Jack from Ohio

And if you have to amend the prior year return you just changed? If you have questions about what exactly was entered and where? I am not so cavalier about tax return files, accuracy and purity of information. If you must "play" with the prior return, duplicate it and play with the duplicate. I am surprised that your methods have not bitten you yet.

Dogs have masters. Cats have staff.

I will not participate in any venture with Turbo-Tax in any manner, shape or form. You have a taste of what you will be getting. RUN FORREST RUN!!!

Impossible to have a concise questionnaire for such a convoluted and complex set of rules. I am reminding my clients over and over: "Congress passed these rules. This complexity and extra expense are both due to the ACA.

That's what you may think....

I guess we have two entirely different ideas of the definition of professional and customer service.

Agree 100% with KC.

Ok, lets simplify... No company can reimburse an employee for costs of health insurance in any pretax manner. If a company gives an employee money instead of paying for a group plan, this must simply be added as wages in boxes 1,3 & 5 of the W-2. The employee can deduct costs on Schedule A. If a person is a single member corp, his "reimbursement" will only be included in box 1 of W-2 and can be deducted as self-employed health insurance above the line on 1040. No money paid by the employer to the employee is lieu of providing group health insurance qualifies in any manner for meeting the employer mandate that begins Jan. 1, 2015. These rules were all effective Jan. 1, 2014 and lots of 4th quarter 941 forms will need to reflect the necessary payroll changes for companies that have been asleep at the wheel. The rules were published by IRS in 2013. I saw them at the June 2013 IRS Nationwide Tax Forum. I would say there are a lot of preparers that have also been asleep at the wheel....

Pun intended?

Request of the Taxpayer to amend and pay the tax due. It is the CORRECT thing to do. If he chooses not to, I would draw up a simple document stating that you recommended the amendments and he chose not to do it. Have him sign it. You can only inform him. The note is a CYA if the IRS comes calling for some reason.

Never "SAVE" the previous year return when you get out of it. As michaelmars indicated, there WILL be changes. Use the "completed" box and when you leave the old return "Do not save and exit." At the firm, I can find those returns where saving after looking has occurred. Stern words then go to whomever did that. All are marked complete and it takes two extra steps to save when exiting. If you don't have employees that can adhere to these few simple rules, re-evaluation is in order.

TP should have been reporting as an installment sale and reporting interest. TP must show the sale of the land using his basis and a sale price of $35K. Any gain would be taxable. Facts and circumstances would determine whether it is ordinary income or capital gains. TP must also claim all interest received as interest income. FMV at time of the sale has no bearing whatsoever. This is another situation not to overthink.

Each workstation must be updated individually. Use the downloaded file.

Tassc is a Section 105 plan. 125 plans are not allowed to reimburse employees when they purchase their own insurance. NOT ALLOWED! 125 plans can only be used in conjunction with an employer provided medical plan. This is very clear in the newly released regs. Tell the employers to stop looking for ways to reimburse employees for insurance pretax. It is simply and totally not allowed. Tell them that the ACE is responsible for these rules and the current administration and all the elected democrats are responsible for ACA. I am using this as a springboard to talk to those people that chose not to vote.... "If you did not vote against him/them, you voted for him/them. Not voting casts a vote for the winner.

Sounds like the seminar could have found a much more competent presenter. That kind of arrogance is NOT indicative of a good teacher or presenter.

Judy, you are correct. I always enter the date manually at the bottom of the 1040. It will stay unless manually changed again. Clears much confusion when looking at old returns.

President Obama on December 19 signed into law the Tax Increase Prevention Act of 2014 (HR 5771), which temporarily extends over 50 expired incentives for individuals, businesses and energy through 2014. The law also creates Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) accounts set up for the benefit of persons with disabilities.

I guess it depends upon what legacy you want to leave with your clients. I would NEVER dump them to the "no customer service" world of H&R. If you don't care, then it can be a profitable "exit strategy." My professional reputation is much more valuable than that. When the day comes I choose to exit, I will interview perspective purchasers and find someone who will provide the same level of customer satisfaction and professionalism as I strive to have.

pdf files don't allow interaction with worksheets. When working on a complex return, referring to previous year worksheets help refresh the memory. If you only do 100-200 returns, remembering is not as tough. When you have 3,000, remembering is impossible. OP needs to reevaluate his/her employees.

ATX will not even make their software 64bit. There is a snowballs chance in hell of an enhancement like this. Just use the completed box and reevaluate all your employees.

I don't use a phone as a computer.

As long as you have strong 3G or 4G signal, and don't use your computer to move a large amount of data, or need to be sure that your data flow is interrupted by being booted, then nothing. Hotspots are NOT a broadband connection.

My fee for amendment by taxpayer choice is 125% of original preparation fee. Besides, if a client does not have the forms needed to properly document insurance purchased through an exchange, to file a return without that information or to input incorrect information is not allowed by Circ. 230. If my clients don't have all the information, I will not do the return. If they are in that all fired of a hurry, H&R is just across town.