rfassett

Welcome. This find may be your most profitable of the coming years. As the name implies, we are a community. We have cried together; rejoiced together; laughed together; mourned together; and helped one another with tax, software and office procedure issues. I am certain that I speak for the community when I say we look forward to working with you. We have some members that are really well versed in tax compliance and others, like me, that flirt with the other end of the spectrum. But we all respect one another. I have been an ATX user since ATX was Sabor, in other words - since time. Now, about that "wife is out shopping" and "I am home on the computer" issue. You do have the credit cards right? :)

That is not funny at all - that resembles my office. Really, though, that is just too funny! My wife and I were laughing at that. I think I will download it and loop it in my waiting room during tax season.

My rep told me the software would be going out mid-December. Make sure you install the Fixed Asset Manager soon. There are some serious upgrades and the install takes awhile if you have many clients in it with very many assets. It is looking good. I like what I see. I can only open it on the server, however, and not the workstations. I am going to try a couple more things and then call tech support if I can not get it to work. PS - tech support told me earlier in the week that they will be going to 12 hour days in early December.

Things always slow down this time of year as we approach Thanksgiving. I think most folks are recovering from the recently passed deadlines and are beginning to rest up for the next go around. As for me, I had an interesting last couple of days. I installed the new update for the Client Write Up, Fixed Assets and Paperless programs over the weekend. When I attempted to open the different programs, CWU did not have any of my firm information nor client info. FAM errored out while streamling the client base and will not open until the streamlining is complete. And Paperless (the old Document Manager program) looks very new and improved - I am impressed. I spent three hours on Sunday trying to figure out what was wrong and finally decided to uninstall all of the new updates and reinstall the old programs on Monday monring so my employees could work. Alas, that did not work either. Still no firm info nor client info. (I did find the database for the client info so knew it was there but the program just was not pointing to it. We are networked with a file server running server 2003. I spent four and a-half hours on the phone yesterday with two ATX tech support folks and they were able to bail me out. I spent another couple of hours after they finished doing their things but all is much, much better today. I can not say enough good things about tech support. Never once did they make me feel like a was a burder to them. They went way, way beyond the call of duty to get us back up and running. The bottom line, near as I can tell, the issues for CWU centered around something I had done on the original install and update. And the FAM issue had to do with a wayward tax return file that was setting in the FAM database. None of us could explain how that got there. As to CWU, we got the 2010 version running on the server and the workstations and all of the client info and firm info is there. They wanted to go ahead and install the 2011 update but I told them I needed to recover a couple days and build up enough courage to give it another go around. They told me to call them, if I wanted, when I got ready to install 2011 and they would monitor the install and give me assistance if needed. By the way, I dialed the phone at exactly 8:00 yesterday morning and was not put on hold at all.

You are under no obligation that I know of. Had a similiar situation - well kinda. I prepared the return and took the credit (long time homeowner) with the understanding that the taxpayer was going to occupy the home due to a relocation. Following year the taxpayer shows up and still has the same OLD address and I inquire and she says, "oh, our daughter is living there, that's OK right?" I explained the facts with the statement that if they wanted to continue utilizing my services they needed to do the right thing. I sent them home to comtemplate it and to their credit, they called back within the hour and said they were coming back to fix things - and they did. Your guy? Good luck. But I seriously doubt that you will hear from him again. But if you do, stand your ground - it is the right way, or the highway!

I have no vested interest in this company, but NOLO has a good book that would help you get somewhat upto speed. It does come in e-book format so you could download it and get started reading right away. http://www.nolo.com/products/how-to-form-a-nonprofit-corporation-NNP.html I make all of my new not for profits buy and read this book. It does not answer all of their questions, but it does help them formulate the questions they are trying to ask. I am certain there are other products out there, but this is the one I use.

At the risk of sounding insulting, which I am not attempting to do, hire a professional. You are in way over your head and the professional is trained in these areas and deals with them on a regular basis.

I'm sorry, I obviously misled you with my example right in the middle of the year. Your divisor with an August 11th date (143 days left in the year) is .392.

You are close. The book income is used for the period within which the business has existed upto the last five years. So your dividing factor for the first year is .504 (assuming the authority grant date is July 1). Note - the date stamped on the "articles of incorporation" (yes, I know it is an LLC) is the driving date. Whatever is written in the membership agreement is immaterial. If you do not have the document from the State Department granting authority to operate, you need to request it from your client. It is a big deal to have the correct date. I have seen the capital stock tax sway hundreds of dollars by the date being off just a couple of days. Now, going back to our example. Your second year dividing factor will be 1.504, the third 2.504, the fourh 3.504, the fifth 4.504, and the sixth 5.0. Notice all of those .504's in there? That is why they want you to file now. Trust me, if your client is profitable in, say, the fourth year, they would much rather have a divisor of 4 than 3.504 - but it ain't happening because that start date pesters you for five years.

I am a little confused by your statement of facts, but I'll give it a shot. The RCT 101 is an annual report due 3 and 1/2 months after the end of the tax year. So for a calendar year taxpayer the due date is April 15th. The State department in PA does communicate with the Revenue department and Revenue will be looking for a return with the beginning date as the actual date that the State department granted authority to operate the LLC. The corporate stock tax computation involves a convaluted calculation that takes into consideration the average of the past fives years of book income for the entity as well as the equity inside the entity. There is a threshold above which the entity becomes subject to tax and most small businesses, with proper planning, will stay below that threshhold. A problem with startups in the middle of the year originates because the first year's book income has to be annualized. And that can send the entity over the threshold in a hurry. And that annualized calculation stays around for five years until it falls out of the five year look back window. Hope that helps!

This may be more a question for an attorney, but my initial thought would be that the will created or funded a trust. Once those assets passed to the trust, the trust instrument would govern - not the will. The trust instrument itself should specify how the assets would be disbursed - and under what circumstances.

Obviously the preparation firm needs to re-think their review process. I hope they were paid well because I would doubt that the client would darken the preparation firm's doorway again. I tell my staff all the time that no return or accounting mess is any more problematic than the paper you have in your hand at the moment. 160 information returns? No, one information return at a time until you reach the end - in this case 160. It is an error that should not have happened. The fact that it got to court is irrelevant in my opinion. The problem was at the prep level. Yes the taxpayer is culpable due to his/her lack of review. But that should not excuse the preparer. At a minimum, there should be shared liability.

Form 940 can be extremely simple or very difficult depending on the circumstances. Tell him to bring all of his payroll records, including proof of state unemployment payments (timing and amount), for 2010 because you will need them to properly prepare the Form 940. Find out who does his payroll because this should have been done when the annual payroll reports were filed.

I had to do some mental gymnastics to figure out what you are trying to accomplish. You do not have a prepaid expense if I am understanding you correctly. Insurance company autodrafts on July 31st for August health insurance coverage - correct so far? On the first on the July half of the employee withholding is recorded as payroll withholding (health insurance) liability and on the 15th of July the other half of the withholding is booked the same way. So on July 31st you record the reduction in the checking account and record the expense reduced by the employee withholding. I think you can do this through the pay payroll liabilies system in QuickBooks. When the payment instrument is created (for the autodraft) you can modify the distribution of the payment there. If I have misunderstood what you are attempting to accomplish, I apologize.

"Keep one key point in mind: Tax law requires proof even when the law says you don't need a receipt. So, always think proof. If you don't have receipts, do your gas expenses help prove your mileage and does your mileage help prove your gas expenses? Do you jot down the cost of gas on a timely basis?" There is your elaboration. The CPA is simply acknowledging that, for all practical purposes, the $75 rule has no substance. You still have to be able to prove your deductions.

Just as in "no means no", next day means next day. He should establish a policy that ALL payroll checks are cut when all other payroll checks are cut. For terminated employees, they will have to come back to get their check or it could be mailed to them. I say all of this to preface this: this guy has a problem. He will incur late payment penalties for those liabilities that should have been paid the next day. The simple fix, although not necessarily the correct fix, would be to do another deposit now dated for the second quarter and reduce the next deposit for the third quarter by the same amount. He will be overpaid for the first third quarter payroll but that will wash out with the next pay. I see no reason the IRS would object to receiving their money early. He will still have to contend with the late payment penalties on the late June paychecks.

I am a little confused (of course, I stay that way most of the time, so no big deal). Is this 13,000 euro loss a loss on sale of the property, or an operating loss, or a combination of the two? Is the letter "akin to a K-1" a letter wrapping up the estate? Or will there be additional letters in the following years? Or is it "property sale" specific? Answers to these questions might help us help you sort this out.

I have never been to the forum in Orlando. But the thought occurred to me that if I was taking my family to a conference in Orlando we would have to draw straws to see who got to go to Disney and who had to sit in the meeting - and I would control the straw drawing. :)

All over. Anything in particular you are looking for?

No, Gene, because you are in Alabama you would have to pay tax on the full $24,000. ;)

Really? Are you going to make the homeowner pay tax on phantom income? Do you have a cite of this. Maybe it would be better for the roofer to just lower his prices and stick the sign in the yard of every job he does like they do around here. But maybe I am missing something. Bart does not say if this sign is going to remain in the customer's yard beyond the completion of the roofing job. My answer might be different if that is the case.

I agree with John. And I used to attach "as originally filed" pages also, and I think that, in fact, was what was required in days gone by. But now, in accordance with the instructions, I only send what is being amended and write "as amended". And, really, you have to think they (the IRS) already have the "as original" part. I don't know if adding the "as original" would more confuse the issue or slow down the process. It just might do both.

Yep - always wondered. Now it has oft been said that it is not knowledge that is power - but the use of knowledge, therein lies the power. So tell me KC, how am I to use this new found knowledge? :)

Well, this, like just about everything else in the bankruptcy world, must be different from district to district. I have a couple of clients in 13 currently and some in years gone by and they have yet to supply the trustee with a copy of a return while the bankruptcy was in the payout stage. Good to know about Ohio though. Thanks Jack.

Was the Chapter 13 a joint filing? If so, innocent spouse will do nothing. If not joint, innocent spouse should be filed. I can not speak of NYS, but in my experience, as long as the bankruptcy payments are current, the IRS refund should not be captured. Check the plan documents though, because he may be required to turn any "windfalls" (tax refunds and the like) over to the trustee.