Diane

I was thinking of just maybe overriding and putting in 1.00 for SE tax. But, I think I'll just have the client paper file with the form 8948 attached; explanation -- software won't efile the SE Form. Diane

Schedule SE with zero SE tax because of the Health Insurance deduction is not being transmitted with the efile. Is there any way we can force it to be added to the efile? I've heard that clients are getting letters about not paying SE tax because IRS does not have the Schedule SE form showing zero tax. If not, I think I will have the client paper file her return. Diane

Thanks, it never applied in the prior year. So, I wasn't prepared for the reduction. Diane

The only client I have so far that qualified for this credit. Then, this year, there seems to be a hitch - Reduction of eligible contributions. For 2010, eligible contributions are reduced by the total amount of distributions the taxpayer (and spouse if MFJ) received from January 1, 2008 through the due date of the 2010 return. These amounts include Regular IRA and Roth IRA, 401(k), SEP, Simple, and Qualified retirement plans. My client is filing MFJ and the spouse received a retirement benefit from the State. From reading the above, my understanding is that her retirement benefit from the State disqualifies them from the Retirement Saver's Credit. Am I right? Diane

From a recent email from CCH, I think what you are seeing is the Return ID Number. Some returns are now being efiled in the MEF format. Diane

I read somewhere that we should amortize over the life of the loan any prepaid mortgage insurance premiums paid on a refinance. If this is true, where does this amortized amount entered? Diane

This is not their first year. I'm still trying. Diane

This is the message I'm getting when trying to transmit Form 7004: MEFFDR0000-080 The TaxPeriodBeginDate present in the IRS Submission Manifest must match the TaxPeriodBeginDate provided in the Return Header. The company is a Calendar Year. We don't input beginning date and ending dates for Calendar Year. The 7004 asks for the year of the extension and I enter 2010. When I click on the Error Field it takes me to the Header of page 1 for the dates. I'm going to try entering 01/01/2010 and 12/31/2010 on Page 1 and see if that works. Any other ideas? Diane

Response from ATX: Once we batch up returns into a group, we have a three day window to transmit them to IRS. Or else we have to un-batch them and start over. What you are seeing in return query is the last date that we can actually send that particular batch to IRS without it rejecting or causing us to rebuild the batch. This will help us track the batches, and get them out in order (first in, first out). the oldest returns will get sent to IRS before newer returns so we hit inside that three-day window. Diane

I'm located in Maryland, so maybe Andover is the problem. But, still, 4 days!!! And calling the boneheads wouldn't do any good. If they actually knew what they doing we wouldn't be in this mess. Just venting. Diane

Just got an answer from Customer Support by email. Was told that the date of 2/19/11 is the projected date that they will be sending it to IRS. Like I said before, that is 4 days after I transmitted. I think this is ridiculous! How can we have returns held up for so long? Even if there is a limitation on the number of transmittals, how do they make the decision on who gets held up? I've seen here that others have transmitted later on Tuesday and today, and have had their returns sent to IRS already. I will be calling customer support and asking why some are held and others are not. Diane

Well, so far, I still have 6 'Transmitted to EFC', 1 'Transmitted to Agency'. I sure hope that waiting 4 days to have these files 'Transmitted to Agency' is not going to happen. It seems to me that if I got these files transmitted at 8:00am on Tuesday that the wait time is not 4 days. Diane

The efile status in the software says 'Transmitted to EFC'. Diane

I sure hope not. That would mean they would these returns for over 4 days! Diane

Well, so much for smooth sailing. I just checked the status of some of my returns transmitted on 2/15/11 around 8:00am. Two of them state the correct date and time received by EFC. BUT, the date for sending to IRS -- 2/19/11. I'm trying to figure out how that can be since the 19th isn't here yet. I'm hoping that this is a mistake and they won't be holding these 2 returns until this Saturday before they send them to IRS. Diane

The 1099 does not show Taxable Amount with the 'Taxable Amount Not Determined' box checked. Box 5 does show client's contributions/payments. So, I'm thinking I can subtract the Withdrawal Charge and the client's cost from the Gross Distribution amount to arrive at the Taxable Amount. Diane

The term they used was 'Withdrawal Charge'. Diane

Client transferred funds (and closed out) a small annuity. The 1099 showed a taxable amount around $1,825 more than what was transferred to the new investment account. When asked about the difference they explained that $1,825 was a 'Withdrawing Charge'. I'm tempted to consider this charge as part of the 'cost' of the annuity and don't really want the client to have to pay tax on the full 1099 amount. The client does not itemize -- is there any other way to handle this? Can it be entered on Line 21 as a negative with an explanation as 'Additional Cost'? Diane

Child and dependent care expenses must be work-related to qualify for the credit. Expenses are considered work-related only if both of the following are true. * They allow you (and your spouse if filing jointly) to work or look for work.

Maintenance is scheduled every Sunday morning for about an hour. The support sites and efiling of returns are unavailable during the outage. Sunday Feb 6, the time is 9am. Beginning Sunday Feb 13, we backup that maintenance start time to 7am EST. This is on the ATX site. Diane

I have all my clients on the computer as PDF files. I also scan their paperwork and add to their files. In order for the IRS to see any paperwork they would have to sit down at my computer and view the PDF files. Can they just look at all my clients? Diane

How about Form 8941 (Health Care credit for Small Businesses)? I can find it at IRS (Form & Instructions), but it isn't even listed on the ATX site. Diane

Thank you so much. I really wanted to make sure that I would be preparing this return correctly. Diane

I emailed her to get out her calendar and count the nights. My other question, if she has the majority of 'nights' spent with her, she can then claim HOH. Since they both support the child they are sharing the dependency exemption. In 2010 He gets the exemption; 2011 She gets the exemption. I read that she can still file HOH (if she qualifies for the more than 50% rule), even though through a legal agreement He gets the dependency exemption for 2010. (Does this make sense?)

Client is separated. Haven't lived together since first of June. She pays more than half the support for the child. But, they share custody of the child 50/50. He lives with each of them 50% of the time. They have an agreement that the father will take the child as a dependent on the 2010 tax return. She in 2011. I'm having a problem with the HOH selection. Since neither one of them have custody for 'more than half the year' do they both have to file MFS? Can either one of them claim HOH? Also, this is not a friendly separation. Diane