Gail in Virginia

I'm still using one monitor, so maybe I shouldn't express an opinion, but from reading these posts it seems to me you could easily make a case for the first monitor for current tax return; the second monitor for last year's return; the third monitor for the bookkeeping software for information for the return; and a fourth monitor for e-mail, research, responding to phone calls, etc. In other words, anything you might open another window for. If two are reasonable, I find it hard to see why three or four would not be if your business generates sufficient income to pay for it.

Looks like you have lots of choices, ERC. Include me in!

I hate to argue with experience, but I agree with Jainen and Taxbilly. I also think the IT guy needs to do a 1099MISC to the translator showing the amount of rent he paid, and therefore the income needs to be shown separately on the sched C to keep intact easy evidence that the rental was reported. We had a fabric shop that sublet part of their space to an alterations business for years, reported it this way, and never had a problem.

I have done several 990's and 990EZ's over the past few years, and I generally feel pretty comfortable with them. However, I have a returning client this year who has thrown a new wrinkle in on me. This is a 501©5 organization (labor union) and beginning this year they have been deducting "contributions" from members, forwarding them to the national organization, who receives the money and sends it back for the newly formed PAC to lobby on state and local issues. I have never dealt with an organization that had any involvement in politics, and I don't really know what to do with this. Is the PAC a separate entity? My gut reaction is maybe, maybe not, depending on bylaws, etc. Does the existing organization just need to file additional forms, such as 8871 and 8872, or is there some sort of separate filing for this? Any help or advice on where to get more information , would be appreciated.

I don't think the gift limit is a problem since the unified credit is well over $150K, but it might depend on the value of the house being sold. Also, a gift tax return might have been required when the money was put in joint name but more likely would be required if the cash is distributed to the brothers on the bank account because they would then have sole control of the money.

My guess would be that Indian casino's are considered federal lands that do not belong to the state that they happen to be contained within and that this is why state withholding does not take place. This would also make your answer correct. However, I don't have any experience with this issue to base this answer on so unless someone can be more definite I would do some research before relying on our guesses. :rolleyes:

I might be wrong, but I always thought that if you e-filed using a power of attorney signature it was necessary to do the 8453 and mail in the POA form with the 8453. I would be interested if anyone knows for sure.

I had already renewed in May, after calling and hearing about the drawing for those who renewed by the end of May. I had intended to renew in time for the discount anyway since I have yet to find a software that I liked as well for the money. I am wondering if they are now going to have two drawings (not likely, IMO) or if they have just made a "business decision" to change my odds after the fact. Surely there will be people who renewed after May 31 (the date I was told was the deadline) and June 20 (the new deadline to participate in this "lottery".) <_<

We used TaxWise prior to switching to ATX, and it is a forms based program - or at least it was during the 2004 tax year.

I got 22, but it took me a while to access the site. Apparently, it doesn't like Mozilla for the browser!

The answer that Mike gave has been my experience. They cannot e-file if spouse died after tax year end, but the surviving spouse will be able to e-file next year without a problem.

Thank you both!

I am not sure I follow that Don. Date of Death was 8/22/05. Six months from then would be 2/22/06. Funds were sold 4/6/06. Am I missing a finger when I count my six months?

I got a "geeky" teenager to demonstrate Vista Ultimate to me about 6 weeks ago, and he was showing me the error resolve feature. He said it was really good at fixing any problems that you had with Vista, and that XP did not have comparable feature. He then went on to say the problems that it fixed were all problems that he didn't have until he started using Vista. :lol:

I agree also, except that you should check with the personal representative about the valuation date for the stock. Depending on what else is in the estate, and the respective values at each time, the representative may make an election to use the alternate valuation date which is six months after the date of death.

I really thought you meant Fred Flintstone since he has the only car with a really "green" alternative energy source that I know of! :P

Our office used to use TaxWise before we switched to ATX. If the two products were combined to give us the best of each, and at the price of either rather than the pricier products, I think we might actually come out ahead. TaxWIse is not a bad product - they just don't have quite as many forms and in the past were not as responsive to customer feedback. ATX was more responsive, but now that they are owned by CCH they may not be able to be as responsive as they were in the past, which eliminates that difference.

I had a client who felt that they were only in my office for about two hours (personal and corporation return) and that therefore my fee was too high. So I explained that next year it would be even higher since they had opened a business location in another state and that they might want to go ahead and start now to find someone to do next year's return. They have already called to apologize and tell me that I took their comment the wrong way and they just didn't understand how I charged. I was kind of hoping they would find someone cheaper - my fees must be too low! ;)

Since the refund amounts are standardized, I would assume the interest portion is also standardized and therefore as long as we have a copy of the previous year's return, we will be able to tell how much imputed interest they received. Unless these huge amounts are figured based on the very day the refund check was mailed Wouldn't that be fun?

Our office has not yet decided what to do. I have reservations about ATX because of the discontinuance of the community board 2 weeks before the end of tax season without warning, and because chat support was yanked right after that without warning. However, I don't want to be in a position where I am cutting off my nose to spite my face. We have only used ATX for two years. Prior to that we used TaxWise. I would probably return to TaxWise (since the reason we left was that they didn't seem responsive to customer feedback, and ATX no longer seems to be) but they were bought out by the same company. We used Drake for one year, and while I think it is a good program, we had a tough time adjusting to input screens rather than working with forms. We used Total Tax Office, so I don't think we are really seeing a price increase this year. I think we will look around at least until the end of June... :rolleyes:

Even mailing a check is not foolproof. I mailed my check with my return a few years ago, and about a month later got a letter telling me that I owed the taxes. I checked to see if the check had cleared, it had not, so I called and told the agent that the check was with the return when mailed. Somehow or other, they managed to find the check but not until I called and told them to look for it. That was probably my fault too. <_<

Could be worse - my son already knows how to drive - just ask him! He will be sixteen next month, has never been behind the wheel of a stick shift, but is sure he could drive one if I would just buy one for him!

My favorite LLC this year was the one where they swore they were "incorporated," maybe an S corporation. When I asked for the paperwork where they incorporated, all they had were the LLC papers and a letter from the IRS directing them to file a 1065. OK, they are actually a partnership, right? Well, that would be fine except for one thing - there is only one member. I love people being able to set this stuff up on the internet all by themselves!

Sometimes the problem is as simple as a trade name on the first line with a social security number resulting in a mismatch. I try to find out whether I am dealing with a social security number or and EIN but it isn't always easy.

This is great! I think once I learn to use it, I will like this message board even better than the new and improved one we no longer have! I hope ATX didn't spend a whole lot upgrading a board they were just using to jerk us around with! THanks, ERC, for setting this one up! :rolleyes: