catax

Thanks for your reply Karen. Are there any other opinions on this issue? Or would you aggree with Karen that the motorcycle qualifies for the standard mileage rate. Using the standard mileage rate creates a loss for the Sch C. Just wanted to be sure to check into this. Thanks, Nena

Can you take the standard mileage rate for a motorcycle? Tried to find somewhere it says you can or can't. But no luck. I know that the Sch C states car or truck expenses. I am leaning towards taking actual expenses. But would like to take standard if it is acceptable to do so. Any thoughts?

I do not know what state you are located in. Maybe you are in a state with no income tax..But if not you need to also add the ef info sheet for the state you want to efile and follow all the steps you followed on the federal ef info sheet listed above. You should be creating two e-files one federal and one state. Sometimes they are piggybacked or sometimes sent separately depending on the state. The client will need to file two signature forms one for fed and one for the state. Nena

I have used the adjacent vacant land exclusion twice for clients here in CA. My clients loved me in both cases. You have all done a great job in disussing this thoughly. One case my client filed paying the tax on the land, then we had to ammend once the house sold. One case the house sold the year before the land. I did explain the 121 exclusion on the 1040X on the ammended one. I didn't attach any other statements besides a corrected Sch D. I didn't have any questions from IRS in either case. Nena

I have been really missing the mini organizer as well. The other on is just too much for most of my clients. I liked the mini that I was used to. I will try the one you posted here. Thanks for taking the time to do that.

THANKS FOR YOUR THOUGHTS ON THIS. NENA

I use Target underwriting. 860-284-0088. Group policy for tax professionals. You might want to call and get a quote for comparision. Nena (also mother of 3 in CA)

I have two different clients one with an out of state rental in GA one with one in CO. My client with the rental in GA was advised by a CPA that she should file a GA return as well as a CA one. That this would help her when she goes to sell the rental. I know that CA wants you to claim all income to CA. How would you handle this with your clients? Would you file returns in both states for the rental income (loss in both of these cases)? Any thoughts on this? Thanks, Nena

I was thinking about e-file S-Corp for CA and Federal return for the first time. I know you haven't always been able to efile CA but I thought it was now available. Can't seem to open e-file forms to download into ATX. Can I now e-file an S-corp return for CA? Also do I have to do anything special to be able to e-file returns to CA. Call someone at Franchise Etc.

I emailed tech support on approximately January 15th and never heard anything back. No response at all. It was not a critical issue but it made me realize that they are not responding the emails. I wonder if anyone has received a response to an email. I hope your issue gets resolved. Nena

Another thought I don't know what "FMA" means. Is that Department of Veterans affairs or Rural Housing Service listed in the pub. If so then my previous answer is incorrect. Nena

I see this differently. Unless I am misunderstanding the facts. I had the same situation and researched this. Only the charge allocable to the period $178 per month is deductable. So extend this out by the quantity of months they paid payments. The balance of the $3300 is allocable to another period. Page 7 in addressed by Eli discusses this. Since the PMI deduction has been extended to 2010 they should be able to use up all the prepayment in another year. Hope this helps. Nena

Thank you both for your responses. Somewhere in the back of my mind I was thinking you had to take the mortgage intereest and taxes on the 8829, however, I wasn't sure. Thanks for clearing that up for me. Nena

Thank you both for your responses. Somewhere in the back of my mind I was thinking you had to take the mortgage intereest and taxes on the 8829, however, I wasn't sure. Thanks for clearing that up for me. Nena

Do you have to move mortgage interest and property taxes to the form 8829 when depreciating a home office? Or is that an option? It doesn't benefit my client to claim those expenses on the 8829 and this is the businesses final year. I can't find this information in the instructions. So do you know if it is ok to depreciate the home office, claim utilities, and homeowners insurance and not the mortgage interest and property taxes as an indirect expense? Nena

I like the forms based approach, the price and the way it works. I have used the product since 1999 and it has gotten better every year. I have always thought that the tech support lacked. I remember the year that I had to talk to techs that did not speak good English (India I think). Anyway there have always been problems with the program but the bulliten board is what always pulled me through the tax season. I stopped calling tech support except when I couldn't find the answer on the board. It was a great feature. I rarely posted until last year but often lurked and read other posts. It was a great tool. I was very upsett when the board went down. I evaluated several programs. I still bought ATX because it had more for the price and I like to way it works. The new things I like are the tax prep fee coming over on the invoice and sch a from last year, the state tax refund coming over from last years return (started the year before), and basicly the forms based layout. I think the tech support has most always lacked until you got through to the techs that know the program, however, I think this year is the worst. My two cents....... Nena

You hit the nail on the head. In my mind I was confusing active participation with material participation. I wasn't so concerned with my clients with rentals close to home but was more concerned with the ones that were out of state. I appreciate everyones clarification I can't see were any of my clients wouldn't qualify for "active particpation", however, some will be phased out. I haven't had a case yet were one qualified for "material participation". Thank for clearing that up for me.

Another question: So what would be a scenerio when a taxpayer wouldn't be considered an active participant. If they just reliquish all control to another and have nothing to do with it at all?

If a taxpayer has an out of state rental and contract with a property management company can they be considered to actively participate in their rental? They do make some management decisions, some involvement in approving new tenants, approve all expenditures and other decisions regarding the rental are ultimately theirs to make. They even travel to the rental a few times or more to check on things. What are your thoughts on if they actively particpate or not? What if the property was not out of state do you think that hiring a management company would cause the taxpayer to be an active participant?

That is not the case when you buy the Dymo Printer. Look up the printer and you will find the specs and info regarding no monthly fee when the printer is purchase.

I really like to mail the returns to my clients. It keeps them out of my office for the second time. Gives me more time for preparing other returns. I send the 8879 form with the package and request that they return with a check. I email when I have the 8879 form and payment. This also helps me to track being paid better. I include the postage in the flat fee. I do not itemize it. This year I purchased a Dymo Twin Turbo Label printing machine. It was my Christmas present to myself. I have saved all my trips to the post office because I can print my own postage. I know you can do this with other software but the hassle of trying to print on label sheets and envelopes is not for me. In years past I would try to buy the right stamps to keep on hand only to put lots of extra postage on most of the envelopes. The twin printer alows you to load in two rolls of labels and keep them loaded. Anytime I want to print a address label or a stamp it is all ready to go. There is no monthly fee to purchase postage like with Stamps.com etc. The postage comes from Endicia. The other thing that is really neat is that you can purchase an computerized scale to go with it and you just place your envelope on the scale and hit weigh and the dollar amount for the postage pops up on my computer screen all I have to do is hit print and the stamp prints. It also comes in very handy for printing address labels for out of state returns or for address labels of any kind. I am very happy with it and use it most every day. You can find the Dymo Duo Mailing system(includes scale) on ebay for about $125. It costs about $200 in the stores. This is a great time saving device for me.

Boy Janien you rally jump all over people. I just didn't write it clearly. You are probably a great writer and you have great input. Sometimes its hard to put what you mean to say in writing. What I meant is it could be included in the Daughters total income and used toward the mothers support. Not that the total amount would be included in support for the mother. Hopefully, I said what I was trying to say correctly this time.

The checks are also earned income on behalf of the daughter. So the are included in the amount that the mother or others provides towards her own support. But are they also could be included in the amount that the daughter provides towards her mothers support? Anyway kinda confusing. But she can't take the exemption if that is included in the amounts provided by mother or others. Thanks, Nena

My client provides care for their dependent parent in her and her husbands own home. Her mother lived with them all year. Daughter received a W2 for in home care from the state of CA for providing care for her mother. The W2 is from her mother (Payer) to her daughter. Daughter meets the support test and provides over half of her parents support when this in-home-support is not considered. Question: Would this in-home-support payment be considered as additional support the mother provided on behalf of herself. She is the payer. Or addiional income from an outside agency? It is earned income on behalf of the daughter. Any thoughts? Thanks, Nena

It is amazing the types of brainstorms while lying awake at night during tax season. It seems as if my brain just doesn't stop working during the season. My brainstorm for him is he should have consulted with you before he did it. Nena