Randall

Like the old Leon Russell song said, 'The left ones think I'm right, the right ones think I'm wrong.'

Reminds me of an old Led Zeppelin song: Hangman! Hangman! Meet me at the gallows pole.

I'm going to Smallville, Kansas. Look for Clark.

We're digging the grave of capitalism with a shovel called DEBT. And its twin, democracy, will be buried with it.

I never drink anything stronger than pop, and Pop will drink about anything. But I can't spring for the drinks. I'm not as well heeled as the rest of you.

I'm not buying. You can't hang me, I'm east of the Pecos. I thought it was Geez. What about MIT, the Caribou campus?

What university?

I thought it was 'Sheesh'.

I've got three mud rooms, the living room, the kitchen and the basement.

What's a mud room?

What does this company do?

Thanks for these comments. They are more specific regarding pros and cons. Not just things like great, wonderful, friendly support.

I haven't renewed yet but I probably will early. I know the discount dollars aren't that much. But I wonder about the risk of CCH dumping the program. It doesn't seem reasonable to me. They'd be better off reselling the program to someone else. Would everyone really move to Taxwise? And what about Taxwise? Does anyone know much about Taxwise, compared to Drake or TRX? Another earlier comment was about CCH axing all the programmers. Didn't someone mention that only the tech support people in Maine were let go but the programmers were still there? Anyone know about this for sure? Joelgilb brought up some concerns but I wonder what the probability of some of these other programs getting bought out or just going under.

I use an HP Laserjet 2430. It's about two and a half years old now. Even though it wasn't listed by ATX as one of their recommended printers, I've never had a problem. I did pay $650 though. I would check out HP's website for the latest models.

I'll be renewing ATX and taking the early discount. I like to hear about other programs though to know there are alternatives out there.

Does the same for Ky. Luckily, I caught them all, so far as I know.

I haven't used Money Plus. I have downloaded MS Office Accounting but haven't spent any time with it. They offered it to accountants free. They also have something called Accounting Xpress and I think it's free. I don't know anything about it. If anyone is familiar with these, comments would be welcome.

I think that 6 years is on the IRS fiscal year or closing year, which I think is 6/30. So if a return is on extension and filed after 6/30, the first year counting is the following 6/30. With all that confusion, I just think of 7 years.

As mentioned, there may be improvements. Try to jog their memory. I doubt they have good documentation but maybe going through old checkbooks. Was all the borrowed money used for the deadbeat son? Could some of the money be spent on land improvements, fencing, excavation, surveying, whatever? Even to finance tenant farmers, or the son who was trying to be a farmer (in order to save the farm)? Just tossing out ideas to come up with some basis for them?

Good points. And I try to get my clients to get W-9s. Have the info ready at year end to prepare 1099s. And those who tell the client they're a corporation, ok, give the client a W-9 with corp name and EIN. I don't see why a long time business would NOT want to issue 1099s. Some may think I'm an advocate for IRS (we all are indirectly), but I see it as being an advocate of the client. Why not try to avoid the problem down the road.

That was my original point, but not so well stated.

A big IF. Actually, I wasn't joking. But it is mostly a get your attention type of thing. I explain the requirements. I give them W-9s to get everyone on board. I'll accept the numbers the first year IF they seem reasonable and IF the client has decent records. But if they just throw out a big number, I'm not going to audit them and I'm not going to do the return.

Yes, but I can't afford it.

I don't know about the increased frequency this year. But the tendency (especially for new businesses) is to just start paying people. They either don't know or somehow think they can still deduct the expense without any paper work. I usually don't see them until tax time. If it's not too much, I explain to the client, he can treat it as a gift and not deduct and do it right from here on out (W-2 or 1099, whichever applies). I'd be interested in how others deal with this type of thing. I filed late 1099s in the past and don't know think the client was ever penalized. I keep hearing about the penalties though.