Pacun

Good points. I tried to bring the subject back to Taxes by writing only one political sentence and going back to how the IRS is not ready because they didn't anticipate anything. It is funny how we elect these people because they promise to cut government spending and as you said, they get addicted.

I tried to log on to myATX and it is under maintenance. I was sent to my atx blog http://myatx.blogspot.com/ and I found this very helpful video. Tuesday, November 30, 2010 Installing ATX 2010 on a network This quick presentation is designed to help you and your network technician successfully install ATX 2010 on your network. This presentation is also designed to assist you and your network technician in mapping your workstations and conducting a quick test to insure ATX is installed and working properly on your network. Click the following link to view the presentation: https://www.brainshark.com/cch/ATXNetworkInstall Posted by Kim Manuel at 3:27 PM

Democrats should be at fault. But I would also blame the IRS because they should have had the software ready the way they released it last year since not much was going to change. This is the first year I see that the tax table, the standard deduction and the personal exemptions are the same as the previous year. If they didn't wait to the last minute, they could be almost ready now. In any event, if they were ready based on last year's form releases, the changes could be incorporated with no much software programming effort. Most of the new changes are for companies anyways.

I always wondered what HSBC meant and it is interesting what I got from Wikipedia: The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation HSBC Holdings plc is a global financial services company headquartered in London, United Kingdom.[3] As of 2010, it is the world's sixth-largest banking and financial services group and the world's eighth-largest company according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine.[7][8] It has around 8,000 offices in 87 countries and territories across Africa, Asia, Europe, North America and South America and around 100 million customers.[4][9] As of 30 June 2010 it had total assets of $2.418 trillion, of which roughly half were in Europe, a quarter in the Americas and a quarter in Asia.[6] HSBC Holdings plc was founded in London in 1991 by The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation to act as a new group holding company and to enable the acquisition of UK-based Midland Bank.[1] The origins of the bank lie in Hong Kong and Shanghai, where branches were first opened in 1865.[2]

For a minute, I thought you were referring to/about your clients. I don't use RALs and I hate when people have hold their W-2s until April and they inquire about RALs. I am glad H&R Block is not goint to use RALs this year and that will make people think about the amount of money the banks make on those loans.

I had problems over the weekend but it is working now.

Nice video. I hope he actually takes it to the beach this coming summer as he said. We are not against any posting on the forum. There is a water cooler at work and trust me, there are times that I don't go to drink water because I am busy with deadlines. There are other times, that I do have time for the water cooler. Same is true for this forum. A lot of people are busy and if they had the choice to see only business/tax stuff, they will appreciate. My suggestion is that we could have a choice to see: 1.- Everything, 2.- Not birth day posting and and 3.- no NT postings. I always appreciate postings like this one since we are free because a lot of soldiers have lost their lives and we all appreciate our armed forces' sacrifice. I post NT stuff all the time, but a little adjustment to this forum will be beneficial for all of us.

Can we have a choice of selecting: I don't want to see postings with titles "Happy Birthday" or "NT"? I understand you are on vacation so a March answer is perfect. This is what I commented on another posting titled "Where are the gurus?" "I agree with Old Jack. We need to separate tax and business matters on this forum. Normally I only check the first page. I have missed important information because my first page is filled with Happy Birthday and other "important" stuff. I have not listed by date of birth because of that. I do not have a face book account and this is the ONLY forum I visit. I visit this one because it is a learning experience and there are many knowledgable people on this forum. If the forum is filled with "important", non-tax stuff, our gurus will simply stop coming. I am pretty sure that during this tax season all of us will donate to the forum. I am sure if donations are better, this forum can be better. One suggestion is that you should be able to select, I want to see "Happy Birthday" or "NT" postings. That way, if you uncheck those two categories, you will not see anything that includes "happy birthday" or "NT" on the title. "

It is hard to believe that the IRS will not be ready in time since the software doesn't need much tayloring. Standard deduction, personal exceptions, tax brackets and many other items are the same as they were in 2009.

I always have problems with DC, my "state". I have workarounds every year. What I do, I don't waste time, I tell them that DC is not ready but I can file their Federal, which in most cases is the bigger refund (remember that we are talking about people who file early). I tell them that they need to come back in a month to have their DC efiled. I efile everything for the state since ONLY the first time home buyer and ITIN requests were not allowed to efile for Federal. None of those applied for DC. I had to wait for ITINs anyways and the other credit didn't affect DC filing. It works for me because DC can be efiled by itself. If filing your state/locality is the issue, file that return only and wait for the federal. Amend you state/locality as needed and file the federal in March. I am sure your clients will understand after the media starts its own "panicking postings". As long as your locality, have the amend "feature" you can find a way get the same results.For example, if you have a client who has 4K tuition deduction (and they need to lower their AGI), you can suggest that they can put 4K in an IRA before April 15 and file their taxes. If needed, you can amend and collect money back from the IRS or break even. Each case will be different. Who knows, maybe the client likes the idea of putting 4K in their IRA. They have until April 1st to make up their mind (I need the extra 14 days to amend if needed). Is this the first time you guys experience this? We see it almost every year in the last 2-3 years. Even if the IRS has all the forms ready, ATX drags its feet with my state. All the time, forms are draft and not ready for paper filing or simply not ready for filing.

FAFSA users can file and then amend. IRS is not postponing the start filing date for anyone. They said that if you are filing for those 3 credits/forms you cannot file. As I stated earlier, in most cases, the percentage of people who itemize, are teachers or students that pay less than 8K in higher education AND file before mid-Feb is very slim. Also, I tell my people not to visit me before Feb 15th because everybody wants to have their taxes done the last week of January and the first week of Feb. This will give me a chance to tell my PITA clients to come back in a month because the IRS doesn't have schedule A ready. Hopefully they will not come back!!!

I had a windows XP 32 bit-computer. In December 2009, I bought a new Windows 7 64-bit computer and I installed ATX 2007 and then copied the data for 2007. I tested 2007 by opening a couple of returns and made a little change on a form and resave it. I installed 2008 and copied the data for 2008 and tested it. Finally I installed 2009 and tested it by rolling over a return and worked on it. NO PROBLEMS. You should do the same. If 2009 is working properly, then you know it is a flaw with the new, 2010 software package. For those who have both programs installed but installed them backwards, please open a return in 2009, save it and try to roll it over to 2010. As a last choice, you should install 2010 on the old computer, roll over all the returns from 2009, test it and then copy the whole database folder to the new Windows 7 computer. I should admit that I am not that creative and I let the program dictate where it wants the data by default. Regarding the back up, if a tax paperer forgets to make sure that ATX data is backed up because it is NOT under documents, something is wrong with his/her "computer". The only other thing that I can think of is that the account that runs ATX is not your account that that account doesn't have full permissions to your profile (I don't expect this paragragh to make much sense anyways).

I will try. Thank you.

Correct. Those with higher AGI are not desperate for the money/refund. They can wait until mid/end February and their refund is most of the time low. Most of them have investment and are waiting for other documents anyways. I am talking about the ones with low incomes who file as soon as their W-2s are distributed.

It is not worth it to purchase this immigration software unless you have enough clients every year. You can fill out most (if not all) immigration forms on line. Forms and fees change frequently and you have to renew every year. This software is good for immigration lawyers. By the way, Immigration is another field where the government wants to control in the near future. Only lawyers will be able to practice. In any event, immigration law is very tight right now and it is almost impossible for people to find a relief from removal. Those in removal procedings need lawyers and there is nothing similar to Enrolled Agent in that field.

No big deal. Maybe more money for us (see number 3 below). 1.- We don't have many teachers (this credit is about $25-$75 anyways). 2.- If you qualify for the $4,000 tuition deduction, you qualify for other credits that are not affected. 3.- If client owns a house, file using the standard deduction if client needs the money badly. Then amend in March. If you have a person with all 3 affected credits, go to option 3 above.

Why don't you copy the previous year data folder to the root of C:\ and test?

I agree with Old Jack. We need to separate tax and business matters on this forum. Normally I only check the first page. I have missed important information because my first page is filled with Happy Birthday and other "important" stuff. I have not listed by date of birth because of that. I do not have a face book account and this is the ONLY forum I visit. I visit this one because it is a learning experience and there are many knowledgable people on this forum. If the forum is filled with "important", non-tax stuff, our gurus will simply stop coming. I am pretty sure that during this tax season all of us will donate to the forum. I am sure if donations are better, this forum can be better. One suggestion is that you should be able to select, I want to see "Happy Birthday" or "NT" postings. That way, if you uncheck those two categories, you will not see anything that includes "happy birthday" or "NT" on the title.

I like when your representative is as smart as Catherine. Very valid and logic points. Can we get a discount on your software Medlin? I heard good things about your payroll software and I will visit your site soon.

I agree, we appreciate all your help provided here. I hope every body gets on board after Jan 15th.

I was able to register for the exam by calling Prometric.

LION, I haven't used e-services but I am registered. I do need a transcript of my own tax return on the fly. What do I need to do in order to get it from e-services?

This sounds like me. My job is computer support and when I don't know the answer or if the answer will embarras me, I use something like: "Email me directly and I will reply. I prefer not answering specific support questions on the landlord's hall or elevator".

I think they get tired of our stupid, low level questions!!! :spaz:

I applied for a PTIN today and I got a provisional number that will expire in a year (12-31-2011). I tried to schedule the EA exams but I couldn't. Did everybody get a provisional number and how long did you wait to get the final number? I wonder when Prometric will get my info and allow me to schedule the exams.