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Good for you, JB. Enjoy the time with your daughter.

bcolleen, was yours was sent back because the client's sig was missing? Kea is asking about the preparer's signature. It seems to me that if the IRS will accept a rubber stamp or computer-generated printing of the preparer's signature, then Kea should be OK. Kea was asking about signing a return as a preparer & faxing that return to his/her client for filing. As long as the client's signature is original, Kea's idea should work. The worst case I can see is the IRS saying that Kea didn't sign and assess the $50 preparer penalty for failure to sign the return.

Thanks. I think it just shows how old I'm getting. :)

Is it possibly a name control issue on the 1041 EF info form that's in error?

ACRS stands for accelerated cost recovery system. ACRS-19 was for real property property placed in service after 5/8/85 and pre-1987. ACRS was the predecessor to MACRS, the "M" meaning modified. This method used a table that was 19-year 175% declining balance with a mid-month convention. The table had yrs 1-20 down the column and the 12 months across the top. It should be fully depreciated by now. I looked at the input for the asset entry, and I believe the method you would choose is A19, and the convention code would be MM for mid-month.

Client owed back taxes for 2004 and 2006. Just a week ago, she paid these based on payoff figures I got through e-services by email. Her checks have cleared her bank, but account transcripts as of today still shows balances outstanding plus add'l interest. Should I ask for a different report, or write in through e-services again? Here's my problem: 2008 debt cancellation income is creating a balance due on her return of $10,500. She has $2,000 to send in now. Can she get an installment agreement approved before the back year payments are posted? If not, would she be better off paying the $2K with an extension request, then waiting for the payments to post, and later file the return with the instal request?

are both returns identical? maybe you missed something on one of the returns - like qualified divs that are taxed at a lower rate, even though the taxable income on both returns is the same?

How about having the boss write a check that your client can mail in with 1040-V?

Did you check the box for 'Simple Trust' upper left corner of page 1? That should put the $300 exemption on line 20. Is DNI populating?

Taxpayer is filing her return as married filing separate. She received 1099C from credit card debt canceled. Credit card was in her name only. Client is still married, but separated from husband. Separation has not been formalized in any document. She (my client) is living in and paying 100% of mortgage on marital home. They are getting divorced, not finalized yet, no settling of assets as yet. My question: how much of the home's FMV and debt would be included in solely the wife's insolvency calculation? Is it 1/2 of FMV and 1/2 of debt, if they still own it together, or would she include all because the mortgage co could come after either party? Just to add some juicy details: husband was diverting mail, bills and money. Skipped off to NYC and left her with all this crap. Once he left, she found that the house was almost in foreclosure, which her parents helped to keep. Back year taxes had outstanding balances which we just last week got cleaned up and paid off. Lots of other stuff too. Husband is in banking!

Amazing. I use that tab all the time & never noticed that worksheet. Thank you so much.

Taxbilly, thanks for the important reminder. I am totally stressed over these clients. I need to step back & look at the bigger picture of what's really important in my life. I too was a cargiver: 6 years ago my husband was going through treatment for stage 3 cancer during a nightmarish tax season. Later that year, he was barely back to work & my mom fell and broke her femur & elbow on the same side of the body. The femur was so badly broken, even with a rod in place, she had to go for a 3 month say at a nursing home & was on complete bedrest for 6 weeks of that. All this while, I was also taking care of my dad, still alive at that time, but had many physical limitations & parkinson's. My dad has since passed, but thankfully my husband and mom made full recoveries and are still with me.

Thanks, Gail. That's what I thought, so I'll have to see it and then decide.

Can wife sign a return for husband and attach a general POA? Husband is in alzheimer's unit and could possibly sign return, but with great difficulty. I haven't seen the POA yet, but I'd guess it isn't so specific as to cover signatures on tax returns.

Yes, here too. Several clients passed, a husband of long-time client/friends now in an alzheimer's unit, another elderly lady failing fast both mentally & physically. It's very sad talking with these people. One older lady keeps talking about her recently deceased husband as if he's still here.

Now that I've just read the email and highlights of the phone conversation, it is just funnier than ever. I can just picture it. It's even better that it came from Kyle back at Eric, instead of from KC and Tom. Something about a pink t-shirt and magic wand comes to mind.... Thanks for the laugh.

Yeah, I got a return in last night that received $328 stimulus check based on 2007 return (his tax was only $328). He held the check too long, then tried to deposit it. Bank bounced it back as too old & charged him $15 to boot. He's MFS and qualifies for the $600 based on the 2008 return, but I think he can only get the $272 difference. Do you think there's any chance that he could get the full $600 because he was too lazy to put a check in the bank?

No, they hadn't been shopping around. They were referred in after being charged a fairly high fee for their multi-state return last year. Wife had dropped off info, then later I talked to both them on the telephone. They were on their speaker phone & husband made the comment in the background while the wife tried to smooth it over and say I shouldn't be offended. I was just stunned to hear it considering they gave me incomplete information and I was only calling to get what was missing. Had I completed the return with what I was initially given, they would have owned a couple thousand instead of getting that much back. I stewed all evening until the wife came back the next morning. That's when the package was given back. Too bad I didn't get the satisfaction of telling the pompous husband off to his face. I liked the wife, and she seemed like a genuinely nice person and was totally mortified.

Very cute Corgi Peggy. If you're interested in agility, I'm on a dog forum that has lots of people involved in agility, obedience, training, general dog care. We all enjoy seeing lots of pix & video too. The woman that owns the site is a canine nutritionist. Check it out after the work slows down, it's free with lots of helpful advice on health, nutrition, supplements, training, general topics too. It's a fun group, much like this forum, with very nice & helpful folks (and no flaming). Our Dogs Online can be found at http://www.ourdogsonline.com/ubbthreads.php/forum_summary You can lurk without signing in, but must sign in to post or see all the forums. The General, Photo/Video and Non-Dog topics are member only. The moderator's main website for her nutrition area is at www.betterdogcare.com and has a lot of interesting information on dog food. KC, I hope it's ok to post those links. If not, please just delete this post.

I threw out a new client last week. They brought incomplete data, then husband didn't like the result and made a comment that they never had trouble like this with H&R. Then they brought more info, wanted me to work it up to see if they would get a refund like last year, and maybe they'd let me continue working on it. LET ME! REALLY! BTW, their income was substantially higher than LY, adding to an already bad situation, and causing add'l phase outs over that of LY. GGGGRRRRRR.

I don't want to hijack the thread, but I have a similar question. Couple are getting divorced now. Wife is my client for '08 & MFS. After the '07 stimulus payment was applied, they still owe for '04 on unreported income of the husband. They also owe for '06 because they filed that return without any payment. Wife is paying both prior yr bals this week. How long does is usually take for IRS to apply checks for back tax years? I haven't worked up wife's '08 return yet, but if she has a refund, should I put it on extension?

Congrats, Taxbilly. Yeah, just tell 'em get in line. That's what I'm telling everyone.

Client has a rental condo & used it 56.25% for personal (also more than 14 days/10%) I've already entered the days on the vacation tab of Sch E. That rental % of 43.75% is not being applied to the basis on the 4562. ATX is calc'g the full depreciation using 100% of cost basis. Do I need to enter that % on the asset entry tab? I thought this was automatic. On the vacation expense summary, the program is limiting every other expense based on use %, but the deprec is at 100% and then being disallowed because all the expenses exceed income.

I had one transmitted to ATX on 3/14 that took 5 days for ATX to send on to Martinsburg. I emailed ATX but they had no explanation for the delay, only that they were aware of the problem. I just got the ack back yesterday.

I have a client that is a teacher at a private school. Each year he brings me 2 form w-2s from that one school. He said the reason is that the one is for his main contract, the other one is for additional programs outside the contract that he does during the summer months. I think the school does this so that their auditors can tie in the payments to the contracts. I always enter them as 2 separate w-2s in the ATX program. I just let the system do the math.