Abby Normal

Yeah, I'm hearing others report similar issues with health insurance. I thought we were getting a break this year!

There's no such thing as 'taxed as an LLC'. They own it personally so straight to Sch E.

It brings up the Pages menu from the bottom. Use the arrow keys and press enter. Tip: pressing the up arrow while on the first item takes you to the last item. Also been using Ctrl+O to move between forms. In that window, Home, End and the Page Up/Page Down keys work. I hate using the mouse, can you tell?

https://community.atxinc.com/forums/thread/224076.aspx I had an unexpected error yesterday and I was able to duplicate it, so I posted and listed to the steps for ATX to replicate. Then I asked ATXKristin if she could pin a post for us to post all of these for ATX to analyze. When you get this error, click on show details then copy to clipboard and paste to a comment in the above thread, with detailed description of what you did right before it happened.

I believe it's always the custodial parent because it will likely be impossible to get the ex's 1040.

Yes, I do think you should be able to deduct your fire hall bingo losses as a donation to the fire dept, but the IRS disagrees! Unrelated: Client with a $13 state refund this year ($200 last year): Boy, the state is really cutting back on its refunds. Me: [after several seconds of stunned silence] You should probably check your withholdings so you don't owe for 2016.

Now that we're scanning records before we do data entry, it forces us to go thru the stack, sort and weed out duplicates and useless pages. It's an unexpected bonus plus it familiarizes us with all the data before we start entering.

Tax return preparers include: Tax return preparers exclude: employees of tax return preparation businesses who prepare at least one New York State return partners who prepare returns for clients of a partnership engaged in a commercial tax return preparation business anyone else paid to prepare at least one New York State return or report currently licensed Certified Public Accountants (CPA) or Public Accountants (PA) enrolled agents attorneys currently licensed to practice law employees of a CPA, PA, enrolled agent, or law firm who prepare tax returns under the direct supervision of a CPA, PA, enrolled agent, or attorney of that firm employees of a business who prepare that business’s return or report clerical employees volunteer tax preparers

Yes, the first estate return filed determines the filing year, so if none was filed, choosing a calendar year for 2015 is fine. Mark it first and final. No 2014 return was due because income was below $600.

You can't do a 2015 1040 for someone who died in 2014.

I actually doubt that Vanguard will issue a 1099R for the beneficiary because that isn't what happened. When this happens, it's best to just run it through the estate and pass out the income and withholding to the beneficiaries, attaching a copy of the 1099R to the estate return.

I always have to stop and think whether it's MRD or RMD... I know for sure it's not RDM!

I don't know about that but how are you going to rip mp3s off that CD you just got. Some music is only available as CDs. Most concerts I attend sell only CDs, but a few have been selling MP3 downloads, which is preferable, for several reasons.

I don't have any cites, but I've always heard at seminars that the answer is no. Has to be paid by corp and added to W2.

My office manager discards all letters and adds them back every single time, and even the I still have to edit the letters. I swear the damn things change all on their own!

I realized that the custom print packet had every form set to never print, so I went thru and set the efile signature forms, balance due vouchers and estimated tax vouchers to always print for federal and all of the states I normally use. Then I went back to my Preparer print packet and set those same forms to never print. The result is that I get two PDFs printed, one for the tax return and one for the signature forms, vouchers, engagement letter and my estimate voucher mailing letter. Now I have still have to uncheck the letters I don't want in my Preparer packet and check the letters in the Custom packet every single time, because ATX doesn't let you include letters in the Custom packet and letters are all or nothing in the Preparer packet, but that's quick and easy enough. Having two pdfs makes printing and viewing easier, and it's nice not having all those other forms in the tax return pdf. Plus it makes it easier for the client to find their estimate vouchers if they need to.

And if you substitute you get F$@$y@0fbf0tc

We implemented bright orange 10x13 envelopes with our return address and 'TAX RETURNS' printed in large letters in the center to make it easier to find in that drawer or pile or box the client keeps it in. Giving clients CDs with PDFs of returns and records, cut our requests for copies of tax returns to near nil.

Can/should the taxable scholarships be shown on the child's return?

I almost never review a return with the client. Very few ask for it. Some review it at home and call/email with questions. Some review it in the lobby and interrupt me if they have questions my office manager can't answer. I suspect that many never even open the envelope they pick up at the front desk. Most of my clients still get a paper copy but I only print out the 'highlights'.

I was thinking of switching to flash drives because I've had two clients tell me their new computer doesn't have a CD drive. I was also considering encrypting the flash drives so if they lose it somewhere, they don't have to worry.

Getting all the pages you want and just the pages you want is the hardest thing about ATX. You can tame the beast with Print Packets. It's a tedious process and the print packets don't have everything so you can only get it about 99%, but it makes it livable. edit: I forgot to mention customizing master forms. I check a ton of boxes on the master forms to print certain pages.

...check your Sch A carefully. I just found bogus tax paid to DC with the 2014 return on the state tax screen, because of that unnecessary requirement to have the other state present in 2014. I sure hope ATX fired the programmer who made that totally unnecessary change in 2014.

You may be missing distributions. The point of doing the balance sheet is to ensure you haven't missed anything. I have clients like this who don't use accounting software. I make them give me a proof of cash for the year, with each month in a separate column. And I prefer to have all the bank statements too.

Origination fees have to be calculated as a % of the loan amount to qualify as points, but fortunately, I've never seen one that isn't. Points The term “points” is used to describe certain charges paid, or treated as paid, by a borrower to obtain a home mortgage. Points also may be called loan origination fees, maximum loan charges, loan discount, or discount points. A borrower is treated as paying any points that a home seller pays for the borrower's mortgage. See Points paid by the seller , later. General rule. You cannot deduct the full amount of points in the year paid. They are prepaid interest, so you generally must deduct them over the life (term) of the mortgage. Exception. You can deduct the full amount of points in the year paid if you meet all the following tests. Your loan is secured by your main home. (Generally, your main home is the one you live in most of the time.) Paying points is an established business practice in the area where the loan was made. The points paid were not more than the points generally charged in that area. You use the cash method of accounting. This means you report income in the year you receive it and deduct expenses in the year you pay them. Most individuals use this method. The points were not paid in place of amounts that ordinarily are stated separately on the settlement statement, such as appraisal fees, inspection fees, title fees, attorney fees, and property taxes. The funds you provided at or before closing, plus any points the seller paid, were at least as much as the points charged. The funds you provided are not required to have been applied to the points. They can include a down payment, an escrow deposit, earnest money, and other funds you paid at or before closing for any purpose. You cannot have borrowed these funds. You use your loan to buy or build your main home. The points were computed as a percentage of the principal amount of the mortgage. The amount is clearly shown on the settlement statement (such as the Uniform Settlement Statement, Form HUD-1) as points charged for the mortgage. The points may be shown as paid from either your funds or the seller's. https://www.irs.gov/publications/p530/ar02.html#en_US_2015_publink100011857