TaxCPANY

Just committed $ 2091.14 for Total Tax Office. Efile few enough 1099-MISC's and 94x series returns that I can stomach the new $ 1.50/per fee -- even though there is NO material justification for it, but, rather like CCH has adopted airline billing practices. As for paying later, time value of money in today's interest rates? Ha.

I went to Pro Series for 2013, after a decade with ATX. Not only were all fixed-asset types mangled in conversion from ATX but virtually all 2012 amounts were overrides that required re-input in order to restore functionality and cross-referencing. Took two people three weeks to get true rollovers into 2013! Just as bad, Pro Series offers fewer forms and, worse, many fewer state efiles. Navigation is a real pain; forms riddled with worksheets, and un-highlighted position tabs. Michaelmars must have enjoyed a hotline to tech help, courtesy his five-year investment? Each of my calls to tech support loses two minutes to recordings you can't pre-select past. Only now, post-Tax Season, am I reaching a person within five minutes -- not 10+. Honestly, I had to budget half an hour for each tech call, had to make at least one such per week -- and I used to do IT for a firm's tax department. If I could trust CCH to not repeat 2012, I'd be back yesterday. I'll shop pricing and features the rest of this month, at least.

My apology, joanmcq, Jack; I should have added one further word: "Your client cannot e-file his 2011 return [anymore], Ranger . . . ." "Can I still e-file a 2011 or earlier year tax return? Updated: 10/16/2012 Article ID: GEN12304 Individual Returns (Forms 1040, 1040A, and 1040EZ) No. For individual (personal) tax returns, the e-filing "season" runs from mid-January to mid-October in the year immediately following the end of the tax year. This timeframe is determined by the IRS. For example, the 2011 tax year ended on December 31, 2011, which means individual 2011 tax returns could only be e-filed from mid-January, 2012 through mid-October, 2012. After the October shutdown, individual 2011 returns must be paper-filed." A solid answer -- albeit absent citations -- from Turbo-Tax, of all places.

Your client cannot e-file his 2011 return, Ranger, but must send it to Austin -- unless it costs less to send the hard copy to the IRS 'branch' in the US Embassy in Beijing. (I have a client in Denmark for whom it's cheaper to file his 1040 with the US Embassy in London, England.) If a 2012 extension had been filed (by June 15, 2013), he still could e-file 'this' year's return -- until December 16, 2013 -- as long as his AGI exceeds $0. (Zero AGI returns must be filed as hard copies -- Austin or Beijing or wherever.) Don't forget, IRC Sec. 911 *also* entitles him to claim an exclusion from income for the cost of his housing -- above a certain threshold -- EVEN if he's not paid a housing subsidy. Do you know how much rent/mortgage + utilities + renter/home-owner insurance he pays? The *additional* housing exclusion is there in Form 2555 (page 3, I think), but not exactly obvious. I assume he'll file as a "bona fide resident"? Which grade-level(s) does he teach? E.g., if he's a "primary-school" teacher, he's entitled to the $ 250 above-the-line deduction for out-of-pocket/unreimbursed expenses for school supplies. Hope this helps, TaxCPANY

Check out Rev. Rul. 2013-17 -- finalized just this past Tuesday. I needed it to advise a client desiring tax-free treatment of health-insurance coverage of 'their' [deliberately ambiguous] "domestic partner" by the public university -- located in an 'unaccommodating' state -- they'd begun working for, this month. My conclusion was/is: no marriage/no such benefit. The university posts IRS Notice 2004-79 on its website; but I didn't see my client's fact-pattern availing that. It seems to me that, despite the overthrow of DOMA, our same-sex clients still must marry formally, lest they scrabble for 'family/filing-status' benefits more likely than not to be denied on federal, state and local levels. Anyone else here wrestling with this? VTY, TaxCPANY

LUVVED this, KC! Can't believe it hasn't already received 59 notes of applause. I'm gonna forward it to *everyone* on my joke-email lists. Thanks much for 'enlightening' our daily grinds -- as well as your TON of *solid* contributions.

I know what you mean, NECPA; but, unless I'm allowed to 'pry' into such questions about *entities* co-owned by my client(s) and other family members -- as the 'pro' they expect/hired to "do due diligence" -- I wouldn't be the "trusted advisor" he/she should pay me to be. We're talking *property* here, not underpants. Please be prepared to recite IRC Sec 1563 and something in the 700's section about "attribution," in support of your 'prying' -- and to sound most professional. You have the 'weight of 'the law' on your side, to make these inquiries -- no matter how disingenuous you feel in doing so. And, you'd better make such inquiries, lest you expose yourself to accusations of negligence and misfeasance in future. It really could reach that unless you CYA. Too briefly, but truly, yours, TaxCPANY

Except for your citing myopic monetarist Milton Friedman instead of awesome all-seeing Adam Smith, Catherine, I so totally agree with you.

Dear RitaB, Your intuition/memory is correct, to a point. Should you prepare the final 6/30/13 returns using 2012 software, you would have to do a lot of manual tweaking to make it good. Extending the return is not the best option, I believe; your shareholder(s)/client need a current-year K-1 -- under current law -- and, the entity should get this done by September 16, 2013 or, if extended, no later than *early* December, 2013 in order to get a *timely* "all clear" certificate from the state tax authority in which the entity is chartered, in order to include that certificate with its application to that state's Secretary of State for a formal dissolution notice. The SoS's with which I'm familar require such an "all clear" tax certificate -- and you can count on the SoS to take some weeks to finalize its own document. I also don't believe you should wait for ATX to issue 'solid' 2013 forms before New Year's Eve -- not only because ATX blew it, last year. Your client/shareholder(s) really don't have the option of waiting til next year; they really must report the entity's results within this year -- AND the entity must be dissolved by New Year's Eve, accordingly. If I were you, I would duplicate the 2012 return as "2013 [client]," and enter the current-year data. If your client's Fixed Assets are as numerous as I infer, you may need to convert the 2012 "4562 Statement" into an Excel spreadsheet, modify it to project the 2013 "short year" depreciation, and use the spreadsheet to inform a Form 4562 with your own totals -- also, to be attached as a Statement to the returns. Such a spreadsheet also will 'inform' the Form 4797 it sounds like you'll be filing. N.B. A current, short-year return cannot be e-filed. Do you have software capable of changing the tax forms' upper righthand corner "2012" into "2013"? You should do that; it's always helped keep things straight, in my experience. I.e., I just filed a client's final 2013 S-corp as I've described -- and have filed a dozen or so, this way, over the years. NO problems. VTY, TaxCPANY

My US client withdrew 529 money in order to fund a dependent's tuition at the Scottish university she'd been accepted to. BUT, the student subsequently was denied a visa to attend that school. (Don't know why, yet.) The Scottish university refund of the 529-sourced payment occurred *more* than 60 days after my client had disbursed the funds; so the 529 plan is threatening us with penalties for "premature distribution, etc." How do I report/appeal this real-world, non-negligent predicament on the dependent's or parents' 2013 tax returns? Would there also be a way to petition the 529 plan trustee to document that problem? Great thanks in advance, Taxcpany

Excerpted from my screed to the IRS, March 21, 2013 -- 17 days after it announced its 2013 schedule of IRS Tax Forums: "This year, only Atlanta, Grapevine (Dallas), National Harbor (Wash., DC), New Orleans, Orlando, and San Diego have been offered. Why does the Service continue to shun Boston, St. Paul, Denver, Seattle, Portland (Maine or Oregon), San Francisco – i.e., most every major city in the northern half of the country? (I.e, the Service NEVER has offered its Forums in those cities -- in 30-something years!) Please note, too: every IRS Annual Tax Forum in NYC (and Chicago), heretofore, has *sold out,* weeks in advance. There is no way the Service could claim it is heeding or even being fair to its stakeholders in the North. Finally, it is hypocritical of the Service to claim it is "going green," when it schedules all its summer forums in the hottest parts of the country. What is "green" about maximizing the need for air-conditioning?" Good on you colleagues in this forum who find it convenient & economical to attend this year's annual IRS Tax Forums. Just, I envy your having to negotiate only the finer logistics of the Forums you will be attending -- while all of us above the Mason-Dixon line have hundreds of miles' travel to deal with -- too. Too whingeingly yours, TaxCPANY

Eff that. Sorry, but CCH/ATX's 2012 *debacle* mandates I jump ship. I'm still calling-in glitches to ATX, almost every week -- and, last week, had to tell a client to simply pay an assessment because ATX 2011 FAILED to calculate her NYC tax correctly. It's become 'personal;' if I have to manually re-calculate everything ATX produces, why the hell am I paying it anything more than I would Staples/another mere copy-center?! Intuit Online looks best, at the moment; but I won't fully know for another two weeks, til I begin to actually use it for the rest of my clients who're on-extension.

I believe I've seen that error, when I hadn't made sure that I'd specified the 'active/particular' flow-through entity in ATX's drop-down for self-employed health insurance amounts -- i.e.., note that it's geared to grab not just (all) K-1's -- whether 1065 or 1120S -- but also Schedule C's. When ATX 'knows' where the premium is coming from, it remands it to line 29 or Schedule A, properly. Hope this helps, TaxCPANY

While it can be quite simple, as Catherine says, it pays to compare it against reporting as a 'standard' C corp -- each year. I have reported a co-op housing client both ways, over the past couple of years, in order to minimize its tax burden. Not to sound patronizing, but, do prep both an 1120 and an -H, before you prescribe for your client. VTY, TaxCPANY

THANK you for making your many points so clearly and expansively, michaelmars. *Everything* you cited would matter to me; so, for one thing, you've encouraged me to investigate 'Intuit Tax Online' the more. By the way, what do you -- and everyone else -- think about Parker Tax Publishing's research product? Even though the snail-mailed prospectus I just received doesn't mention State and Local research, the quoted price still seems decent for its apparently-comprehensive federal sources AND commentary. And, so, next question to this group: What's best for researching about half the U.S. states' tax laws & regs & cases -- as well as *international* batches of such statutory 'dope'? VTY, TaxCPANY

Dear michaelmars, would you mind sending me the contact-info for your Proseries rep, so that I could hope to get such a great deal, myself? I did not talk with anyone from Proseries -- per se -- May 2; had time only to 'interrogate' the Intuit Online reps -- who, perhaps of course, dissed the Proseries alternative -- AND, please note, I did not find a 'rebuttal' on Intuit's site. (But, we all should know by now how little that might mean.) MOST sincerely yours, TaxCPANY

Disagree! It won't mean jack unless we s#$%-upon users of ATX pipe the Eff up! Honestly, while I blushed when I told sales-reps (at a tax-tech trade fair), two weeks ago, that I NEVER would re-subscribe to ATX, I could not help but believe that it was 'up to' me to declare how catastrophically-AWFUL ATX had been, this past Tax Season. It didn't 'win' me any discounts; but, after the HUGE amounts of time I lost to working-around ATX's *innumerable* problems, this Season, the only real consolation available will come from FLAMING ATX to all & sundry. I.e., it will be worth my while to letter CPA Practice Advisor "no wonder" ATX bowed-out -- honestly, I loathe ATX that much, now -- AND I don't believe that any of us should withhold our complaints to 'all the world,' about what CCH/ATX put us through, most recently.

No; it seems like ProSeries wants at LEAST $ 1,694 to handle only my individual clients, and GLOBS more for the entities I also serve; so, no 'deal.' Has anyone else got a take on "Intuit Tax Online"'s "100-pack bundle"?!!

Do you like Tax Book Deluxe 'that much,' Lion, or do you not also receive "1040 Express Answers," its "Business" companion volume, and CCH Master Tax Guide with your Intelliconnect subscription -- as I do/did under "Total Tax Office" -- and use for such a "quick look" and collateral purposes as TBD provides for you? I do like Intelliconnect, and, despite familiarity with RIA and PPC, would prefer to keep it and that package ongoing.

OMG, almost ALL you guyze really have helped me 'cut to the chase' over the mere, 10 days since I posted. Pls forgive me for failing to thank EACH of you, tonight -- i.e., I hope you 'know who you are' -- in order to further this colloquy about which tax-prep software to leave ATX for. I had the good fortune to attend a tax-tech trade-show, last Thursday, get down with Thomson Reuters' and Intuit's reps, there, then. Thomson Reuters' offerings were quite promising, but, it looks like I could get the better deal -- that seems so comprehensive as to accommodate my international clients as well as my coupla-dozen states' individual and entity income-tax (and payroll & sales & fiduciary & not-for-profit) returns -- from Intuit's *cloud* offering. Rather than revert to Lacerte (which I'd left for ATX, 10 years ago), I'd be signing-up with Intuit's something-other alternative for only about $ 1,348 -- LESS than ATX. N.B.: No tax-research tie-in is included; I'll have to lay out another grand or so to for an equivalent to the Intelliconnect resource I used to enjoy with ATX's "Total Tax Office;" but, I lost AT LEAST that much time's worth to ATX's eff-up, this year. MOST truly yours, TaxCPANY

Seeking *serious* discussion of alternatives to ATX -- i.e., absent 'NT' & re-re-vents of ATX's shortcomings this season. So far, the only 'real' review I've found is something called "2012 tax programs" in CPA Journal that reviews 2011 programs. No good. When I worked for "Big" firms, I used Go System, ProFX and Lacerte -- and, those indeed worked well. How do those measure up, TODAY? (I opened my own firm using Lacerte, and went to ATX only once Intuit's purchase doubled Lacerte's prices.) ATX's 2012 debacle has cost me so much that I must *upgrade,* for almost whatever it costs; so, for one thing, I would reconsider going back to Lacerte. I need a reliable program that can handle clients in many states and *countries,* for every kind of return except excise and 'specialty' taxes -- e.g., gas, alcohol, etc. For that & other reasons, Drake (and lesser programs) are non-starters. Grateful thanks in advance for your help in getting down to the best, few programs there are, out there. TaxCPANY

Likewise, so I went back to the 'old school' method of snail-mailing hard copies of Forms 4868 fronted with a letter listing all clients by name & SSN, in a single batch via USPS -- Certified Mail (but, now, "digitial" receipt requested). Saved me HOURS.

Do I even give a #$%& anymore? I have worked SO hard/LOST so much time to working-around the almost-daily #$%&-ups of ATX, by now -- and, by the slimmest margin, getting all my corporate clients filed or extended, 'today,' that I must consider paying 2/5/7x as much -- say, to Lacerte or ProSystemsFX, anyone EXCEPT ATX/CCH -- to get back to *relying* upon my software to just do its #$%*ing job, while I blow my mind *only* over my clients' ever-recurring mistakes or forays into the 'far side' of novel tax positions?

This WORKED, North Idaho Rich! THANK you!

ATX demands bank Routing & Account Numbers for a paper check refund return; will not create federal e-file. Simplest possible return -- 1 W-2, single adult. Of course, have not been able to get past phone queue nor even access ATX Communities (another tech issue). Anyone here have an idea?