Gail in Virginia

Interesting - I guess this is a way to check on what is being put on the line by adding a form for it. Have to make sure we are not claiming someone ineligible for tuition expenses.

My guess is that two weeks later they will get a letter telling them to expect this check and explaining why they are getting it. That's the guvmint for you. B)

We have only had one situation where the taxpayers did not resolve for us which spouse would stay with our office, and in that case since we have two full-time preparers I took one spouse while the other preparer took the other spouse and we were careful not to discuss the returns with each other. In a case where that is not an option, I would be inclined to explain to both of them that I could not represent them separately without a conflict of interest and therefore recommend that they each get separate advice from someone else. It is easier to show both of them the door and remain impartial than to chose one, IMO.

When we see these in Virginia, what they are looking for is to see if you are treating employees as though they are contract labor to avoid the employment taxes. Can't say for sure about AL, but since it is the Unemployment Compensation Division, I suspect it might be the same.

That worked, albeit not elegantly. Thanks, KC! :)

I had, for the first time, someone this tax season with more than $10,000 in a foreign bank account (Canadian citizen, US resident). I have entered the information for the TD F 90-22.1 into ATX and printed the forms. However, I entered information for 12 accounts, and ATX only printed the first 7. How do I get the other 5 to show up? If anyone is experienced with these forms and wants to warn me of any pitfalls, please let me know that as well. Thanks.

Well, Happy Birthday and Congratulations!

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! ;)