artp

Thanks, just was concerned that I was missing something.

I have W-2s that has been stuck on "submission" status for over 10 days. I emailed a "wage reporting expert" per the website, but have not gotten a response. Has anyone else having this issue? Or is this just "normal" processing delays.

I have also used Nicky's folders for years. They are extremely durable, with dual pockets and a business card insert.

You are correct as long as the interest expense she is paying out is not greater than the interest income she is receiving on the note from the buyer.

Terry, Pub 523 and TC case Keith 115 TC 605 (referenced by another preparer) support the position that the contract for deed is a completed sale under state law. But the deductibility of the interest expense on Schedule A still bothers me. Since she no longer lives there, it is not her personal residence. So how does it meet the test to be a "qualified home" ? The only thing I see is if you can fit it in as "second home not rented out." Since she still has legal title to the home (the buyer only has an "equitable interest" in the home) and she is not renting it out or holding it out for sale, she does not have to use the home herself. Does this meet the test or is there something else that I as missing here?

Thanks Terry. I started working on this very late last night and I did not see this in Pub 523. I will check again this morning. Art

IL taxpayer (single) sold personal residence for $ 150,000 under contract for deed in Sept 2013 receiving a down payment of $15,000 and took back a 30 year 5.5% note with a 5 year balloon. She purchased the home in 2003 and used it as her personal residence unit Nov 2011 when she acquired a new residence. She had attempted to sell the old home, but could not find a buyer to do a straight sale and finally had to do the contract for deed. Taxpayer still has a mortgage on the property and continues to make her loan payments. Taxpayer meets the 2 out 5 year rule and the gain is less than $250,000. Question 1 Does this qualify as a 2013 "sale" for purposed of the Sec 121 exclusion with the result that she only needs to report the interest income on note payments from the buyer? Question 2 Is the interest she pays on her mortgage on the old home deductible on Schedule A?

I have an Illinois resident who received a K-1 from a MO trust showing dividend and capital gains on the Fed K-1, but he did not receive a MO K-1. Are these items considered MO source income for a non-resident that need to be reported?

Thanks for the feedback. I apologize for not acknowledging sooner.

Church reimburses the medical insurance premiums that are deducted from the pastor's wife's salary. She is employed as a nurse for a local hospital. Since the medical insurance premiums for the family medical coverage are deducted on a pre-tax basis on her wages, the premium reimbursement payments that the church pays to the pastor would seem to be taxable income to him on their joint return. Pastor is a dual status filer (no 4361 exemption) so what is the proper way to report the premium reimbursement? Add the reimbursement to his church salary and report the total on his W-2 in Box 1 only ? Pastor has no other self-employment income so there is no Schedule C to be filed. His W-2 salary is included in the clergy income worksheets so the insurance reimbursement would also flow through as taxable income for SE tax purposes. Does anyone have an alternative way to report this item or a suggestion for better way to structure this benefit?

Taxed I have used their folders for the past 3 years. They look great and hold up well and clients appreciate the "finished" look and I think they are a great value. Art

In the past I have used the BNA portfolio 564 which has excellent coverage on this topic and lays out the relationships in a straightforward manner...just rather expensive at $400.

Yes, they took physical possession of the currency. They did get a confirmation receipt from Sterling, though I have not seen it yet. Thanks for the reply. This was really a strange transaction.

Client purchased about $20,000 US dollars in foreign currencies in 2012 through Sterling Currency Group. Client took physical possession of the currency. For 2012 nothing was sold or traded. They are still holding the currencies that they bought. What if anything do we have to report for 2012? They do not have any foreign bank accounts. This is a new issue for me, so I really appreciate some guidance here.

Thanks, KC. Yes this could be a complicated estate as the son is disputing the will and there are other "family" issues involved with the step Mom. My main concern was the potentially large income from the grain sales should it not get a basis adjustment through the estate.

Taxpayer, cash basis farmer got married in 2012;passed away suddenly in Feb 2013 from aggressive cancer. No income taxes due till 04/15/13 (extended due to IRS exception this year)-more than 2/3 of the gross income was from farming. Taxpayer had $200,000 of grain held over from 2012 harvest that will be sold in 2013. Widow was not active in farming operations. Several questions arise: 1 Is the unsold grain considered income in respect of decedent? Or an asset in the estate that would get a step-up in basis and thus little or no gain to be reported when sold in 2013? Per my reading of TTB 21-8 the unsold grain should not be considered IRD. Assuming that the grain is included in the estate at FMV at date of death, the basis would be stepped-up to date of death value. 2 Could the 2013 return be filed and estimated tax paid under the estimated tax payment rules for farmers? ie no payments due till the return is filed 03/01/14? Since the taxpayer qualified for the estimated tax penalty exception for 2012, he would automatically qualfiy for 2013 TTB 15-4 on the MFJ return. Those are my thoughts. Anyone have offer comments or different opinions? Please respond. Thanks.

Finally, got full credit on my card yesterday after 45 days "in dispute" I had sent them numberous documents-copies of emails requesting refund from TRX, complaints to TN AG, BBB and others. Not to say that this could still get reversed, but looks good for now. Good luck to everyone else. Art

Lindkay, I left for Drake as well. Cost is steep, but the product and service have been excellent so far. I went the extra step of getting the 2011 software and converting all my files over from TRX and checking everything out before updating to the 2012 software. Took a little more time, but has really helped the learning curve and only had a few relatively minor issues. I was very pleased that all of my clients' depreciation schedules came over without a hitch! Drake's tutorials are really good. I have called support numerous times and always got a quick and knowledgeable response. I wish everyone on this board good luck. I do hope for your sakes that TRX works out for you. Have a good tax season! Art

I had the same problem that many of last years files did not come over. I finally went to Use Return Maint and clicked on ReIndex and it brought up most of the 1040 files, but no business returns. The headings for the file listing under "spouse" is taxpayers last name. I could not rename the headings or resort the columnar order. Many other problems. 1. Sec 179 depreciation does not calcuate. Depreciation input layout not well structured. 2. Not 1099 INT or DIV input forms-only 1099R is available. 3. Bus code input on Sch C gives erroneous error message. Codes are very incomplete. 4. Many erroneous error messages. Joint return SSNs inputed,but system not recognizing, requesting EIN for sole practitoner, ect. 5. None of the Libraries are available-nothing carried over. 6. None of the letters have carried over--engagement letters, privacy letters, transmittal letters-no guideance provided for setting these up 7. No online help menu. 8. No state software. 9. No tech support available till Monday. Still no support on Fridays at this time. Doug, I appreciate your previous responses to my questions. With respect to item 1 I had a very long discussion with tech yesterday going over my list above. For the depreciation issue it appears that we must start by opening the 4562 form and double clcik on line 2 to open the depreciation worksheet for the numbers to flow to the correct shedule (C, F, ect). In other words you must start from the 4562 and work backwords to get the data to flow properly. This is very counterintuitive. One would think to start with the depreciation detail worksheet where there would be a box to check to tell the system where the data should flow ie Sch C, F, ect. Also the depreciation summary page is missing column totals and has no column for either current year or prior year depreciation, both should be basic for that summary worksheet. The custom letter window functionality is very limited and the cut, paste, and alignment icons do not work. The letter products including the return transmittal form and billing form are still very rough and do not look professional. If you have more than 1 custom form ie engagement letter, privacy notice, ect you can only print one form with return print. ie there is no drop down selection for printing multiple letters when printing a return. The billing form does not pull in the client information nor the default preparer information. I also noted that any supplemental worksheet for Sch A will not total on the worksheet and will not carry to Sch A for any of the itemized deductions. Even the direct input on the line items do not total for the deduction category. If you have a state income tax balance due or 4th qtr estimated payment made in 2012 there is no worksheet to list the payments. The estimated worksheet provided is only for Federal tax payments. As soon as I have time I will put together a comprehensive 1040 sample for testing which I will offer for uploading to the programmers if they wish to use it to assist them, but I must say I am disappointed that some of these very basic things have still not be corrected. Art

Doug, Yes, the EIN data base is what I am referring to. Thanks, Art

Doug, I have not got a resolution yet to the points I raised. I assume that your team is still working on them. To clarify #5 Libraries refers to the listing of Employers for W-2 form input and Payers for 1099 form input that we could choose from a pull down list when completing those input forms in last years software. This was a terrific time saver for repeat clients. I noticed that in the 2012 software in the proforma tab there was a drop down for clients and also for employers. The employers were listed, but when you tried in input the information on the W-2 input sheet the was no mechanism to select from the list. Is this still coming? #6 Custom letters is still not working. I was able to copy the letters from last years software into the custom screen for 2012. I hit the save button, but the letter was not saved and I could not print it. I did this in the 1040 defalut return thinking that it should be available for all future returns. I have updated to versin .03. Is this still a work in progress? Thanks for your reply. Art

I had the same problem that many of last years files did not come over. I finally went to Use Return Maint and clicked on ReIndex and it brought up most of the 1040 files, but no business returns. The headings for the file listing under "spouse" is taxpayers last name. I could not rename the headings or resort the columnar order. Many other problems. 1. Sec 179 depreciation does not calcuate. Depreciation input layout not well structured. 2. Not 1099 INT or DIV input forms-only 1099R is available. 3. Bus code input on Sch C gives erroneous error message. Codes are very incomplete. 4. Many erroneous error messages. Joint return SSNs inputed,but system not recognizing, requesting EIN for sole practitoner, ect. 5. None of the Libraries are available-nothing carried over. 6. None of the letters have carried over--engagement letters, privacy letters, transmittal letters-no guideance provided for setting these up 7. No online help menu. 8. No state software. 9. No tech support available till Monday. Still no support on Fridays at this time. This product is not much of an improvement over the Demo I evaluated this summer. I sure hope they get their act together with quick fixes on the updates-and soon! Art

Has anyone received the new software yet? There is real confusion regarding the offerings this year. Apparantly those of us who renewed early are getting the TRX Premium software, but I have yet to find out who is really the developer of that product. Last year we got TRX's rebranding of TaxWorks, but that is no longer offered thru TRX. This summer they sent me a demo of TaxExact, which is supposed to be software that TRX developed themselves. The latest demo version (Nov 2012) was very incomplete. I was told that I would be getting their first release of TaxExact, but now they tell me they are sending TRX Premium. I had spend a considerable amount of time testing the TaxExact demo and was planning on reviewing the final product. It was always my understanding that we would have the choice of using whichever software was most suitable for our practice. I have another call into TRX..hoping to get this matter resolved.

Doug, I have been quite frustrated with your new product Demo version. I have called support several times, but no one seems to be up to speed on this product. Could you please give me a contact name ? I have too many questions to post them all here. Art

I think we might be premature with this statement. TRX has in the past (and apparantly again this year) not completed their contract with Red Gear until Nov per my discussion with Manager Cristina Alvarez today. I am disappointed that they can't get this done earlier. It leaves their customers in limbo far too long. I certainly do not want to consider making a switch to new software at that late date if they can not make a deal with Red Gear. In the meantime, as a fall back measure I wll take a look a their own tax offering.