Lee B

i used to check the box. However I stopped because several agents insisted on having a POA.

Or with this conservative congress.

Marie, If you are creating your efile on ATX for a client, there was a recent post on the ATX Board about this. The ATX Customer Care response was to enter zeros in your EIN field and it should go thru.

Sorry, when I copied the article a zero was dropped. It should read $ 140.

FROM ACCOUNTING TODAY: inShare37 Washington, D.C. (January 14, 2015) By Michael Cohn The average fee for preparing a tax return, including an itemized Form 1040 with Schedule A and a state tax return, will increase a few dollars to $273 this year, a 4.6 percent increase over the average fee of $261 last year, according to a survey by the National Society of Accountants. John Ams The figure also represents an 11 percent increase from two years ago when the survey was conducted. The average cost to prepare a Form 1040 and state return this season without itemized deductions is expected to be $159, also a 4.6 percent increase over the average fee last year, which was $152. It is an 11.2 percent increase from two years ago. Partner Insights “When you consider that it takes the average taxpayer five hours to complete a tax return, this is a very strong value,” said NSA executive vice president John Ams in a statement. “The tax code continues to become more complex each year, including some new Affordable Care Act reporting requirements. Professional tax preparers may also be able to find tax deductions and credits that may taxpayers might not notice.” The NSA collected the fee information during a survey of preparers. The tax and accounting firms surveyed are owners, principals, and partners of local “Main Street” tax and accounting practices who have an average of more than 27 years of experience. NSA member tax preparers typically hold multiple credentials that demonstrate their expertise, including Enrolled Agent, CPA, Accredited Tax Preparer, Accredited Tax Advisor, and others. The survey also reported the average fees for preparing additional Internal Revenue Service (IRS) tax forms, including $174 for a Form 1040 Schedule C (business), $634 for a Form 1065 (partnership), $817 for a Form 1120 (corporation), $778 for a Form 1120S (S corporation), $457 for a Form 1041 (fiduciary), $688 for a Form 990 (tax exempt), $68 for a Form 940 (Federal unemployment), $115 for Schedule D (gains and losses), $126 for Schedule E (rental) and $158 for Schedule F (farm). The NSA noted that the fees vary by region, firm size, population, and economic strength of an area. The average tax preparation fee for an itemized Form 1040 with Schedule A and a state tax return in each U.S. census district are: • New England (CT, ME, MA, NH, RI, VT) – $246 • Middle Atlantic (NJ, NY, PA) – $314 • South Atlantic (DE, DC, FL, GA, MD, NC, SC, VA, WV) – $268 • East South Central (AL, KY, MS, TN) – $262 • West South Central (AR, LA, OK, TX) – $205 • East North Central (IL, IN, MI, OH, WI) – $240 • West North Central (IA, KS, MN, MO, NE, ND, SD) – $198 • Mountain (AZ, CO, ID, MT, NV, NM, UT, WY) – $256 • Pacific (AK, CA, HI, OR, WA) – $348 Most accounting firms offer prospective clients a free consultation, the NSA pointed out, which can be worth well over $100 based on the hourly fees of most tax preparers. All the fees cited assume a taxpayer has gathered and organized all the necessary information. Taxpayers should also make sure they provide information on time to avoid additional fees, the NSA noted. Many tax preparers will charge an average fee of $114 for dealing with disorganized or incomplete files. Some will charge an average fee of $42 to file an extension, an average fee of $88 to expedite a return, and an average fee of $93 if information is not provided in advance of an agreed-upon deadline. For taxpayers who are audited by the IRS, the average hourly fee to handle the audit is $140

From the ATX Blog To import forms W-2 from QuickBooks for 2014, choose the Copy D, 2-up format instead of Copy A when generating .xps files to import into W2/1099 or Payroll Compliance. For all other years, please choose Copy A.

Posted by ATXKristin on the ATX Board: Re: form 1120 prior year efile rejections I have a resolution for this issue. If the return was worked in 2014, the submission ID was placed on the EF Info during 2014. To resolve this prior to transmitting in 2015, you can discard the EF Info form and then add it back. If the return has already been rejected by the EFC, you can just recreate and retransmit There seem to be a number of issues popping up that weren't problems last year.

All the I want is for the program to work smoothly.

Walking thru Walmart this weekend saw the Jackson Hewitt kiosk had a sign up: "$ 50 Walmart Gift Card to anyone who has there return prepared here."

Bankers like to feel comfortable. The thicker and heavier the file folder is, the more comfortable bankers are.

Copied from this mornings ATX Blog QuickBooks W-2 import (2014) To import forms W-2 from QuickBooks for 2014, choose the Copy D, 2-up format instead of Copy A when generating .xps files to import into W2/1099 or Payroll Compliance. For all other years, please choose Copy A. Kbase article 15158 http://cchsfs-atx.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/15158/kw/quickbooks Posted by Stephanie Bradford at 11:31 AM Labels: ATX, Support

Scenario: Husband owns sole proprietorship with an established HRA, wife is only employee. Husband over 65 on medicare deducts medicare premiums as self employed health insurance on page 1. In July 2014, wife turns 65 and retires from outside job. The new HRA rules generally exempt employers with less than two employees from having to meet ACA requirements. Question: Can the sole proprietorship HRA reimburse the wife (employee) for her medicare premiums and thus deduct them on the Schedule C ? On Wednesday, I attended a Tax Update Class where the presenter discussed a similar situation. In his opinion, the compliance window is very narrow which would require: 1. The spouse could not be a signer on the business checking account, only the husband. 2. The reimbursement checks could not be deposited into a joint checking account, must be a spouse only checking account. 3. The H R A must be administered by an outside third party. In his opinion, if the standard employer/employee relationship becomes too tainted by the spousal relationship then the HRA deduction becomes very questionable. Comments ? ( Note : This presenter was not one to push the envelope )

From Forbes - Tax Prep Window Posters 1. Free Beats headphones if we prepare your Tax Return ( Rock on Bro! ) 2. We will pay you $ 100 if we file your Tax Return ( Don't sweat the details !) 3. Free Food and Beautiful Girls ( and your favorite alcoholic beverage while you wait ?)

The EFTPS site now has a statement, that the site supports IE and Firefox. Does not mention Chrome. IE 11 has had a number of problems this year.

It sounds like you're saying that he spent no money. If so, no deduction. I assume that any funds related to to the website were paid for and deducted by the business anyway.

There are now several more posts with similar problems.

Copied from the ATX Board: Re: 2014 payroll software The update is now available, but I encountered issues and the person I spoke with in support put in three bug reports for development. The issues I encountered are as follows: First when I imported a W-2 file created in QuickBooks I got an error that said some data was not imported. The review screen showed a blank 1099-INT form and the list of data that did not import showed all data for the W-2s. When I opted to import anyway I got a return with a blank return name that contained only a blank info sheet. Secondly when I imported a 1099 file created in QuickBooks the company name was placed in the Doing Business As field on the Payer Information tab instead of the Payer's Name field causing the return to have no auto generated return name (It was blank.). Finally when I imported a 1099 file created in Peachtree I got an error that some items were not imported. The review screen listed the Payer's phone number followed by the Payer's state, but both items showed correctly. When I imported all of the data came in, but the company name was listed in both the Payer's Name field and the Doing Business As field

I've used Star Software for a number of years. It does a good job, might be missing a few things, but I use it for several large clients, who have hundreds of assets. It does everything I need. I think it's in the $500 to $600 range. (http://www.starccs.com/)

1. I filed an extension, so I don't need to pay anything now. 2. I had a big loss in the stock market, so I won't owe any taxes. 3. I got paid in cash, so I don't need to report it. 4. I'm too young to pay taxes. 5. Income earned outside the U S isn't taxable. 6. Tax Preparers just fill out forms that you can do yourself. Since a number of my clients are S Corporations and their owners, my favorite is, " I didn't take any distributions so I don't owe any taxes." Please feel free to add to the list.

ATX has since updated the Blog See thread started by Janitor Bob on Jan 3rd, "Efiling 2012 Fed . . . . "

Isn't there a page under Program Preferences that deals with this?

I realize that many times other expenditures, which are not actual quarterly distributions of profit, end up being categorized as distributions. However when those other expenditures are regular monthly "personal" expenses we have to advise our clients that if they are audited the IRS may take the position that these regular monthly "personal" expenses are wages subject to employment taxes, especially if the S corp owners are not taking reasonable compensation.

For Sub S Corps that have at least one more employee in addition to the shareholder or more than one shareholder/employee that PAYS the premiums directly for All employees, I will treat the insurance premiums to employees as tax free fringe benefits and treat the Shareholder premiums following the IRS guidelines to obtain the shareholders tax-free treatment of the premiums. As Jack says, this will only work, if the owner(s) and the eligible employees are covered by a group policy which meets the specified requirements.

From the ATX Blog (updated from an earlier thread): Posted by Stephanie Bradford at 9:00 AM **In order to efile 2012 and 2013 prior year returns, you will need an update to your 2012 or 2013 software. We will post an update for each year’s product by January 30th, but more likely by Jan 15th

Unfortunately HP's customer service has definitely slipped the last 3 or 4 years.