taxxcpa

The OID reported is based on the discount you would have received if you bought it at the time it was originally issued. If you bought it later and paid full price without the discount, then the OID should be subtracted from the amount of the OID. The hard thing is if you bought it in the after-market and got some discount, but not the full unamortized amount of the original discount. Then only part should be subtracted. If you got no discount or paid a premium, then you should subtract the full OID that was reported. There used to be an IRS publication that had the formula to calculate it. Only a PhD in math could understand the formula.

I completed a form 1041 today and my tax software indicated that I couldn't e-file it yet. I had not previously added 1041s to my forms to be e-filed, but added it today. If my software will allow it in the next few days, I'll try e-filing it; otherwise I will paper-file it. I was trying to speed it up since there is a refund to the Fiduciary and the widow is going to owe the IRS on her 1040.

Do you have to wait for approval? I went online at the IRS e-services site and added several forms to the forms I would e-file. I rechecked and everything I had entered was apparently accepted by the IRS since it was on their web site. Maybe this only works if you make the entries online and not if you do it by mail.

Some people use a post office since both the husband and the wife claim Head of household and don't want to show the same address. I had a client that did that. His wife used a different tax preparer, so the only way I discovered it was that, after paying me in cash the first few times, he gave me a check which was a joint account with his wife. I refused to do his taxes after that although he swore up and down that they were divorced.

They just wanted to make sure that you understood that you could actually begin doing tax returns before Apr 15

I'll post more after I try it. It may not be quite as effective as ATX's method. Someone said you could toggle back and forth from the form-based method to the other method. You can also type in a form number and access the input form that way. If you switch to Drake, I will recommend you the the private "taxsmart"forum which is only available to those approved by a vote.

I looked into the on-form entry option with Drake software. Here is what I posted on the Drake forum and the responses: MY INQUIRY IN DRAKE FORUM: From another forum: I got an e-mail from Drake that says they have direct to form entry now. I am going to look at it very hard this off season. I wanted to pull the trigger on ATX 2 years ago, but I really like the on form entry. That was the only reason I did not switch in the past. Is this available now? If you could move from a line on the 1040 to the appropriate supporting form, that would be a major enhancement. I haven't seen a way to do that this year, so it may be something brewing for next year. __________________ Atticus Thomas http://www.1040.com/taxxcpa http://wwwtaxman.blogspot.com FIRST RESPONSE: under FILE> Form Based Data entry... It brings up the 1040 with hyperlinks at each line. Click on the link and it takes you to the appropriate form to fill in the info. Is this what you mean? I think this has been a feature of drake for some time now. SECOND RESPONSE: Wow, I never knew this was here. This is only my second season with drake but I miss the data entry on the government forms with ATX. I will have to try this out. THIRD RESPONSE: I didn't know that was a feature either... I'm definitely going to have to check it out.

I have not seen anything in Drake that allows you to jump from a line on the Form 1040 to a supporting schedule, but if you want to go to a form, there is a box at the bottom of the screen where can type in the form number. To enter Estimated tax payments, I just type "ES" and the input screen pops up. Since Drake has several input screens, it sometimes takes some getting used to, but being able to access them by typing in a form number helps. I've posted the comment regarding direct on-form entry on the Drake Forum. I've asked for clarification and will try to report back when someone from Drake responds. While there are a lot of improvements in Drake this year, I don't see much difference in the way of entering data and see no way to jump from a line of the 1040 to a supporting document other than as I explained above, which was available last year also.

You could do your own taxes for as little as$ 9.95 at www.1040.com/taxxcpa

I never liked those "see attached schedule" when there was no need for a schedule. I always changed the wording on line 21 as well as when a form 2106 was the source of a Schedule A deduction.. I would just change it to say "Form 2106"/ Now you probably will have to add a lot of new, useless attachments.

I use carbonite. It backs up all data files automatically so I don't have to remember to do it every day. I also have an external hard disk to back up a few things that I want double protection on.

I'll second that. One day my fax machine ran out of film right in the middle of something in tax season. I had to drop everything to go buy a new film or sign up for e-fax. Now I receive clearer faxes in my email and just use the fax machine to transmit forms, etc. I had to sign up for the $ 16.95-per-month e-fax because someone faxed me more pages than the free version allowed. The $ 16.95 is offset by not needing a fax telephone line.

I thilnk a 'don't ask, don't tell' approach would be the best. If someone wanted to file jointly with a member of the opposite sex, I would assume they are married either officially or by common law. If you express doubt that people are married, you could insult a lot of people.

They could always go back to outsourcing to India and hire more people for the money. They could answer your questions promptly, but you would not understand a word they said.

Once I had a client who was losing money on a C Corp. He would have been better off switching to an S Corp after the first year or two of losses. The business continued losing until he finally sold it.

The tax code should not be used as a welfare program for either the rich or the poor. It should be used strictly as a means to raise revenue to pay for the essential functions of the government. Private charities should be used for most welfare. If the government wants to help the poor, it would be more appropriate to provide day-care for their children and provide training to parents who have no income-earning skills. Justifying the EIC because of equally bad benefits and tax breaks for the fat cats is not a valid justification. Congress has "proof" that it causes people to work instead of accepting welfare? It causes some of them to fabricate income just to get the EIC. It causes others to work just enough to get the EIC--beyond that they are working for "free." When I was offered early retirement, I took it since continuing to work would be like working for a big pay cut since I would only earn the difference in excess of retirement benefits. It was the same kind of negative incentive to work as the EIC.

I quit many years ago. The first day, I kept telling myself I would keep postponing my first cigarette hoping I could quit, but not too sure. I carried a pack of cigarettes. About 10:00 A.M. I was just about to light one when the guy I was working with asked me if I was trying to quit. (Usually I smoked one right after another). I said, "Yes," and to relieve the tension, I went out in the hall and bought a gum ball from the vending machine. I chewed gum so much that my jaws were tired, so I switched to Life Saver candy. After a couple of weeks, I had to go to Austin on a Sales Tax hearing and I didn't want to be eating candy while talking to the lawyers, so I quit the Life Savers. They were easier to quit than the cigarettes.

Sure, those business returns are so simple a cave man could do them using Turbo Tax. That's why Alley Oop does his own Form 1120 with Turbo Tax.

Some of you have indicated that you do not like audit work. If you mean the CPA-type audit work, I agree. I always worked for government or the oil industry doing audits. I especially liked doing gas revenue audits and gas processing plant audits in the oil industry.

I never really wanted to work as a tax preparer. I spent a lot of years as an auditor, but when my company offered an enhanced early retirement program, I needed some extra income. I continued for a while as an auditor/consultant for oil and gas companies that did not have their own audit staff, but also began preparing tax returns. I prefer the auditor work but don't like all the travel, so I only do tax and accounting work now.

No change is right: plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose

I can only remember using it once for a woman who had some losses on rental properties and a very small amount of social security income. I've done her taxes for about 20 years and she only needed it that one time. It is required so seldom that I don't see that charging extra for it would be worth worrying about. I think the software automatically creates it, so all it costs you is an extra sheet of paper. We may be using it more now that all those retirement funds invested in Bernie Madoff's ponzi scheme.

It is a rarely used form for "retirees" who have little or no social security or other income. I have only used it once in about 20 years.

Unless a person had a large volume of prior year returns on an ongoing basis, it would be a minor, not a major, enhancement. There are a lot of other features that would be more likely to make me want to change software.

I use Drake and they have excellent support. If I have a concern, I post it on the forum and Adam Drake or someone who works for Drake has always answered every question promptly. If it can't be answered on the forum, they call and walk me through the solution. I can't imagine someone who did not work for Drake would be able to provide better support.