Abby Normal

Can't get any MD returns accepted. Just started last night. We are using the new town names from the drop down list. Here is the error: R000-00000-040 Maryland Individual Resident The 'http://www.irs.gov/efile:CityTownOrTaxingArea' element is invalid - The value 'Town of Easton' is invalid according to its datatype 'http://www.irs.gov/efile:MDCityTownAreaType' - The Enumeration constraint failed

Your only hope is to call the IRS payments department... but I'd drain (or even close) the account just in case.

This is the best site I've found for checking routing numbers: http://www.routingtransitnumbers.com/ I like to copy/paste the number entered in ATX to this website to verify it.

Entering W2 info: Auto-calc Box 3 and 5 Social Security wages & Medicare wages If you don't manually enter wages in Box 3 and Box 5, when you enter in Box 7 Social Security tips and/or Box 12 retirement amounts, Box 3 & Box 5 wages will be adjusted automatically.

Does anyone here have Advantage with 'concierge support'? Is ATX making support so bad that you have to cough up 3 grand+ just to get decent support?

Oooo! We need a stickied post for real estate records by state! They really come in handy. I have a a helluva time finding real estate records in some states. A lot of states keep them by county instead of statewide. Delaware and Florida come to mind. Here's MD: http://sdat.dat.maryland.gov/RealProperty/Pages/default.aspx And here's MD business entity search: https://egov.maryland.gov/BusinessExpress/EntitySearch

When a new individual client comes in, we have a checklist for setting them up. One thing we check is the state real estate records for their house (fortunately, MD has a very nice website for doing this). We need to know if they're in town limits, but we also check whose name the house is in, when they bought it, how much they paid, how many square feet the home is, and whether they've applied for the homestead tax credit. So far this year, two new clients had not applied for the homestead credit. This can save them 100s or even 1,000s a year in real estate taxes. Just an FYI as a value added service, in case your state has a similar situation.

ATX should certainly fix it for those who want to use it, and, at the very least, WARN people that it does not work.

Thanks, Rich!

Anybody that works on anything for an hour without saving, gets what they deserve. You once accused me of saving too often! Ha! No. Such. Thing. And, I've never had ATX crash where I couldn't save my return before closing.

Is it possible to be both? I did a quick search and didn't find anything definitive, so I'm saying yes.

But if it didn't also save the return, you'd have a backup but still no return. And I know you can close a return without saving because I play around in returns all the time and close without saving my changes. I'm in the opposite camp. I'm so glad ATX lets you turn off autosave. I always complained about this with other software I used. Sometimes, you just screw up and need to close the return without saving.

One question I couldn't find the answer to was, if you sell an easement for less than FMV can you take a charitable contribution for the difference?

Those annuity sales reps must get big commissions on those damn things.

There's an insane tax preparer in my county who advised a retired lady turned 'artist' to start an S corp and rent a space so she'd look like a real business and be able to deduct huge losses. She sells about $500 of paintings each year. Fortunately she came to me before she did put any assets into the S corp, but she's still paying rent on that lease. I explained to her that buying deductions is a losing game and a hobby is still a hobby even if you put it in an S corp.

Elderly client had half a million in a savings account. Someone talked him into investing in 2015. 2015 was a down year so he sold everything after losing 80k. BUT the investments that the Wall St. broker put him in paid 55k in dividends. He didn't need the income! So he lost money overall but still has to pay a lot of tax. And he'll never live long enough to deduct that 80k at 3k per year. Somehow, we never got the 1099, so we just got an IRS notice... with a substantial understatement penalty. He'd be miles ahead if that money was still in his savings account. TGIF!

It's been awhile since I've done one, but the gist is that tax attributes (loss carryovers, asset basis, etc.) are reduced by the amount of debt cancelled in a bankruptcy. See for 982.

Try typing in Notepad then copying and pasting into K1 letter. If that works, you can leave the all caps preference on.

Why couldn't they have left Other and just add Various? That seems like the better solution.

18 miles, 25 minutes. It's my podcast listening time... unless I'm fed up with the world, then I crank up some hard rock. I take the scenic route out of town to avoid school buses. It's a mile longer, but I'd rather see this than the back of a school bus.

On the 1116 and the 1099-DIV Other Country has been changed to Various, BUT on the K1 inputs for all 3 entities it's still Other Country. I let ATX know so hopefully they'll fix it.

I detest caps everywhere except tax returns. It mostly has to do with on screen reading and small fonts on tax forms.

I don't know why, but I can't stand email addresses in caps, so I type the email address in another program and copy/paste it into ATX. I guess that would work with K1 letters and billing invoices, too (neither of which I use).

The problem with the new ALL CAPS preference is that any edits to K1 letters and billing invoices are in caps (people have already complained about this). Also, Notes are not in caps so I have to turn caps on anyway, when I need to create or edit a note. I submitted a suggestion to to give us 3 check boxes for caps for forms, K1 letters/billing invoices and notes.