LisaAnn

Here is my step-by-step of "Always Hold and Release" When you are finished completing the tax return: 1) Create the the Federal & State E-files. 2) Save the return and close the return. Under the E-File Manager you will see: 1) Federal return listed as 'Created' 2) State return listed as 'Held'. Transmit the Federal return. Once you receive 'ACK" the E-File Manager will now show: 1) Federal return listed as 'Accepted' 2) State return listed as 'Created' Now just click on the State return and transmit. Once you receive 'ACK' the State return will now show 'Accepted'

Ok, so this is going to be my year of "strange scenerios"! I just received an email from a client stating the following: "This is going to sound weird, but .... can I claim mileage for every day at work having to drive to the restroom? Its a nesesity to have to utilize the bathroom and not something thats easy to get to. My building does not have a bathroom facility, the closest bathroom is over two blocks away. When its raining or cold or icy out everyone has to drive. Its crazy I know. Just thought I would ask. Used alot of gas the last nine months while I was pregnant....lol" Any comments?

Speaking of age being only as old as you feel reminds me of my Grandmother, who is 95 and has dementia. Everyday when I go to see her you just never know how old she is going to be that day! Some days she says she's 50 or 60; other days she's around 40. The other day she was telling people she was 18! When I tell her that she's 95 she says "Oh my, am I that old"? I just have to smile :)

I just thought maybe the IRS would take the stand like the insurance company and say that it was cosmetic and not medically necessary. But I feel comfortable that I have documentation from the Doctor stating is was medically necessary. Thanks KC

Ok, I need your opinions; Client was over 500lbs and lost 300lbs (awesome determination!), but anyway because of the extreme weight loss, client had extra skin that needed to be surgically removed. His doctor did approve his surgery saying it was medically necessary due to getting sores, etc. Client went ahead with the surgey. Client's insurance company gave him the runaround and wouldn't pay....so client paid out of pocket for all expenses. Are these expenses deductible as medical expenses becasue the Doc did approve as 'medically necessary' even though the insurance wouldn't pay?

Hi Chowdahead, You might have figured this out by now, but in case you didn't, you can activate the 'Hold' process on the state if you go to the E-file tab and then click options menu and then preferences and then check the box that applies to what you want to do; Ask to hold and release, Always hold and release or never hold and release. Have a great day!

Has anyone heard of or use cyberdefender? I inquired about it.....it has 24/7 live support and they can remotely access your computer, if you give permission, to fix a problem if needed. Still on the fence, not sure what to do?

Dennis at Medlin, Please know that I wasn't putting your software down either. I was just responding to a suggestion someone had. As a matter of fact, I reviewed your software info and was ready to jump on the chance to use it until your company responded and said it didn't handle multiple rates. The simplicity of your software, I'm sure, is very advantageous to many! Thanks Bulldog Tom! I will do research on your many suggestions to see what might work best.

Bulldog Tom, Which one do you currently use?

Thanks lynnjacobs. I just checked with Medlin and they do not handle multiple rates. Thanks for answering! Lion, I'll check out quickbooks to see if their payroll handles mutliple rates. Here's the scenerio: Any one week an employee might have as many as 6 rates of pay........ie: labor rate, labor benefit rate, carpenter rate, carpenter benefit rate, roofing rate, and roofing benefit rate. Then, there is as many as 10 employees on the job with this scenerio. I do have it set up in excel, but it's becoming complicated and I'm afraid there is room for error.

Hello Everyone.....are we breathing better these days? Can anyone recommend payroll software that can handle several different government rates for each employee? One of my clients is doing alot of government contracting jobs and there are several rates involved for each employee within the payroll week depending on what the employee is doing.....labor, carpenter, roofing. It's getting a little cumbersome on my self-made excel payroll worksheets. Any suggestions on payroll software? And thank you everyone....this board is so helpful throughout tax-season and off-season as well!

Yeah! Patience is a virtue! Thanks everyone! I immediately thought there was a problem on my end! Enjoy your evening!

yep.....same here!

ugggggggggggggghhhhhhhhh! I wanted to be done! I thought I'd just press the button.......but no! And of course it's that client that you told to have their stuff to you a week ago! I shouldv'e known better.....good thing I charged him extra for the chest pains I'm feeling right now!

I'm trying to efile my last return and getting a server error message! Anyone else having problems?

My prayers are with you bstaxes and MM! Shame on me, to think juggling caretaking of my 94 year old Grandmother and tax season was hard.......your crosses are much much greater! You're in God's care....keep the faith!

Brings back memories!

I've had the same problem. Refund was in the 12th of March cycle, but now the website is stating the 23rd. This return did not have an energy credit.

Thanks everyone! It just seems that at this time of year the littlest things don't make sense. Could it be mental burnout?

Thanks Deb. It does seem "logical" that he should get the exception for $1,680 that he paid in medical insurance. Anyone else?

Hi Rita, Thanks for responding. Below is the quote from the IRS website under Early Distributions from IRA--Exceptions: "Medical insurance. Even if you are under age 59½, you may not have to pay the 10% additional tax on distributions during the year that are not more than the amount you paid during the year for medical insurance for yourself, your spouse, and your dependents. You will not have to pay the tax on these amounts if all of the following conditions apply. You lost your job. You received unemployment compensation paid under any federal or state law for 12 consecutive weeks because you lost your job. You receive the distributions during either the year you received the unemployment compensation or the following year. You receive the distributions no later than 60 days after you have been reemployed. It's the 'not more than' that makes me think I can't use the $1,680 as an exception. Taxpayer doesn't have any other medical expenses. What are your thoughts?

Taxpayer took out $14,000 from Traditional IRA due to being unemployed. Received unemployment for 14 months until he found a new job. He used most of the distribution to supplement basic living expenses. $1,680 was used for medical insurance premiums in 2009. Early distribution penalty applies because taxpayer was separated from employment at age 54 not 55. My question is: Can the $1,680 be deducted on form 5329 using the medical nsurance premiums code for an exception? Or am I understanding the regs. correctly that because the distribution was higher than the insurance premiums paid the $1,680 is not an exception? Thanks!

Nothing to worry about, he's a typical hard-working, honest guy. If he was into making these bills, I don't think he'd try to deposit it at a bank, where they are trained to spot counterfeits (at least, this teller was)......he would've probably tried to buy something at a department store. Oh by the way, it passed the marker test.....it was the teller who identified it by looking at it and touching it.

Hello Everyone, A new scenerio for me, but maybe someone else came across this in the past: Taxpayer was making a cash deposit (personal, not a business) and one of the $100 bills was counterfeit. The bank, of course, after intense questioning, would not credit him for the $100. Instead, they gave him a form stating the $100 bill was counterfeit. (It also had questions that he had to answer as to the origin of the bill, if known) Can he deduct this loss on his tax return? And how would handle it? Thanks, as always, for your help.

Hi, I just ran across an issue I had with a tax return and wanted to make you aware of a glitch in the software. I thought I was finished with a return: basic W-2, Sch. D, interest, and filing for the new vehicle sales tax deduction on Sch. L. No problem. Then the client called with some additional deductions that would be included on Sch. A. This created higher itemized deductions than the standard deduction, so of course we wanted to itemize at this point. After entering all of the additional deductions on Sch. A, I did an error check and no errors were found. I automatically assumed (which I shouln't do) that the software would move the new vehicle sales tax deduction over from the Sch L.(since we were not using it there now) to the the Sch. A. It did not. Just something to watch when preparing your returns. Happy filing everyone!