clay

I received an email on 4/17 that came from "Stephen Drake" with the subject Our Lowest Price - Unlimited E-Filing. The email had a virus which my virus software luckily caught. Anyone else receive this?

I have two duplex scanners that work great. My problem is managing the documents on my PC. Everything is scanned into one folder and each document has a generic name automatically associated with it. I have to go in and rename and copy each document to the folder where it belongs. What software can you recommend to manage the documents after they are scanned into the computer? OR...what am I missing in the setup of the scan software?

You should be able to buy Pro Series for under $1300, guaranteed to stay at that price for 5 years. That is just the 1040 and all states with pay per return for everything else.

I found Pro Series to be much better than Drake. And...all the bad talk about Pro Series's marketing, is irrelevant to me if the program proves to be a winner. I have no concerns of losing clients to Turbo Tax. I am not trying to promote Pro Series, just provide my take after looking at and used both Drake and Pro Series.

Those are some pretty early extensions I am seeing in this thread. I do not have that problem, but I find this year I had a constant 2 week backlog. Generally I catch up in early March and then the creepage comes back in in early April. But this year I have had to work MANY more hours to keep the backlog to two weeks. Is it all the info IRS wants us to gather, the 8863 is always a nightmare in obtaining actual payments, and the 8849 details are just another delicious tidbit they added. My workload has remained constant over the years (by design, I get rid of those not worth keeping). So is anyone else experiencing the same as me...or am I just getting older and slower!

I have noticed that many 1098s for mortgage interest from the banks do not include amounts paid for MIPS. I read in the Kiplinger Tax Letter that many banks had the form for the 1098s printed without a line for MIPS because the deduction expired in 2012, and many banks decided to use the forms they had instead of adding the line back in when Congress renewed the deduction as part of the fiscal cliff legislation. I had two returns so far where the MIPS on mortgages issued after 2006 was paid but not shown on the 1098. In 2011 the 1098 for the same clients showed the amount paid for MIPS. And there was no line on their 2012 1098 for the MIPS.

Been with ProSeries 2 weeks. I like it. Conversion went fairly smoothly but took 8 business days. This was not a problem because I changed to ProSeries in January before the rush began and had time to wait for the conversion. Depreciation went well, although depreciation for home office was not segregated. I can handle picking it apart for the few clients I have in this situation. Drake is good, but to me ProSeries is better. In Drake you do not see how the data you entered is being brought forward. I would have preferred Drake were not for the shortcomings I found in the software. ProSeries was my last choice but so far everything is working out great. ProSeries checklists and worksheets are much more detailed than ATX and at first seem like more work, but in the long run forms open based on entries you make in the worsksheets and data is automatically handled and entered thereby making your job so much easier. And there have been no glitches in opening the program, running updates, printing, efiling, etc. But...I still miss ATX and would still be with them were it not for the major problems this year. Despite all the program malfunctions, I found it very difficult to leave. I don't know how the executives at ATX who masterminded this disaster can sleep at night knowing what they have done to their long time customers.

I switched to Proseries. Overall I like it. Took 8 business days to convert my files. The conversion is maybe 80% accurate from what I have checked so far. BUT the program runs great, it is has MANY more "checks" than ATX. At the same time I miss ATX. Opening the program or client is pretty quick, all features work great, cost is hundreds more than ATX. Ability to work on returns and print easily compared to 2012 ATX ...priceless.

I had the same problem but not after doing this: Close the 2012 program. Download the update to your desktop. I used the suggestion in a previous thread a few days ago to rename a 2012 file to 2012.old, which essentially says you have none of the 2012 forms. (sorry, but i could not find the post on this, maybe someone else can help)Do this before you install the update. Install the update from the desktop. If the program opens, close and reopen. Select update..Manual. The program downloaded over 1200 forms. Close the program after the download and restart. Try rolling over a return and opening it. This worked for me.

I think ProSeries looks better than Drake. Proseries has a better form entry setup, similar to ATX. Drake's form entry is very basic and calculations do not flow back to worksheets, only to the final form (eg on Sch E workesheet, automobiles, there is a secondary worksheet to enter the info on the automobile but the info does not flow back into the E worksheet, only onto the actual Sch E. On depreciation, you must enter every piece of info, unlike Proseries and ATX that automatically populate the depreciation info after you select the item being depreciated (eg, Sch E, select building and it enters 27.5 years, etc.) Looks like Drake has a good feature, similar to ATX's for importing a csv file of stock transactions but Proseries has an Import function that looks OK, but I do not know enough about it to say the feature is as good as Drakes. Drake has some extras you will not find in Proseries, such as your own web page.

I am having the same issues. Not sure why some of us are having problems and others are not. I never had a problem in previous years.

I called ATX on this problem today. They had me go into the 2011 program and do a manual update of the forms. Sorry to say, this did not solve the problem.

Today's program update did not solve my problem. And the program took longer to open. At this stage the program improvements should be solving problems, not creating new and bigger problems. Not sure what to do next!

I can rollover a test return from 2011 but I cannot open the return in ATX 2012. This happened after a program update. Prior to the update I had no problem opening the return in ATX 2012. But after an update I receive a message that forms did not match up and to open and close the return in the 2011 return. Did that and still no luck. Anyone else have the same experience?

Although the program loads VERY slow, I had been able to open the program and roll over a "test" return. Today things have gone downhill fast. I opened the program and a few forms were updated. I then went to open the test file and received a message the return needed to be reopened and saved in the 2011 program, Did that, but the problem persists. Even deleted the return and went back to roll over the return. Still received the same message to reopen and save the return in the 2011 program. Plus I am trying to edit the client letter with no success. I reviewed all of the tutorials but the features in the program in the edit mode are not working. I have used ATX for over 10 years but I am at the tax program "cliff" and ready to make the switch to another program. Each day this program is pushing me closer to the edge of the cliff. Things should be getting better...not worse. I hope ATX is unlike Congress and will not bring us down to the wire before things are resolved.

Live in NY and it happens at random times. Contacted ATX. Told me to update forms. I do that every day, so that is not the answer.

Client has a summer home and rents it out one month. I am looking for some help on how to enter this on the input sheet. I entered the number of personal and rental days. Do I also check part personal and part rental? When I do that the numbers do not seem to flow properly. Maybe I am misinterpreting the meaning of Direct and Indirect. I thought the direct would be items such as Comissions paid to the rental agency. and then the indirect would be allocated based on the percent of personal and rental use. This does not seem to be the case. A

I filled one out and the deterrmination was the client did not qualify for EIC, but 8867 was efiled anyway. How come?

I started the survey and then stopped. They ask you to rate the importance of the various aspects of tax return preparation. To me, everything on the long list was "very important". After about five pages (out of 15) I stopped because I did not see how this was serving any real purpose. Could be that later in the survey they go into more meaningful survey questions.

I agree software is no substitute for a good preparer. But I view the software as my "assistant", and if I can find a software that does a better job than ATX, I will consider switching. It would be like finding a better assistant and I am willing to pay more for a more experienced, helpful and useful assistant.

I ususally renew with ATX in May each year but this time I am going to wait and first try out some alternatives to ATX. I definitely want to stay with forms based input so Drake will not work for me although it seems like a great program. I just received the 2010 Proseries and I will see how it works by keying in some of my returns from 2010. They guarantee their price for 3 years and the conversion process supposedly is very good. Price is $1084 with all states, efiling and just the 1040, no partnerships, trusta, etc, which is fine for my business. Why change? Well, I like ATX, I have been with them for over 10 years, but if I can find a program that will automatically load all the necessary forms (eg. I am from NY and when I open certain forms that require the 201-ATT, I have to open the ATT, the program will not do it automatically) and provide better worksheets, then I will consider the switch. So if the software will do some things that do not require me to review and make sure every form has opened and handles some transactions better than ATX, this saves me time, and as we know, time is money. Any other forms based software out there that people like?

I have a client who moved to another state because that is where they wanted to live. She works for the same employer ( a national retail chain). She was not reimbursed for any of her moving expenses and meets the distance and 39 week work tests. But IRS Pub 521 refers to a "new job". And this is where I am not 100% certain it is OK to take the deduction. She is doing the same work for the same employer but in a different state. I think she qualifies to deduct the moving expense, but she says it doesn't seem right because the move was initiated by her and she still works for the same company. She feels it is not a new job. The company was not obligated to hire her at the new location, although she received recommendations from her former store manager. Her husband was unemployed prior to the move and still is. They moved in May 2010. Expenses are significant. The moving van alone was $5000 plus there is the mileage to drive to the new home and related expenses.

. Many banks charge origination fees, which may or may not be prepaid interest - often they are a fee to process the loan. At least in my area, banks list "origination fees" and "points" (to get a lower interest rate; prepaid interest) separately. For about 5 years I had seen very few "points" but with interest rates reversing and going up, they are becoming more common as borrowers are opting to pay points to obtain a lower rate; and on top of that they almost always pay a fee to the bank to process the mortgage. So it looks like the 1098 is giving you the true cost of points paid by the borower.

I would go with the points listed on the 1098. Origination fees are usually the same as "application" fees, which are not the same as points.

On a refi the points will probably not show up on the 1098. I believe the box in the 1098 says something to the effect of "original purchase". I just had a client who received a letter on a refi that stated the amount paid for points, but their 1098 did not have the info.