Jack from Ohio

On 4/9/2019 at 12:11 AM, TAXMAN said:

Some months ago I stumbled onto a message that someone stated how to clear out some of the backup ATX makes when it leaves a file. Anyone remember what or where this may be?

Don't mess with those things.  It is like brain surgery, and will make little if no difference.

First hand experience talking here.

From my perspective, nothing will happen with the extenders bill until the 2020 election.The Congress & Senate are busy with other agendas.

11 hours ago, Pacun said:

That's one more reason to use the "duplicate return" choice from the "file" pull down menu. By doing that, you leave the original filing intact. This is what you can do if having two returns causes you confusion:

1. Open the original return which is name John Smith.
2. Pull down the file menu and select amend return. This will create Copy 1 John Smith
3. close both returns and rename John Smith to "John Smith Original" and the other you can rename it "John Smith Amended"
4. Open the "John Smith Amended" return and make your changes. 
5. Next Year roll John Smith Amended. Once you have in ATX2019, rename it to John Smith to avoid future confusion. I do rename after the roll over because I don't want to think that we have amended in future years. 

I know that some of you create a PDF of the original return, which is a good idea but I don't do that. The above instructions always work for me. 

I use exactly the same process.

Housing allowance is NOT reported on 1099-MISC.  This needs to be corrected.  It can be information in box 14 of the W-2, or just an official letter from the church stating how much is deemed as housing allowance.

It is then entered into the Clergy Worksheet.

13 minutes ago, cbslee said:

What about the risk of claiming a dependent for a year that is not legally yours ?

The IRS makes dependency decisions based on the IRS rules.  Since 2008, they no longer adhere to any court papers.

If one of the parents, claims a child DIFFERENT than the COURT DOCS, their only option is having them charged with contempt of court.

The IRS, no longer plays child court.

On 3/30/2019 at 9:50 PM, Catherine said:

August 12th at the earliest.

Ding Ding Ding Ding!  We have a winner!!  Now I have plenty of time to work through them.  They are usually the most messed up of the season!

Schedule C,  or CEZ.  Then calculate SE.  Line 21, with SE will result in a letter next year, possible from state & Local, as well as Federal.

Forget Line 21.

Age 24, only the student can claim education credits.  And then, it is only the non-refundable portion.

Other dependent, is the only option for the parents.  No  education credit for the parents.

I tell my clients that, the extension gives them till August 15.  Guess when the tax info rolls in...?

My ATX program quit, the same as Tracy Lee.  Figured out real quickly, that it was an ATX system wide problem.  Skipped calling Tech Support.  After about 15 minutes, the problem solved itself, and now everything is working fine.

1 hour ago, Possi said:

I still have a lot of those heavy-duty cases coming in.... I sure hope I'm not strapped with a ton of extensions. Normally, I like them because they keep me busy. But I have a 2 year old grandson to visit now! And I'm not getting any younger. 

Grandsons trump everything else!!  My grandson turns 5, on April 25.

I use an ordinary fax machine.  Second landline phone number with a special ring costs me $5/mo.  Fax machine does not answer the main ring.

As long as the farmer can show business intent, (IRS has a list of things concerning this) his losses can continue.

The difference between 1 day or 4 days, in the real world, is no difference.

Constantly.

Recreate the e-file and submit.

This post is for the end of 2017 tax season. Posted on November 9, 2018.

On 3/8/2019 at 9:56 AM, Dave T said:

I must be doing something wrong.

New client comes yesterday.  He and wife both clergy. He opted out of SS years ago, she did not.

Their AGI was $39,049 and they have one child under 19.  Before calculating S/E tax on wife's income I prepare EIC and find they are eligible for EIC of $1,116.  I then prepare the S/E for the wife based on her $27K w-2 wages and EIC goes away.  Looking at Work Sheet B of the EIC questions it looks like AGI and S/E amount are added together to put them over the $46K threshold.

Am I doing something incorrectly or is this supposed to be the correct calculation and they are not eligible for EIC.

 

Thanks very much

Dave T

 

Send me a PM.  I can help you through this issue. 

There is still a CP2000 in your future.  No way to prevent it.  IRS will be looking for the taxable amount, on the 1099-R to be shown as taxed.

Client will need the following, when they receive the CP2000

1. Copy of a document, showing the exact date withdrawn, and how much.

2. Copy of a document showing the exact amount, and date, that was money redeposited.

The IRS will not see the re-deposit amount, thereby initiating the CP2000.  I have had to deal with this many times.  Since they took a distribution, the redeposited money later, there is no way to prevent the CP2000, by entries on the 2018 return.

46 minutes ago, Yardley CPA said:

Jack...what did you say that was censured???    Hmm??

Ask for the admin that pulled it, to tell you.  I am sure it was deemed political, although all it said was 100% document-able truth .  We are rapidly becoming a nation of wimp sissies.

3 hours ago, RitaB said:

Cathy, you are completely normal.  I'm waiting on the Extenders, too, especially Tuition and Fees Deduction.  Hope it happens. 

My previous post was censured.  Don't waste your time waiting.  Congress will not touch this before 2020.

See if this stays....

16 hours ago, Janitor Bob said:

I was printing to pdf just fine until the most recent program update.  Now, when I try to print to pdf, the program just closes...printing to printer is just fine.

I use a program called DoPdf7.  It installs like a printer.  It also makes the .pdf files smaller than the ATX print to pdf program.  Send me a PM and I will share it with you.  It was a free download.

6 minutes ago, Jack from Ohio said:

All municipalities, MUST accept the general form.

This has been the case, since municipalities started collecting tax.  I put the name of the appropriate city on the return, and then send it to RITA.  It works for me.

1 hour ago, Margaret CPA in OH said:

I thought it was not possible to use the General City form for RITA.  I hate that form by the way.  And it is now 'improved.' It is also annoying that suddenly last year ATX decided it wasn't a regular municipal form that could be e-filed.  Nickels and dimes...

All municipalities, MUST accept the general form.

I use the General City form for all municipalities.

It has been my experience, that the MFJ-MFS comparison was only dependable about 50% of the time.  I have learned to split, and calculate both as filing separately, in about 15 minutes.  Then I have all three returns open at the same time, so I can do actual, real time comparisons.

I am having several (12) Fed rejects (#63) that says:

"The return submitted contains a duplicate SubmissionID.  Recreate this return to assign a new SubmissionID and retransmit it."

I recreate the e-files and resubmit, and all is well.  I cannot find any reason for the error, and cannot find any commonality among the returns. 

I would like to know the cause, and be proactive to prevent.  We will process nearly 3K returns, this year, at the firm where I work part time, and this is just a time consumer.

The Knowledge Base has correction for this area code, but it is for 2012, 2013, 2014, & 2015.  (Oxford commas are here to stay!!!)

Any information would be helpful.