Pacun

I used to enter the control number from the W-2s. Most of the time that number includes - and spaces, ATX now doesn't allow you to enter spaces or -. That field should NOT be a number and we should be allow to enter any character since it is not used in any calculation. I have noticed the same issue on company names and addresses when an ampersand (&) is involved. Again these fields are not involved on any calculations. Maybe you are having the same issue on your MI form.

Thank you. I know that you cannot use two Sch C-ez, but I have never had a problem with two schedules C.

No dependency exemption in this case. If daughter doesn't have anyone else to qualify her as a HOH, you should check the rules for HOH carefully and maybe she qualifies for HOH based on the fact that she supported him more than 50%.

Maybe next year, you wait until Feb 15 to send 1099s to the feds.

I hope this gets updated soon. I have a return with two schedules C and I get an error stating that ONLY one copy of sch C 02 can be filed. Can you try to create an efile file when the return contains two schedules C?

As soon as she makes more than $3,700, she is NOT the qualifying relative OF ANYONE. AND in Michigan (and maybe in other states), if she makes, let's say, $2,700, she CANNOT be the qualifying relative of her boyfriend... as a result, she could qualify for EIC, regardless who supported the children as long as the children didn't provide more than 50% of their own support.

Jack, As long as she is breathing in the same room with the children, for more than 6 months, she will qualify for single filing status and EIC, if she otherwise qualifies.

Wrong.

She will not be a dependent of his as soon as she earns $3,700.

Michael, Monday is a national holiday.

Regarding the busy signal, that's normal. When data resides somewhere else, you have to be patient when opening the program, opening the clients or saving the data.

I think the lesson we learn is that while the IRS don't audit our clients, we are the BEST preparers. As soon as the IRS audits them, we are the worst. As I told Terry on another post, our clients will quickly sue us. We should be prepared for more law suits since now there is a lot of publicity about preparers' exams, penalties and due diligence.

Correct. Remember that the relationship to the filer is "other".

"Related" doesn't mean "blood related". He needs to file as single and claim all 3 dependents if they lived in the same household the whole year and he provided more than 50% of the support.

This is THE ONLY TIME today, I will agree with Jainen. Does the client hire you to represent them in a non-existing audit that will require form 2848 or do they hire you to prepare their taxes? Another point, what do you think it comes to the mind of the tax payer when the IRS is questioning the return you prepared? I think taxpayers say "my prepare messed up my return". With that in mind, they will try to take the letter to the "other preparer". Having a power of attorney on record is like denying them of their right to seek help somewhere else. Why will you put your client in a possition to cancel the previous power of attorney just because it is inconvenient for you in doing a job you were not hired for in the first place???

Jack, I think you form an LLC and then ask the IRS to tax it as a corporation, then you request S treatment. I am not sure if that will work. You are correct, all S corps are C corporations AND the IRS approves the request for S treatment. Joan, It is my understanding that an accountable plan for a C corporation is a no brainer and you just mentioned it. How do you create an accountable plan? Why wouldn't an accountable plan be beneficial for a Schecule C, LLC when the owner or the LLC gives a car or cell phone to an employee?

I agree Terry. Maybe your clients are more honest than most of mine. I think Form 14157 is better if filed before you spend your refund NOT when the IRS has pulled your return. What do you think your clients do when they get audited by the IRS? Do you think they blame the preparer? Imagine that the auditor would say, "we are auditing your return and you owe us money, this is form 14157, if you want to file it, I will give you 30 minutes to fill it out and I will file it for you". I do agree with MAS. Time is running out for these type of preparers, just ask them to pay because the IRS is right. Refer them to an attorney if they want to go after the preparer. That's what I do! I concentrate on taxes and let attorney give legal advice.

If you know the wife in this case, why didn't she trust you and came to you to prepare their taxes? They go to these type of preparers because they know they will get bigger refunds!!! They come to you ONLY when the IRS gets them. Believe me, they would not be calling you if they were not in the "hot seat". They would never be your clients because the other preparer gets bigger refunds than you. For years we have had a preparer who is very famous in my area. People come to my office and after I talk to them, they go back to that preparer. They go to him and the explanation that some of them tell me is "He knows more than you about taxes because he knows how to deduct my hair cut, food, cell phone, etc." I wish them a nice day and call the next client. One question that the IRS will ask your question is: "Did the preparer gave you a copy of the return when it was presented for signature?" The answer will be yes. If she claims that she left her documents with preparer and the preparer says "no", what proof she has? Were there any witness, is there a document signed by the preparer. She might be better off taking him to regular court. Good luck with that. I have been efiling almost 100% for about 4 years and I NEVER checked the third party box. I take back the NEVER, I do it on my OWN return, I check the box to contact my preparer.

Let's say that you suggest a client to incorporate a business or you ask them to open an LLC, what else do you do for the clients? Let's say a C corporation filing 1120 with a single owner, do you open an accountable plan? Do you register for online tax payments? Do you open an insurance plan? 401k? If the company has some money on December 15th, what do you suggest them to do? Anything that is a good practice will be welcome. Let's say that you open a C corporation that will become an S corp, what do you open or suggest? Let's say that you open an LLC which will be disregarded as a partnership filing 1065, what do you suggest? Do you suggest an accountable plan for all of them? How do you open an accountable plan? What are I do understand that money has to do with all these decision but I want to know what the mininum that should be done.

right click on the file, go to properties and select open with ATX2011. Keep in mind that this might change the file association for all the 2009 files. Why don't you open ATX2011, and restore from F: drive? That's the way you normally do.

There are three things that could be: The QB program is not running under the admin account, you don't have permissions or you have a share without the proper permissions. This will give you a better idea of what's wrong. Try to create a folder or file on the ATX2011Import folder and see if you have permissions. If you are able to do that, run the QB and dump the file wherever it allows you to do that and then move it the the ATX2011import folder. Re-running the permission on the child folders is a bit complicated and I won't be able to guide you.

I got the email also and it is interesting to see that they used "were" instead of "where" in the article. I agree with Lion, H and R block has excellent courses. Without being an employee, I have taken a lot of courses, but I have paid more than $300 per course. I wish they continue to "educate the competition" as one instructor put it, but they stopped that practice a couple of years ago.

I have a suggestion for those of you who cannot pass the test, have experience and clients. Merge your practice with an EA. Your clientele might not grow anymore but at least you will have income for the next 5 years. You can merge with a CPA but I understand that CPAs charge much more and your clients might go away if charge them much more the year of the merger. Or simply hire an EA who has few clients.

Whoever has more than 5 years of experience should try to pass the EA exam. Why do you want to pass the easy test and be placed at the same level of someone just entering the arena? As I said on another post, when someone has ss benefits and I notice that the benefits are not taxable, I add $50K to the W-2 and if still not taxable, I know I made a mistake entering the ss benefits. I could prepare taxes correctly for so many years but in reality I don't know crap if I do that all the time. In this case, I depend so much on the software and every year that passes I have one more year of experience but in reality I don't even know when SS benefits are taxable. This is just an example. My friend has more than 3K clients and she has preparers who don't even speak English and depend a lot from the software. My friend checks every return but I still believe these people shouldn't be substantially preparing tax returns. TESTS will eliminate these people and I am glad the IRS is testing. I just became EA and I was required to take CPE credits. I was affraid that I was going to need to study. Those CPE credits are a joke and only cost us money. I took a webminar that my 3 year old daughter could pass. They asked you about 6 questions with no wrong answers.

13K gift and the rest taxable???