All Activity

I've just set up rules to issue a captcha challenge for any visitor not from the US or Canada to help with the bots and spammers. I'm interested to know if anyone on the forums gets caught up in those--if not, I may block traffic from outside North America entirely. I wouldn't normally do something like that, but this is a very US-specific site. Can anyone think of a reason not to?

You are welcome! I ironed out and documented the process yesterday, and everything went smoothly this morning.

Wow! Quick work, Eric. We appreciate your knowledge and hard work to make this move and to continue to monitor it for us. Thank you!!

Alright, everything is moved and at first glance, things appear to be working normally. A lot has changed behind the scenes--more than I'd normally like to change all at once, so please report any issues or broken features you encounter.

College student received a $5,000 check written to him from XXX Church Trust with YYY Scholarship in the memo. Taxable? Other Income? Kiddie Tax?

Hi folks, The server move I mentioned last month will begin soon: You'll know it's in progress when the forum is replaced with a static message, and you'll know it's back up when the message is gone and there's an update on this post. I've done a trial run of the migration and although it went smoothly, I expect a few bumps over the coming weeks as it starts getting real traffic. Thank you for your patience!

I agree with virtually everything stated so far in this thread. I too switched to Drake in 2012 and never looked back. It takes a little getting used to because it isn’t forms-based, but forms based software is way over-rated (especially since forms-based software still relies upon worksheets to a significant degree). Drake is great software and it still amazes me how stingy Drake is with memory. Startup is rapid, operationally it’s nimble, and backups are lighting fast. One hint if you switch to Drake. As soon as you get comfortable using it, spend some time learning how to construct “macros”. You can use them to design a lot of customization to automate numerous repetitive and routine tasks.

Good luck with that. I have a gal, have had her for years, and she is just a delight to work with.

Thank you to all who responded. The OP talked the client into claiming an office of 600 sq. ft in an 1800 sq ft. house, so the business use is 33.3% I asked the client if he could justify regular and exclusive use of his entire basement for use in administering the farm operations and he responded "of course not!" I think I can talk him into amending the office to a more reasonable 250 sq. ft, in which case we can amend both returns and still leave the 401-K payment intact since we will also reduce the other expenses for the office from 33.3% to 14%. Ringers

Of course, it seems so obvious now. Thanks for explaining, Kathy.

Follow the link Catherine posted.

I would be very interested in viewing your presentation. Can you provide a link? Thanks

They don't come to us before. Before the divorce. Before dividing assets. Before dividing children. Even my own son left all his tax return copies that I uploaded to my portal for him to give his lawyer, so his lawyer saw nothing about their partnership, nothing about the tax returns before his ex quit working, nothing about all the monies they took out of his Roth to run the partnership and to live off while the ex's TIRA kept growing, nothing. Sorry, tired and cranky today!

I called the direct number that my sales consultant gave me and it says that it's out of order. I shot him an email. I hope that he's still there. He's been a constant help the past few years that I've had him.

I agree with Judy (which is almost always the case!). I don't know that he will be better off if he took investments at the same value because we don't know the basis of the investments that he got. But for sure she gets full basis in their combined hands to calculate the gain and then 250K tax free of that gain. I don't see him getting 250K tax free gain from the investments. It could be her lawyer got her a better deal because the investments are very low basis and he will have a bigger tax bill because of it. If it was my client, I would stay out of questioning the divorce settlement. She had a lawyer to protect her interests and what came out of that is now fact. Looking back at the divvy up of assets will only run you down a rabbit hole you have no business sniffing around. Not telling you how to run your practice, but I am telling you how I would run your practice, because, well, you asked..... Tom Longview, TX

^^ This! Your client's basis is now the basis she and former spouse had as a joint couple, and there is no step-up. She is now selling as sole owner so the exclusion is only the $250K, assuming she meets the requirements for the full exclusion she is allowed.

Divorced client tells me (in advance - hooray!) of her plans to sell (in 2024) the house she got in the divorce that was final in 2023. She asked about tax repercussions of that plus some other queries. In response I asked if she bought him out, or if there was an agreement to share proceeds of the sale. Neither! She got the house and in exchange he got more of their investment assets. Total value of assets was the same. My first thought is that she gets 100% of the gain with only $250k exclusion and no step-up for "his" portion of the house. But that's just a first thought. Pub 504 and Code Section 1041 talk about basis in the property being the same as if it was a gift from one spouse to the other, with nothing about any step-up even being possible. Yet that seems to leave her with a bigger tax bill than he'll have from their investments. Making me wonder if I should be asking if there was anything in the divorce agreement that talks about equalizing basis. Any advice/references/thoughts for me?

After using ATX for many years, I switched to Drake mid-season during the 2012 filing season debacle. Support is excellent (if not quite as good as it was before Phil Drake retired). Not quite as intuitive but the search box works really well. No bunny-hop endless circles as I ran into in ATX on too many occasions. If you switch, you get (or at least always used to get; ask about current terms) the current-season software free to roll over returns, or re-create them (to learn how the s/w works), plus prior-year programs free. I don't use Portals but use Verifyle instead. Gruntworx - that was once standalone but got bought by Drake and integrated with it years ago - is something I now consider essential but rarely use more than the non-verified (i.e., automated) bookmarked/indexed pdf creator. It makes methodical entries far easier, but the best use is looking for substantiating documents for the tax agency "send us proof of withholding" type letters. Boom, found in an instant, instead of endless searches through vaguely-named pdf's. It also has The Tax Book as an integrated add-in but I prefer the standalone version. Pricing has been remarkably stable. This year there is a price break for single-user offices (like mine) which I like. TL;DR version: jumping in the deep end worked and while it's not perfect I would not go back to ATX.

I believe this is it (I've asked the hosting group for confirmation, too). https://www.bigmarker.com/tax-practice-pro-inc1/When-1040s-Go-Wrong-Navigating-a-Tax-Train-Wreck

It's rounded to nearest $50.

But you need to know the formula for calculating. They usually involve accumulating inflation amounts until they reach a certain threshold, before an increase is allowed. So prior year calculated amounts that weren't enough are added to the current year calculation, if they didn't reach that threshold in the prior year(s).

How can that be though? The amounts for 2024 are exactly double at $4,150/$8,300, so applying the same inflation percentage should result in the amount for 2025 family being exactly double that of single coverage if what you say is true. Something else must be factored in because the amounts for 2023 weren't exactly double either. The 2023 amounts were $3,850/$7,750.

I switched to Drake in the 2017 tax season after using ATX for almost 20 years. No regrets. Patrick is correct, it's not as intuitive. Sometimes, it can get frustrating trying to find a specific worksheet. Their diagnostics are very thorough but can sometimes be frustrating to understand.

Congrats! It's a shame Microsoft was so tricky in getting you to "upgrade." My new computer came with 11 and it's annoying and took me awhile to tame, but it works and seems to be getting better with each update. But the average user wouldn't want to have to deal with taming a new OS.

must be tied to inflation and the way the numbers are rounded off.