Randall

>>how much insurance you need<<

Of the three advisors, this is #1. If "one of his drivers falls asleep at the wheel and takes out a bus full of kids," the standards of his industry aren't going to be that much help.

I agree. He needs insurance. You never know what may happen and even doing everything according to Hoyle, you're still vulnerable. A news story around here a few years ago (nothing to do with business or entity choice) was a child drowned in a neighborhood water drain opening during a storm. The opening had a grate over it, but it apparently was not enough. The lawsuit was against the builders, etc. But the kicker was that all homeowners within a certain radius of the location were also included in the lawsuit and the judge allowed them to be included.

All the frivolity aside, this illustrates a point I've wondered about. How does anyone really separate themselves and personal assets from their business LLC and the business assets. It has always seemed to me that if someone were sued, they would sue both the LLC and the individual and how could one defend themselves from this even if they had dotted all the i-s and crossed all the t-s.

So i don;t know where everyone is going but it seems that all programs have their issues and we will just have to get used to poor support.

I agree. I think in general, businesses are going to cut cost and try to be lean and mean (no pun intended). And the easiest way to cut cost is to cut people and take shortcuts on training people.

I expect things to be better next year though. With a whole year, a lot of the Georgia people should be able to come up to par on ATX.

I don't have plans to change as of now. With the price of of the higher end programs, I think I'm getting a pretty good deal. If newcomers bring low end programs out, I may try one and see how they progress with their improvements. But they'll have to start out pretty basic just like ATX, then add improvements over the years. Then of course, they'll want to sell and make a killing too.

Overkill.

It usually takes a year or two for the software applications to catch up with the new operating system. I try to time a new computer purchase after SP1 and preferably SP2 comes out. Vista SP1 is due out soon. I expect most of the problems to be ironed out before next tax season. My current computer is about 2 and a half years old with XP SP2. I'm hoping Vista SP2 will be out before I buy my next computer.

If I had money and time to spend, I'd get a Linux machine and play around with the software applications available.

I did get an e-mail reply from Heather Avery...Customer Service Level 3/email team...AFTER I had a federal return get accepted and then the direct debit denied because I had forgotten to add the phone number...That used to be caught in the checking....She also suggested that we update using the manual update rather than the automatic update as the automatic only updates the forms that are installed in your program..?

And then she went on to give Bonus information about ATX A.M. ...a quick fill on information you need right away...Program airs at 9 am EST and lasts 5-10 minutes...and if you miss, you can view each day's show until the next morning....

My only comment is this many weeks into the season what information do we need right away except when Hawaii can start e-filing!

What's the ATX A.M.? And how do I access it? I couldn't find anything on the ATX website.

I think the program comes with tutorials.

There's a message on ATX MyAccess. It says some are getting thru and some are not. To keep trying off and on. They are working on it.

I agree with "Booger." Discard the Form 2220, and include the penalty amount on the proper line. Or e-file now, without paying the penalty or including the 2220, and wait for a bill from the IRS. Don't count on ATX getting their act together anytime soon.

Not sure about the 1120, but doesn't IRS say you can have IRS calculate the penalty on 1040 for you. In other words, is it mandatory to calculate the 1040 penalty? I'm not sure what I did wrong last year, but I had the 1040 penalty calculated and several clients got back that money. IRS didn't calculate the penalty. I've stopped calculating the penalty this year.

Client's spouse is usuing a hyphenated last name. When I create the efile, the error message says the name is too long and I must truncate it. The message gave me the priority steps to truncate, first using only initial for first name. I did so and it allows me to create the efile. I haven't transmitted the return yet.

Any one have this before? Any problems with the SSN/Name matchup?

I've not had any problems with Norton. I just upgraded from Norton Security to Norton 360. Been using Norton for years. So far so good.

Ordinary or rental income?

Scratch that. Not real prop of course.

You can also elect SL depreciation to lower the depreciation expense up front.

It went thru. Received the IRS acceptance notice.

And perhaps determine client's insolvency position at time of bankruptcy in case 1099-C shows up in future.

KY accepts the Fed 8879. ATX loads the KY 8453. Just discard it. You should be able to piggyback KY as long as everything else is ok. 8879 in your file should satisfy KY.

Per www.irs.gov

File 2007 returns for those who normally file.

IRS will work with Vets Affairs & Social Security for the others. Not sure what that means but it appears they may not have to file returns if they normally would not.

IRS should keep us updated.

This may be ill-timed and unnecessary, but with 9 ATX icons on my desktop, going back to 1999; I have to say to all the complainers that my program has never run smoother or more correctly than this year. Every day I find little tweaks that make things easier. The client letter is much more user friendly; the downloads are fast and flawless; even with my slow dialup and forms are opening automatically that you used to have to go after (ie 8880 for instance). After the first time, I have no trouble getting into My ATX, which doesn't mean that I like or condone the new login, but some things you just have to deal with. Did you know that you can still click on the "refund" box in the upper right hand corner to bring up the Tax Summary sheet for new clients. It is automatically rolling over for the the old clients.

I agree. But you really do need to upgrade from dial up. Whew.

Kentucky passed a ludicrous tax reform law a couple of years ago (only to revert back after 2 years). There were a lot of new forms and form changes. I've only used ATX and they were late getting a lot of forms ready. I don't know if other programs were faster, but I realized these things happen. Good luck to all the MN people. Hopefully, it'll be smooth from here on out.

I am seeing the e-file fee on my credit card. I called and was told that the program I had did not include free e-filing as of in the past. I have the 1040 (Saber) with 3 states. Because of this, I am being charged $3. for federal and $2. for state. I might as well pay the extra $200. because the benefit I get will outweigh the cost that I would pay.

I wish I had known this before, however, it might have been an oversight on my part when I ordered the program.

From this and other problems I've heard about, I think those with the lower products (saber, zillion forms) are the ones experiencing the difficulties. I've always gotten the MAX program with all states, and unlimited efiling, whether I needed it or not. Fortunately, it's been pretty smooth sailing for me. I can't guess what CCH will do but it seems these piecemeal programs might be the ones that go. Hopefully, they'll keep ATX even though they may only offer the MAX whole package product. It would be easier for them in their marketing/pricing policy instead of trying to keep tabs of what they've offered here and there.

I noticed a little change in the input sheet. For joint accounts, both names and SSNs are listed. Does anyone know if this affects efiling. I assume it's ok. Will find out soon anyway.

What I do for this is to duplicate the joint return twice - one for the taxpayer and one for the spouse. Then I remove all the spouse information from the taxpayer version, and visa versa. Very easy to do, doesn't take much time, and gives me three nice pictures and makes it easy to present to the client.

This is what I do too if it looks like it might be close. If I don't think it's close, I just use the MFJ vs MFS worksheet. Then take a quick look at the state return for MFS to see which is best.

I don't have to worry too much in Ky but I'm on the border with Ohio and have some OH returns.

Yes, it's been available for awhile now. I used it in a return but I knew I couldn't efile it yet. Then when I saw it was better for the client to take the tuition deduction, I discarded the 8863 and efiled the return.

Your competitor is probably giving them the loan advance.

When are they going to come out with Service Pack 1 for Vista? I don't need a new computer yet, but I'm hoping they get SP1 out by then.

Found my own answer. Next month according to today's WSJ. Also, SP3 for XP is coming out soon.