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Hi All. My first post. I didnt know this board existed. I saw Joans kudos to me, thanks...I tried to help..didnt know it would be this overwhelming. You can only imagine the amount of work it took to get the tips in one place. I tought others would post tips, but most put them wherever, and I gathered and refined them (to make them readable). To bad ATX didnt allow me to edit past posts, I could have organized it better. Just a comment, and this is not an attack on Joan - I am sure has she known they were going to use her comment to paint it as being fixed she would have been more careful of the words she chose. And also, I am sure they left off some ow what she said as well. They were trying to appear balanced, but really - you cant blame Joan. She mentions on here she quits, reboots, uses task manager..I would not call that fixed, and I am sure she agrees. But the writer was the one who did this. I am on an old machine. I run 12.10 on a Dell 4400 1.6ghz single core, windows XP sp3 with only 1gb ram. (computer cant go higher). I do my maintenance (CCleaner, defrag, etc) and updated where I could and I have no problems. But, I am on standalone. Sure, it is slow to open and occasionally get a crash, but I applied all of my Workarounds and Solutions, and am ok. It is no speed demon, but we are getting through. Frustrating, yes. Opening the print dialog box and waiting for it to load forms drives us crazy. Rollovers are a pain in the ass but i have a system to get them to work. It is nowhere near what I would call good software. Belieive it or not - if they called for an interview and asked me...I could easily have said something similar to Joans comment. And who knows how they would twist and warp it to sound like the software works well for me. And, you all know I am more than aware of the problems. It just happens to be true - I was not bit by most of the other issues everyone else suffered from, especially the network issues. (I did have PDF issues, and switched to Bullzip - never looked back.) I follow my own advice I posted in the Workarounds and Solutions and it seems to work ok. But then, I am a computer geek and many users are just non technical accountants - they have no desire to become their own IT staff -they just want it to work, like it is supposed to.

On the left coast as well! Wait - maybe its the right coast! Oh well, it is a lovely dawn across America today! I chose to close the doors on Good Friday years ago when I decided to run the business instead of letting it run me. Before I started my own practice more years ago than I care to admit, I quit a very good job at a prestigous firm in Central Texas because management insisted everyone show up for work on Easter Sunday. I tendered my resignation on April 16th and have not looked back!

Joan: I have no problem with what you stated. It was your experience. And many folks ARE having issues and are not interested in doing the work to get to a better place. That is laziness defined.. After 12 hours on the phone with ATX and my local computer guy, I determined that ATX was NOT going to do what it did in the past on a network, and I made a decision. I just started running each computer in a stand alone manner and I walk around the office and review returns on each computer, and I rescheduled my employee's to be here at different times, so that we could get returns done.. Does that make me happy? No. Will it force me to change? Yes, It already has made me change. I may move to something else next year. I will make that decision by Oct 15th. But I have to get to April 15th now. I have spent WAY more time of this site, and the ATX corporate site then I ever wanted this tax season. Rich

my cousin sent me this one... Dave Barry can make anything funny! Fwd Message: Colonoscopy Journal For those that have and those that will, this is a good one... This is one of the funniest things I have ever read. If you ever had a colonoscopy or are planning on one, you can't miss this one!!! ABOUT THE WRITER Dave Barry is a Pulitzer Prize-winning humor columnist for the Miami Herald. Colonoscopy Journal: > I called my friend Andy Sable, a gastroenterologist, to make an appointment for a colonoscopy. A few days later, in his office, Andy showed me a color diagram of the colon, a lengthy organ that appears to go all over the place, at one point passing briefly through Minneapolis. Then Andy explained the colonoscopy procedure to me in a thorough, reassuring and patient manner. I nodded thoughtfully, but I didn't really hear anything he said, because my brain was shrieking, 'HE'S GOING TO STICK A TUBE 17,000 FEET UP YOUR BEHIND!' I left Andy's office with some written instructions, and a prescription for a product called 'MoviPrep,' which comes in a box large enough to hold a microwave oven. I will discuss MoviPrep in detail later; for now suffice it to say that we must never allow it to fall into the hands of America 's enemies. I spent the next several days productively sitting around being nervous. Then, on the day before my colonoscopy, I began my preparation. In accordance with my instructions, I didn't eat any solid food that day; all I had was chicken broth, which is basically water, only with less flavor. Then, in the evening, I took the MoviPrep. You mix two packets of powder together in a one-liter plastic jug, then you fill it with lukewarm water. (For those unfamiliar with the metric system, a liter is about 32 gallons). Then you have to drink the whole jug. This takes about an hour, because MoviPrep tastes - and here I am being kind - like a mixture of goat spit and urinal cleanser, with just a hint of lemon. The instructions for MoviPrep, clearly written by somebody with a great sense of humor, state that after you drink it, 'a loose, watery bowel movement may result.' This is kind of like saying that after you jump off your roof, you may experience contact with the ground. MoviPrep is a nuclear laxative. I don't want to be too graphic, here, but, have you ever seen a space-shuttle launch? This is pretty much the MoviPrep experience, with you as the shuttle. There are times when you wish the commode had a seat belt. You spend several hours pretty much confined to the bathroom, spurting violently. You eliminate everything. And then, when you figure you must be totally empty, you have to drink another liter of MoviPrep, at which point, as far as I can tell, your bowels travel into the future and start eliminating food that you have not even eaten yet. After an action-packed evening, I finally got to sleep. The next morning my wife drove me to the clinic. I was very nervous. Not only was I worried about the procedure, but I had been experiencing occasional return bouts of MoviPrep spurtage. I was thinking, 'What if I spurt on Andy?' How do you apologize to a friend for something like that? Flowers would not be enough. At the clinic, I had to sign many forms acknowledging that I understood and totally agreed with whatever the heck the forms said. Then they led me to a room full of other colonoscopy people, where I went inside a little curtained space and took off my clothes and put on one of those hospital garments designed by sadist perverts, the kind that, when you put it on, makes you feel even more naked than when you are actually naked. Then a nurse named Eddie put a little needle in a vein in my left hand. Ordinarily I would have fainted, but Eddie was very good, and I was already lying down. Eddie also told me that some people put vodka in their MoviPrep. At first I was ticked off that I hadn't thought of this, but then I pondered what would happen if you got yourself too tipsy to make it to the bathroom, so you were staggering Around in full Fire Hose Mode. You would have no choice but to burn your house. When everything was ready, Eddie wheeled me into the procedure room, where Andy was waiting with a nurse and an anesthesiologist. I did not see the 17,000-foot tube, but I knew Andy had it hidden around there somewhere. I was seriously nervous at this point. Andy had me roll over on my left side, and the anesthesiologist began hooking something up to the needle in my hand. There was music playing in the room, and I realized that the song was 'Dancing Queen' by ABBA. I remarked to Andy that, of all the songs that could be playing during this particular procedure, 'Dancing Queen' had to be the least appropriate. 'You want me to turn it up?' said Andy, from somewhere behind me. 'Ha ha,' I said. And then it was time, the moment I had been dreading for more than a decade. If you are squeamish, prepare yourself, because I am going to tell you, in explicit detail, exactly what it was like. I have no idea. Really. I slept through it. One moment, ABBA was yelling 'Dancing Queen, feel the beat of the tambourine,' and the next moment, I was back in the other room, waking up in a very mellow mood. Andy was looking down at me and asking me how I felt. I felt excellent. I felt even more excellent when Andy told me that IT was all over, and that my colon had passed with flying colors. I have never been prouder of an internal organ. --------------------------------------------------- Colonoscopies are no joke! Get one.

Kind of creepy. I have a 2 for 1 deal from TaxSlayer Pro today.

Just like all of you I have more returns to do than I can possible get done. But I am also going to take some time for myself. I have two sons. One lives 3 hours away. He has not been home in a couple of years. He is coming in for the weekend and he, myself and my other son have gotten a very nice hotel room (at Ameristar, jasdlm) and are going to watch the game. ROCK CHALK JAYHAWKS GO KU!!!

I'm working and have a client picking up on her way home from work. I'll be at church on Sunday but probably back at work (OIH) the rest of the day. My retired husband shopped and will cook a ham and scalloped potatoes. So I will take time out for a nice dinner with him. If I include a glass of wine, I'll probably end up napping. But still hope to get in at least one return Sunday. I might not answer my phone until Monday, except for call backs I'm expecting. Whoever set up tax season to include Passover and Easter and the Spring Forward time change just didn't think. Why not between Labor Day and Thanksgiving? And this year with the delay from Congress...! And, I got calls yesterday from two different clients who received corrected consolidated 1099s, one a second correction. Happy Easter! Happy Passover! Happy Spring! Happy Weekend! Enjoy!

SBS? Does the new guy have a body guard?

Fix depends on what software version you are using. Old versions (12.9 and earlier) can either delete the entire assets folder and redownload all the forms (takes a long time), or delve into that folder and just delete the individual forms causing the problems. They will automatically re-download. (if you do the problem only forms, it is admittedly more complicated. Details on the reall ATX board in the Workarounds topic) Or , you can use 12.10 or later, and use the new menu item they added, to update forms in this return. It will now give you a dialog box allowing you to select and re-download the problem forms in that partucular return.

If his supplier is doing his tax return properly, the 1099 should NOT make a difference. If he is NOT doing it correctly, that is the supplier's problem.

Looks like ATX is FIXED! Isn't April fools next month?

No harm in sending them, if it will let him sleep better. Benefit: You charge for preparing them.

It is a lovely dawn!

Boxes on the floor staring at me. A client on the way home from AZ with a 1099R showing a $500,000 K taxable withdrawal that should be a rollover and a pile of half-finished returns. Such is life. However, I am going to lunch today with my husband and sons; working tomorrow and cooking on Sunday. Most Sunday's I unplug the landline in the afternoon to take a nap because people have very little respect or common sense. OIH means you are up for grabs. On the other hand, there are advantages. A very blessed and happy Easter to all of you who celebrate it; and a beautiful weekend to the rest of you as well!

For the first time, I am closing the office Friday and Saturday! Never open on a Sunday. I have closed on Good Friday only one other time in the past ten years. But this year I said why should I take Friday off just to come in half a day on Saturday? I think it will be a nice mini vacation to regain my mental strength for the last two weeks of the season.

Wishing everyone a wonderful Resurrection Day weekend.

At the firm, we have 3 computers with i7 processors, SSD, 16GB Ram WIN7 64bit. 7 others all have WIN7 32 Bit, i3 processors, 4GB RAM. The Server is i3 processor running Server 2011 Small business server (WIN 7 platform 64 bit) 16GB RAM. The network is GIGABIT compatible. We are having slow speed doing everything, crashing programs, corrupted backups etc.. I have above average computer skills and have been using ATX since tax year 2002. The program, on a domain server network, is a total disaster. I found out that the program base (the database the program is built around) was never designed for networks. Leave it to CCH to ruin a good tax program by attempting to update (which WAS needed) with a base and programmers that are FAR below par for such an undertaking. It ain't all about old hardware, or computer knowledge.

IRS will send a letter to verify. My clients daughter 22 yrs old makes $23,000 as a teacher/fitness trainer lives with her mother and had 1098-T for 2012 that qualified for the refundable portion (mom did not take her as a dependent for 2012). Taxpayer called the IRS customer service after receiving the letter and the issue was put to bed. She told the IRS that she helps her mom pay utility bills and food in exchange for a bed. Mom does not pay her bills.

I knew already last year that my ten year old XP would not be able to calculate another year of ATX or any other tax software. It was really churning at the end of the season and I don't want it to die because it has lots of valuable use for other things. If we are going to do this job properly, updated and well maintained equipment is a must.

After rereading I am now bending to the side that TP can have this since all income is earned and no support from mom or dad as stated. Reckon IRS will allow or not?

Ugh, I've had two. Last one, I got an endoscopy as a bonus during the procedure. That's when they stick a tube done your throat and look at your esophagus and stomach too. I hope they didn't use the same scope :0

And the two different clients who each received corrected broker statements today.

Hey, they MIGHT be. Are they part of your "office decor"? Then they could be 'office supplies'.

Like I said before . . . feeling a bit testy? Breathe.

I think we all got bug number 1.

i wear my name on my shirt so i can deduct all my living expenses, neat trick