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ICOUNT

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  1. On Series EE bonds you report the interest in the earliest in the year when the bonds mature or the year they are cashed in. So the bonds matured years ago that are now closed years. The bonds are now cashed ----Is this interest non taxable because it relates to a closed year?
  2. I have a couple of clients in the past have asked me to attach a copy of their return as a PDF to an E mail. I am aware of CCH Portal---the cost is approx. 450. I know that adobe can be purchased for about 150 annually. Could anyone else suggest a program to encript a PDF file with password protection? Thank You
  3. I'm a one person ( 67 years old) office using an XP professional computer. I have been backing up ATX data to a flash drive and an external hard drive. I was considering to purchase a laptop or notebook to back up to. I called ATX and they indicated I would need an XP professional computer ( at least they strongly recommend it) It would be difficult to purchase & set up a new computer especially during busy tax season . I checked with Best Buy-----they don't sell xp professional computers. What does a person do?First has anyone used Nortons Ghost backup which supposedly will back up the entire hard drive & therefore it would not be necessary to install the programs over? Is it possible to make a copy of the hard drive on an external hard drive & if the hard drive crashes plug it in to another computer. What about having 2 internal hard drives & having them mirror each other so if one crashes just switch to other ? I would still back up my data & take the external hard drive home. Would a person try to find a used XP professional computer to have in case of a crash? In case of a crash what about the internet addresses etc? Can I use original xp disk on a new computer or hard drive? They tell me there are different versions of XP professional program. Another concern I have is the potential office break ins. My office does have a building alarm---there has been a number break ins in this area. Has anyone thought about all the confidential info on the computer & office? Is there insurance available ? I appreciate your comments
  4. There are a number of ads for online backup. As a suggestion I would think that ATX would consider offering such a service. PS Would like to have a complete drive backup.
  5. I have a client who owns a commercial building that he rents. He will be putting a new roof on the building in 2009 along with solar panels. He has been paying alternative minimum tax in the past. I know that roof replacements have been discussed in other forums----I would like you to google " The Tax Aspects of Roof Replacements " in Corporate Business Taxation Monthly for October 2008. This article seems to give the green light to treating replacements as repairs based on proposed regulations & tax court cases. The other question is related to the solar energy credit. First it does appear that there is a 30% credit available for solar panels for rental commercial buildings. It appears he can claim the credit based on cost or a production credit based on output. Also it appears there is a grant available by ARRA. Does anyone know about the grant? The next question if he pays alternative minimum tax is the credit moot since he can't utilize it. Can he carry this unused credit forward of back? ---Why does life have to be so complicated?
  6. I have a client that called me re: saving SE tax by renting a shop bldg to his sole proprietorship LLC. He is in the construction business- tax reporting as a sole proprietorship. Taxpayer & wife Jointly own a shop building adjoining the residence which the LLC uses. We have been taken expenses for the building on Schedule C. His question can the LLC pay rent to his wife & him at a fair rental value more than the building expenses and thus save on SE tax. I know this has been discussed at seminars---but I can't put my finger on it in my research. If the business was incorporated I don't think there is a problem. How about an LLC reporting as a proprietorship? Thanks
  7. Grandparents make gifts to granddaughter of her college tuition and also health insurance premiums. Also they make gifts of the health insurance premiums for son's family including the granddaughter. They pay the premiums and tuition direct. The son and wife claim their daughter as a dependent on their 2008 return. Question can they also deduct the health insurance premium paid by the grandparents( sons return) along with the college tuition. I don't think there is a problem with the education credit- since the credit goes with the exemption- not sure on the deductions. The reason the grandparents pay directly is the gift can be over the $ 13000 annual gift tax exclusion
  8. I have toiled with this issue many times. An article in Corporate Business Taxation Monthly the October 2008 issue addressed this. It is titled "The Tax Aspects of Roof Replacements" I would suggest that you put this in your search engine. It stated that recent proposed and re-Proposed regulations aimed at codifying tax case law make it clear that in certain cases required expenditures for a replacement roofs including materials and installation labor can be expensed as repairs for tax purposes. Before I read this I generally was of the opinion a new roof had to capitalized. There are three tests. The betterment, the restoration & the adaptation.
  9. The gain should be shown on Form 4797 first. I assume by recapture that capital gains can be taxed at the 25% rate. On the sale of rental property there actually are two sales---the sale of the building and the sale of the land. The sale of the land would have no recapture and qualify for the lower capital gains. Thus is all the gain was attributed to the land there would be no recapture.
  10. I don't usually get this situation. Have a client rents a 3 bedroom apartment--lives the entire year with girl friend, her 2 children ( not his ) girl friends mother and girl friends ex husband. He is the only one that works. He claims he supports the clan. He wants to claim the children as exemptions which I think he can do----since they lived with him the entire year. He didn't say anything about the girl friend or ex husband ( Public Policy issue). The grand mother does get a small pension. It is my understanding that he could not get the child credit ($ 1000 each ) or qualify for the earned income credit since the children must be related even though they live with him the full year. I do believe he can claim the exemptions though. Am I right on this Also I think he can file as head of household.---These returns are the most difficult. Thanks
  11. CRP payments are reported on Form 1099G. In 2008 if paid to a person receiving social security they are considered to be rental---no self employment income or loss. Is there a way of linking Form 1099G with Schedule E? Actually I wish they were classified as self employment---since there is a loss to offset self employment business income Thanks
  12. If you have a client with a number of pages of stock transactions---do you copy the pages and paper file the return. It would seem that this situation cuts down on the number of E-file returns. Has the IRS a stated policy on this? Thanks
  13. I have several partners in a farm partnership that has income & Section 179 depreciation. I got an e -file error stating that if the farm work sheet for line 1 includes a deduction for 179--- then the return must be paper filed. I assume this would apply to a partner in a business partnership with section 179 also. Thus a lot of returns that were electronically filed other years can not be electronically filed this year. I called ATX support----on the line for a long time--they said this is true. Anyone else run into this?
  14. Are any of you getting impatient with some of the forms that are not available for filing like form 8606? Why are they not available? ATX keeps setting the date back ---now its Feb 6th.
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