jklcpa

Bottle feeding lambs in the kitchen, a juvie BC and also a BC pup, all during tax season...you are a brave woman.

Does this mean that you've changed your routine with your computers and are now turning them off and rebooting a couple of times a day for your own computers and those at the firm? Or are those computers not using programs that use "real computing power"? I ask because back in November you said this, albeit on a slightly different topic :

Jack, don't twist around what I said. I never said that people running ATX shouldn't reboot, if that's what it takes to run the chosen program. You made a statement that people didn't have that many programs running. Well, you were wrong there so you chose to go on the attack and try to insult me by saying that those programs don't have any computing power. That just shows that you don't have a valid point to make if that's what you have to resort to. I don't really care what you say about these programs because they are all typical of programs that many of us might be using, and I did have all of those programs running all at the same time. You also tried to twist around my statement about leaving the computer on all of the time. I never said that leaving the computer on would make anything more productive, only that I was able to do it and having all of those programs running without ever having to reboot, and never having a low resource problem. I do recall many people, probably those with lesser memory, having to reboot during the day though. You can bang your head all you like, and in fact, you probably are doing just that every day as problems continue to crop up with your beloved ATX. ATX has always uses a lot of memory, and it got much worse starting last year, and it has some serious problems again this year. I guess you don't think filling up user's hard drives is any problem at all either. You simply cannot admit that there is anything at all wrong with ATX. Is that against the NDA too?

Vityaba does have a point. Yes, on a regular basis I would have 6 or more programs open at once and for many hours a day: 2 years of ATX, Quickbooks, Thomson Creative Solutions Fixed Assets (the Ultra Tax deprec module), Word, and Excel, plus Adobe Reader or Acrobat. Then you can add in the internet and the background programs that are running like the anti-virus, and the updaters for the deprec and Quickbooks programs that were running. On top of all of that, there would be the PPC research library that I'd open too, or the Roxio photo editor that I'd open a few times a week. I used to never shut the computer down at night either, so the only time it was shut off or rebooted was when a program update required it. I've never ever had a low resource warning, never. This current computer is on from about 6am until 2am the following morning, and I don't ever have to reboot, and still have much of that running during the day except now it is Drake. ATX has always been a memory hog and has gotten dramatically worse in the last two years, and it apparently still has some other big issues too.

The extent of my mini break involved an hour of shoveling snow this morning. I've now collapsed back into the office chair for a few minutes.

I agree with Jack IF the client didn't have any additional cash outlay to obtain the shares. Where did your basis figure of $165K come from? Was the additional $8K due to client having to pay for the difference (the increase) in value from the grant date to the exercise date?

I have one in the system now too that has both the From 8960 and 8959. Drake isn't saying anything about the forms being held up, and it looks like everything is calculating correctly. This client had additional medicare tax withheld on his W-2, and that figure is reconciled on the bottom of Form 8959. It's will be confusing to the taxpayers because the total of the federal withholding and the additional medicare tax withholding all flowing to line 62 of the 1040. Drake isn't showing the additional medicare withholding on the summary of W-2s, and it isn't producing any other worksheet that shows where the total wihholding on line 62 is coming from. Is ATX producing a statement that including all of the withholdings comprising the total amount shown on line 62 of the 1040?

Catherine, that was perfect. Thousands on a degree, no time to use the bathroom or shower. ROFL

The 8-digit # that is used to pay sales tax is different than the corp id # (also called "box" number). PA previously used a 7 digit # , but moved to10-digit numbers, looks like ~ 2 years ago. Your client should have been notified. According to the PA website from a Q&A in March, 2012: Where can I find my Corporate Tax Account ID#? As the department continues to transition into an integrated tax system, a 10-digit Revenue ID will be assigned and communicated to each taxpayer. A corporation's seven-digit PA Tax Account ID will continue to be accepted by the department on tax forms and schedules, but upon assignment of a 10-digit Revenue ID to a taxpayer, the department will begin using the 10-digit Revenue ID on outbound correspondence in lieu of referencing the seven-digit Tax Account ID. Check correspondence or prior notices from the Bureau of Corporation Taxes. You can also contact the PA Department of Revenue, Bureau of Corporation Taxes, by calling either 717-783-6031 or 717-705-6225, option 4 then option 2,

Jack, they are additional rules imposed by a state that regulates tax preparers. If an OR preparer is regulated by her state that says that she isn't allowed to use her address on taxpayer's returns, or a preparer from one of the other states that regulates preparers, why do you question that? Why was the comment not accepted as being what is required for preparers in that state, even if it is different than for you? The State of NY has banking rules about when a preparer is allowed to charge the client fees for bank products that are dependent on the form the client's refund is received that preparers must abide by. We've also had discussions about some states having very specific rules regarding tax preparers transmitting documents to clients electronically where state has stricter rules about encryption to protect the clients' data. Those are 2 very good examples of where states may have additional rules on the preparers beyond what the IRS requires. As preparers, we are working with rules established by more than just the IRS. I have IRS rules, state board of accountancy rules, AICPA rules, ethical rules, banking rules, rules for rules....

Border collie trying to get a statue of a man to throw a stick. The dog even tries to put it in his hand:

I should have deleted the first post about Oregon and the responses that follow because we are now off topic once again. This was not to be a debate of ethics rules for preparers.

If a state regulates preparers and has rules that say some acts are forbidden, or unethical, or has rules that are more stringent than the IRS, then that preparer must follow those rules in addition to the ones by IRS. If grandmabee is from OR and says this is so, why do you have to question it and argue? Why can't you take grandmabee at her word and accept that this might be true, even though the rules for you as a tax preparer from OH are different than hers? In addition to the IRS rules, I also have to comply with the rules and regulations of my state board of accountancy and those of the AICPA, and because of that, I may have do some things that some others of you don't have to, or may be limited by not being allowed to do some others. My records retention requirements might be longer than the unregulated preparers too. JB, sorry for the slight hijack of your topic. You can use whichever address makes the most sense for your client. I would probably make the primary taxpayer the person that is actually living at the address on the return and make the other person the spouse. After the return is processed, the spouse then would file form 8822 to change her address in the IRS system for going forward. Be careful if you change the primary from what was used last year if you were their preparer and you are rolling over the return data.

I report both.

That is something that we discussed yesterday that we may try. Thanks for all the suggestions everyone.

The exceptions to the FBAR reporting requirement include IRA owners and beneficiaries, and participants and beneficiaries of tax-qualified plans. About your first question, you'd have to look at the investments in the account. I have a client's records in right now that includes a small portfolio of about $20K with UBS. All of the investments in my client's account are mutual funds here in the U.S. and the UBS bank account linked with this account is UBS Bank USA. UBS Bank USA is a U.S. Bank from Utah.

Could it be some sort of state program? There's also the Mortgage Interest Credit on Form 8396. That isn't anywhere near the $6K and I've never seen anyone with one of these credits. It seems that something with this credit must be arranged for at the time of closing by registering the house (?).

I agree with Pacun. The form starts with federal income and divides in between MD income and non-MD income. The next 2 sections on page 1 of the nonresident form are additions and subtractions that have some oddball items. Check out the instructions for lines 18, 19, 22 and 23 of the MD Form 505. State income taxes are subtracted out of federal itemized deductions before applying the income % to arrive at the MD itemized. MD does not require that the person use the itemized just because itemized was used for federal purposes, so you should figure the tax using the standard deduction and pick whichever is better.

I don't believe it's this forum. I've clicked on just about every link, and I haven't had any pop ups appearing in either browser.

I thought the worksheets weren't transmitted with e-filed returns. Is the detail of line 21 different, and the data that is entered there IS transmitted?

Thanks for the suggestion Gail, but the client is about a one hour round trip on a good day. That isn't a possibility, and I don't want to be tied to them daily or weekly to write their checks. Monthly is enough for me. I used Quicken a long time ago for some of my personal finances. Would there be any way for me to get those transactions into Quickbooks without redoing his work. I guess I'll try to talk him into the online banking. At least that may be an intermediate solution for him.

I'll suffer with it. No way I'm taking a chance on spraying them and having some paper of his damaged. Besides, it's a 10" high stack of papers and documents all in a plastic milk crate. That would be a lot of spraying! Maybe I should put them outside to be washed away in tomorrow forecasted flooding. lol

I'm so sorry for your losses. Please post as often as you need to with questions or any time you need some support.

Happy Birthday! I hope you enjoyed your day.

Jack, there are no headaches and they haven't made any changes yet. They are very good clients with very good records, and they pay me very well to post the general ledger, maintain the fixed asset schedule, reconcile bank accounts, credit card processing, and payments into the retirement plan, prepare all tax filings, and whatever other tax or accounting issues arise. They use an outside payroll service that handles all payroll, filings and payments. It is all nice and neat, and when I am finished they do have a complete set of books. I spend 4-5 hours a month on those basics plus additional time at year-end. It's no big deal, really. It's truly only that the owner wanted to find an easier and less time consuming way to write checks. If this isn't workable, it won't be a problem because they and I will work something out that works for him. Everything is cool with it.