michaelmars

saying where you are here doesn't help since we won't remember, pls put it in your bio's so we can look where you are before we answer a question. Been asking for this since day 1.

I was waiting to see all the comments before deciding to come back to atx. but if I am blocked from the board then I have no way of getting influenced to come back... Very dumb move on their part. Its people seeing positive posts that might bring them back.

they are great, clients love them, I have been using them for many years. You can change colors each year or for each type of return. Basically they are waterproof and tear proof and you can use the back pocket for your self advertising.

I got it already and am playing with templates before I bring in client files. My intention is to bring in 2013 and going forward. and whenever I have a free day will bring in another year going back. I can't decide if I want files by client then year or by year then client in the templates. And what about emails, do I bring them into client as general folder or do I sort those by year too? I am going to play with options over the weekend. I am impressed how fast you can drag a file into it. I don't plan on scanning files that weren't yet scanned [pre 2008] but maybe will hire an intern during the summer to do so.

I Agree basically with Ms TB except you can't assume the lawyer knew the loan was joint? not a very common situation for auto loans. My wife doesn't work and her car loan is in my name, title and registration are in hers so if we were to divorce it would be easy to say its her car and forget the loan is in my name. She probably doesn't even know that it is since I a pay all bills.

guess you are right and its only $200. since the I have a few light weeks here I can spend it trying it out. thanks to both of you for the comments.

gotta tell you Joel, I am holding off, took 5 calls to get someone in sales to speak with and he sounded like he was asleep. told me to order on line for a single user and not through him [he did verify he is the sales rep]. When I asked for Jeff, he said there is a jeff in tech support but there are no promotions that he knows of. Didn't say he would check or anything. After the disaster with ATX customer support I am really afraid of using this company right now. I think I will search for a bigger company and a comparable product before going ahead with FC

I HAVE had S corps that were in the wife's name 100% but totally controlled by husband cleared from the wifes tax account because we showed the address and bank accounts were all to the ex's address. Innocent spouse is pretty liberal at times.

innocent spouse!

none of our staff have desktops, too many errors in transferring data back and forth everyday. too often we find the current qb file on a laptop not the server, or used to find them on a staffs C drive, Or QB [or other programs] was updated on one machine but not the others. A really great asset is that when staff is in the field they have access to all their work, never have to worry that an old file or spreadsheet etc is on the machine back at the office. When a program gets updated ie creative solutions or QB we have everyone update on the same day or keep track of who is out of the office and have them update the next day in. We have docking stations so we don't have to plug everything into the laptop on the office. Everyone has 2 or 3 monitors, printers, scanners, full size keyboard and mouse, label makers [stereo speakers] etc plugged into the docking station. We have, besides our internal and cloud backup software running we also have Mosy on all laptops.

search here, I posted the irs code cite to eliminate late filing penalties on partnerships.

thanks Joel, in fact I did see your review [not knowing it was you] when I googled FC. Just my luck this morning I got a fraud alert on my business card had have to wait for a new one. So I will order it when my new card comes in and let you know if mentioning you gets me a discount. [and hopefully you get a referral fee too]

I have the fujitsu too but with a real file management I can keep my clients quickbooks in it and emails etc. and it can all be set up to be automated.

www.dolnotice.com has the required employer notices

my experiences exactly

bump

Here is my 2012 letter: Dear Client: Dramatic tax increases scheduled to go into effect in 2013 make 2012 tax planning imperative. The following taxes may be impacted: Not only are the Bush Administration tax cuts set to expire, but a new 3.8 percent surtax on investment income and a possible reinstated claw-back of itemized deductions could raise the tax rate on ordinary income to as high as an effective 44.6 percent for some taxpayers. Similarly, the tax rate on long-term capital gains could increase from 15 percent to 20 percent and the rate on qualified dividends from 15 percent to an effective 44.6 percent. Finally, if Congress doesn't take action, the federal estate tax rate will increase from 35 percent to 55 percent and the exclusion amount will drop from $5,120,000 to $1,000,000. This letter will suggest some ways to avoid or minimize the adverse effects of these changes. Planning for these likely tax changes is a major undertaking and many clients are beginning the process now rather than waiting for the fall elections. This is prudent because the additional time will allow you to become comfortable with the gifting process and provide time to custom design trusts for your family. Gain Harvesting For many taxpayers it will make sense to harvest capital gains in 2012 to take advantage of the current lower rates. You would sell appreciated capital assets and immediately reinvest in the same or similar assets. You would then hold the new assets until you would otherwise have sold them, so there would be no change in your investment strategy. Deciding whether to use the strategy is not as simple as it might appear on the surface, however, because the lower tax rates must generally be weighed against a loss of tax deferral. By harvesting the gains in 2012 you would be paying a lower tax rate, but recognizing the gains earlier. The greater the differential in tax rates and the shorter the time before the second sale the more favorable gain harvesting would be. In some cases, the correct decision will be clear without doing any analysis. If you are currently in the 0% long-term capital gains bracket, 2012 gain harvesting would always be favorable because it would give you a free basis step up. Gain harvesting would also be more favorable if you planned to sell the stock in 2013 or 2014 anyway. The time value of the tax deferral would be small compared with the future tax savings. At the other extreme, if you are currently in the 15% long-term capital gain bracket and plan to die with an asset and pass it on to heirs with a stepped-up basis, there is no reason to recognize the gain now. You would be incurring tax now without any offsetting future benefit. Nor would it make sense to harvest losses to create additional capital loss carryovers. These loss carryovers would be better employed to offset capital gains in the future when rates are expected to be higher. If you do not fall into one of these categories, you will have to do a quantitative analysis to determine whether 2012 gain harvesting would work for you. The decision could be thought of as buying a future tax savings by recognizing gain in 2012. By analyzing the decision in this way, you could measure a return on the 2012 investment over time. If this return on investment exceeded your opportunity cost of capital, gain harvesting would make sense. Please contact us to find out which of your assets should be harvested in 2012. Planning for the 3.8 Percent Medicare Surtax For tax years beginning January 1, 2013, the tax law imposes a 3.8 percent surtax on certain passive investment income of individuals, trusts and estates. For individuals, the amount subject to the tax is the lesser of (1) net investment income (Nil) or (2) the excess of a taxpayer's modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) over an applicable threshold amount. Net investment income includes dividends, rents, interest, passive activity income, capital gains, annuities and royalties. Specifically excluded from the definition of net investment income are self-employment income, income from an active trade or business, gain on the sale of an active interest in a partnership or S corporation, IRA or qualified plan distributions and income from charitable remainder trusts. MAGI is generally the amount you report on the last line of page 1, Form 1040. The applicable threshold amounts are shown below. Married taxpayers filing jointly $250,000 Married taxpayers filing separately $125,000 All other individual taxpayers $200.000 A simple example will illustrate how the tax is calculated. Example: AI and Barb, married taxpayers filing separately, have $300,000 of salary income and $100,000 of NIL The amount subject to the surtax is the lesser of (1) Nil ($100,000) or (2) the excess of their MAGI ($400,000) over the threshold amount ($400,000 -$250,000 = $150,000). Because Nil is the smaller amount, it is the base on which the tax is calculated. Thus, the amount subject to the tax is $100,000 and the surtax payable is $3,800 (.038 x $100,000). Fortunately, there are a number of effective strategies that can be used to reduce MAGI and or Nil and reduce the base on which the surtax is paid. These include (1) Roth IRA conversions, (2) tax exempt bonds, (3) tax-deferred annuities, (4) life insurance, (5) rental real estate, (6) oil and gas investments, (7) timing estate and trust distributions, (8) charitable remainder trusts, (9) installment sales and maximizing above-the-line deductions. We would be happy to explain how these strategies might save you large amounts of surtax. Accelerating Ordinary Income into 2012 A final opportunity that should be noted is accelerating ordinary income into 2012. Perhaps the best way to do this would be to convert a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA in 2012, if a conversion otherwise made sense. Ordinary income could also be accelerated by selling bonds with accrued interest in 2012 or selling and repurchasing bonds trading at a premium. Finally, you might consider exercising non-qualified stock options in 2012. Estate Tax Provisions The estate tax exemption is currently $5,120,000 per person and will revert to $1,000,000 on January 1st, 2013 unless Congress acts. The President is suggesting a $3,500,000 exemption. The potential reduction in the estate tax exemption is resulting in many client making large gifts, in trust, for their family. In some instances the trusts are for the spouse, children and grandchildren and in others just for children and younger generations. Most experts would define the savings at 35%, 45% or 55% of the amount gifted over $1,000,000. On a $5,000,000 gift the savings would be $1,800,000 ($4,000,000*45%). We are prepared to assist you in modeling scenarios to determine which strategies are right for you. Please don't hesitate to call us to schedule an appointment to begin discussing your options. Respectfully Submitted, _____________________________ Respectfully Submitted, _____________________________

When Atlantic City was new, my neighbors would go and play the wheel, one always red when the other was black or one odd and one even. They would break even [i know not 100%] but showed as big gamblers and got rooms and meals and shows comped.

I generally do the same, kept fees constant for 3 years then increase. of course the pita factor and sch d factor increases fees. I don't track phone calls per se but if the client is one of those that calls often they get an increase.

don't forget to charge when you fight the penalty notice.

Anyone have any experience with this software? It looks too good and cheap to be real.

although it doesn't apply to s corps I have used the same verbiage and had penalties abated.

I really agree on showing full prices then a discount. Too many times a long time or favorite client is getting preferred rates and anyone they recommend you too expects those rates too.

on hold for ATX support!

sucks that buying a tax program is now like buying a car - you have to negotiate and hope you get a good salesperson willing to work with you. At least with a car you can just walk and go to a different dealer. when I was deciding what to do for 2012 I priced lacerate with 2 different sales people and the prices were about $1000 apart.