Janitor Bob

Exactly...my client has no kids... client's sister does not want to share...wonder why

Client chose NOT to get health insurance. Client had income of $24,300. Was offered $496/mo subsidy on Silver plan with a cost of $631/mo...leaving her contribution at $135/mo...less than the required contribution calculated by 8965. I inform client that she does NOT qualify for the affordability exemption and will be assessed the $695 penalty. She thinks I am wrong because: 1) She could not "afford" to pay $135/mo with all of her other bills 2) Her sister makes $27,000 and did her own taxes and qualified for the exemption. Client requests I file her return claiming affordability exemption anyway. I told her I would NOT do that because the 8965 calculations do not support it. Since the return is complete and I'm charging her regardless, she told me to file "as-is" with the penalty and then she'll take it to her sister to amend (claiming the exemption). In the end, her sister (who she now views as a tax genius) will amend her return...and IRS will probably not question it...and client will get her $695 refunded. I know her amendment will be wrong (and potentially fraudulent), but client (former) will assume I was wrong and spread that story via word-of-mouth. sometimes I hate people

I think I've spent more time typing my user ID and password into the 2016 and 2017 program than I have actually doing taxes. OK..not really, but it sure feels like...I truly hate the password requirement. It is just me...working out of my home office...no clients in my office...no friends or family in my office.

two keys? How?

I do not have any affected....that I have done. I think there are several in the "To-Do" pile that have PMI, but they are in no hurry. As I get to them, I'll give them the option to file now or wait until end of March...no later. March 31st, I'll tell all waiting that I need to file now (or pay my $50 April price increase) then advise them that can pay me to amend once forms are finalized.

I also have a client that just KNOWS the coverage was unaffordable and basically demands that I use that exemption to get her out of the penalty. Income is approx. $24,000 so her required contribution is approx. $163/month. No bronze plan available because she smokes and smokers are required to go silver if they want the subsidy. I explained to her that the IRS expected her to obtain coverage and that after the subsidy, the IRS views it as affordable. Client claims that even after the proposed subsidy, her cost for the cheapest plan actually offered to her through the marketplace would have been $250/month? What do you do if the cost of the only plan offered to the taxpayer is more than the SLCSP used in the 8965 Affordability calculation?

There is a User's Guide? I'll read that in my spare time.......

I am embarrassed to say I never really new this existed...As a planner, I always just created a copy of the return and made changes to see what results would be like the following year assuming no changes in tax laws....which worked OK the past few years, but certainly won't work for 2018. I will need to play with this new toy.

Not sure...I'll try that....I always print to both the printer and to pdf....I'm not sure which one is causing the problem.

no, but just starting last night, it crashes when I try to print both to printer and pdf

Client does not qualify for Affordability exemption based on the 8965 calculations. However, since client is a smoker, no bronze plan was offered to her and she would only qualify for marketplace subsidy if she chose a silver plan. The cheapest silver plan was not affordable even after proposed subsidy. Her income was $24,000...Is there another exemption available to her?

I can't explain why my system finally started working.....I did not see any MalwareBytes updates.....I just kept shutting down and re-starting until everything was working again.

My version (which is now working fine) is 3.3.1.2183 Component Package Version 1.0.262 Update Packet Version 1.0.3804

I pay for Malwarebytes Premiuim and it is a very good security program that plays well with other antivirus software...I have been a fan for many years. That said, that bad update caused me grief that I do not need this time of year

I swear.....most of my time is spent explaining to clients why their tax results are not as good as their friend/hairdresser/neighbor's "but my friend does not have any kids and she filed head of household...so that's how I want to file" "Cindy got earned income credit and got a return of almost $3,000...why didn't I get that much?" "I'm sell Thirty-One, so I can claim all of my bags, clothes, and household expenses, so make sure you include that in my return". I could go on.....

Just finished 1099s and the flood gates have opened for individual 1040s....Can't transmit until 1/9, of course, but already have several "W-2 only" clients wanting their returns done to beat the rush and have ready to send...Now I get to tell most of them that their refunds will be delayed until late Feb (EITC).

Thanks..sounds good...how much for adobe Pro?

I like/need to send my clients copies of returns/documents as pdf files, but need to send them securely (i.e. encrypted). Does anybody know of a low cost program to do so? I tried and like Virtru ($45/year), but many clients have problems on the receiving end with viewing/printing the file. I have a small practice (only 150 clients), so a more expensive method is not realistic. I was goig to try one of the client portal options (portalsafe or Signatureflow), but so many of my clients want nothing to do with going to a special web site...they want copies e-mailed to them.

I have always used practitioner PIN...but things I've read made it sound like that alone was not sufficient any longer....also needed prior year AGI starting this year?

For new clients, will we need the prior year AGI (2016) or is it 2015 AGI? I was thinking it was prior year (2016), but seem to recall reading somewhere that it was 2015. I'm assuming that the ATX software will auto-fill this number for repeat clients.

Those scam companies just do the same thing that you or I can do with our credit card companies...on behalf of the cardholder, they negotiate a reduced debt amount if the amount is paid in a certain period of time...the credit card companies will usually remove interest and fees if all or part of the principle balance is paid in full. The scam company will then charge the cardholder a percentage of the amount written off by the card company. Credit card companies will just as easily work directly with the cardholder.

Is it because E-File is closed?

Can I currently transmit Tax year 2015 electronically? I transmitted and receive a reject from EFC stating submission year is 2016 and should be 2018?

I think I see what I did....I accidentally scanned in "Grayscale" instead of black and White. I'll re-scan tomorrow and hopefully get the file size down.

If I tell it to, it deletes the two forms only...doe not delete the actual RITA return, just the RITA EF INFO and OH GNTPOJ...which pulls info from W-2 and flows to the RITA...so without GNTPOJ, the RITA return is pretty much blank. Problem is that I completed the return...client came to sign forms and pay....I try to open the return (to add Driver's license info) and it will no longer let me.....I did not want client to have to come back to get a generic City form to mail...Looks unprofessional after telling him that the RITA form would go electronically...So I paid $30.00 for access to a return that I had already done. Next time, I'll skip the RITA forms and use the Generic...I just do not understand why it let me add the forms previously, open and re-open the forms several times over a few days, but then demanded PRS funds to do so today