982 for their share of the 50% from via the trust For parcel B basis from 1982 for their share of the 50% interest via the trust; from 2000 for their share of the 50% interest from W Do you agree? Anything that I am missing here?

I have a small (mostly tax only) practice so I may not be typical, but I went to virtually paper free this year just using a Kodak i1120 scanner and Adobe Standard. I looked at Document Manager, but it was too expensive and did not really save much time. I just needed simple document storage system rather the a complex document sorting and retrival system. I post any notes directly on the client docs before scanning and add electronic notes as needed afterward. So far works get. My client folders just consist of signature forms and the occassional odd document. I backup daily to separte external hard drive. Just my two cents worth.

When filing the MO CR for the MO 1041 the line instructions refer to the MO 1040. I could not find a CR form with specific line references to the MO 1041. My software picked up the taxable income from line 13 of the MO 1041 for the line 1 input on the CR. Is this correct? My only non resident income is from farm rentals in IL. I assume this would go on line 4? The net result is that the IL farm rental income exceeds the MO “taxable income” so we are deducting 100% of the IL tax liability on the MO 1041. Am I on the right track here?

Sorry, I got ahead of myself when I posted the question. The legal fees, appraisal fees and title transfer fees are all in connection with the transfer of the farm land and liquidation of some small investments that were held by the decedent and passed throught the estate to the estate heirs.

1. Are attorney fees paid by an estate fully deductible on the 1041 line 14? Estate consisted mostly of farm property in which the decedent had a partial ownership. Farm was actively operated on crop share basis, but decedent was not active in the business. The other assets consisted of small bank account and some savings. Ownership of the assets were transferred to children from the estate. From reading past posts there seems to be a disagreement on deductibility of legal fees. Deductibility allowed for preservation of income producing property vs transfer of title/ownership of personal assets. Is this the proper framework for determining deductibility? In this case fully deductible? 2. Second issue is deductibility of appraisal fees, title work and transfer on death fees. Deductible, subject to 2% of income? Fully deductible? Non-deductible? This issue is always troublesome. I would appreciated response from those with experience on these issues.

I also purchased Kodak i1120 a few months ago. Mine works fine too. I have a lot of single-side scanning so I set up a custom set up so I won't create a "blank" image for the back side of a scanned document. I found that Adobe Standard works well to save an image name when scanning documents to client's tax folder. I too am waiting to see how well the unit holds up during tax season.

I now understand that I need a more robust version of acrobat-either standard or professional. I have looked on line and prices are really all over the place. Does anyone have a reliable source for version 9 that they would recommend? I found a price under $ 100, but seems to good to be true.

Great, and I just started using Paycycle for a couple of new clients! It seemed like a really good deal, but you are probably right. They will try to kill it off and move everyone to their rip off high priced Quickbooks products.

Finsihed the last one. Hope you guys are done soon. Have a great after season break. I know I am going to.

Thanks, I will give that a try.

What if the wife filed as HOH (another prepare did her return) and the husband (my client) has not yet filed? What is the best way to get to MFJ? Do I need to file husband as single first and then do the 1040X?

Has anyone been able to efile a 1040 with the first time home buyers credit using form 5404?

KC & OLD JAck Thanks for the quick reply. Sorry I did not respond sooner.

Farm client is wanting to take depreciation in 2008 for a used combine he will be purchasing. Assuming he has sufficient income from his farming operations, I believe he would be be able to use Sec 179 but would not be eligible for the new 50% bonus depreciation since the combine is used equipment. Correct? If he takes possession before 12/31/08 is that sufficient to meet the "placed in service" requirement? He may be taking delivery late in Dec and therefore would not be using the combine to harvest any crops in 2008. Would this jepordize taking the Sec 179 and regular depreciation in 2008? Could he then take it in 2009? Farmer is expecting substantial profits in 2008 and needs the deduction this year.