JJStephens

Ever have a brain freeze? I've answered this question a dozen times but at the moment I'm drawing a complete blank (my guess is that 4 straight 80 hour weeks is to blame) & I can't seem to find the answer in any of my resources. A payroll client just discovered that she had reimbursed (to the tune of $744) an employee for mileage during 2007 that included commuting and other non-qualifying trips. How do I report this on the employee's W2?

Arrgghhh. It's already happened. The first client to whom I mentioned my new EA designation--and before I had a chance to explain what it meant-- immediately jumped to the conclusion I had gone over to the other side and was now a certified agent of the IRS. Arrgghhh! I suspect I'm going to get a lot of that. Sure wish they had a better name for it!

After 21 years in the biz I finally broke down and took the EA exam (passed all 3 parts first time out) and applied for recognition. I just got my certificate from the IRS. I are offishul! Now to explain to all my clients that an IRS enrolled agent is NOT what they think. Sorry to bother all you with my personal problems . . . but I'm a one man shop and needed to tell someone!

In addition to my tax work I have a small but growing accounting/consulting practice (mostly churches & other ministries & and handful of small biz). I've been toying with the idea of moving away from Quickbooks--never been a fan but felt forced to support it because so many of my clients use it. In any event, as I explore my options I'm wondering if ATX's Write Up is worth looking at. Can anyone out there give me some feedback: good, bad or otherwise? Does anyone have another option that works well at a reasonable price? Yeah, I know, 'reasonable' is so subjective. Let's just put it this way, the more reasonable the better By the way, thanks to all who have contributed to my expanding knowledge base over the years on this and the old forum. It's been a real blessing to have this resource available.

I have a client who was told by a benefits provider that health insurance premium reimbursements under a section 105 HRA can be made only on employer sponsored health insurance plans and not on out-of-pocket premiums paid on family coverage on his spouse's employer sponsored plan. I cannot find anything to corroborate what they are saying. Is anyone out there up on this?

He was in the Amazon basin for that entire period. He did pay for a Brazillian phone; alas, that doesn't qualify.

I just completed my 20th or 21st year as an Ohio preparer. I'll grant you, Ohio city tax returns can be a challenge but the need to do multiple city returns is fairly rare. The majority of taxpayers need do only one city return and many (like me!) don't live or work in a city with a local tax and therefore, don't have to prepare a city return at all. Apart from a couple clients who moved, I think I did only 1 or 2 returns last year that required multiple city returns and they required only 2 or 3. Seems to me this feature would be most helpful for taxpayers who have multiple workplaces (e.g., sales folks, service techs, delivery drivers, construction types, etc.) or who move during the course of the year. I'm still not convinced that I have a $200 problem. Maybe if our friends in Maine can provide more details including some screen shots I'll change my mind. On the other hand, maybe I'm just too cheap to spring for it!

I just completed/transmitted my last return (mine!). However . . . I got two rejection notices for earlier transmissions (arrghh). One was because the EIN on a 1099R was secured during the current processing year. The notice says that an EIN secured in the year of the filing cannot be e-filed--that's a new one on me. The other one is what I have a question about. The return is for an overseas missionary (who finally emailed me the last of his stuff over the weekend). All income was eligible for foreign income exclusion. The reason the e-file was rejected is because the return must have a positive number in at least one of several fields (total income, AGI, total tax, total credits, or phone credit) (another new one on me). He has none of the above. In order to qualify the return for e-filing (there is no way to get it to him in time to timely file) I'm toying with the idea of recording $1 as interest income. Is this a legitimate work-around . . . or just the muddled result of my few remaining brain cells slowly fading into the night? What thinkest thou?

I took all three parts in January--passed (probably by the skin of my teeth). I liked the online format and most of the questions were relatively straight forward/understandable. I found only 2 or 3 that were poorly written (I had previously seen some feedback that confusing questions was a problem for some folks). For the most part, the questions on the actual test were a bit easier than the ones in the review course I used. For my review course I used Gleim. They talked me into buying the super-duper all inclusive package but I only used the book (to study) and the online (to take the practice tests). The computer thing was (for me) a total waste. I might have used it more but for one major problem. I mostly wanted to use it on my laptop when I was out and about. However, when it first arrived I installed it on my desktop first and then tried to also install it on my laptop. Their online registration would not let me register the laptop installation (required to open the program). I could not get the desktop registration canceled which left me stuck. Arrgghhhh! I found at least a dozen factual errors in the Gleim material which was a bit frustrating. It caused me to wonder how many others errors there were in the material that I wasn't familiar with. On the other hand, I did pass so I guess it didn't lead me too far astray I suppose I would give them a qualified endorsement. You can find them at http://www.gleim.com/ BTW, Gleim offers their review course either as a complete package or by test part so you could get just the Biz part if that's all you need. You might also check the library--some have them in stock (I like free!).

I got the same email. I had a mixed reaction. On the one hand, I'm thrilled that ATX finally addresses the dilemma we have in OH regarding city returns. I've emailed them annually for about ten years asking for some tweaks. They have never responded. On the other, I'm appalled at the $200 price. Frankly, I'm not sure it's worth it to my practice (about 140 returns/year). I'm willing to consider it but I would need to know a lot more than is available in the brief blurb on their web site. I just phoned ATX. Their sales rep told me that the heart of the $200 package is nothing more than a worksheet that allocates income and tax among the variuos city entities. It also includes flow through of Sch C & E info from federal forms (but only to the generic, RITA, Columbus and CCA returns), automatic creation of multiple generic city returns if the worksheets deems them necessary and error checking. She said all the city returns that were previously in Max are still there but this new functionality is not--if we want it we have to pay for it. I asked if it's possible to get a trial version or at least more info including some screen shots. She said they are not going to do a trial version but she'll talk with the powers that be about some screen shots and more/better info on their web site. Unless it solves a $200 problem I didn't know I had I'll probably take a pass.

I suppose it could happen . . . but I wouldn't hold my breath. Beginning about 6 or 7 years ago I began asking them at least once a year (and sometimes more often) to add several Ohio cities that I do quite a few of. They reply that they'll take it under consideration. Not a single one has been added. I finally gave up a year or so ago. I use either the generic in ATX or if the city web site has a fill-in form I use that. What I don't get is ATX has quite a few dinky little towns of a few hundred people but don't have places like Lancaster, Springfield, Delaware or Newark. It's just one of many mysteries in the way they do things.

I serve most of my clients using an organizer (that I built myself) sent via mail or email. I would like to offer a on-line organizer my clients can access via my web site. I've toyed with the idea of creating one or hiring a web programmer friend to create one for me. Before I go to that trouble/expense I thought I'd see if anyone knows of a good on-line customizable organizer that can be ported to a web site?

I converted from Quickbooks built-in payroll to PayCycle in Jan 2006. It was not pretty. At the time I had only about 8 payroll clients. It took forever to get everything set up. Every payroll run took 1.5 to 2 times as long to process. Quarterly processing took at least twice as long. I made a simple mistake on one payroll--even with their slow-to-respond tech support's help it took half a day to fix. After four months I bit the bullet and limped back to QB. By then, PC's fee for my eight clients had already cost me considerably more than QB's annual fee. The concept is great. Alas, at least for me it didn't pan out. One of the problems is that every piece of data you enter is done on a separate entry screen. In any event, having to enter one piece of data, send it and retrieve the next screen to enter one more piece of data seemed terribly inefficient. They could consolidate a lot and speed things along. I found their support staff to be friendly . . . but slow to respond and not always so knowledgable. As for their ability to handle the nuances of Ohio payroll, I'd say they were mediocre. I don't know if they have responded to my (and a lot of other's) complaints about lack of support for Ohio school district and local tax filings--if not you'll have to handle those manually. Ditto with workers' comp. Lots of folks must like it. Unfortunately, it didn't work out for me or for the couple of other folks I know who tried it. Hope this helps!

Wow! Who'd a thunk it! IRS instructions that are as erroneous as they are confusing! Thanks for the heads up.

Wow! Who'd a thunk it! IRS instructions that are erroneous as they are confusing! Thanks for the heads up.

I just got an e-file rejection of a Form 990. It's error code F990-055. I can't find it in Form 1345-A or anywhere else. The error message ATX reports says, "If Form 990, line 92 checkbox is not checked, then neither SSN or PTIN of the Preparer nor EIN of the Preparer Firm can be provided." What confuses me is that line 92 is seemingly unrelated to anything having to do with this error message. The caption for line 92 says, "Section 4947(a)(1) nonexempt charitable trusts filing Form 990 in lieu of Form 1041—Check here" This entity is not a nonexempt charitable trust. I find it hard to believe our good uncle doesn't want my ID info if the the entity is not a nonexempt charitable trust. I'm probably missing something really simple. Does anyone have a clue what's going on and (better yet) what to do about it?

If anyone from ATX is listening in (I know a few of you have been here incognito in the past)--many of us have truly valued the help we've gotten from this board and from the old official board. Now that the powers that be decided the old offical ATX board was a worthless endeavor I wonder if they would give it to those us who valued it. Frankly, I have no idea what that would involve and it might be technologically impossible. But if it can be done it sure would be nice to have access to all that archived wisdom (and a few assorted other things!).

Where is everyone today? You'd think tax season was over or something! Just curious . . . . what are you going to do with all your free time for the next couple days/weeks? Me? I'm going to take a couple days to catch up on everything that got back-burnered for the past two months. Then I'm going to vegetate for a couple days. Then it's back at it. I'll also be spending a lot of time sprucing up as we're selling our house in order to move to a nearby community to lead a new church plant (I'm also a pastor). Alas, I'll probably also be making a trip back to my wife's hometown near Jacksonville FL--her dad is in the final stages of leukemia. By the way, thanks again for all the great help this year and in years past. By the way (2), if you haven't already done so, may I humbly suggest you click on the donate tab at the top of the page. I know the site host said he's already covered his cost but if you appreciate this as much as I do I say let's bless him/her (sorry, I don't know the identity) with a bit extra. Looking forward to 'seeing' everyone next season.

My client worked in a warehouse last year--didn't pay any attention to the fact no taxes were withheld. Normally I'd be a bit suspicious of that but he's a bit mentally challenged and very well might have not noticed. He was clearly an employee but when he asked for a W2 the owner said he doesn't issue W2s and to just file as an IC. His wages for the entire year were only $11063. I'm doing a Form 4852 (substitute W2). Should I also do a 4137 to pay the employee's half of social security. I realize 4137 is for unreported tips but on another board I saw that advice given twice to a similar question. Somehow it just doesn't seem right, but I haven't been able to find an alternative approach and I'm just too blooming tired to keep looking. I'm hoping someone out there knows the answer off the top of their head. BTW, thanks to all for the help given on this and the 'other' board this year and in years past. You're a great group!

I'm trying to e-file a 4868 (my own) but get the following error: PIN signature Method is only used when making payment by direct debit. Remove PIN information. I have removed all the PIN info but still get the error. What am I doing wrong?

Client moved to Germany last year. Does a foreign address prevent e-filing? I thought I did an e-file for another client living in Brasil last year. However, when I did an error check on this client it tells me I need to enter a state and zip. Any insights?