mcb39

Happy Birthday, John....... This is the first thing that has caused me to smile today.

First put an X in the box on Line 39c. Click on the number on line 40, standard deduction. A box will open up with two choices. Do not choose Schedule A, choose Compare standard and itemized or wording to that effect. A worksheet will open up. About halfway down, it will ask if you paid property tax. Click Yes. Go down a few more lines and it will ask you how much property tax you paid in 2008. Fill in the amount. It wil then calculate $500 or $1000 and carry it to Line 40 on the 1040 and add it to the standard deduction. Forget about the schedule A.

But the current maximum credit was $500. The new maximum credit will cap at $1500 for 2009 and 2010 and the credit goes from 10% to 30%. You will not have to count the pre-2008 credit toward the new $1500.

That is a wonderful and very "professional" synopsis. Good job at saying what needed to be said.

Thanks taxbilly, I believe it was you who originally posted that site, which I printed for quick reference.

I had a moment of clarity this afternoon, drank a can of "light" beer and laid down just to rest for a few minutes. Woke up at 6:30; never heard hubby come home, had 3 messages on machine so never heard phone ring. So, yes, why wait for the weekend. Have accomplished a lot in the past 2 hours and am ready to go back to sleep for the night.

Thanks Tom.........that is going to come in handy unless they "fix" it!

CCH Tax Briefing: The new law provides onetime payments of $250 to individuals on fixed income (primarily SS recipients, RR and disabled veterans). Retired government workers, who generally are ineligible for SS, also will recieve one-time payments of $250. There is also a "Making Work Pay" credit., which allows a credit against income tax in an amount equal to the lesser of 6.2% of the individual's earned income or $400 ($800 for MFJ) The credit will apply retroactively to the start of 2009 and extend through 2010.

That is absolutely correct, Jainen. It is the ONLY way now and is spelled out very clearly in the Schedule C instructions. I conceded days ago to do it correctly. However, the angst resulting here is because all are being "punished" for the misdeeds of some. After all, the same amount of income and SE tax will be generated no matter how you split it unless you give one less than $400. We are talking about a joint return here. All of my small businesses ARE 50/50 and I don't have the time, nor does my conscience allow me to even suggest a 1065 for them. I know the difference between a Joint Venture and a Partnership and file plenty of each.

But, KC, as I said last weekend, in most cases it is not cost effective or necessary to do a 1065 for most of these. Many of them are couples struggling to start a joint venture business due to the questionable economy and lack of jobs. They cannot afford a 1065 nor do I feel that it is in there best interest or mine to do all that unnecessary work. Believe me, I do know how and when to prepare a Partnership return and prepare several of them. That suggestion doesn't even enter into this discussion unless the joint venture doesn't qualify for the split C treatment. :angry:

They bought it in Feb 2008; credit doesn't start until April 2008........you may not whine, Joan, but a lot of people will.

I posted extensively and angrily on this over the weekend. It seems there is no way. We have to create a Schedule C for each of them now and do the splitting ourselves. It seems that too many people who were not in Community Property States were taking advantage. So, now, instead of one C and two SEs; we need 2 of each. Curses!!!!!!!!I have a bunch of these; just one more thing to make tax season such fun. :angry:

F or FMS codes are for past due student loans, child support, federal taxes, state taxes or other governmental agency debts.

You are very welcome. I had to learn that one the hard way. Last year I got so frustrated that I ended up paper filing all of my 1065s because I couldn't figure out the rejection reason.

You have that exactly right, Jainen. I also had a client call last night. Young couple bought their first home in Feb, 2008. I had to tell them it doesn't qualify. I felt like an idiot. How do you explain the sense of these cutoff dates to anyone. Now I have one two months short on one end and two that are two and three months short on the other end. Just telling them that you never know what Congress will do just doesn't cut it. How are the roses doing? Mine are buried under 2 feet of snow.

Thanks KC for joining the discussion. I will resign myself to doing the splits. Odd, though, that they have all those other new options to check on the top of the Sch C, such as for rental. Too bad they couldn't have added this one too. I have read all the instructions for the C and they do specify that two Cs need to be filed as well as two SEs.; so we win some, we lose some. I'm not going to short change my clients when it isn't feasible or affordable to do a 1065.

Yes, I saw that as well as a credit for buying a NEW auto, rv or motorcycle. That's not good news for my Used Car Dealer husband, who is drowning in nothingness right now.

Were you already registered with e-services? If not, they will be sending your login and password. If you were already registered, you needed to go in and change your original application from whenever you were given your efin. You have to add 1065 and whatever forms you want to the form. Originally, we were only registered to file 1040s.

Why is it that the husbands get irritated? They certainly like the money we bring in but hate the disruption to their world. (home office, here). It's not like we are exactly having a "fun" time. Oh, well....you gotta love them anyway!

That is correct from what I see. I have had three of these so far; the last getting a $12K refund, $7500 of which will have to be repaid over 15 years. I think there will be a lot of bitterness when some of these folks find out that if they had waited a few months to purchase, they would not have to pay back. I wonder if this was an intentional oversight and/or if some provisions will be made later to forgive repayment for 2008 purchases after April. However, the law is the law and, of course, this isn't even officially the law yet.

Thanks a lot, John. I am talking about really small businesses, AGI of $30000 or less and 50/50 split between husband and wife. I guess I can do the splits, but upsets me because ATX has been working extremely well for me up until I stumbled on this last night. Thanks again.

I did the same thing because last year all of my 1065s were rejected out of hand with that canned reject message. Since I had not updated my e-file info since 1983, I was only approved to efile 1040 returns. I also did it on IRS e-services. And, yes, you can efile the return with the K1 now. Matching could be a long way off...

Speaking of which, why is it in these days of modern know-how that it is impossible to find a decent eraser.? The ones on pencils are hard as rocks and leave black smears. I guess I need to go back and look through some of my kids' old school stuff. Don't they think we make mistakes anymore? Dont they know we cannot cut and paste, highlight and delete, backspace, etc on pencil notes? Here is a chance for someone to make a lot of money by creating a decent eraser once again. BTW, John, would you take a look at my post from last night regarding the splitting of a Schedule C. This has me really upset and I forsee LOTS of pencil work to split all that stuff manually. I was hoping that more people would get onto that train and present their thoughts. I guess that posting serious stuff on a Friday evening is not always savvy. It gets lost in the folds of the weekend.

Pub 17, Page 86: Qualified Joint Venture: If you and your spouse each materially participate as the only members of a jointly owned and operated business, and you file a joint return for the tax year, you can make a joint election to be treated as a qualified joint venture instead of a partnership. To make this election, you must divide all items of income, gain, loss, deduction, and credit attributable to the business between you and your spouse in accordance with your respective interests in the venture. Each of you must file a separate Schedule C or Schedule C-EZ. Oh, please, we are not talking about anything more than a small family business here, where the spouses are contributing equal time, effort, etc. In WI, it wouldn't even matter if it was equal. These businesses do not justify the work or cost of filing a partnership. Please Give Us Back the Box to Check! :angry:

This is Community Property state. I will check it out. Only option will be to create 1 schedule C and then split it between 2. That will be an extreme pain as some of these have been set up this way for years. Another reason to split is to allow both to contribute to IRA. PUT THE JOINT CHECK BOX BACK!!!!!!!!! :mad: