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Abby I want to sign up for your “Editing These #%*& Letters” CPE class in May. You can teach the class in my office and I’ll take everybody to Dollywood the next day.

Helpful fact sheet here: https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/tax-policy/Documents/Report-Pell-AOTC-Interaction-2014.pdf

I learned from the best. Rich came to my office when I switched to ATX to give me a jump start. How nice was that. I still remember how confusing the whole letters thing was.

Me, too! The weather should be good by then, we can have a HUGE PARTY!!!

I don't use ATX, but I'd sign up for Abby's class at Rita's office!

Ours too! It's not so much the words on the letters but the navigating the whole thing when you edit them. It's like a space ship up in there. And y'all know my mother is Dolly Parton and my dad is a Moon Pie, right?

That would be the highlight of my year!

Nice. It means nice. Or good. Yeah, either of those.

Wicked Smart, That Abby! Rich

Posted by ATXWendi today: "The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act changed bonus depreciation to 100% for qualified assets placed in service after 9/27/207 (before that date it will remain 50%). In the current program version 50% is the default for all 2017 dates. A program update will come out in a week or two that will properly default to 100% for the appropriate dates. The message is a warning that the current program version is using 50% for all 2017 dates and has not been updated to default to 100% when date appropriate. The tax act also provided an election to for assets placed in service after 9/27/2017 to elect to use 50% bonus depreciation instead of 100%. If you want to use 50% for assets after 9/27/2017, there is an election on the elections form that has to be manually marked" Looks like it be another week or two before ATX has a fully functional 4562.

I am in. Sign me up Tom Modesto, CA

If you are not joking about the client letter class, please send me the signup link! All the variables I add show up as undefined........

Ahh....yes.. Yes. Now I see. "Nice" Very good. Thanks for clarifying that.

Please keep looking into this. I don't believe AmeriTrade would say that. Your client would and so would mine.. Employee's can use the 401K max Deferral into either a tax deferred 401k or a Roth 401K that is NOT tax deferred. After that, you can do up to the 25% Profit Sharing Match. However.... I do not believe that you can 25% Profit Match into the ROTH. Your matching would have to go into a regular 401K for that. And you have to do the elective deferral into the 401K or ROTH 401k to be eligible for the match. No Deferral, No Match. (This is the part that the clients "miss" during the conversation") Rich

Rita...what does this mean exactly #%*& Letters” ???

>>>>>If scholarship is truly greater than tuition expense, then it is taxable to the student. (Don't rely on the 1098-T- look at the record of payments!) In many cases this is moot because it would not cause tax liability to the student.<<<<<<<<< The amount taxable would be the portion of the scholarship that was not used for educational purposes. Example; if the student used the funds for room and board, those funds would be taxable. Normally, this doesn't happen in a community college. I do agree, however, to not rely on the 1098T. Also, it is noteworthy that the taxability of the scholarship depends on the scholarship.

I don't know if you can or not either and I agree with SaraEA the PMI has expired. However, what about the safe harbor method where you are limited to a 300 SQ Foot figure. I usually come out better using that method than using actual expenses.

One other thing, since I have switched to gmail for business and outlook for personal, the number of junk and scam emails has dropped to almost zero.

Open up any return that has the NY forms you want to do the letter for, then go to the Forms menu (Alt+F - NOT the Add Forms button), and click on Client Letter. Resize the window to a useful size. At the bottom of the Templates list (left side), you should have a Blank template. Double click to open it. First thing, do a 'save as' and name it. Type whatever you want in the letter, inserting variables (drag n drop) into the letter. At the top of the Variables column, you can switch between federal and state variables. Save the letter, but before you close it, export it to your documents (Templates menu, Export). This will save it as an rtf (rich text format) file, which comes in handy as a backup in case ATX screws up your letter. And also next year, you can import the letter. Check your variables next year in case ATX changes them.

Several things to consider: AOTC can only be taken 4 times per student. Since this is community college with very little qualified expense, it may be beneficial to wait and take it later when tuition etc. are enough to get more of the credit. of course, part of this consideration is: Will the parent's income be too high to take it in another couple of years... in that case $900 now is better than zero later... You have to look at the actual payment history to see what was paid when. This could be a case that the scholarship was paid in 2017 but was for a course billed /paid in 2016 that had been reflected on the 2016 1098-T If scholarship is truly greater than tuition expense, then it is taxable to the student. (Don't rely on the 1098-T- look at the record of payments!) In many cases this is moot because it would not cause tax liability to the student. Scholarship goes on line 7 of the 1040. e.g. If student has $2,200 taxable scholarship and $3,000 W-2 wages and $10 bank interest. This is still below the standard deduction, so no tax liability for the student. I have a client who's daughter has 100% scholarship for college: tuition, room , board, even football tickets, plus another $10-$15,000 scholarships from other local places. I asked: Since her expenses are fully paid where does the rest of the scholarship $$ go: Dad's reply: "They give it to her in cash" She has quite the tax liability! He is happy to pay the tax. See Pub 970 starting on page 15: Coordination with Pell grants and other scholarships. for detailed explanation of taxing the scholarship for student in order to free up the tuition expense for the parent.

It's part of the tax extenders bill currently sitting in the Senate. The House has shown little interest in passing the bill. Probably the only chance of the extenders bill passing is if the Senate attaches it to the CR on February 8th, when we face the next government shutdown. Also included in the bill are: 1. College tuition and fees deduction 2. Forgiveness of Home Mortgage Debt Cancellation Income 3. Home Energy Credits 4. Electric Vehicle Credits 5. A long list of special interest provisions for NASCAR & etc.

I want in on this class too. Priceless!

Rich is correct. Sorry this post is long. This link is to Cornell Law for sec 1.401(k)-1(f) "Special rules for designated Roth contributions" and should have the references you are looking for. Bolding is mine, but be sure to read all of it :

https://fossbytes.com/10-best-free-antivirus-software-list-2017/ I would stay away from the Russians and the Romanians.

If you're talking about mortgage insurance premiums (PMI), that deduction has expired and has not as yet been extended. If you're talking about your homeowner's insurance you pay through your mortgage company, yes a portion is deductible on the 8829.

Sarypion...I believe you have the ability to edit the letters. Not sure if you can directly pull information off the NYCT300 and NYC300 to populate the fields you need or not. I have not done that but you can edit the content. Take a look at how the current client letters are formatted...that may help you determine if there is a way to pull information directly off those forms.

If the student takes the scholarship as taxable, does she have a tax liability? Does it save the parents any tax to take the AOC? Run the numbers to see what gives the family as a whole the lowest tax liability. Let your client decide if they want the best outcome for the parents or the family unit.

Caller: "I just have a few quick questions." Me: "Oh good, I have a special rate for quick questions. The answer to the first one is free. After that there's a charge." Caller: "How much is the charge?" Me: "$100 each. What's your next question?"

~$200-250 which includes the PA local but no planning. I know...Im low Speaking of the PA local, Im annoyed that the W2 detail page doesnt sum local wages and taxes this year

We (those who vote) can, but we don't. The enemy is us! It is the old Catch-22. In my case, we have a many term congress person, who has ascended to a good level of power (through longevity), which likely brings "back" money a new person could not do. So, does one vote for the powerful incumbent, or put in a newbie, who will likely not be able to do anything for several terms... Then there is the gerrymandering issue...

My answer: "As much as I possibly can!". Really, that has been my go to line. And if they balk at that, then I don't want them as clients. A blank 1040 starts at $200 and goes from there. My average fee past year for all 1040's was about $420. I want to move it to $500. I got golf to pay for. Rich

The first one would run about $230 including the state return. Schedule A will add $55 to that. Basic tax planning I'll toss in for free (assuming it takes me ~15 min or less), else it's a separate later appointment at $75 an hour. Most basic return $160-ish. Discounted to $50 or $30 (or even free) for the child of a current client. Depends on the client and the circumstances. I'd rather do a dependent return for free rather than have a college kid muck up their parents' return e-filing by claiming themselves. Nor do I feel it's appropriate to charge $50 to get some high school kid's $38 refund back. Any un-cooperation from parent or kid and the price spikes, though. Like Roberts (great puppy picture) there are folks whom I charge FAR less than the return is worth. That is my charity and my decision. I do a free, reasonably complex, return for the widow of my husband's best friend from college; I promised him that before he died. I have an elderly couple who have a return I should charge over $700 for, whom I charge about $200 - I see what they are living on, and it's not their fault their return is a complex mess (and let's not get started on financial advisors who get older folks into complex investments). But another elderly client with a similar return pays me the full $700-ish; I see that she has the income to pay that without suffering or flinching. Facts and circumstances...

$275

If the prior preparer, like you, is adding tax planning for 2018, then I would add $100 to my fees. But, I'm going to try to make that a separate appointment after tax season. I don't have many, if any, clients with childcare &/or with no Schedule A. In fact, I have lots of Schedule Cs, K-1s, and multiple-state returns. And, I'm trying NOT to take any new clients at less than $500. - 1040 with one State. One or two W2's within the same state. A bit of interest and dividends. Couple dependents. No EIC but childcare. $290, but would probably discount if all info ready at once & no surprises - Schedule A - few itemized deductions (Real Estate Taxes, Mortgage Interest, Charitable Contributions). $380, give or take 10%, but everyone forgets their car tax and charitable contributions are a mess and..., so probably NOT less. - Tax planning for the following year (use ATX Planner) + $100 is what I'm thinking now, could be a lot more for SE, biz entities, lots of detail/computations What would you charge for the most basic return? 1040 with one state, W2, No itemized. $200, give or take 10%

Big box places would probably charge +$250 for a 1040 & Sch A, and I really don’t know if they offer tax planning, but why can’t you compete with big boxes in prices? A couple of years ago a new client brought in their prior return and they only paid $35.00 for 1040, I told them my fees are not even close to that, so you might want to go back and pay the $35 again, they said hell no, I rather pay your fees then to wait for 3-4 hours in line.