Lee B

The state of Oregon has had Tax Preparer licensing since 1973. CPAs and Attorneys are excluded, but EAs are not. Therefore, I am dual licensed in Oregon as an EA and a Licensed Tax Consultant for the last 20 years and I have to meet CPE requirements for both licenses. California also licenses Tax Preparers, but is less restrictive than Oregon.

According to the Tax Book, "Property held for investment includes property that produces income that is not trade or business income, including interest income, dividend income, annuity income or royalty income." " Also, "It does not include an interest in a passive activity ..."

According to The Tax Book, since a QCD is excluded from Income, no charitable deduction is allowed. The benefit is from keeping your AGI lower than it would be otherwise and meeting any RMD requirements.

If you look at Dell's small business website, all of their new computer offerings spec Windows 7, no mention of Win 8.

I agree with Jack. Had one these last year. Read Pub 4681 which is fairly well written and some detailed examples.

Thanks for the inside info, since I am a user of Accounting Relief and Payroll Relief. I definitely need to start putting a backup plan in place.

I was talking to the co-owner of a modest sized independent copy machine/printer dealership several months ago, he was charged $625 for a 1040 with Schedule A, one Schedule E Rental and one 1120 S K-1 by a mid sized local CPA firm. My fee for the same return would have $ 375.

I have used EZ Insurance solutions underwritten by CNA for years. Reasonable rates.

I haven't had any problems

Since I am a user of their products, I will definitely need to have a backup plan in place. Accounting Relief actually works fairly well. Right now Payroll Relief is struggling due to a total rewrite of the program. This is also troubling because AW support is below average and corporate communications is focused on marketing & public relations, sound familiar !

I would definitely extend and wait to use 2013 Tax Software. Otherwise, you will have to spend extra time making sure that you're in compliance with any tax changes.

On page 3 of Pub 587, the first paragraph titled EXCLUSIVE USE says, "To qualify under the exclusive use test, you must use a specific area of your home only for your trade or business. The area used for business can be a room or other separate identifiable space. The space does not need to be marked off by a permanent partition." I believe there was a case where the taxpayer used a corner of his living room and prevailed.

This article is the classic conclusion followed by selected facts to support the the desired result !

Several months ago there was an article where the IRS acknowledged an error rate of close to 50 % on VITA prepared returns.

This is why I haven't updated to 12.18 - a post on the ATX Board today "I just recently updated..was on 12.13 and the extension I was working had forms that were out of date , so I thought why not? Ugggh now it is a reminder of how bad it was before. Crashes are back, and the print nightmares are back. It's enough to make a girl call Proseries"

A post on the ATX Board says that ATX has pushed back the beta testing until September. I wondered if any of the prospective testers had been given any reason ?

Those categories look good to me

I'm also still on 12.13 with no problems. I have seen some posts on the ATX Board about 12.18 being slower. Therefore, I'm going to stay on 12.13 as long I can.

Today ATX announced the creation of "The ATX Performance Lab." I can't wait to see the amazing results!

I know everyone feels good after they beat up on a governmental agency, but as usual the blame really needs to placed on our elected officials and the interest groups they answer to.

According to Pub 4681, the indebtedness must be qualified principal residence indebtedness which is any mortgage you took out to buy, build of substantially improve your main home. This is qualified real property business indebtedness, which has in own exclusion rules. (See page 7 Pub 4681)

Over the years, I have stayed away from Dell Printers, since their reliability has been questionable

I have used refilled cartridges for years and only had a bad cartridge once, which was promptly replaced. You just have make sure that the supplier is providing a quality product.

With respect to identify theft, what amazes me is that the IRS doesn't even match taxpayer names and the names on the bank accounts before initiating direct deposits. It makes it so easy create fraudulent refunds etc etc.

According the Professional Edition of J K Lasser, Qualified Long Term Care Insurance is treated the same as regular health insurance premiums with respect to being deductible on Line 29 for the self employed, including S Corporation owners. There is nothing special. For S Corp owners it has to meet the same basic requirements and is handled the same way as regular health insurance premiums.