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frazzled

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Posts posted by frazzled

  4. New repair regs

    in General Chat

    Posted

    In the past five years or so, we would S179 or depreciate anything over $200. So I guess, no 3115 needed for this.

     

    What I have a big problem with is scrubbing the prior years and checking every repair that had been previously expensed. That is a nightmare. I do not do my clients books, they come in with totals. Although with repairs, I have always questioned large totals and will break those down if needed. 

     

    I can understand the need to look at items on the depreciation sched that maybe should have been expensed and doing a Form 3115 to correct those. After all, money back in their pocket makes me look good.

  10. ACA Impact & Return Pricing

    in ACA

    Posted

    Nightmare tax season coming up. Tax extenders status, unknown. Filing season start, unknown. Repair reg, f3115 confusion. ACA debacle. My right hand executive administrative assistant has brain cancer and I will really miss her. She made the office operate smoothly and helped me keep my sanity. :(

    Price increases are necessary to compensate for this ACA mess, but they will not be popular, and I will be the bad guy.

    • Like 6

  11. I'm Avoiding Most Political Items, But This is Exceptional

    in General Chat

    Posted

    Unfortunately, in our business, we must keep up with the goings on at the IRS and any pertinent political motivation behind any tax based subterfuge. We cannot separate politics from the IRS because the IRS is politics. How do politicians get more votes? They make tax changes that the IRS must enforce. How do politicians raise more money for themselves? They give sweet tax breaks to their friends. Legally done by voting tax changes and loopholes into law. A problem exists if the IRS is no longer administering tax law, but is impeding the administration of tax law. By whose authority did this happen? Was it a rogue individual? Or part of a bigger issue. I don't know the answer, but I would like to be given all the facts.

    • Like 5

  15. What do Clients do to these Forms before bringing them to us???

    in General Chat

    Posted

    Sometimes the papers look pristine, but SMELLLLLLLL disgusting. Perfumes, smoke, and I think meth production. Those meth (?) papers were so bad that I had to let them air out for two days and even after that much time, I still got eye, nose, and throat irritation. I probably should have called the cops. But then I would have been disclosing taxpayer information without a proper signed consent of disclosure. :unsure:

    • Like 2

  18. Accepting Credit Cards

    in General Chat

    Posted

    I have used Square the last few years, I like it. Customers find it interesting. One thing that does irk me is the signing screen. The "clear signature" and "done signing" buttons would be better at the TOP of the screen and not the bottom. I have had a few customers who drag their hand (or knuckle) across the bottom while signing and either clear their sig or hit done before they even get part of their sig signed! I try to warn them but...

    Side note: I thought about buying the new square stand, but for my size business, it is not practical. If you have a higher volume office it would probably be cool!

  20. Renting out rooms of your primary residence

    in General Chat

    Posted

    Pub 527, Chap 4 pg 16:

    Renting Part of Property
    If you rent part of your property, you must divide certain expenses between the part of the prop-erty used for rental purposes and the part of the property used for personal purposes, as though you actually had two separate pieces of property.
    You can deduct the expenses related to the part of the property used for rental purposes, such as home mortgage interest, qualified mortgage insurance premiums, and real estate taxes, as rental expenses on Schedule E (Form 1040). You can also deduct as rental expenses a portion of other expenses that normally are nondeductible personal expenses, such as expenses for electricity, or painting the outside of the house.
    There is no change in the types of expenses deductible for the personal-use part of your property. Generally, these expenses may be deducted only if you itemize your deductions on Schedule A (Form 1040).
    You cannot deduct any part of the cost of the first phone line even if your tenants have unlimited use of it.
    You do not have to divide the expenses that belong only to the rental part of your property. For example, if you paint a room that you rent, or if you pay premiums for liability insurance in connection with renting a room in your home, your entire cost is a rental expense. If you install a second phone line strictly for your tenant's use, all of the cost of the second line is deductible as a rental expense. You can deduct depreciation on the part of the house used for rental purposes as well as on the furniture and equipment you use for rental purposes.
    How to divide expenses. If an expense is for both rental use and personal use, such as mortgage interest or heat for the entire house, you must divide the expense between rental use and personal use. You can use any reasonable method for dividing the expense. It may be reasonable to divide the cost of some items (for ex-ample, water) based on the number of people using them. The two most common methods for dividing an expense are (1) the number of rooms in your home, and (2) the square footage of your home.
    Example. You rent a room in your house. The room is 12 × 15 feet, or 180 square feet. Your entire house has 1,800 square feet of floor space. You can deduct as a rental expense 10% of any expense that must be divided be-tween rental use and personal use. If your heat-ing bill for the year for the entire house was $600, $60 ($600 × .10) is a rental expense. The balance, $540, is a personal expense that you cannot deduct.
    Hope that helps :read:

  22. Has anybody ever tried CrossLink?

    in General Chat

    Posted

    update -

    after multiple inquiries regarding renewal quotes, I finally got a response.

    Crosslink verbally quoted me a renewal fee of $2995 which would include unlimited efiling. About a $1200 increase from last year! They did recommend a few resellers of their reskinned software with lower prices. See https://utaxsoftware.com/ and http://www.simpletaxservices.net/index.php/desktop-software/simpletax1040/product-overview

    I guess I am shopping for new software! :mad::wall:

  23. Has anybody ever tried CrossLink?

    in General Chat

    Posted

    What does your package include? Is it capable of providing service for all states, localities? Cost?

    My package includes federal 1040's and all states - I am unsure about localities, because I don't do many state returns other than Indiana. They do charge me $1 per fed efiled return. They started that last year, and I really pitched a fit, but I did not quit them!! I have not been solicited yet to renew this year, but last year I paid about $1000 to purchase plus approx $600 for the extra efile fee at the end of the season.

  24. Has anybody ever tried CrossLink?

    in General Chat

    Posted

    I have been using it since I began e-filing in 2000. Prior to using Crosslink, I was using a very antiquated DOS based program that had less than approx 20 subscribers (it was a locally developed program). So when I started using Crosslink I loved it!! I have demoed many other software programs since, but I don't find any other program as user friendly. The program is very speedy once you know your hotkeys, and I can get an easy return completed within minutes from entry to printing to packaging. For perspective, I prepare about 600 returns annually, of varying difficulty.

    I think it is a reasonable cost, but of course could always be cheaper!

    Note: I do not do any entities, so I cannot speak to the functionality of the software in regards to those returns.

    Tech support was A++++++ in the beginning, but has decreased to about an A+! Or maybe, it is me and my irritability and impatience that has increased! :unsure:

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