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Try church groups, too. Her (former) church when she was local to you, a church in her current location, *your* church... wherever you or she might have connections. And once (whatever) is set up, please let us, here, know? I don't know your friend - but I do know YOU - so that makes it my concern, too.

I do a complete system backup at least once a month on alternating external hard drives. It happened once on my old XP computer and we were able to restore the entire content of the hard drive flawlessly. I use EaseUs To Do Backup.

Ugh, last Thursday I got the dreaded blue screen of death on my main computer, the one that functions as my server. My IT guy thought it was a software issue, he did manage to get it booted and I ran out & got a groovy 2TB external hard drive to back the whole HD up to. Then while in his care video card bites it. That was the problem. So I don't get the computer back until Tuesday afternoon, HD clean. Been reloading programs since then. Turns out he didn't seem to copy the lovely Program Files folder. Ya know, the one with the last 3 years tax data. But hey, I've got an online backup system too. So this whole afternoon I've been trying to get the 2012 data restored. It's almost downloaded now. I'm leaving for a conference Saturday and am not coming back for a week. Network isn't quite up yet.

HERE IS A SIGN I THINK MOST OF US WOULD LIKE TO HAVE IN OUR OFFICE

I think that you could conceivably make an election to report savings bond interest on the mother's final return as opposed to the income being in the estate return, assuming she was a cash basis taxpayer and had not been reporting the interest all along. From Publication 559: If the bonds transferred because of death were owned by a cash method taxpayer who chose not to report the interest each year and had purchased the bonds entirely with personal funds, interest earned before death must be reported in one of the following ways. The person (executor, administrator, etc.) who is required to file the decedent's final income tax return can elect to include all of the interest earned on the bonds before the decedent's death on the return. The transferee (estate or beneficiary) then includes only the interest earned after the date of death on its return. If the election in (1), above, was not made, the interest earned to the date of death is income in respect of the decedent and is not included on the decedent's final return. In this case, all of the interest earned before and after the decedent's death is income to the transferee (estate or beneficiary). A transferee who uses the cash method of accounting and who has chosen not to report the interest annually may defer reporting any of it as income until the bonds are either cashed or reach the date of maturity, whichever is earlier. In the year the interest is reported, the transferee may claim a deduction for any federal estate tax paid that arose because of the part of interest (if any) included in the decedent's estate. I hope that helps.

Client has several rental properties. One was purchased Jan. 2013, underwent extensive remodeling and finally rented in December 2013. Client had insufficient funds to pay laborers in full until February 2014. Labor to place in service should be capitalized but they are cash basis and payment was in subsequent year after placing in service. So does depreciation of that portion of building cost begin in 2014? Is this a 3115 worthy issue? Of course I began depreciating in 2013 not knowing the outstanding labor expense. Miraculously (or sheer dumb luck) it appears as though all properties have had proper depreciation and expense of supplies and repairs, etc. per new regs except for possibly this issue. I was convince this would be the end of me but not so bad - if this next year payment is managed. Any pertinent advice would be welcome! Nothing like getting the books in May....

No need for a 3115 as this is not a 'change' it's just adding a new depreciable asset.

I'm renewing for 2015 and also including the new version of Fixed Asset Manager in my renewal. I also paid the $ 150 fee for unlimited payroll processing efiling that is not shown on the renewal form. I believe ATX erred in not fully disclosing the change in payroll efiling fees in all of the renewal literature I was emailed. I also believed it erred in not disclosing the $ 150 prepaid cap fee in lieu of $ 1.50 per return set efiled. And we all make misteaks [mistakes] that we wish we hadn't made. Bottom line for me is that overall cost of all the features I receive are still the best value for my business and clients.

​Man, I love it when somebody volunteers to be the heavy for me. Just like back in the day when Sharon Large Forward tripped the gal that busted my lip in the regional basketball tournament on an obvious charge and the ref completely missed it.

When were the bonds cashed? If late enough in 2014, but yet early enough, you could elect a fiscal year for the estate, distribute the income now (if the will and estate permit) and have the income in the second fiscal year of the return offset by the distribution now of the income to the beneficiary. Wait, I just re-read your posts and it seems the facts have changed. Your first post stated that Mom passed away in late 2013 and a subsequent post stated she passed in February 2013. So my suggestion will not work in your case. Or maybe it could if the 2013 1041 has not yet been filed. Maybe the bond redemption happened in the third fiscal year of the estate. Timing is everything in these situations and the devil is in the details.

I don't know if this might page from the ATX KB might help: http://cchsfs-atx.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/14572/kw/2013 backup location or try seaching the drive for files having the extension " .atxBackup" in the name to find their location. Enter " *.atxBackup" in the search box. It should bring up all the backups for your clients along with formsets, company folder, payers, preparers, hourly rates, everything that the program creates a backup of.

Per Notice 2013-54 they may be subject to a $100 per day excise tax per applicable employee under IRC 4980D so it is imperative that this change be made. Rita I don't know if you can arbitrarily change what you are given by the church. You would have to determine what they have hired you to do. If they are giving you line item budget figures to formalize for them, I don't know if you can change them. If they have hired you to to do their books, based on the information provided, then you would probably be okay listing the medical premium payments correctly as salary on the books. After all that is what they are paying you do do.

LLC is not the same as a corp, more like a partnership, although state laws do vary a bit and the Operating Agreement may also speak to the responsibilities, but in general, all members have some basic responsibilities. So they wanted the tax benefits of the write-offs, but not to pay for the legal obligations? Cry me a river!

That's my username on the board now. Record straight enough?

I would also start the depreciation in 2014 for the portion that was paid in that year. I don't have a reference for you, but I believe this would fall under the definition of when the cost was "incurred", and reporting on the cash basis, that would be in the year that it is paid. The only exception would be if the item in question was financed or put on a credit card, and in those cases the contractor was actually paid and the debtor has obligating himself for the payment.

​ @ cbslee: When you copy and paste my posts, please do me the courtesy of including the source of the post. I just signed in here and was going to post it here as well. Thank you, David Ristau CPA

MAMalody is absolutely correct about the excise tax on unauthorized HRAs. The Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability did a free webinar on this awhile back. Here's a link https://www.ecfa.org/WebinarRecordings.aspx?ProductID=61 Frankly, it was not the most inspiring webinar I've ever viewed, but it does cover the subject. Taxman--the decision making authority (usually the church board) needs to re-categorize the reimbursement as taxable income. That would likely require amending prior 941s and possibly W2s if it pre-dates this year. Henceforth, the re-categorized amount would be included in the amount subject to income tax withholding. However, as I stated in a previous post, churches should never withhold FICA tax on clergy income. Alas, many churches continue to do that (withhold FICA). I've written a white paper on how to fix clergy FICA withholding when it happens. PM me if you'd like a copy. Rita--I suggest you show them copy of Notice 20-13-54 http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CB8QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.irs.gov%2Fpub%2Firs-drop%2Fn-13-54.pdf&ei=po1oVayVCpGbyQSzmoLoCw&usg=AFQjCNGPoEXU2frrtxhaQcLsxamwrlzD5A&sig2=ufVMeodfa_dl5YLTb5Yohw . $100 per day should get their attention. I'm also not sure who it is you're telling. Perhaps you should carefully/respectfully go up the chain of command with your concerns. Your advice should be good enough, but it can sometimes also be helpful to get an 'outside expert' to say the same thing you've been saying (the 'prophet without honor in his own hometown' syndrome). If you think it would help, I'm sure either Michael Malody or I would be happy lend a hand. PM either of us if you wish to go that route.

I tried to submit this just after Catherine's first post but somehow didn't get it in. Now I see that Catherine and I were on the same wavelength. If, by chance, she is affiliated with a faith group, that group may serve as a facilitator although it must be made clear that the contributions are not tax deductible as they benefit a specific person if so designated. It is possible for contributions to be made without designation but leaving to the 'church's' discretion as to whom the benefits would go. This has taken place at my church - both ways.

Then the estate has to pay the tax unless the will required income distributions. I don't know if that's standard verbiage in a will or not, but it ought to be, because then actual distributions do not matter.

Per an IRS release today: The IRS is refunding the fees that return preparers paid for the Registered Tax Return Preparer test. Letters will be mailed to refund recipients on May 28 and checks will be mailed on June 2. Return preparers took the test between November 2011 and January 2013 and paid a fee of $116. About 89,000 tests were paid for and taken, with some preparers taking the test more than once. The refunds are being made because the federal courts determined in Loving v. IRS that the IRS lacked authority to mandate testing. The IRS remains committed to the principle that all persons who prepare federal tax returns for compensation should be required to pass a test of minimal competency and take annual continuing education training. Taxpayers deserve top-quality and ethical service from all tax professionals. As part of this commitment, the IRS launched an interim Annual Filing Season Program in 2014 to promote voluntary continuing education by non-credentialed tax return preparers. The Administration's 2016 budget proposal would provide the IRS with authority to regulate all paid tax return preparers. Oversight of all paid preparers, coupled with diligent enforcement, would promote high-quality services from all tax professionals, improve voluntary compliance and foster confidence in the fairness of the U.S. tax system.

I hope these guys succeed: http://journalofaccountancy.com/news/2014/sep/201410894.html

C:\ProgramData\CCH Small Firm Services\ATX 2013 Server is the correct location. I would just copy the entire folder, not just the backup folder. And yes it is HUGE! Mine is 12GB.

Judy: Also, depending on state, she can sign up for insurance under Obamacare, and/or Medicaid, if she can't work. That will help with the medical bills. I had a client in the same sitch, no insurance, but an illness and $400k later... Rich

MAMalody, Try these...hope they help http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/tax-deductions-writers.html http://writersrelief.com/blog/2012/03/taxes-for-writers-expenses-that-you-can-and-cant-write-off/ http://www.irs.gov/irb/2004-20_IRB/ar08.html

Thank you, Catherine. That is very sweet and caring of you. I've seen the battle a cancer patient goes through first-hand with lots of help and support, and I'm so very worried for my friend that will not have any of that, and it's hit me extra hard this week. She lives too far away to help her in person, so I'll do what I can from afar.

Thanks for all of your input. As I said earlier I will explain the situation to the son with the clear understanding that the exclusion may be denied. If so, his mother will simply have to pay some additional tax. If he is not happy with this he can take it to someone else.

​No. Bank information is not in the transcript.

Joan - sympathy!!! Good luck getting your data back, and forget ALL about it while you are off at your conference.

I feel for ya.... ...It happened to me years back on win. 98, a week before tax season. Thinking of Ya..Good luck.

We had two similar situations in the past decade. In both cases, a local bank opened a "foundation" account where people could donate. That might work in conjunction with PayPal (for example). In both cases, various groups (social, church, other) associated with the families involved (AND their extended families and friends) held various fundraisers etc. and there was an account for the funds to go to. Both were very successful in covering costs. My best wishes and prayers for your friend. I will refrain from turning this into a political post except to suggest that jmdavis (or anyone else interested) search at market-ticker.org on health, health care, medicare, and Oklahoma, and read some articles. Silence implies assent; in good conscience I can't do that.

Jack raises a good point about the transaction fees.  Even reputable grassroots funding sites have to pay the bills somehow. Firstgiving.com for example has a 15% transaction fee.  Gofundme.com is 7.9%.  Compare that to a payment processor alone, such as PayPal or Stripe.com, which is more like 30 cents plus 3-4%. Take a close look at the transaction fees and compare that to the tools the sites offer.  Spreading the word is only part of the benefit.  Some of those sites also offer tools for tracking donations, getting the word out to a wider audience, and probably most importantly, letting people massage their egos by posting their donations on the site and on social media with a fancy badge. That's not to say that people donate for the wrong reasons, but I have no doubt that it pushes some to donate rather than not, or to increase the size of their donation.

Church/clergy issues are my bread and butter. Perhaps I can help. Churches (and other employers) have historically done premium and other medical cost reimbursements in the form of a Medical Expense Reimbursement Plan (MERP) and more recently using a Section 105 Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA). One provision of the ACA made stand-alone HRAs illegal as of 1/1/2014; as of that date HRAs are permitted only if the employer offers it in conjunction with an ACA compliant group health insurance plan (such plans are known as integrated plans). Many employers (including scads of churches) didn't get the memo and continue offering obsolete MERPS and stand-alone HRAs. The bottom line is the reimbursement must be treated as additional income. That will likely require amended 941s and W2. It will also require a change in procedure for future activities. By the way, it is important to note that the employing church/ministry cannot designate any portion of the reimbursement-recategorized-as-salary as clergy housing allowance because the law prohibits making housing allowance designations retroactively (there is one exception to the general rule but it is so rare that I'll not bore you with the details). Rita is correct--clergy are not subject to FICA. Clergy have what is often called a 'dual tax status'. That is, they are (almost always) considered an employee of the church for income tax purposes but are always (100% of the time) considered self-employed for social security tax purposes. I.e., they must pay self-employment tax--unless they opted out of SECA by filing Form 4361--but that's a different conversation. Therefore, the employing church/ministry should never withhold FICA on clergy compensation. The clergy person should make quarterly estimated payments to cover their SECA liability. However, as an alternative strategy, the IRS permits (and even encourages) the clergy taxpayer to have his/her employing church/ministry withhold extra income tax in an amount equal to the SECA tax liability. Hope this helps.

​Have you ever "priced" the Master Tax Guide? I did, and it is expensive. I, for one, use it a lot for the final word and am happy to receive it as part of the Max package.

If you currently are assigned to a sales rep, no other sales rep can process your order. This I know from 3 week old first hand experience. I was also told that the "handling" fee included the cost for the "free" Master Tax Guide that comes with the MAX package. I get the impression that the sales department at CCH for ATX products is being run by a bunch of political people who write narratives to fit a particular situation instead of having a solid company policy in place and requiring all sales people to dispense the same information. Rant over!!