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My pleasure! I had to look back at the 2017 forms to get a grip on where it goes. These new forms are the worst.

THIS. Definitely. 8GB won't run the operating system, the tax program, Adobe Reader, and your email without noticeable slowdowns these days. My spare machine has 8GB and will grind to halt if too many programs are running - and by "too many" I mean "barely enough to work with."

I agree. The difference between SSD/NVMe and an old-school mechanical HDD is night and day. I also don't think there's much of a difference one way or the other regarding reliability. The only benefits I can think of for a HDD (besides dollar per GB) is that when they do fail, there's a better chance that they'll fail gradually. An SSD is more likely to die all at once, offering a much worse chance at recovery in those situations. Regardless of what type of drive you decide on, if your data is important, you need to have some kind of backup solution. Both types of drives can die without warning. I personally use 4GB HGSD HDDs for long term storage and backup, and Samsung NVMe drives for everything else.

SSDs last as long if not longer than HDs these days and it's the single biggest speed improvement you can make in a computer. HDs were always the bottleneck in processing.

I put 16GB in my computer in 2012. Now, with just email and browser programs open, it's using 32% of that. Normally (when I'm working and not screwing around on this forum), it runs about 50%. So, if I had gone with 8GB it would not have been enough.

thank you!!

I think you recaptured a credit in the past (as a credit is a reduction in tax not a reduction in income). Ok, you caught that. The Instructions for Form 8863 talk about it on page 5. On the 2018 forms (grrrrr), you'd go to Form 1040, p. 2, Line 11a. Right click it and there's a worksheet. The recaptured credit goes on line 8 of the worksheet. Should print "ECR" to the left of Line 11, if I recall.

I am still running a Win 7 Pro 64 bit I 3 CPU with 8 Gig of Ram and a 500 Gig Hard Drive which runs just fine. It also helps that my system is not loaded down with a bunch of other resource hungry programs. I will say that replacing the regular Hard Drive with a SSD Drive several years ago made a significant difference.

First, you have to find out what is going on here, as 2007 should have passed the statue date (CSED)10 years and a day from the last assessment and any liens should have been removed within 30 days after that. The first step is to call the Practitioner Priority Line (PPL) ( you will need form 2848, or, if you are not an EA or CPA, form 8821.) Then call PPL and tell them what your client is experiencing. It is possible the 2007 account was improperly flagged to expire. PPL can usually fix those things. I just had something similar happen with one of my clients. Four years were wrongly flagged to have form 940 filed. PPL fixed that. PPL can also tell you whether the appropriate collection letters were sent to your client. You should also ask them to fax you the Account Transcript for 2007. It may take time for the flag removal to work its way through the system, so I would prepare form 433F and call ACS. The form is a Collections Statement. An installment Arrangement can be set up depending on what the disposable income is. Or, it could be Non-Collectiable again( CNC). You need to be an EA, or CPA to do this. If the appropriate collection letters were not sent out, (CP503, CP 504 and LT11 - Final Notice) you can file a CDP (Collection Due Process) request, form 12153. However, the main reason taxpayers do not receive IRS letter is that they have moved and have failed to file form 8822, change of address. If all else fails, the last resort is the Taxpayer Advocate Service, but when you call them you must tell them that the matter is URGENT and they will respond in 48 hours, otherwise it will be several weeks.

The collection period is generally 10 years but can be longer if the collection process was suspended during that time. Reasons for suspension include if the IRS is considering an offer in compromise or an installment agreement request, if the taxpayer filed for bankruptcy, if taxpayer requested relief as innocent spouse, or lived outside of the U.S. continuously for at least 6 months. https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/time-limits-irs-collections.html

Get as much RAM as the motherboard will handle. Never too much RAM. 16GB minimum. If the motherboard will not hold this much, find a different machine. This is not an area to skimp on. Bigger & Faster are all good for your business. Chalk up the cost, to the cost of doing your business. Agree with ILLMAS about the SSD.

Seconded. Did this at work and at home. The home computer was almost unusable. Now it's runs well. Work computer wasn't usable for 20 minutes after a cold start and frequently bogged down for 20-30 seconds during the day. Now it's better than new even at 6-1/2 years old.

ah-ha!

Then either the IRS has made a mistake or there is something about this situation that you don't know.

Love those customers. They know it is their fault and they know they have to pay me for the amended return. Tom Modesto, CA

I don't like to do any returns before early February, unless they're really simple. We did one about 2/1 this year and right after we transmitted, they got a 1099 in the mail that they didn't realize they'd be getting and we had to amend. For businesses we'll do the federal and and make a list of state returns to be efiled later. Usually no reason to rush entity returns anyway. But if you're doing super low-end returns for folks desperate for their refunds, I can see how your business would suffer for not having states ready to go.

The individual mandate still exists BUT the penalty is set to zero for 2019, so there's no penalty for not having minimum coverage.

Copying files over a cable between computers would take forever. The last time I tried it was with windows 95 or 98 and it was so slow, I ended up burning CDs to move files. Can you have the old drive temporarily installed in the new computer as a second drive and copy drive to drive? That's probably the fastest transfer. If not, using flash drives or external USB drives (especially an SSD) would be your best option. Here's ATX's video on transferring just your ATX databases: https://support.cch.com/sfs/solution/000048812

That's a great observation and factor I'll look at. With Drake, it isn't always a high priority either but admittedly the state is slow at the approval process. Often I'd prepare the returns, get signatures, and hold for when e-filing was available as I could generate everything necessary for the letter and such.

Please swap the 1TB HDD to a SSD drive

An I 2 core processor is a low end machine. Actually I didn't know they still sold computers with chips that old. Today an I 3 processor is considered a basic machine. You should probably get a computer with a I 5 CPU.

CCH bought out a software provider which was based in Maine so that's how long I have been with them. I enter my info from each form and have had a few problems over the years but I plan to stick with CCH until Gabriel blows his trumpet. I have a 64 bit machine and now must upgrade to Windows 10. Y'all say a prayer for me.

Surviving spouses do not need to file a 1310 but it's a good thing you sent it anyway. I had a client who received an IRS notice demanding the 1310, which I replied to by sending them their own form instructions stating surviving spouses don't need to file (and there is no where on the 1310 to check an appropriate box). I've had not one but two clients who had the checks issued to the deceased spouse. Both times the IRS apologized, but it mad me angry that these poor people who recently lost their spouses had to go through the hassle.

I don't think I've ever heard you complain. You seem quite laid-back to me.

I hope I don't constantly complain, but I do like for things to work the way they are supposed to. ProSeries had an issue with the print this year, and the best work around I found was to open everything up to the PDF printer and print from there. I am still doing that because I got in the habit and it works But I would still consider it a flaw in this year's software that I had to adapt to. I may go back to ATX. They had some major problems in 2012 because they did a major re-write of the software. The problems seemed to mostly affect users operating in a network environment Tax software has to be one of the most difficult programs to provide, especially in years where there are major revisions to the tax code and little to no lead time. And that is just for the federal portion that we all use the same! And we all want it to be perfect and do all the work for us. I don't think I will ever find a software that I think is perfect for a price that I am willing to pay. I do think that ATX provided a lot of value for the price.

I've suggested that ATX include a small number of support calls (6-10) in the base price, and then charge a fee for each additional call, to cut down on people who lean too heavily on support. And perhaps email support could be free. When I encounter an issue I can't resolve myself, I email support and move on to the next return. I've had them call me within 10 minutes of sending an email, and often within an hour or two. Caveat: I haven't needed support in over a year, so I don't know if this is still true. I don't understand people who constantly complain about things like ATX crashing during printing, but then balk when the solution/workaround is suggested to them to close ATX before a big print job, or to print to PDF only, because it "should work". I timed it and it took me 10 seconds to close/restart ATX. But, whatever, you do you.

After 20 years with ATX, I switched to Drake prior to last tax season. I am glad I switched although it probably still takes me longer to prepare a return on Drake than it did on ATX. My state of Oregon was a ways down ATX's priority list. It was usually around the 20th of February or later, before I could efile any Oregon Business Returns. Even then there was usually problems related to the actual efiling which usually took another week to be fixed. I notice that you are from RI. If the efilling of state business returns during the first 3 weeks of February is a priority for you, you need to find out when the efiling of those returns became available the last 2 or 3 years. Based on my experience, you can not trust which ATX will tell you about this issue. You will need to find another ATX user from your state in order to get the real dates. The final straw for me was that, I didn't feel that I could trust what ATX was telling me any more !

I hate it when a client is always busy, but close to April 15 they call expecting you not to be busy and prepare their tax return WT#