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I renewed today because of the discount. Was happy, happy, happy. Then, my neighbor called, and said my cows were in his yard. Well, your horse is in my field, so there. You know, things can dampen the moo-d.

How do you liven up an accountant's party? Invite an undertaker.

How do you ruin a party? Invite an accountant.

Nah, he just tries to milk every little problem cause he has udderly nothing else to do. We have already mooved on.

I hope it doesn't turn into a beef with your neighbor.

I just got a call today from a long time client saying that he wanted to stop using Sch C and only use the C-EZ form. I asked him why and he said that he didn't make as much this year as he had projected for his health care credits so he doesn't want to take his expenses. His reasoning was that some attorney on the Internet said that expenses are optional and that you can do whatever you want. I asked him what he wanted to do with the equipment that he was depreciating and his office in the home. I explained to him that I have to sign his return and that if I know that the return is incorrect, that I won't be signing it. I also explained that his messing around with expenses may cause him to get a larger EIC and I wasn't going to be part of that. He said that the return would not be incorrect. I asked him if all of his past returns were incorrectly filed and he did not have an answer. I may have to dump this guy, because I can't trust him. Next year, he will probably want to change back again. This is why I hate having everything dumped on a tax return. I know I'm just cranky, but if my husband wasn't sick, I would probably be looking for a different job and get out of this mess.

Just remember, it's not just $95. The penalty is the greater of: For 2014, $95 per uninsured person or 1 percent of household income over the filing threshold, For 2015, $325 per uninsured person or 2 percent of household income over the filing threshold, and For 2016 and beyond, $695 per uninsured person or 2.5 percent of household income over the filing threshold. So a couple making $80,000 total, the penalty would be 1% of $60,000 or $600. Not $190.

No fun for us!

I had fun yesterday.

I think it might be for me. I could use the extra $200. I am going to buy it anyways. Tom Hollister, CA

This conversation makes me think of the old quote by (George Burns/Claude Pepper/Erma Bombeck - pick your celebrity): "At my age, I don't even buy green bananas."

I agree with this. If a user is absolutely sure that they are sticking with a particular program, then go ahead and take advantage of the discount. On the other hand, if a user wants to see if major problems of the prior year have been resolved to their satisfaction, that promises made by the vendor have been kept, AND that user doesn't need the program before February, the discount may not be worth the hassle of renewing early only to find out that the program is no longer suited to their particular practice. In that case, it may be better to wait and let others test out the early releases and fixes. That small a discount only represents one or two returns for many or most of us.

So my boss is doing a refi. He is the sole shareholder of the Corporation. The Corp is a C corp. The lender wants copies of the K-1's issued to the owner!!!!!!!!!!! WTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Don't these stupid frikkin' lenders have a clue about when k-1's are issued? They have the damn tax return. Don't they know the difference between a 1120 and a 1120S. Waste of frikkin' time to work with these idiots. Rant over. Tom Hollister, CA

I'm a bit bummed. I renewed early for the 10% discount as I understood that was the best offer that would be available. Well, 10% of the MAX price is $132.90, less than the $200 discount. Moral for me is to wait longer to renew, I guess. I did get that great deal the one year, however, through the other TRX then ATX honored it again the next year for total savings of more than $1000. But still, I suppose I should have waited for the additional $67.10 and less tax, too!

this is udderly ridiculous and has nothing to do with the discount plan hatched by atx that their sales staff came up with while barn storming ideas

This discussion is amounting to nothing more than chicken scratch.

My head hurts already.

Nah, y'all are going to milk this for all it's worth.

I am suggesting we put this thread out to pasture.

Oh lighten up - they're just horsing around.

It's gotten too corny for me.

My least favorite is the family size info. If Mom has a child living with her but ex-husband claims the child and has child on his health plan, Mom has to have some info from Dad, right? Or, Mom pays the penalty since child is in her household, right? Makes for a new way for spouses to argue, stick it to one another, use the child, take more of our time.

I am too chicken to touch this conversation...

Rita, you are truly out standing in your field.

Both of you drink too much calfeine.

No sales tax, but I STRONGLY recommend that you provide them a Form 8594. to help them arrive at the price, and the allocation. Here is what the IRS says about it. Allocation of consideration paid for a business. The sale of a trade or business for a lump sum is considered a sale of each individual asset rather than of a single asset. Except for assets exchanged under any nontaxable exchange rules, both the buyer and seller of a business must use the residual method (explained later) to allocate the consideration to each business asset transferred. This method determines gain or loss from the transfer of each asset and how much of the consideration is for goodwill and certain other intangible property. It also determines the buyer's basis in the business assets. Consideration. The buyer's consideration is the cost of the assets acquired. The seller's consideration is the amount realized (money plus the fair market value of property received) from the sale of assets. Residual method. The residual method must be used for any transfer of a group of assets that constitutes a trade or business and for which the buyer's basis is determined only by the amount paid for the assets. This applies to both direct and indirect transfers, such as the sale of a business or the sale of a partnership interest in which the basis of the buyer's share of the partnership assets is adjusted for the amount paid under section 743(b ) of the Internal Revenue Code. Section 743(b ) applies if a partnership has an election in effect under section 754 of the Internal Revenue Code. A group of assets constitutes a trade or business if either of the following applies. Goodwill or going concern value could, under any circumstances, attach to them. The use of the assets would constitute an active trade or business under section 355 of the Internal Revenue Code. The residual method provides for the consideration to be reduced first by the amount of Class I assets (defined below). The consideration remaining after this reduction must be allocated among the various business assets in a certain order. See Classes of assets next for the complete order. Classes of assets. The following definitions are the classifications for deemed or actual asset acquisitions. Allocate the consideration among the assets in the following order. The amount allocated to an asset, other than a Class VII asset, cannot exceed its fair market value on the purchase date. The amount you can allocate to an asset also is subject to any applicable limits under the Internal Revenue Code or general principles of tax law. Class I assets are cash and general deposit accounts (including checking and savings accounts but excluding certificates of deposit). Class II assets are certificates of deposit, U.S. Government securities, foreign currency, and actively traded personal property, including stock and securities. Class III assets are accounts receivable, other debt instruments, and assets that you mark to market at least annually for federal income tax purposes. However, see section 1.338-6(b )(2)(iii) of the regulations for exceptions that apply to debt instruments issued by persons related to a target corporation, contingent debt instruments, and debt instruments convertible into stock or other property. Class IV assets are property of a kind that would properly be included in inventory if on hand at the end of the tax year or property held by the taxpayer primarily for sale to customers in the ordinary course of business. Class V assets are all assets other than Class I, II, III, IV, VI, and VII assets. Note. Furniture and fixtures, buildings, land, vehicles, and equipment, which constitute all or part of a trade or business are generally Class V assets. Class VI assets are section 197 intangibles (other than goodwill and going concern value). Class VII assets are goodwill and going concern value (whether the goodwill or going concern value qualifies as a section 197 intangible). If an asset described in one of the classifications described above can be included in more than one class, include it in the lower numbered class. For example, if an asset is described in both Class II and Class IV, choose Class II. Example. The total paid in the sale of the assets of Company SKB is $21,000. No cash or deposit accounts or similar accounts were sold. The company's U.S. Government securities sold had a fair market value of $3,200. The only other asset transferred (other than goodwill and going concern value) was inventory with a fair market value of $15,000. Of the $21,000 paid for the assets of Company SKB, $3,200 is allocated to U.S. Government securities, $15,000 to inventory assets, and the remaining $2,800 to goodwill and going concern value. Agreement. The buyer and seller may enter into a written agreement as to the allocation of any consideration or the fair market value of any of the assets. This agreement is binding on both parties unless the IRS determines the amounts are not appropriate. Reporting requirement. Both the buyer and seller involved in the sale of business assets must report to the IRS the allocation of the sales price among section 197 intangibles and the other business assets. Use Form 8594, Asset Acquisition Statement Under Section 1060, to provide this information. Generally, the buyer and seller should each attach Form 8594 to their federal income tax return for the year in which the sale occurred. See the Instructions for Form 8594.

IMO If you want any particular program; negotiate the best deal you can; order it, pay for it and put it behind you.

Regarding alternatives, I still stick to the assertion that Drake is the only true competitor in this price range. Except that Drake is significantly bettter than ATX in terms of speed and ease of use. It blows the doors off ATX with its efficiency. Having used both, and having reached a high degree of software transparency with Drake, I'd even pay a premium for it over ATX. All one has to do is break that dependence upon forms based entry, which IMO is way overblown. After that, everyting falls into place rapidly. I know for certain that I'm making more money with Drake. Since I'm in business to earn a profit, that's the acid test.

Hey Jack, will you be sticking with your PC laptop?

You didn't give enough info yet for anyone here to compute his basis. Clearly there were losses or distributions in prior years that created that negative balance in retained earnings, but we don't know if aggregate prior year losses were enough that stock basis has been reduced to -0- by the start of the year you are working on, and if there was a reduction in debt basis prior to the BOY. Was debt basis at BOY a reduced amount below 100% of its value? Basically, there is stock basis and there is debt basis. Once stock basis is zeroed out, the shareholder can continue to deduct losses on his personal return up to the amount of debt basis. If both have been fully used, then his basis is truly -0-. If the debt basis had been reduced below its face value, any repayments of the loan that are paid to the shareholder might create taxable income. The character of that income depends on the type of loan. The shareholder's basis doesn't have to be -0- to create this income, only that debt basis had been previously used (reduced) when he deducted losses, and if repayment of the loan is made before the debt basis is restored to 100% of face value, then he will have income.

I use Windows, Mac, and Linux daily, and don't have very strong feelings about any of them--what really matters is that the software you use is available for your chosen platform.   Like Marco says, it's been a while since virtual machines were required to run windows software on a mac.  The innards of a mac are no different than the innards of a PC these days, so you can run windows on them just as you run windows on any PC hardware.  There is no difference aside from a slight difference in keyboard layout.   Unfortunately, I don't think the answer to the original question is very straight forward.  If you're set on a Macbook, you have to make a difficult decision between getting the right display, or getting beefier specs.   The Macbook Air can't be configured with the best CPU or the most RAM, and from what I've read over the past couple tax seasons here, ATX has become quite a resource hog.  Someone with more experience with the software can correct me if I'm wrong.   And the Macbook Pro with Retina Display, although you can get the best CPU/RAM configurations, most Windows software will look like garbage on that beautiful high resolution display... unless you have really really good eyes.   Windows hasn't had support for super high resolution displays until version 8, and improved in 8.1, but even with OS support, most third party windows applications look terrible.  They either appear too small on the screen due to the high resolution, or they get scaled up and buttons/icons/text get bitmapped/pixelated/blurry.  If you're curious about this, do some google searches for Windows software High DPI" or something like that.  Plenty of PC Laptops are available with even nicer screens than what's available on the higher end Macs, so it's just a matter of time before software catches up.  Don't count on ATX being early to that party though.   I guess I would wonder if you plan on using the Macbook with an external monitor.  If so, plug a standard resolution monitor into a Macbook Pro (like a 1080p 23" monitor, for example) and you'll be all set.   Display aside, I suggest the Macbook Pro with the fastest Core i5 processor available.  Don't spend on the i7 unless there is almost no price difference, and instead put the money into a large SSD and as much RAM as you can afford.  I'll expand on my reasoning a bit:   In a Macbook (and most Windows laptops too), you're probably fine with an i5.  What most people don't realize about the Intel Core i7 processors found in the majority of laptops is that they're not the same as the quad-core desktop versions.  They're dual core low-power versions that are built to use less battery and require less cooling.  This isn't specific to Macs, this is usually the case with Windows laptops as well but there are exceptions.  The difference in processing power between the dual core i5 and dual core i7 laptop chips usually isn't worth the additional cost.  If we were talking about desktop processors, I'd suggest quad core Core i7, but we're not.   In these low wattage Intel Core processors (i7 4500U / i5 4200U for example), the biggest difference between the i5 and i7 is in 3D performance for gaming.  In productivity applications, you'll see about a 4-7% difference in performance.

Yeah, I know. I just prefer to get things done while I'm thinking about it, because my thinker sometimes doesn't work like it used to, especially when I put things off! I did remember to add an Outlook reminder to renew later this month. Now, if I can just remember to check my Outlook reminders

October 13, 2014 By Jeff Stimpson You’re having a perfectly fine time at a party, reception, barbecue, ballgame, meal or any other gathering, when out of nowhere you’re bombed by a taxpayer with that most loaded question: “Mind if I ask you something?” Conventional wisdom says rules vary state to state over whether a professional can be sued for casual advice; even-more-conventional wisdom points out that in our litigious society, defending even a frivolous lawsuit consumes valuable time and money. Though casual questions about taxes – not to mention your answers – usually fall short of igniting E&O lawsuits (Accounting Today), respond carefully. “Off-the-cuff or ‘cocktail party’ advice is never recommended,” said Bill Thompson, president of insurer CPA Mutual in Gainesville, Fla. “Any advice should be in writing after receipt of an engagement letter.” ‘Provide for my cats’ Surely people don’t actually expect specific, valid, actionable professional advice in 30 seconds? For nothing? Wrong. “ ‘Can you tell me how to set up my will so I can provide for my cats and the person I give the money to will not have to pay taxes?’ ” recounted Enrolled Agent Martha Nest, of Westview Tax Services, in Bardstown, Ken. “ ‘How much money can I give my kids this year so they won’t pay tax on it?’ ” “People are very creative when it comes to asking complicated tax questions without being a paying client,” added Steven Pargo, an EA at CSL Tax Advisors in St. Charles, Mo. “My most recent encounter was with a person who has an S corp, sold properties and had a few rental properties. This person has been incorrectly filing the 1120S and their 1040 for years, handwritten. I gave it a complimentary glance and explained that their tax situation is more complicated than it appears, and that I advised a professional complete it, even if [that professional] wasn’t me.” “This person declined,” Pargo added. “I couldn’t believe it.” ‘Free tax machine’ “I get confronted for tax advice all the time because when people know what I’ve attempted to do for a living for 27 years, they think I’m some sort of free tax machine,” said EA James Christenberry, of 1040 Rapid Tax & Properties in San Antonio. “Normally questions about tax planning and audits. A lot about Social Security.” Seekers of free advice also frequently ignore warnings. Hawley, Pa., practitioner Robert Flach said he isn’t asked for tax advice in social settings, but does get hit up via e-mail or comments from his blog, The Wandering Tax Pro. “This,” he added, “even though the following statement is prominently placed in the margin of my posts: ‘Before contacting me with questions about how a blog post relates to your specific situation, please be aware that I do not give free tax advice to non-clients by e-mail, comment response or phone. So don’t waste your time and mine.’ I usually ignore the e-mail or comment.” “The best one was the pharmacist,” Nest said. “I went in to pick up a prescription and the owner of the pharmacy asked if he could discuss a tax situation with me because if he called his accountant, he’d get a bill! He wanted me to explain how salary would work with a pharmacist he was planning to hire who had incorporated himself. This is a small town, so I took the 20 minutes and explained the situation.” Good responses “You can’t come to a professional and ask them to work for free,” writes entrepreneur and consultant Adrienne Graham on Forbes.com. She recommends replying to the advice-seeker, “How would you feel if your boss came to you and said, ‘Hey, since we can get this done from information from the Internet, I won’t be paying you today’?” She also recommends carrying your practice’s fee schedule with you; declining lunch or coffee invitations that you sense are just fishing expeditions for your advice; and referring questioners to your free resources, such as published articles or blog entries.