Abby Normal

The ones I hate are where every dollar they take out of their IRA makes roughly a dollar more of Social Security taxable. Take out $4,000, taxable income goes up by $8,000.

I encourage all my clients to pay online. I had at least two clients mail their federal check to the state and the state cashed it. Pretty sure that's illegal. Anyway, took a long time to figure out because we had a cancelled check made out the US Treasury and the endorsements were illegible.

I have my Autosave set to 15 minutes but I press Ctrl+S after every W2 and whenever I switch forms. It's a habit I developed working with spreadsheets and word processors decades ago. This is why I hate that annoying message so much! The one you get after efing the extension. GRRRRrrrrr.

You don't have to remove it. It was not disposed. Just make sure the depreciation is right. Probably have to override that.

Got an "Unexpected Error Program Needs to Close" but instead of clicking Ok I clicked on the 'x' to close the message and the program DID NOT CLOSE! I was able to save my work. I closed and restarted the program to be safe.

I do like the way ATX revamped the form this year, though. Also, if someone has 5 Goodwill receipts, we just enter it all as one. If it doesn't change the tax, who cares.

How was it reported in 13? If a capital loss then recoup is a capital gain. If it was an ordinary loss, then it's ordinary income.

I had this exact situation last year and I faxed my response to the 1st CP2000 telling them to ignore the taxpayer's response. No problems encountered and it got resolved more quickly.

I have a client whose day of birth is off by one day, according to SSA. I don't know whether to believe him or SSA. Also have a friend who can't prove when she was born (home birth, off-the-grid parents, etc.). She may have to wait several years longer to collect SS and qualify for other tax breaks.

I'd support a law that requires a minimum 25% federal w/h from early retirement distributions unless the taxpayer can certify to the trustee that they qualify for one of the exceptions. I had a client who took early distributions out of a SIMPLE within the 2 year period and got hit with the 25% penalty. It was my ex-wife's new husband so I feigned commiseration.

It's also on the input tab where it's a lot friendlier interface, IMO.

$300 single, $600 joint.

It defaults to short-term on the K1 input screens. You have to enter the long-term portion. Edit: I see they've changed it a bit this year.

I was hoping ATX had fixed the letters. In 2013 the letters were the biggest problem area. All was well in 2014 until one day last week I noticed the wording of my letters had returned to the default wording and some of my formatting had disappeared. I guess a lot of users use the letters as they are but I find them horrendously wordy and have made substantial changes to them. I've copied some of the letters into rtf files so I can easily return them to the way I want but the client letters have so many possible configurations that I can't do that. I guess i could do different portions but I haven't taken the time to do that yet.

I'd be more concerned with 1% dividends and 5% (1% in 2013) gains than I would be with churning. S&P 500 was up about 10% last year & 25% in 2013.

These accounts are usually managed accounts for a flat % quarterly fee. There is no per transaction fee, but they also rarely seem to make a lot of money. Sometimes the management fee exceeds the gains.

Treat as gift to mom and left mom deduct.

Both. You deduct it as wages instead of health insurance on the 1120S. Then the shareholder deducts it as an adjustment on 1040 Self-employed health insurance.

We're back to the old rules on S corp shareholders and health insurance thru 2015, with the hopes that Congress will get their act together and make it permanent. http://www.calt.iastate.edu/article/irs-notice-2015-17-provides-some-limited-aca-penalty-relief-small-employers

No, you get to use the full mileage rate even if the cents per mile depreciation fully depreciates a vehicle.

Here's an IRS page on Direct Selling businesses. I didn't read it. http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Small-Businesses-&-Self-Employed/Retail-Industry-ATG-Chapter-3-Examination-Techniques-for-Specific-Industries-Direct-Sellers

It takes a LOT more than just a profit motive: In order to make this determination, taxpayers should consider the following factors: Does the time and effort put into the activity indicate an intention to make a profit? Does the taxpayer depend on income from the activity? If there are losses, are they due to circumstances beyond the taxpayer’s control or did they occur in the start-up phase of the business? Has the taxpayer changed methods of operation to improve profitability? Does the taxpayer or his/her advisors have the knowledge needed to carry on the activity as a successful business? Has the taxpayer made a profit in similar activities in the past? Does the activity make a profit in some years? Can the taxpayer expect to make a profit in the future from the appreciation of assets used in the activity?

The P&L gives me a net income to prove to. Usually on Sch C's we have to run a tape reconciling net income to the Sch C due to meals, mileage, etc.

It backs up Companies, Payers and Preparers automatically, but you have to do a manual backup to backup Setup Data. From ATX: "Setup Data" is a consolidated group of data that includes the following types of information that you use regularly in ATX: Preferences - all the preferences you've selected for your system Security Manager information that you've set up Print Packet settings Custom Client Letters Customized Master Forms EFIN Enrollment Data Unpostable Funds records FAM settings PRS purchases

It only backs up the files that have changed. It automatically backs up each client as you close it, unless you've turned that off in preferences. You can watch it happen at: C:ProgramDataCCH Small Firm ServicesATX 2014 ServerATX 2014 Backup Warning: ProgramData is a hidden folder. You have to change view Folder Options to see show hidden folders.