Abby Normal

How long were you asleep?

Well, I'm humbled by others tax knowledge on this forum and others routinely. Computers are an accountant's best friend (and worst nightmare some days). Doing accounting programming in the 80s, I saw how computers could be great time savers, if you make them do the work for you. Then spreadsheets came out, and macros, which got renamed to scripts at some point. Hell, I even have a script to type 'Tax Returns' which saves me thousands of keystrokes during tax season. Besides, I often typed Retruns.

Nobody know what those 2 keys are but me. Even if you're computer saavy and see I have autohotkey running, it's a unlabeled script buried in 9 pages of other scripts.

I haven't noticed any problems.

Keep in mind that many of these are just my personal preference. I also didn't include my MD preferences since most of you don't do MD returns. 1040 Check third party designee on page 2 Yes Check to print Filers Info Check to print Ln 7 Wages Check to print Line 40 Standard vs Itemized Check to print Line 44 Tax Calc Check to print Line 48 Foreign Tax Credit Check to print Line 52 Child Tax Credit Check to print Line 54 Other Credits Check to print Line 64 Federal income tax withheld Check to print AGI Split Check to print Earned Income Late Filing-Override Late Payment Penalty due date to 4/15 (or 16, 17 or 18). Trick: You have to change tax return due date field first. Then restore this field. Late Filing-Override interest rates as they become available. Sch A (1040) Check to print even if not required Sch B (1040) Check to print Sch D (1040) Check to print Tax Wkst Check to print AMT forms 1040 EF Check Practitioner PIN Check ERO entered for Taxpayer (only) Enter ERO PIN Link Date signed field to 1040 page 2 date. Payment and Refund tab: check to print Check No for Protection Plus Add text box for signature and date (see text file) Mailing Inst: don't print PIN tab: check to print E-filed Forms: check to print 1040-ES Options check Round to 100 Payment options online or paper check Check to print IRS Estimate Wkst Check to print Options 1099-DIV Detail tab Add 9 lines (total of 10) Uncheck Add to Payer Manager Leave cursor in line 1 1099-INT Detail tab Add 9 lines (total of 10) Uncheck Add to Payer Manager Leave cursor in line 1 1099R Detail Tab Add 4 columns (total of 5) Uncheck Add to Payer Manager Leave cursor in column 1 Uncheck to not print Summary Totals Check to print Summary Payers Uncheck to not print Code Summary 1116 Check Income Reconcilation to print Check AMT Reconcilation to print 2848 Page 1 check box to receive communications Ln 3 Enter INCOME for description and 1040 for form Page 2 at bottom enter Designation: Jurisdiction: Cert#: 4868 Open 1040, 1040 EF, Comparison & 4868 Enter an amount on Comparison line 63 Total tax Prior Year column Link line 63 prior year to 4868 tab 1 line 4. Enter 0 on 4868 line 7. Check box Lock amounts and carry Restore line 63 on Comparison Efile Info-Check Practicitoner PIN Efile Info-Link taxpayer & spouse PIN to 1040 EF Efile Info-Check ERO entered checkbox for taxpayer Efile Info-Link ERO entered checkbox for spouse to 1040 EF checkbox Efile Info-link Date Signed to 1040 date Efile Info-Enter ERO PIN Payment-Check Paper check 8283 Add 3 records Type of property: Household items and clothing Date acquired: VARIOUS Date of contribution: 12/31/yy Type of Charitable Org: 50% Description: HOUSEHOLD & CLOTHING Condition: GOOD How acquired: Fair market value: 500 (this makes 'Were goods...' question appear) Method: Thrift shop value Were goods or services exchanged for the donation: check No box Restore Fair market value field 8582 Line 7 Mod AGI, check to print 8615 Check all pages to print 8949 Detail tab Add 9 rows (total of 10) Check to not print Gain(Loss) Summary Bank Account Check use prior years Check show only jurisdictions in return Check personal Check No for foreign Check apply to all jurisdictions IRA/Roth Wkst Mark all pages to print except SS With IRA K1 Input (1065) Check to print PTP Summary & AMT K1 Input (1120S) Check calculate basis (Must have 1040 open for box to show) Set holding period to long-term for excess distributions in Basis section (Trick: enter name at top to get Basis section to appear.) Restore name field when done. NOL Mark all pages to print W2 Detail Tab Add 2 columns (total of 3) Uncheck Add to Payer Manager Leave cursor in column 1 Uncheck to print summary totals Check to print summary payers W2G Detail Tab Add 4 columns (total of 5) Uncheck Add to Payer Manager Leave cursor in column 1 Uncheck to print summary totals Check to print summary payers ***************************END OF INDIVIDUAL FORMS********************************* 1041 Check May IRS discuss return with preparer Sch K1 (1041) Global Info: Print Page 2 K1 Codes Input: Entity Type I 1065 Check May IRS discuss return with preparer Options complete Schedules L, M1, M2 Line 20 Other Deductions check to suppress preset descriptions Sch L Balance Sheet per Books: Check to NOT print this worksheet Sch K1(1065) Global Info: Print Page 2 K1 Codes Uncheck Print K1 letter Print partners basis statement Print partners basis summary Print capital account summary Input check domestic partner 1065 EF Check Practitioner PIN (same form for 1120 & 1120S) Check ERO entered Enter ERO PIN Link Date signed field to 1120 page 1 date. Signing Inst: don't print PIN tab: check to print E-filed Forms: check to print State EF Info Bus: first name, last name, title, date signed, email & phone to fed EF 1120 Check May IRS discuss return with preparer Options Complete Schedules L, M1 and M2 Line 26 Other Deductions Check to supress preset descriptions Sch L Balance Sheet per books Check to NOT print this worksheet 1120/S EF Check Practitioner PIN (same form for 1120 & 1120S) Check ERO entered Enter ERO PIN Link Date signed field to 1120 page 1 date. Payment and Refund tab: check to print Mailing Inst: don't print PIN tab: check to print E-filed Forms: check to print 1120S Check May IRS discuss return with preparer Options Complete Schedules L and M1 Line 19 Other Deductions Check to supress preset descriptions Sch L Balance Sheet per books Check to NOT print this worksheet Sch K1 (1120S) Global Info: Print Page 2 K1 Codes Uncheck Print K1 letter Print shareholders basis statement Input: Shareholder type I 1125-A Check Lower of cost or market Check No for question e: does 263A apply Check No for any change in determining quantities, cost or valuations 1125-E Check to truncate officer's SSNs Elections Deprec and Amort check box to Apply De Minimis Safe Harbor to Expense 263(a) Check box to Apply Safe Harbor for Small Taxpayers-Eligible Building Property 263(a) Blank Elections Copy/Paste from last year. Uncheck to print. (I have several elections that ATX doesn't have. Either that or I simply couldn't find them.)

I use AutoHotkey for a bunch of scripts to save me typing, so I wrote a script that's triggered by pressing 2 keys that types my password for me. I honestly don't even know what my password is. I have the same password for 16 and 17, and when I change one, I change the other.

Here's how I customize form 8283. I add 3 records and customize the fields shown below. I restore the Fair Market Value field before I save, but the 'Were goods or services exchanged...' question doesn't show until you enter a FMV of 500 or more. This save me a lot of time. I have quite a long list of form customizations that I posted awhile ago, that I could post again if you'd like. I'm constantly adding to my list.

I have check for payment method but it still won't create the efile. So, what I did was create the efile without the 1040ES. Then add the 1040ES and print the return, letters and estimate vouchers and close without saving, so the efile is preserved.

I only open 2017 to work on a return. Almost never open prior year software when working on current year. I close ATX to clear memory after working on a few returns or one big return. But I rarely get the 20 minute log out. I only have to press 2 keys to insert my password, so it doesn't bother me at all.

1040ES JUST DOWNLOADED!!!!!!!!!! Let the games begin!

They gave us a draft 4562 and 1040 for weeks before it was approved. They should have done the same with 1040ES and every other common form. I had to manually type in the estimated tax amounts and dates on a client letter this morning. A draft 1040ES would have made that unnecessary.

Really? The computer completely powers down?

I would kill to have the 1040-ES in draft form. Ridiculous that I can't finish returns with estimates because of it.

File an extension. Our efiled 990/990EZ extensions went through fine.

Crap. I'm getting ready to send one.

"Business travel" & "Transportation" are two different paths to the mileage deduction.

The standard deduction is completely disallowed for AMT. With itemized you at least get partial.

I'm just telling them to wait. No one has protested yet. I'll revisit this in 3 weeks.

Same in MD, unless they change the law... which they've indicated they might. I'll have to remember to remind those going from itemized to standard for federal that their state taxes are going up, pending any changes the states might make.

Haven't rolled many with fixed assets over but not problems so far.

It depends on the user, but in this case it's just an experiment to determine the cause of a problem. It should be a short term experiment. But I disable my security software for installs and downloads on a regular basis. My antivirus lets me choose to disable for 10 minutes, in case I forget to re-enable it.

Unless it qualifies under the transportation or 'no regular place of work' rules. https://www.irs.gov/publications/p463#en_US_2017_publink100033913

I'm sure it can be fixed, but it's been malfunctioning for 6 months and ATX says they're 'working on it'. They probably need to spend thousands to move to a new platform and just can't bring themselves to do it.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/827167400659499/ ATXKristin just joined the group. She's the best responder on the official forum. If the official forum doesn't get fixed, the facebook page might largely replace it.

Trying going directly to the page: https://community.atxinc.com/forums/ People always complain about having to log in, but when you bookmark the page, it never asks you to log in.