Kea

I agree that it works well. I really like the price $40 for the 1st year including the gadget and $20 per year after. I would like to make this my main phone and drop my landline. But I've had my phone # for 18 years and all my friends, family and clients have it. When they let you port your existing phone number to MagicJack, I'll drop my landline in a heartbeat. They used to have a user forum, but pulled it a few months ago. Someone else set up an unofficial board and it provides lots of updates and answers. (Gee, where have I heard this scenario before?) To see lots of user opinions (good and bad), check this out: http://unofficialmagicjack.forum2u.org/ Hope that helps.

Thanks so much for the tip. I'll pass this along to him. I really appreciate the input.

Thanks. I was hoping I was wrong.

It seems to work fine, but you can't port your phone number yet. As soon as you can, I'm moving my landline # and dropping the $40 a month line! I got it for a fax line but can only send and not receive. Oh well, works good for voice service.

I know you can take penalty free distributions from a 401(k) if you are at least 55 and separated from service. My 55 year-old client, who left that job last year, is now working at a part-time job and asked if that was a problem. (He might need to start withdrawing money later this year.) I said I would have to verify. I was pretty sure it just meant you had to be separated from the job where you earned the 401(k). When searching through the IRS site, I noticed it specified that you had to leave the job after you were at least 55. A rule I thought I knew fairly well, has now got me confused. He can avoid the penalty even though he works part time, because it is a different job? But because he left the job at age 54, he doesn't avoid the penalty? Is that correct? He will still have the option of taking substantially equal payments over his lifetime. Thanks so much.

I'll assume Yes because they did last year.

The only delays I've seen using TRX is the extension acks seem to take forever to come back. But that is probably on the IRS end. They seem to be taking about a day.

George, Once you've bought the software and have a location ID and password, you should be able to download the 2007 conversion. If I remember correctly, the conversion and 1st 2007 CD came out around November or December.

Thanks Gail for reassuring me. I feel the same way about the long tax season. I'm so used to the "temporary absence" being for the kid. I almost missed the instruction that said "military service" and the part that said parent or kid. Just made me wonder if I missed something else. After all they've been through, our returning soldiers don't need to get penalized by the tax code. So, his getting all the "goodies" is the way it should be. (IMHO)

Please forgive my ignorance, but I've not done many military returns. I've been reading Publication 3 but still not sure. New client just returned from Iraq. (I know he left in early or mid-2007.) He has custody of his daughter but she did live with her grandparents all of 2007. Obviously she couldn't live with him for the period he was in Iraq. I'm not sure where he was the 1st part of the year, but I will be finding out soon. I know his being in a combat zone is treated as his being in the US. Does dad's military service qualify for "temporary absence"? Do I show her living with him all year and he can claim dependency, child tax credit and EIC? Thanks so much!

I do see a certain logic in not depreciating the vehicle basis below $0. Is is legal to show the sale as sold for $0 with $17K basis and $17K depreciation? Or do I have to report the large gain? Thanks.

I haven't done any state extensions, but I have done 2 federal. I had some preliminary data on the tax return, but I don't know if that matters. I added the 4868 and updated the fields as necessary. I checked the appropriate box on the bottom of the page (filing with or without an electronic debit). Went to the e-file page and checked the box for filing an extention Went to Wrap-up and checked complete & transmit (there should now be an extra listing for the 4868 along with the fed and state in that box. Only the 4868 should say it is ready to e-file) Then Transmit as normal. You won't get the regular acceptance notice. You'll just have to click on that return and check the status in the summary box below. Good luck!

If he can't claim his son, which of the 5 tests fails? (Oh, I forgot to mention, the son is not married and thus does not file a joint return.) He can't claim if the son doesn't live with him unless there is an 8332 and there is. Son must live in US, Canada or Mexico OR be a US Citizen or Resident -- he's US Citizen. Yes, I fully admit to being unsure, which is why I posted the question.

I think I've got this right, but I just want to verify: Dad and Mom are divorced Dad is US citizen and lives in US Mom lives in Pakistan 5 year-old Son is US citizen and lives in Pakistan with Mom Son does not provide over half his own support Mom signs a Form 8332 (she's not going to use the exemption) Therefore Dad can claim Son's exemption and Child Tax Credit Since Mom signs Form 8832, it doesn't matter that Son does not live with Dad Since Son is US citizen, it doesn't matter what country he lives in Is this correct? Thanks

I've just filled out the form and submitted the e-file. Clients have never come back and said IRS didn't know about installment agreement. They did pay on installment, so I guess it filed OK.

It includes business and fiduciary and free e-file. The middle button on the top of their website takes you to a page where you can download a demo. http://www.trxalliance.com/

It's been standard miles the whole time. Does that mean that even though a portion of the standard mileage rate is for depreciation, I can "ignore" that when the adjusted basis goes to zero and consider the whole rate as for cost of upkeep and gas, insurance, etc.? I'm not sure that's right, but it sure would save on capital gain on sale?

OK, I did the SUV correctly. The truck was using standard miles the whole time. A portion of that rate is depreciation. So by using the truck about 25K miles each year and the depreciation component being 12 - 19 cents per mile over the years, it depreciated more than the actual cost. Should I have been tracking that through the years and adjusting the std mile rate when the basis zeroed out? And I agree with your sentiment. I having a hard time justifying a gain (especially a large one) on an abandoned truck. I know the client will be ticked. Thanks!

Overall, for the price I can't complain. I would say that overall, ATX is the better software, but I have a small practice. So as others have mentioned, ATX was pricing me out of business. I do very few states and they seem to work fine. I've not done any returns with multiple states, so I can't address that issue. They have a utility for converting from ATX to TRX. I had to do it the long way because I switched computers, operating systems and tax software all in the same year. (I won't be trying that combo again.) The pre-2007 versions of TRX were not Vista compatible and neither was the conversion utility. So I had to borrow my husband's XP computer and move everything there and then convert. Then move everything back to my computer. Other than the operating system issues the conversion went OK. There were a few issues with missing or wrong birthdays, and there are issues with depreciation. Sometimes it moves "ghost" entries and the vehicles don't transfer perfectly. Also, it doesn't bring over the amortized points history. It still tracks them the same as ATX, it just doesn't convert them. On the plus side, they are forms based like ATX (bunny is replaced by a "+" sign). When you input a zip code, it fills in the city & state (and even the county on the personal info page). You also have an option to engage some error checking tests. Primarily for the W-2s, 1099-Rs, and routing / account# info -- after you enter these, you go to a 2nd screen and re-enter. This helps minimize typos. (Although it seems most of my typos are on the check screen rather than the real data entry screen.)

I know it's late in the season when I find vehicle trade-ins easier than regular sales. Client started using his wife's 3 year-old SUV in his business last year. I asked them for FMV at the time of conversion and they guessed $8500. This year they sold it for $9000. Kelly Blue Book shows a decrease of about $1500 from one year to the next, so I plan to change the FMV to $10,500. But should I really be using the original purchase price? I don't have any historical info for the SUV to gauge the overall business use %. If I don't use any of the older personal use info, I get a fairly substantial short-term gain. Am I doing that right, or should I be starting with the personal years? He started using the SUV when his 10-year-old truck started having more trouble. Over the 7 years I've been doing their taxes, the depreciation component of the std mileage is higher than the purchase price. When the truck finally died, they gave it away. They aren't going to like the idea of have a $10K gain on a dead truck because they the over-depreciated over the years. And that doesn't include the mileage they took prior to my working on their returns. I doubt they have this info. How do y'all handle this? Max out the depreciation at the purchase price or try to get historical info (uh - huh) and go with the big gain? It seems like in my old HRB days, they had us just ignore that part and not show any sale or any real change of business vehicle. Just track std miles and that was it. Unfortunately I don't think I can get away with that. Why couldn't he have traded-in the truck (and SUV) and let me just defer the gains? OK, that would just be that much worse when he eventually sells. Thanks!

The only faxing related to the 8453 that I'm aware of is that faxed signatures are OK. I'm not saying you can't fax it to the processing center, but I've never heard that. Since I haven't used one in a couple of years, I may not be current on the rules. Faxing them in would be very useful!

Why do we always get these situations in April? (Austin) clients I've had for many years got divorced in April 2007 (no kids). It appears I was lucky enough to get both of them in the divorce settlement - something they were aware of. They seem to still be talking to each other - including tax info. I prepared return for ex-husband in February. Ex-wife came in a couple of days ago. I did point out to her that if there were going to be any conflict of interest issues, that I couldn't do it. She seemed to think everything was OK. He had been in Chicago getting an MBA. He graduated in May and moved to Houston at that time. He had mortgage statements which were in his name and social. One of the mortgage statements showed property tax paid. Started renting out house in July. House became 100% rental in July claiming 1/2 year prop tax and mortgage. Other 1/2 on Sch A. (Because we both knew that ex-wife had office in home until she moved out, I took the 1/2 year one room depreciation into account when figuring the basis for the rental house.) Ex-wife moved out of house in late June. She is self-employed and is claiming office in home up through June. She tells me that house is titled in her name only, but knows the mortgage is in his name so she has no problem with his claiming. She volunteered this info - I did not tell her what I claimed on his return. She also told me that she sent him the money for the mortgage. For office in home, I left depreciation carrying forward from prior year, and I took the utilities. Ex-wife becomes concerned that the office in home does not show mortgage interest or rental payments. She thinks IRS will find this strange. She tells me that since she is paying him the mortgage, that should count as rent to her. Bear in mind that for Jan - Apr they were still married and TX is community property state. (Granted, since they file single for 2007, I do NOT try to divide community property income / expenses during the joint months. Hard enough to do on MFS, I'm not trying it with a divorced couple!) So, I ask if it was set up as rental. She seems to think that it basically is. Since I cant' tell her how I prepared his return, I tell her to talk to ex to discuss. Somewhere in there I mention that if it is a rental deduction to one person, it's income to the other. Next day I get a call from ex-husband who wants me to run some figures to see what it does to his (completed) return if he shows the rental income. I mention that it moves the property tax and interest to Schedule E from Schedule A. (I have not yet told him it might just decrease his taxes slightly if he also gets the depreciation.) But, I still haven't really convinced myself that this qualifies as rental. This was the house they lived in together for most of the marriage. If it's something they both agree to, am I just being too stubborn / lazy? I'm also getting confused with the issue that she owns it but the mortgage is in his name. Thanks for any answers and for the chance to vent.

Thanks -- I really like these answers - especially this time of year. Even though it was a small $ amount I wanted to make sure neither she nor I got in trouble for having written off 100% and then using 30% personal (even if only one year). Indyscott - I would guess the computer was Dell since that's where her (now ex-) husband worked at the time. At $1700, I can't see it being a Cray! Thanks so much!

Client was using computer since 2003 in her business. It had been 100% business because she had another computer for personal use. In 2003 we took 100% as Section 179. In 2007, her personal computer died so she started using the business computer 30 for personal. I know I need to recapture a portion but I'm not finding where, how or how much. I found the rules for recapturing Section179 when business use drops below 50%. That's not the case here, but do I do it the same way? Thanks?

Yahoo finance had very good price and dividend history as well as splits. As for spin-offs, I usually go to that company's website and look for investor relations. http://finance.yahoo.com/