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One person's toy is another person's productivity tool. I use my desktop (PC), iPhone, iPad, and my MacBook pro at various times and in various contexts. Each of them adds to my business and personal productivity in its unique way, and I would miss any one of them if it were taken away from me. Maybe that's because I've discovered it is indeed possible to walk and chew gum at the same time. Or maybe that's why I learned to use a hammer to drive nails into wood, a drill to make holes in the same material, and a power screwdriver to install screws in those same holes. Every tool has a unique purpose, and every piece of electronics is simply a tool to get something done.

Form an LLC per his state law. Form 8832 to elect corporate taxation. Read the instructions and deadlines. Organizing the LLC is usually easy. Having a good operating agreement if more than one member is the part that needs a lawyer familiar with your state law. What do you do when the members disagree, one wants out, one dies, one wants the other to leave, spouse inherits, one wants to sell, etc.? Those are the things to put in a legal document now while everyone is getting along, before anything goes wrong.

There was never a time when a WIFE was claimed by the husband for 1/2 of the year and she claimed herself for the second 1/2. KC and Sara didn't mention children or custody in their posts.

Speaking only for myself here, productivity is about much more than the price of a given tool or set of tools. I've seen billing rates quoted on this forum and other tax & accounting forums at anywhere from $90/hr to $200/hr (maybe more - plug in your own numbers). So if a given $1,000 tool saves you 1/2 hour per week, it has a payback period of less than 6 months. At $200/hr, the payback period drops to less than 90 days. I think the critical issue is not how cheaply something can be done, but how efficiently it can be done. Time is money. (that statement still holds true even in you charge by the form) Incidentally, I'm typing this note on the iPad which sits on my desk while I'm doing something totally different on my PC. Most of my emails & forums are read and responded to on this device. Reading & navigating email & forums is MUCH easier with a touch screen than with a mouse. Then a bluetooth keypad speeds up the "reply" task. Plus, this particular iPad almost never leaves my desk, because I carry a separate iPad mini in my backpack. But if I want to do some reading in the "library", I just pick it up and carry it with me. Hard to do that with my PC & monitor. But having said all that, I do understand that others' mileage may vary.

You missed the point on that one Jack. The court said the husband may claim the wife as a dependent for 1/2 of the year. This is a divorce, and their ain't no claiming a former spouse on that tax return. Tom Hollister, CA

Jack from Ohio, there are business expenses and personal expenses. You may be referring to my whine about missing a bit more of the price reduction on ATX MAX while spending quite a bit more on the Surface Pro 2. The software is a business expense and an annual one on a declining client base. The second is an upper grade 'toy' expected to last at least as long as my now dead 6-7 year old laptop and it is far more versatile than the business software or that old laptop. My husband also uses it as it is personal with minimal outside (no deduction) business use. My dive trips to quite exotic places are comparatively very costly but I buy most of my clothes from KMart and such places. I value experiences more than most stuff but the Surface Pro gives me wonderful experiences not possible with the tax software. And the lower my business expenses, the more money I have for fun stuff and experiences! Said earlier, your mileage may vary.

Sometimes we HAVE to have our toys. For me it is a form of self-gratification and thanks for all the work I do. On the other hand, I now have three laptops and and two desktops. My XP desktop is only for programs that don't convert to Win 7. My oldest Win 7 laptop is for leaving at the other house. No number pad, but the external works just fine. Have two identical workhorse 17" laptops; one for in house and one for back and forth. Of course, we all value different things in our equipment. My laptops do have dedicated video cards and have i5 with turbo boost. Win 7 Pro. My main working machine is an i5 desktop; which will be entering it's third tax season. Thankfully it was brand new for 2012 and handled most of the issues with little pain. And then there are the real toys: Tablets. I use that when I am (rarely) sitting on the couch and want to check e-mail or FB. Or, my husband says something like, "Is that guy still alive?" I have an almost immediate answer. My tablets also work through my phone line if I am traveling and wi-fi is not available. Wonderful for Gas Buddy and/or just browsing. We all lead different lifestyles and have different needs. Hopefully, we have lives outside of tax preparation. In my mind, it isn't so much what you have, but how you take care of it and whether it meets your processing needs. Does it have the features YOU want and does it make YOU happy? Last, but really first, backup, backup and backup!!!!

ILLMAS, I have a Surface Pro 2. It has Intel i5-4300u @ 1.90 Gh, 2.5 Gh (whatever that means, not sure why it shows 2 speeds); 4G RAM; 64 bit; 112 G hard drive with 35 G still free; IE 11. Surface Pro 3 may have better numbers. I have the attached keyboard which I love. I couldn't stand to use the onscreen keyboard. I bought it for miscellaneous business (dive and CPR instruction) but mostly as a replacement for a heavy, dead laptop and nonfunctional little laptop replacements (can't even recall what they are called). Frankly, I use my Kindle Fire more but now have an attachment that I can use to connect to my television when I want to watch missed network programs that aren't on my Prime subscription. I don't think I could use it for tax prep, at least not routinely, but my eyes are getting bad. The screen resolution is sharp and my computer guy tweaked it a tad bit. It has Bluetooth and wifi so prints to any printer I have.

Actually, there is NO WAY to claim ANY dependant for half a year, friends. That was what I found so funny. And that was 'back in the days' when the IRS DID look at the decree as a basis, but only for children. So the decree was doubly ridiculous.

Correct, but in an audit, it is easier to defend a business when the business has 8 trucks. If you have invested money for 8 trucks and have hired 8 drivers, no one will question the business or hobby theory.

Understood, the however there is --- what will the "program do"? It is simple if the answer is yes --- continue moving on. If "no", will the program move to the different forms to figure the penalty, etc. and if so, will they be "mandated" by the "program" to be used in order to e-file, etc.. Given there will be a LOT of entry and information gathering -- there almost MUST be an additional cost as there may be A LOT of additional time. Just a different perspective. Just like the IRS does not "bow to the courts" for use of what is done, said in divorce decrees, etc. --- a lot may depend on how our illustrious "programmers" read and understand (or not) what really needs to be done (hopefully by code and just not what is "understood", read, heard, or been stated in seminars, etc. by the IRS employees or presenters). Remember the IRS has specificially stated that you can not rely on their information (instructions, forms, regulations, etc. as the definitive answer or way to do things -- their words) but MUST rely on the "code" as written. ----- SCARY isn't it ....

You'll have to spend about $2000 to get the highest end model, probably.     The form factor might be a tablet, but it's normal PC / Laptop hardware.  In terms of power, it's no different from a laptop with a Core i7 and a 512GB SSD.   The problem for me would be the keyboard and maybe the screen size.  Even with the more expensive ($130 extra) Type Cover, the key travel is shallow.  Text size on tax forms might be on the small side viewed on a 12" screen also.

You will probably need form 8832 (unless you do a sub S corp. - exception in directions). See this URL for discussion (jumping to the proper type (single, corp., etc.) at the top right under "Related Links"): http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Small-Businesses-&-Self-Employed/Limited-Liability-Company-LLC You also might want to review Pub 3402 which can be found here: http://www.irs.gov/uac/Publication-3402,-Taxation-of-Limited-Liability-Companies One of the things will be timing as some election options can only be done not more than 75 days before or more than 12 months after election filing. Easy read, just step through the material.

Reply Quote Favorites Copied from the ATX Board: Good afternoon, Changing the backup/restore server under the Admin Console is not the same as browsing to a different backup location within the Backup utility in prior years. It can lead to other issues potentially, especially at this time in the season, therefore I don't recommend that. If you want to make a literal "Backup" rather than manually copying folders you can go in the program to the Returns Menu, and Backup Returns, and click the button to "Copy Backup to Local Storage". We put that button in the program to make it easier for customers than going into Explorer and manually moving around files, and having to worry about the hidden folders. It does the same thing as jmdaviscpa states as far as copying the backup folder - but without the manual steps which some users may not be comfortable with. All that said, the best way for 2013 is actually to go through each page of returns, mark all on each page (using the Mark All button at the top), and then going to Returns -> Export Marked Returns. The export will create 1 file for each customer so you can see each name, and also is much easier to "restore" from than the literal backup, as you can specify the location to Import from, whereas you have to manually move the backup back into the proper folder to restore. Jon C. Jon Conner CCH Small Firm Services Lead Customer Service Representative

Right. But a wife cannot be a dependent. That was the point of KC's post. The judge said he could claim the wife as a dependent and take 1/2 of the dependency exemption. That is never allowed. Tom Hollister, CA

I was I was responding to Kc's post. Divorce decrees have become essentially useless for determining who can claim dependents. The IRS decided to stop being a county court to settle squabbles between divorced parents.

I'll call 'em on Monday & see what I can get. Didn't even see the email from ATX. I wasn't opening anything that wasn't from a client in this last week. My billings are down about 10k from last year. Didn't lose a lot of clients, but most of the same-sex returns were a lot easier than last year. I need to conserve $$ wherever I can. Ah well, if nothing else, that vote campaign sure did get my name out there in the last few days!

CT audits almost every EITC return (the state EITC is 1/3 the federal amount). They want EVERYTHING: birth certificates, proof of address, business receipts, etc. Some of our Sch C clients who had tough years don't respond because they don't want to copy 10,000 receipts. At a tax authority liaison meeting I asked if the state shares the results of their EITC audits with the feds. One state tax guy said no, but about 15 minutes later when we were on a different subject and they were winding up another state guy resurrected the question and responded with bifurcated gobbleygook. I came away with the impression that they don't want us to know. My hunch is that they indeed share (and the IRS loves that the states are doing the work they don't have the resources to do).