joelgilb

I want them to call and send me stuff this time of year. Gives me someone to CHEW OUT and get my frustration level down! Joel

You saw through my disguise so easily? Joel

Thinking that if I renew, I want a written agreement from ATX that if they decide to discontinue the ATX product and move us to Taxwise, that I am entitled to a full refund. Joel

Must be and don't call me Shirley. Joel

In disguise!

William directed me here. Wonder if that is why they fired him. (BAD WILLIAM BAD, you are not actually supposed to be helping the ATX customers, you are supposed to be giving them post hypnotic suggestions. " You will switch to Taxwise, You will switch to Taxwise, You will switch to Taxwise, Now when I count to 3 you will open your eyes and forget this conversation , but when an ATX sales rep calls, tell them you want TAXWISE, 1,2,....") Joel Bad Joel, and I keep saying don't bash... I better get a new look so no-one notices me.

I think I will take your advice and use passwords like ATX passwords and have it change mine every 15 minutes with a random generator taken out to 3,543 characters, with both upper and lower case and all the characters above the numbers on my keypad and hidden alt characters. Wonder if that will be secure enough? Joel

Maribeth: I looked at Fine Print and didn't buy it. How does it help? Looked to me like it just allowed me to print multiple pages to a file, but if it does more, I might revisit it. Joel

I GOT IT! Ok for anyone else that has this (rare) issue. There is a new input on the info sheet of the 1040 that needs to be checked indicating that mom and dad did not claim kid. Buried to make it easy to find it. Joel

Thanks for the Publication reference. The reference as I read it on page 22 does indicate that the parents can not take the exemption and then the child will get the credit. Rules for dependents would still not allow the child to claim himself as an exemption because "Someone else could have claimed him", they just CHOSE not to. So, JB, thanks for the reference, it does answer the question and ATX is not dealing with it correctly this year. As I write this I am informing tech support of the error and asking how to deal with it. Joel

And oh, maybe you should tell him not to pay them there taxes as they is Unconstitutional! lol Joel CPA (Cleaning Pressing & Alterations) lol

Is this true? Sounded like you were telling a joke at first. Are you sure you live in Ohio and not the mountains in Kentucky or Tennessee? joel

You Picked another one BOOGER! Yes they are misc itemized deductions just like advisory fees. Joel

for those that don't know, there is an input right on the 1099 int or 1099 div where you can choose "N" and provide the amount that is nominee int or div. ATX has it listed as "Adjustment to box 1b" on the 1099 div for instance Joel

JB: I thought that the kids were not allowed to take their dependency exemption if parents had the right even if the parents do not take the exemption. And since parents did not take kids, kids but they could get education credit but not exemption. This is what the MTG suggests also. Joel

Found 3 sites with articles that support what I have been doing, but ATX is RED FLAGGING it. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,168067,00.html http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Taxes...dATaxBreak.aspx http://www.smartmoney.com/tax/tips/index.cfm?story=taxtip-3 Also the MTG (Master Tax Guide, Kleinrock Ed) Par 1303, 5th paragraph in suggests it is ok) 2 local CPA friends of mine think the kid can not do it though and agree with ATX RED FLAGS. Joel

I have a client whose children both go to college. Parents can't take the credit due to their income levels. Parents also lose the dependency exemption due to their income level (nice problem btw). Parents due support their kids. Can I take the credit on the kids returns and not claim the kids on parents returns? In the past I would not claim the kids (no dependency exemption for anyone) on either parent or kids and was able to efile the kids with the credit. Now ATX gives me an error message in red (blue in past year) and won't let me efile it. I thought as long as mom and dad don't claim kid the kid could take their own education credit. One more thing, kids are paying for college with a portion of their own money from investments (funded initially by mom and dad). Joel

Great reasons, I especially relate to your last one .. "... what pages go with that?". Never understand why the clients insisted on un-stapling what I gave them? Used to make them bring it back, so that they could suffer right along with me. Joel

Look at the Post I started on "Why Efile". A few more good reasons. Also, those posts you see are few and far between. I have started efiling the year after the program started. In the early years I saw many of the problems in my own practice that you see in these posts. It is as much an education for preparers as it is for taxpayers. And I am much more productive with efile than paper returns. I have, even recently helped a friend add efiling to hisr practice and seen even this reluctant preparer realize he should have done this a long time ago. Even with the growing pain he had the first year (last year was his first ever efile) Still there is a time and place for a paper return. Or should I say one paper return, ONE apparently this year and ONE last year! as Stan Lee said "Nuff Said" Joel

Received the above reply to another question I had ( 83 ( election) and thought it was one that may have broader interest. My response is below: Anyone else have any thoughts one way or the other? Joel

Lets see: 1. There seem to be a lot less problems with returns that are efiled. 2. Clients getting refunds get their refunds substantially faster 3. Most of my clients that owe money, like the convenience of it be taken directly from their bank account 4. I do find that creating an efile has helped me catch errors in the return. Now I know I can still do this and file the paper return instead. 5. IRS has sold E-file well and ALL my clients want to E-file. Those that I have had to file by paper tend to grumble and waste my time. 6 E-file encourages drop offs and often gives me more time to turn the return around. For instance, when a client drops the return off on Thursday, I can let them know that it will not get processed until next Wednesday. This gives me a week rather than the 1 houor to 3 day turn around they expect or want ans see others getting. 7. It encourages drop offs. Now I have very few clients making appointments. I know I am essentially repeating item 6 above. Guess this one is important to me. 8. I encourages the clients to think electronically in other facets of my practice. Email, fax etc. 9. It is letting me move from Chicago to Las Vegas and keep virtually all my clients (at least the ones I want to keep) 10. A dropped off return can be prepared in substantially less time than one with an appointment. Sometimes as much as 75% + less time. I can prepare more returns in the same number of hours and thus I make more money. Shall I go on? Oh and a final thought. In answering my own question I did not say I was going to end up efiling this return. I just indicated how it needed to be done if one wanted to, so that anyone else with this question has an answer. This was a question that was also just asked on the ATX board that CCH so "THOUGHTFULLY" brought back (sarcasm intended). This one will probably get mailed. Joel

CRUNCH!!!

I have created them in the past. One I use all the time is a "Point Sheet". Its not a very high level spreadsheet though. Have created others in the past, but since they did not rollover I abandoned most of them. Joel

Tried ATX efile help again and no luck. They haven't got a clue and actually gave me the wrong advice. Told me I could use the blank elections or attach a statement. BUT, I just got an answer to my question from IRS Efile help desk. They indicated that the return can be e-filed, but not the 83( election. After efiling the return the 83( election must be mailed in. The suggestion was to attach a copy of the 1040 page 1 & 2 (I'll probably attach the whole return) and indicate that the return was already e-filed. Joel

Mel!!!!! Save us ALL!!! Still think the answer is purchase both ATX and Mel's software at the same time. This will give Mel another year to refine his product and some needed cash to fund the operation. Maybe Mel can even bring back William to help with support. Plus we can all probably pare down (or is that pear down. mmmmmmmmmmmmm. Make mine a Bartlett) what we order from ATX. Joel