RDNKCPA

Sorry everybody if I sound a little defensive. The disability mainly was done by the sherriff's office as a preventative measure. They didn't want him dying on duty. In the National Guard he was put on a non-deployable status and got a position training other MP soldiers. He is an excellent trainer and was specifically tapped for this mission because of his natural ability to teach. He can take the most dry and boring stuff on the planet and can keep everybody interested. He went through a battery of tests and was cleared to deploy. But I see where you are coming from.

I appreciate all the advice given on the board. He had the W2 income to qualify for the EIC, however there is a fair amount of income he received, Basic Allowance for Housing, Basic Allowance for Subsistence, family separation pay, combat pay, hazardous duty pay that is not taxable. If you add all of his basic pay and allowances up plus his non-taxable portion of his police disability he made a decent amount of money. I don't think the EIC law was written for that, and we are taking advantage of a huge loop-hole. As far as the disability, people have offered some opinions here that are borderline offensive. I have served on active duty with this client, and oh by the way he received a bronze star for his last deployment. He's in his late 40's now and is more physically fit than most 19 year olds. As you might imagine being a patrol officer is just a little more stressful than banging out tax returns. In his late 30's after being on the job for almost 20 years, he had chest pains and a difficult time breathing. He went and saw his doctor and he ended up getting two stents put in his heart, put on blood pressure medication and a slew of other drugs. The police department he worked for was worried that the continued stress of being a patrol officer might kill him, so the police department, not the union, not my client, forced him to medically retire. In 2008 when our unit mobilized to go to Iraq, he was non-deployable because of all the medication he was on. After nearly 5 years of taking even better care of himself, stabilizing his blood pressure, and getting off of a lot of the medication he was on, he was able to deploy last year. He's not an infantryman, or special forces, he was there to train Afghan police, something he knew about and something he is extremely good at. Also, he likes to serve his country and has done most of his life, either as a local Sherriff's deputy or US Army Soldier & National Guardsman. So before you fire off with uninformed opinions you need the entire story. That being said, I appreciate all the sound advice I have received on this board.

I have a client that serves in the National Guard. Last year he got deployed to Afghanistan and most all of his pay was combat pay, which is not taxable. Q Code on the W2. He also receives a 1099R for a disability retirement from the local Sherriff's office, also non-taxable. His AGI is $32K, he's married and has two children which are dependents. Everything that I see, he qualifies. Am I missing anything? He's my only client that has qualified for the EIC, I want to be sure before I file.

I have a client that loaned personal money to his 1120 C corp several years ago. He's winding down his business this year and the business is paying off the loan. He cut himself a $10,000 check for the accrued interest on the original not amount. I reported the 10K on his personal return, should I generate a 1099-INT for this transaction? Thanks.

The story was client turned his property management statement, interest statements, & W2's over to the CPA firm. A week later his returns came back with a bill for $2,500.00. The client questioned what value he was getting from the firm. It is the client perception that the firm was not into building a relationship. I was glad to do the return. Client was happy, and has already given a couple of referrals. I will take a look at my fee structure, and I adjust when necessary. I had one client that balked when I raised their fee from $85 to $125, and I hand delivered their returns to them after work. They complained, but have come back every year. I'm slowly expanding my base, this year I've gotten a bunch more referrals. Now to get my fees in line so I don't give away my work. At the end of this tax season I'm upgrading computer, back-up device, and printer, so somebody has to pay.... Thanks for all of your feedback, it is much appreciated.

Right around $100.00, but I have some different rates for different clients. I tend to charge by the return/job. Usually $125.00 for a 1040 with a sched A and two W2's, then up from there.

I have a new client this year with a 1040, Schedule A, Schedule E - Rental Property. He also has a 1065 LLC with 3 residential real estate properties. This was one nights worth of work, start to finish. Set up, input of 2013 data, and review. The client was referred to me by a family member and I did both returns and e-filed for $500.00. He was using a CPA firm in Baltimore that charged him $2,500.00 last year. Once the firm had the data in the software and they rolled it over, all they had to do is enter w2 info, income/expense data from the property management company, and a few 1099INT's from year to year. Was he grossly ripped off or am I way undercharging? I do this out of my house, so no overhead, and the only real costs that I have are the software and some office supplies (Paper, envelopes, folders etc). I thought $500 was fair for a nights worth of work.

Client had to track the form down with Fidelity. She emailed me the 1099R with code G. All is good. Client got a bit annoyed I was bugging her for the document especially since it is a non-taxable event. After I explained to her it needs to be filed with her return, if it does not the IRS will send a nasty-gram. Once I told her about the IRS nasty gram, she was all about tracking the 1099 down. Thanks for confirming I wasn't crazy.

The deinstallation and reinstallation seemed to do the trick. It may be my computer. It is reaching the end of its service life. It is tried and true, but I need to upgrade. Trying to get one more tax season out of it.

I have a client that rolled an employer sponsored 401K account over into a traditional IRA when she left employment with that company. It went from a Fidelity 401K to Fidelity IRA, never left Fidelity. Fidelity issued her a 5498 with record of her deposit in the IRA. Shouldn't I see a 1099R for the closing of the employer sponsored account? I know its a non-taxable event, but I want to make sure I have all the documents lined up. Thanks, Jason

Just got off of the phone with ATX a little while ago. This is a known bug and they are working on it. I had to export all of my returns, de-install ATX, remove all ATX program and data files on the HD, then reinstall and re-import the returns. I'll let everybody know if this works. Very frustrating...

I'm having problems reopening 1065 once they are created and saved. I can open a 1065 and all associated forms no problem, enter data, save etc. Close the return, then when I go to reopen it later it gets stuck in the forms update process. I have no issues with 1040's or 1120's. If anybody has experienced this and fixed it I would be grateful to hear about it. I'm planning on calling tech support first thing in the AM tomorrow. Thanks, Jason