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Agree with Lynn except that it wouldn't be a qualified joint venture, because that is only available where the only owners are a married couple with both spouses materially participating and elect to not be taxed as a partnership, BUT it could be reported as a joint venture where each partner reports his share. Just make sure that the QJV box isn't checked if you do it that way.

If it was a gift from the parents, then parents' basis is the brothers' basis. ($1 was not an arm's length sale.) If the parents retained an implied life estate under the laws of their state and the house was included in their estate, then the brothers do get a step-up or step-down in basis. It is my understanding, but I haven't needed to look it up for years, that common ownership for a rental does not require a formal partnership. Hopefully, someone with a lot more rentals in their practice will jump in. Oh, oh, Lynn did jump in! What Lynn said.

Their value for depreciation purposes is the lower of their basis (their $1 cost plus their parents basis - purchase price plus any improvements) or FMV at the time available for rent. The $1 purchase price is a smoke screen, and a gift tax return 'should' have been filed for the gift of equity in the home from the parents to the sons. Ask to see the paperwork (if there is any) in case there is mention of a life estate allocable to the parents' use of the home until their death. If no life estate then there is no step up in basis. They could do a QJV splitting the income and expenses (according to their ownership %) and reporting on their respective schedule E's in lieu of a formal partnership return.

I can't speak to converting from Drake to ATX. I can speak to my experience with ATX. It's been generally excellent. I use the program on a stand-alone desktop and have fortunately never experienced the "debacle" or other issues you may have read about. Year after year, the program has worked well for me. Have there been hiccups, yea...but not to the point that I've seriously looked to jump ship. Over the last two years, there have been a few instances where I have needed to contact ATX support. I chose the online chat option and in every instance my issue was resolved in a reasonable amount of time. I suggest testing ordering a demo of the ATX program and seeing if it meets your needs. I believe they offer some type of pilot option that would allow you to see what the solution offers. Good luck!

Oh, the client is always too busy. And it often doesn't make financial sense, which is why they will ask us to do it at no charge because they "don't like" paying penalties. Of course, they also don't like hearing us say WE don't like being asked to fix everybody else's problems for free. Rather than work for free, I'd rather just take the time off.

A long time ago, I used ProSeries PPR. Once I grew out of PPR, I switched to Max in 2001. I like the software, but there are things that are making me go "huh?" over the last 2-3 years. Support has deteriorated to the point of little use. The states don't seem to be a priority anymore. Back in the early days, they used to advertise the Zillion Forms. They don't talk about that anymore, but really, that has been the thing I am most hesitant to move away from. I can't tell you how many times I needed a county property tax return or some other 1 time use form and I was pleasantly surprised to find it in my software. I bitch about ATX a lot...more than it probably deserves, but that comes from the frustration of knowing what they used to be and what they have devolved into since the CCH takeover. If they were to get their support in order, I probably would not have much to complain about. I think I will be able to complain for a long time.... Tom Modesto, CA

I used Drake two programs ago. I switched from Drake to TaxWorks and was blown away how much more sophisticated TaxWorks was than Drake. Then TaxWorks went away and I switched to ATX and was blown away how much more complete and how much faster I could do returns than TaxWorks. ATX is better for people with above average computer skills and self-starters who can solve their own problems. ATX's biggest problem is memory usage, but the solution is simply to close ATX after every return, especially big ones, to clear out the memory. You can install, and I highly recommend it, Large Address Aware, a 3rd party utility that let's ATX work fine above the 1 GB memory limit that 32 bit programs suffer from. Instructions for LAA are attached. Large Address Aware Instructions.rtf

If the US army man has a child dependent, he may qualify as HoH. Otherwise, he is MFS. He cannot claim wife as dependent (in 2018, dependents don't matter). Indo-wife is not required to obtain ITIN. On his MFS return, her ID is listed as NRA (see ATX first tab "Main Info" there's a checkbox in a horrible spot this year, under FOR STATE RETURN PURPOSES, put a checkmark in box next to "Check if spouse is nonresident alien, does not have and is not required to have SSN or ITIN.") However, there is an election for her to elect to be treated as a US person and file MFJ (sorry, I do not have experience with this election which is only done when the spouse does not have income or FTC to offset the income on the US tax return). To convert to USD, use the IRS average fx rates https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/yearly-average-currency-exchange-rates or another fx site that will produce an average FX for the calendar year. Be careful the US army man may have signing authority over a non-US bank account or non-US investments (FBAR/8938)

VAGI on the form 763 is Federal adjusted gross with some adjustments for age deduction, social security, state tax refund and those plus and minus for Fixed date conformity. Pretty much, if you are required to file federal and you have non-resident VA income, you are required to file 763. The form prorates VA income to total income and taxes that. i have one with a Virginia rental: net income of $230. federal AGI: $160,000 Tax is $3 Virginia wants it! and... they only file joint if BOTH have VA income. VAGI for resident and part-year resident is only the VA income and if under the $11,950 then they don't have to file

My grandkids didn't find all of the eggs and we don't know where all the wife put them. I guess I'll find some in about a month when they smell good and the smelly kitty hasn't found them by then.

We buy all the components and build them here. That way if something goes bad we can replace very quickly. I too suggest ssd and as much memory as the motherboard will accept. In the case of memory more is better.

I have used ATX continuously since tax year 2003. It has had its problems, but I like the way it operates. Send me a PM and I will be glad to share more information with you.

The IRS is quick to send a letter to the taxpayer, usually the next day. The IRS letter will tell the taxpayer to resubmit the payment via Direct Pay, EFTPS, credit/debit card online or check/money order. The letter includes a payment voucher and address to send it to. After the IRS computers process the tax return (1 to 6 months), the IRS may send another letter to the taxpayer with penalties and interest. You may help the client by telling them about a first time abatement (FTA) for any penalty. However, the interest cannot be abated. The taxpayer should call the IRS to request the FTA or pay you to process a PoA form 2848, submit it to the IRS and then call the IRS and wait on hold....but usually that only make financial sense if the penalty is big and the taxpayer is too busy.

Or if you are used to Peachtree, check for an older version of that before they started required a new license every year.

recharacterization of a conversion is no longer allowed contributions can be recharacterized Though, my first question is: did they contribute too much to the ROTH because of income limitations or because they were over the IRA limit? If they contributed $6,500 to the ROTH or any IRA but they were only 40 years old, then they have an excess contribution that must be withdrawn including earnings. Taxed on the 2019 return because that is when it was distributed. If they contributed $5,000 but earned income was only $3,000 then again: excess that must be withdrawn If they contributed too much because of income limitations, then they can recharacterize the excess plus earning. It must be accomplished by the due date of the return (including extensions) The contribution is treated as if it had been contributed to the traditional IRA originally. Report the contribution on form 8606 Include an explanation in the notes on form 8606 : include date, amount and reason for the recharacteization 1099R will be issued for 2019 with code R. IT is NOT reported on the 2019 return. The distribution is not reported on 2018 or 2019 line 4a or b.

That number is VA AGI. AS long as you are under this # no return required.

What I have done in past is to overload one of the fed checks and give all va refund to one spouse. As long as they in agreement this works out quite well as va does not allow splitting of refunds.

or even simpler is Quicken - that is what we use for most of the businesses and my 2 businesses. I use QB when the client has it and try to get by - buying every 2-3 years. And Medlin is great - but we only use it for payroll D

Pick up an older version of QuickBooks on ebay. One time price, unless you need payroll. Or go avant-garde with something like Wave or Xero.

I have been with Peachtree for years. Was still using Peacthree 2010 on my Win 7 machine and worked fine.. Sage told me that if I wait much longer and get a new Sage 50 (new name for Peachtree) I would have to send in data for conversion. Peachtree 2010 worked fine since I do not use it for payroll. With my new Win 10 machine I was told you can get Peachtree 2010 to still work on it but I didn't want to take a chance and wanted to avoid Sage conversion. Sage will only sell licences but you can still outright buy it with no annual fee form a reseller, which I did with Sage 2019.

In addition to Medlin, I suggest you look at Howell Software which I have used since 1987.

I would take a look at Medlin, who posts on here from time to time. Medlin would do a good job for a very reasonable cost without paying for all of the bells and whistles that you probably don't need. If you're interested in online solutions, take a look at Wave or Kashoo. I have looked at these programs, but they aren't robust enough for my larger monthly write up clients.

My choice since 2003 has been custom built by my computer guy nearby. He has built the last 3 with upgrades in between and an annual 'spa' treatment. Because he knows exactly what the components are, he can trouble shoot in a heartbeat although issues have been extremely rare. There is no bloatware or other crap, just what I want and need. When he does remote in, he knows exactly what to look for and where to find it. We are discussing whether to go to Win 10 or not next year. Support for 7 pro is still available for 3 more years but I am familiar with 10 on my Surface Pro so undecided for now. I would not have an off the shelf computer again for business. YMMV

SSD is the biggie; and as much RAM as you can usefully cram into the thing. Whatever the requirements are NOW, they will be HIGHER in future years!

Actual footage of me enjoying coffee with the phone off the hook.