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Submitted my last two. Everyone else is on extension. Will now turn some attention to answering the "weird" questions and issues that pop up at this time. Such as, (1) "thanks for filing our extension. Once our taxes are complete, can we talk with you about helping to file our quarterly nanny taxes?" --Uh, WHAT nanny? Hired when? Using what to calculate pay amounts? or (2) "So why do I need to pay so much for my s-corporation? Why didn't it pay taxes itself?" From someone who decided to go to an SBIR "specialist" for his brand-new s-corporation, which bozos charged him almost $10K for annual "accounting" but never told him about the whole pass-through aspect, or told him that he was making gobs of money and might want to make estimated payments quarterly. That kind of fun stuff. Then print and mail out completed returns that were approved of by electronic copy of major forms, and faxed signatures. And include the bills for those returns! I did block out this entire week (after tomorrow) as NOT available for client appointments.

On this forum, making any derogatory comments about women may likely get you a hug from Rita. Now she's a sweetheart overall, but you don't want THAT type of hug from Rita.

Just as an example: Deliver before March 15th and you get a 20% discount. Deliver before April 1st is normal price. Deliver after April 1st is a 30% additional fee.

I don't even know how many I have left. I definitely have several extension payments to figure out. Why did everybody sell a ton of real estate at huge gains and then all come in at once? This morning, a broker tried to tell me that selling the PTP should not be a big deal and definitely not taxable. This has been my worst year EVER! Over 50% of the returns came in 2 1/2 weeks before my deadline and I was still getting information for returns this morning. Next year, I don't think I will have a deadline in my letter and just say that it will be FIFO when ALL of their information is here.

Oh yes, I hadn't looked at your state of residence. Now that I think about it, your screen name is familiar and I know who you are. That Mexican restaurant in Charlotte is still open...

John actually I know Rita personally, and wouldn't object to any hug by her. Many of you have met me, including yourself, and will know my other identity in time (if you don't already). Someone earlier asked me about the old "ATXers" forum. I think it may have been sponsored by the software company ATX prior to it being bought out. The problem with the forum was ATX didn't assign anyone to monitor the posts and they became increasingly vulgar and the board was ultimately discontinued some years ago.

Yes, in the daughter's case, she will start over depreciating the property from the date of the inheritance and using the FMV at DOD as the total basis. From there, split out the value of the land from the structure and begin depreciating it. There are more complications when a person takes over the second 1/2 of a rental from a deceased spouse, and there are also differing rules depending on whether in a community property state, but you don't have any of that. Just mentioning for anyone reading in future. I'm having trouble with the link a pdf from a gov't website on my tablet right now, but here is a link to a previous topic with the same discussion on here if you need the reference:

Yes, welcome to the group. We hope you will like it here. It does scale down with much less activity off season, but there is a core group that is here all year. I'm sorry to hear that anyone or a company hosting a professional forum would allow the behavior you mention re: the comments about women. We don't have that here, and really hardly any foul language at all. Is that on the ATX forum or some other place?

Greetings. I am trying out this message board after avoiding it for many years. The old ATXers had degenerated to vulgar usage and comments about women, so I have not been interested. You might say I am a refugee from another message board, which was very good for a long time. I am finding out that many of my old friends from that board are over here now. I've been reading some of the topics and it appears this board is very relevant. There is a member on the other board who answers every single post and never answers a question. After so many of his responses like "Have you read the instructions" or "contact the lawyer of the deceased" I finally blocked him. If he finds out about this message board, you will know what I'm talking about, unfortunately. I was recently told about this forum, and may try posting questions here. My surname, Edsel, is a famous classic epitomy of a failed venture.

I switched to Drake in 2014 and did find the that a number of things seemed awkward. However, once you get the hang of it, it goes very smoothly. Just can not say enough about their customer service. Not only is it the best in the tax industry, it is the best of any industry. No waits, no holds, the phone doesn't even ring. May be it is 5 seconds before the phone is picked up even on a day like today when you would expect the lines to be jammed. The employees are courteous, patient and knowledgeable. OUTSTANDING!!! As for the pricing, you can get in for $300 and that gives you 15 free returns. Then it is 20$/return until you hit around 75 returns. No need to shell out a large chunk unless you want to take advantage of their discount.

I'm jealous! 1 to go plus 3 I'm awaiting 1 last item from the clients. Then I get to start about 35 Forms 990 for my non-profits. Deep sigh.

I am so lost right now but I love you, Edsel. LOL. Wait. wait, wait! You have been in my office, haven't you? Welcome, this family is where you belong.

Like Catherine, I found the first couple returns I did in Drake pretty awkward and had an 'oh no, what have I done?!?!' feeling in the pit of my stomach. But after the first 2 or 3 returns that went away and by the 5th return I was feeling pretty comfortable. By the time I did a few more I was kicking myself for not taking the leap years earlier. For me, the two biggest benefits are outstanding support and the fact that it takes me only 2/3 the time (or less) to prep a return than it used to take using ATX. I guess I'd have to add in the pricing as a third benefit. After two years there are still a few things in the software I find a bit clumsy but I had that occasionally with ATX too.

I am a faithful Drake user for eight years. They have had one price increase in 25 years. Prior to that I was with TaxSlayer, but found their state programs for corporations and entities severely lacking. TaxSlayer did fine for Georgia and South Carolina, and was a success story - having started with a chain of 22 tax prep offices in Augusta area. They got tired of being held hostage by software companies so they developed their own. Good support staff but software was weak for many states and other entities. Prior to the CCH, I used ATX for 4 years. They increased their price every year. About 15 years ago, they had a massive crash and the support staff did everything they could to get me off the phone because the volume of complaints was mountainous. Users received an apology from the CEO at the end of that tax season, and an offer of financial substance. The "financial substance" was a discount on travel tickets to Europe, and a stiff price increased loomed large even after the poor performance for the year. I bailed. On the positive side, ATX is the only software I know using the tax forms as an input guide instead of the DOS-inherited questionnaire format. I've tried to get Drake to adopt this, but to no avail.

Yes, Welcome! Many of us left or no longer even go to the other board for the same reason. Here we try to treat each other with the dignity and respect each of us deserve, and personally I have found this board very enlightening and helpful.

Well, there are always some die-hards poking around. And there are plenty of old posts to read to get a flavor of personalities. After a couple of weeks' recuperation, it starts getting more active again as people turn to their extension clients and post questions.

Welcome Edsel. Its gonna be quiet around here in about 3 days, however... Rich

I don't knoe if it's software specific, but at least in TaxWise you need the Driver's License information to e-file an extension. You don't need a signature, or last year's AGI, or anything complicated like that, but without the driver's license info its a no go. You can file a NY extension for your registered client without any hassle on the NY website.

Yeah, I get to start the 990's and do major back-ups. Will set a task for tomorrow morning to get that first backup running. Unless I get inspired and get it going now.

That's an idea, but I would have to change the dates to work for my practice. I have a lot of returns that can take a whole day to get through the 1065's, 1120's and the individuals involved. I have not left our property in three weeks and I work constantly. Next year should be better, because a lot of the real estate has been sold. lol

I marked that ID was not available for my NYS extensions. NYS - Uncle Andy - always protecting us. So far I've had refunds held for 2 old student loans and 1 old child support..........and we have caught a number of expired licenses. Always nice to do the work of DMV or DOJ for them........

I'm officially done. Running malware scans, virus scans and backing up everything on my computer. Have about a dozen people to pick up / efile. They'll slowly stagger in.

lacerte doesn't require the dl info for extensions, proseries does. I have been entering that they don't have one for the extensions with no money due [since I don't need authorizations nor any other reason for client contact at this time] as soon as I file the extensions unclick the not box so I don't forget to enter when I do the return.

My whole beef with this driver's license info is that it has to be entered in the federal filer's info tab (at least with ATX and my understanding is Federal is optional for now) and it gets transferred to the NYS EF form with the exception of the document number. The IRS's systems have been hacked 3 times (tax info, PIN system, and now FAFSA filing system). It's really comforting to know that if anyone hacks the IRS now not only do they get name, DOB, SSN, and address, but now they'll get enough info to put together a fake NYS Driver's license and slap their own picture on it.

Idea seems to be catching on in other states, and I think we have to deal with this as a fact of life. Alabama has started requiring drivers' license, supposedly to combat identity fraud. I think the real reason is they want to offset refunds for back child support, unpaid driving violations or anything else owed to the state or subdivisions. Of course they already have the information, but are requiring it so they don't have research anything or pull it up on their systems.

I usually upload to FileShare on my website to the kid's account. But, if they tell me via email/phone to give their folder to their parents and they've been long time clients, I do that. Just one of a few things I need to get in writing. Slowly getting things in writing to cover my butt.

If the kids choose to let their parents bring in their stuff and pick it up, I am fine with that. But once they are 18, I usually insist on something in writing to let the parents pick up the kids return. They are entitled to confidentiality, and I am required by law to respect that.