mcb39

Wausau, Wisconsin; Marathon County

1) Wausau Insurance, the Company that announced its demise last week

2) Paper Mills and Lumber Barons

3) Cheese and Cheese Curds

4) County Seat

5) About 100 miles South of God's Country

So how is that going to make the people feel who opted for the loan in 2008 and have to pay it back because they bought their home 6 months too early.? I, personally, am not encouraging anyone to take advantage of this $7500 interest-free loan. I think it will only cause more problems because so many will use it for unnecessary things. IMO

Never been to CT - I've been all around it, but never to it. Heard it's a nice place. I think anything would be better than Maine right now. It's been -30 below (actual temp) or more for about 2 weeks. Then last night it finally warms up, BUT only to drop over a foot of snow. We were supposed to get over 18 inches, but seem to have lucked out for now. Forecast shows snow through Saturday, clearing up Sunday, then again Monday to Wednesday. Wish me luck!

Good Luck!! Wisconsin hasn't exactly been Wonderworld lately. But this bad weather kind of makes it easier to be stuck inside doing taxes...... :(

Is anyone having problems sending e-files to ATX for processing?

I have so far been able to update my forms with the update button but I am getting server error messages

trying to retrieve my ACKs.

Please advise...

I have been transmitting several times this evening. Perhaps you are just hitting peak times when several people are trying to transmit. Try again.

I have a taxpayer and spouse with a disabled adult child. The spouse is the mother and and taxpayer is the stepfather. The earned income credit will only work if I put the the child as daughter. This is true for the spouse. Are they eligible for the earned income credit?

Yes, if she lives with them and is there dependent. And, of course, all other EIC guidelines must be met as to income,etc.

I've been meaning to post the same info, just got swamped today and didn't have a chance. But that is really a handy tool being able to go right from within the program.

Thanks for posting!

Deb!

I also have it in my favorites so that I can check on some clients before they come for their appointments. So far, one person has brought in the breakdown from the IrS. I checked it anyway. She got $54 more. Isn't tax season fun?

None here.....same as last year. Makes one wonder where they go.........or if they go anywhere.

Hi

Are you receiving debt codes for your clients?

Column is empty!!!

Strange....no debt codes even when you expect one. Empty column here.

Thanks KC.......that makes sense. I always knew I had to export, import to move the files, but never did understand the difference, either. I export all files as I work on them to zip disk. I export them to a flash drive in order to work on the laptop if I am going to be out of the office.; then restore them to the desktop in order to e-file. Is it not correct that all returns should be e-filed from the same computer?

I use Iomega Rev with Ghost for full backups. Also export each file as I work on it to Iomega Zip disks. Do daily incremental backups to Iomega Backup Pro on Rev Drive. Pricey, but has worked well for years and I can keep the two alternating disks in the safe for both desktop and laptop.

Some of us ATX Alcoholics went into some withdrawal but all is fine now!

taxbilly

A little withdrawal, but I ran a virus scan to kill time as I never really worry about it being out for long. Thanks Eric.

Just wondering if anyone has received any WI Acks yet - mine still all read "IRS Cleared" and one was transmitted on last Friday.

Received my first one this afternoon. Still waiting for WD.....Good Luck Teri

This is pretty awesome when one thinks about all of the years that WI forms were not even ready for filing until mid to late Feb.......and beyond. I remember one year that I did all my early e-files on ATX and did WI e-files on FreeFile on the WI web page. We've come a long way........Thanks ATX. :rolleyes:

Yes, do the worksheet, they will get the credit for the other child even though someone else got the credit for that child based on the 2007 returns.

Oh Sue....too funny....I just came home from a SHORT shopping outing with my husband. Glad to be home is all I can say so you can add that to the list. :angry:

Jainen...I wasn't saying that THIS couple wasn't trying hard enough. Being in a SE environment for 35 years; we would have considered many of those as excellent years if we had made close to $16000. Somehow you misread or I mis-wrote the intent of my post. I am in 100% agreement with you on this subject. :blink:

You're completely right - It is what it is. Just wish we lived in a world where everyone was honest.

Sometimes they think they know the law better than we do and sometimes they get surprised. Had a client drop off his info yesterday. This year he has almost the same amount of income as last year; right at $16,000. The big difference is that this year nearly 2/3 of his income is Unemployment. Last year he received $4593 EIC for 3 children. This year he will be shocked to find that it will drop to $2030 because Unemployment is NOT considered earned income. Nor will he get the $1200 stimulus check that he got last year. On the other hand, the mother of the children worked this year so she can file and receive $600 in stimulus; which they did not know. So, some people are trying.......just seems at times like they aren't trying hard enough. But, I feel that as long as we really practice Due Diligence, it is not up to us to decide who is honest and who isn't. If in doubt, we certainly have the option to send them elsewhere.

>>Would quit her job as soon as she hit the EIC max<<

EIC is highest with income a bit under $16,000. In my observation it is common for workers drawing early Social Security to quit work at about the same level, to avoid cutting into THEIR government checks. How do you feel about that?

*************

>>Do you have a link or any more info on the 2009 EIC max?<<

2009 limits are published in Revenue Procedure 2008-66 at http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/rp-08-66.pdf.

Isn't it everyone's goal to pay as little taxes as possible? Isn't that why we are here, to help interpret the tax code for our clients so that they pay only what they OWE? Isn't that why we do amendments year after year? I have no issues with legally paying the least tax possible as nearly all of my clients are low to middle class working folk.

Most of us know of families that fall into the two classes that Cathy cites. And, yes, we have to applaud the first example. My husband worked 3 jobs so that I could stay home and raise our boys. We would have welcomed a little extra help. As for the second group, as long as tax code is what it is, they are just as entitled as anyone to exercise their rights. It is not for us to judge. IMO

Just wondering if anyone has received any WI Acks yet - mine still all read "IRS Cleared" and one was transmitted on last Friday.

Haven't filed any yet......waiting for the WD..

Welcome to the club.......I guess some of us just like to talk more than others. :rolleyes:

I truly believe that the best way to learn is "hands on" and help from this board.

Deb....you have my heartfelt sympathy. I am sure that once we settle down, things will be OK. At least we do have a source of income even if we have to nudge ourselves to get going. Here in the Midwest, so many are out of work totally and things are getting really tough. My husband and sons' business (Used Auto Sales) hasn't written a contract in the last three months. I am hanging on to 2 jobs to help with their bills......and so the spiral continues. And, yet, I am so much better off than many. I count my blessings every day.

Exactly!

Deb!

But, therin lies our "due diligence"!

Deb....look at page 2, Question 5 of the 1065 for Partnerships. In some cases, balance sheets are not required, although it is really better and nicer to do them. If they have a filled out 1065 from the prior year, it is pretty easy to follow along. Pub 541 has the best directions that I know of outside of the directions that come with the 1065. I don't do Corps any more because I just don't have the time and with the influx of LLC's; there are more Partnerships than ever. I actually like doing those.

Deb, surprisingly, people are calling for Feb appts already and many of them are ones I did not expect (or particularly want) to hear from. I am not raising my prices either, but so far nobody has asked. I did send out letters to regulars saying that I needed payment up front this year due to collection difficulties in 07. I actually had some go right down to the wire for filing before they paid. I am really not into this "tax thing" this year. :dunno: