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^^ This! Your client's basis is now the basis she and former spouse had as a joint couple, and there is no step-up. She is now selling as sole owner so the exclusion is only the $250K, assuming she meets the requirements for the full exclusion she is allowed.

Been with Drake for over 20 years and am very happy with it. There is a little bit of a learning curve as it is not always intuitive. Customer support, although not as good as used to be, is still very good. Usually answer in a couple of rings. A lot of new people answering now and don't always have the answer right away but are very good at calling back within a day. I really like the macros that you can write to automate the routine data entry that has to be entered on every return, saves a lot of time. I don't believe Drake low balls you for the first year. I have always paid the same with small increases over the years. It integrates well with Grunt Works and their portal, although not perfect, is good and works well with the tax program. The portal has gone up in price quite a bit over the past few years and I will be looking for a replacement for next year. I do mainly 1040's with a couple of simple 1120's and a 990. I have heard that Drake does not handle multi state business returns as well as the higher priced programs. PM me if you have any specific questions.

Thanks to all who responded. I was able to recover Windows 10 in about 15 minutes once I figured out how to do it. Abby, the information in the link was really great - step by step for someone not very good at I T stuff.

So it will be $11 until the third party contract is renegotiated in 2026 at which time the PTIN fee will probably be revised again. https://www.thetaxadviser.com/news/2024/may/regulations-finalize-ptin-fees-for-tax-return-preparers.html#:~:text=The IRS arrived at the,training%2C supplies%2C and overhead.

I agree with Judy (which is almost always the case!). I don't know that he will be better off if he took investments at the same value because we don't know the basis of the investments that he got. But for sure she gets full basis in their combined hands to calculate the gain and then 250K tax free of that gain. I don't see him getting 250K tax free gain from the investments. It could be her lawyer got her a better deal because the investments are very low basis and he will have a bigger tax bill because of it. If it was my client, I would stay out of questioning the divorce settlement. She had a lawyer to protect her interests and what came out of that is now fact. Looking back at the divvy up of assets will only run you down a rabbit hole you have no business sniffing around. Not telling you how to run your practice, but I am telling you how I would run your practice, because, well, you asked..... Tom Longview, TX

But you need to know the formula for calculating. They usually involve accumulating inflation amounts until they reach a certain threshold, before an increase is allowed. So prior year calculated amounts that weren't enough are added to the current year calculation, if they didn't reach that threshold in the prior year(s).

must be tied to inflation and the way the numbers are rounded off.

"Taxpayers with a high deductible health plan can deduct up to $4,300 ($8,550 for family coverage)." Why not double the solo coverage amount to $8,600 for family?

After using ATX for many years, I switched to Drake mid-season during the 2012 filing season debacle. Support is excellent (if not quite as good as it was before Phil Drake retired). Not quite as intuitive but the search box works really well. No bunny-hop endless circles as I ran into in ATX on too many occasions. If you switch, you get (or at least always used to get; ask about current terms) the current-season software free to roll over returns, or re-create them (to learn how the s/w works), plus prior-year programs free. I don't use Portals but use Verifyle instead. Gruntworx - that was once standalone but got bought by Drake and integrated with it years ago - is something I now consider essential but rarely use more than the non-verified (i.e., automated) bookmarked/indexed pdf creator. It makes methodical entries far easier, but the best use is looking for substantiating documents for the tax agency "send us proof of withholding" type letters. Boom, found in an instant, instead of endless searches through vaguely-named pdf's. It also has The Tax Book as an integrated add-in but I prefer the standalone version. Pricing has been remarkably stable. This year there is a price break for single-user offices (like mine) which I like. TL;DR version: jumping in the deep end worked and while it's not perfect I would not go back to ATX.

I believe this is it (I've asked the hosting group for confirmation, too). https://www.bigmarker.com/tax-practice-pro-inc1/When-1040s-Go-Wrong-Navigating-a-Tax-Train-Wreck

It's rounded to nearest $50.

How can that be though? The amounts for 2024 are exactly double at $4,150/$8,300, so applying the same inflation percentage should result in the amount for 2025 family being exactly double that of single coverage if what you say is true. Something else must be factored in because the amounts for 2023 weren't exactly double either. The 2023 amounts were $3,850/$7,750.

Congrats! It's a shame Microsoft was so tricky in getting you to "upgrade." My new computer came with 11 and it's annoying and took me awhile to tame, but it works and seems to be getting better with each update. But the average user wouldn't want to have to deal with taming a new OS.

In addition, I like the three licenses from Max as I have two locations that I can work from and one license on another computer for my assistant. As for this year, we have some really complicated returns who have not gotten all their information in yet. I am taking next week totally off.

This may well not help that much but I am a bit surprised about the amount of HO depreciation. Does that also include allocation of expenses? Would it be worth checking for the Simplified Method of $5 per square foot. There would be no depreciation, etc. but also no recapture and may not be as large an impact on the overcontribution.

https://brasstax.com/products/form-3115-line-by-line-correcting-depreciation/

Praise Freyr!

Praise God!

A Microsoft update appeared as necessary for me to schedule. It did not announce that the update was to change from Windows 10 to Windows 11. I didn't want Windows 11 and all the garbage that Microsoft wanted me to have that comes with it, not to mention the change in navigation. Is there any way to get Windows 10 back? Thanks in advance for advice.

They don't come to us before. Before the divorce. Before dividing assets. Before dividing children. Even my own son left all his tax return copies that I uploaded to my portal for him to give his lawyer, so his lawyer saw nothing about their partnership, nothing about the tax returns before his ex quit working, nothing about all the monies they took out of his Roth to run the partnership and to live off while the ex's TIRA kept growing, nothing. Sorry, tired and cranky today!