jklcpa

JB has only the individual program, not the payroll compliance program. He was looking for a solution for preparing one 1099 without having to purchase the other program.

I used my typewriter once or twice a year, so when it finally broke last year I decided not to replace it. Every time I used the shift key it raised those letters up 1/2 space. It's been years since I used 13-column paper, but I still have some of that too.

I used a 7-year life for those type trailers that are owned by my landscaper clients. If you look up the class life, 5-yr property includes trailers and trailer-mounted containers (class life 00.27). That sounds like larger tractor-trailer type trailers to me, but it doesn't specify the size. Maybe I was wrong to use the 7-year life, but I treated it like other general equipment.

If you don't want to file online, you can still order the red printed forms from IRS. I have a few extras of the 1096s and 1099-misc too that I could send to you if you want to prep that way.

Last year I had a client give me the info after I'd cancelled ATX, so I used this online service. It's a couple of bucks and you can print and mail the recipient copies with the service efiling, or for an extra dollar, the online service will also handle the mailing to the recipient. It's very easy to use. If I needed it again this year, the client and recipient info is still available there for me to create from: http://www.efilemyforms.com ETA - price is $2.99 for e-file only per 1099 for up to 50, $3.49 if they also mail to recipient. JohnH recommended this site to me last year.

1099 prep is done in the payroll program of ATX.

Thank you, Mr Pencil. I've been reading this topic and trying to picture me asking some of my existing clients for their driver licenses, birth certificates, and SS cards. Some of my clients I've known for 50 years, I went through school with their children, and have been preparing their returns for 30 years. Now I'm supposed to verify that they are who they say they are?

Does not compute. March lull? No such animal around here. I don't have any that come in Jan, had 4 by the end of last week. Clients are starting to come in now and a few of the business year-ends. Almost all of my more difficult individual returns are done in March. I don't have any lull until late summer and fall.

This video actually made me laugh out loud. Kitten vs gecko -

I'm not quite overwhelmed yet, soon will be. My clients are calling and dropping off earlier, for sure.

Atlanta is in the middle of an ice storm. ATX shut down and sent everyone home with the last one, so perhaps that is why no one is answering. I am able to log on to MyATX, so I can't say about their servers.

FTM, I sent you a PM about Drake. Taxxcpa's suggestion would require that you purchase the unlimited package for full price if you wanted to include the payroll returns. In my PM I suggested that you consider Drake on a PPR basis for $285 that would give you all the forms they offer and ALL STATES. The $285 includes 15 returns on the PPR basis, so you could use that as a backup and for those returns that you want the 2106EZ, and states that TaxAct doesn't allow you to have, and any other forms that may not be available to you. It's $19/return after the first 15. ETA - Drake's demo is FREE. It is a fully functional complete program from last year. That would allow you to see if your system has any trouble running it. Support is phenomenal.

If it was working before you blew it out, I wouldn't worry about those last little wisps. If the keyboard is still working after this cleaning, keep on using it.

Your client will pay tax on it on the 2013 return, but you can calculate the portion that would have been taxable in that earlier year, and if that is less and results in less tax, then you elect to do that. ATX had a nice worksheet that was accessed from the social security input screen that allowed the preparer to enter the relevant data from the earlier years' tax returns. Open the worksheet for line 20, and if it is similar to earlier years, you'll see down toward the bottom a place to jump to the SS Lump Sum Worksheet. IRS pub 915 has a good explanation with an example. Look at the section "Lump Sum Election" : http://www.irs.gov/publications/p915/ar02.html#en_US_2013_publink100097893

Yardley, no setting exists that allows you to enter cents and have the program round for you. If some areas of the program are still allowing you to enter dollars and cents, I suppose you could continue on as you've done in the past and correcting those areas that are generating the error messages. It seems to me that you'd be better off being consistent by making all of your data entry in whole numbers though.

I want to add to the above - Since your client knows the rules and this cleaning person supposedly knows the rules, your client should not be writing any more checks to this person until the W-9 is received. The loss of income should be significant enough to this person to compel compliance. If the person still refuses, your client should find a legitimate cleaning service.

Yes, your employees should each be able to create a unique user name and password. The process includes providing an email address that is associated with the user name, so long as that is not the same as yours it should work. If you want to have them appear to be associated with your firm, they could indicate that in the signature line that appears in posts they make. I'm curious, does the official ATX forum have some sort of limitation on firms' employees that can log in and use that? Since this is an unofficial forum that is privately owned, there is no such restriction here.

Post offices will be closed on 2/17/14.

Yes, I had one too. Return filed on the evening of 2/4, refund is supposed to be DD tomorrow, 2/11. I have 2 other early clients with large refunds expected but haven't checked on those personally.

Me too! I'm loving the ease and speed of everything in Drake. I'm looking forward to a stress-free season. Drake has allowed me to easily upgrade and accomplish several new time and expense savings for this year. I am using the DDM to launch my new scanner to scan & save all client's documents (much faster than standing at the copier), saving all prepared returns, signature forms and workpapers there also, and the DDM sets up the file structure automatically! I am going totally paperless this year for the 1040s. It's great that the program automatically password protects the returns in a standardized fashion. I've already received data and sent returns totally electronically without having to meet with the clients too. Two other new additions for me this year are accepting payments through Paypal and my locking drop box for clients not needing or wanting a meeting to leave their documents and records for me in a secure place. No wonder everyone on the Drake forum is so happy and helpful!

Rich, will the unearned income of this 18 year old child exceed $2,000? If so, please see the following taken from the Form 8615 instructions, and you'll see why I said you need to run the support test. Who Must File Form 8615 must be filed for any child who meets ALL of the following conditions. 1. The child had more than $2,000 of unearned income. 2. The child is required to file a tax return. 3. The child either: a. Was under age 18 at the end of 2013, b. Was age 18 at the end of 2013 and did not have earned income that was more than half of the child's support, or c. Was over age 18 and under age 24 at the end of 2013, was a full-time student, and did not have earned income that was more than half of the child's support. (Earned income is defined later. Support is defined below.) 4. At least one of the child's parents was alive at the end of 2013. 5. The child does not file a joint return for 2013. Support. Your child's support includes all amounts spent to provide the child with food, lodging, clothing, education, medical and dental care, recreation, transportation, and similar necessities. To figure your child's support, count support provided by you, your child, and others. However, a scholarship received by your child is not considered support if your child is a full-time student. For details, see Pub. 501, Exemptions, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information. Certain January 1 birthdays. Use the following chart to determine whether certain children with January 1 birthdays meet condition 3 under Who Must File. IF a child was born on... THEN, at the end of 2013, the child is considered to be... January 1, 1996 18* January 1, 1995 19** January 1, 1990 24*** *This child is not under age 18. The child meets condition 3 only if the child did not have earned income that was more than half of the child's support. **This child meets condition 3 only if the child was a full-time student who did not have earned income that was more than half of the child's support. ***Do not use Form 8615 for this child. The parent may be able to elect to report the child's interest, ordinary dividends, and capital gain distributions on the parent's return. If the parent makes this election, the child will not have to file a return or Form 8615. However, the federal income tax on the child's income, including qualified dividends and capital gain distributions, may be higher if this election is made. For more details, see Form 8814, Parents'

It relates back to this thread that was locked: '?do=embed' frameborder='0' data-embedContent>>

I agree with what KC said to pikester and also what you've said about looking at the exceptions individually.

David1980, if you go back and look at pikester's first post, #15 in this topic at 4:54pm, he's asking about withdrawals for medical expenses and not a home purchase.

I do understand that part of your post was expressing your concern about renewing with ATX for this season and why you ultimately chose other software. Whether or not you believe you weren't bashing 2012, it was implied by your saying you wanted it to be like it was in 2011, that the company had plenty of time to fix it for this year so as to not repeat the problems that 2012 had, that the beta testing was a coverup, something thrown in there about the big raven.... As far as offensive remarks going unpunished, you know firsthand that that is untrue. You've been visiting this forum over this past year, and I know this because I saw your unkind posts on the official forum about some of the members here, our posts, the moderation, and the creation of the politics subforum. You were aware that we put a warning point system in place, were warning people publicly within the topics, and that the forum is actively monitored and moderated as needed. Like everyone else on here, you also have the ability to report those posts or topic you find offensive and provide us with an explanation of why that is. Most of the time we have acted on those reports, and on rare occasion have made the choice that no action be taken, but we do give each report serious consideration. There is no game being played here. We want this to be a friendly place where tax preparers come to get help, help others, and stay productive. That is the main focus and purpose of this community, and that means that some posts will report problems with the current ATX program as current users try to find solutions and share workarounds. If you choose to think of those people as "the preferred ones" then so be it. They are the ones that should be discussing the program. There is nothing to be gained by rehashing the disaster of last season, and the only times last year's program should come up are if someone's current work, program, or data file is affected by it, or if someone is preparing a late or amended return with it. As far as you ponying up funds to purchase ATX and then being allowed to say whatever you want about ATX or CCH on here, that isn't the case. The official forum may allow those types of posts, but this is a privately owned forum. The owner of this forum gives each of us access and can take that away from any one of us at any time. As KC already said, you are welcome to stay, but please understand our main focus here is to help each other, and that the general concensus is to put the problems with last year's program behind us and concentrate on our current work with the current year's program.