kcjenkins

THAT SUCKS. But in fairness, I think the RAL crisis must have caused them all to be swamped with calls. I'm glad I've never done those. But I know some have to offer them to compete with Blockhead, etc. Still, I bet your clients will mostly stay with you anyway. Once you get the FeeCollect working, that takes away the problem of them needing to pay you directly, which is a big part of the reason many people use the Rals anyway. I had a problem with the FeeCollect when I first enrolled. I got the email varifiying that I was enrolled, but the program would not let me efile with it. Once I got through to tech support, they told me they would get it fixed, but would have to get through to the bank. That was Friday night. By Sat it was working, and I could efile that return.

Tom, I'm assuming that you went into the Bank Manager and clicked on Reports, Enrollment Report, to see what it showed as the status of the Fee Collect, right? Does it show Enrolled as the status and Yes under FeeCollect?

Every state can decide how THE STATE will tax it's citizens. There is no requirement that they either tax something the Feds tax, or exempt something just because the Feds do. So some states don't tax ANY INCOME, some tax only investment income, and some simply tax whatever the Feds tax, just for simplicity. That's what makes state taxes so much fun!

Let us know what you think about it after you have used it a couple of weeks, Ken. It always takes a while to get a fair evaluation, as at first it's so much learning, and later it's a fairer opinion, usually.

Nothing to attach, the worksheet in the program is the same one that is in the instructions.

It's a business casualty loss. Might be beneficial to take advantage of the loss now, then report the reimbursement as income, when and if he collects on the claim.

Here is a flowchart on claiming an individual as a dependent under Code § 152. The flowchart is available at http://www.tax-charts.com/charts/152_dependent_print.pdf A printable version of the same chart is available at http://www.tax-charts.com/charts/152_dependent_print.pdf The flowchart includes the 2009 changes to the definition of dependent.

My billing for still has the Last Year total bill at the very top of the page. Perhaps you need to delete that form then download it again? The Customer Referral form is in the forms, just go to Add Form, and type refer and you will see it. Add it to any form, and then make a few choices, then print.

See page 12 of the instructions for the 1040EZ. You don't include the Sch M, there is a worksheet for it in the instructions. The software will do that automatically, you can hop to the worksheet from line 8. Line 10 of the worksheet is where you enter it if they got the $250 payment.

Everyone should check how their state treats UI and then check that the program is doing it right in their state. My state, for example, does not tax any of it. It's things like that that are the easiest for the programmers to miss during the rush to complete forms. They always fix them fast once they know of the problem, so be a 'beta tester' for your state, and check it out. If there is a problem, post it to the support folks, and in the suggestion box as well.

Pacun, I'm going to leave this here, for now, but 'close' it. I understand why you posted it. It is thought-provoking, but it's really too far outside of the purpose of this board, and will stir up too much hard feeling, I'm afraid, if we start debating it here. Let's concentrate, here, on the tax season and the many issues we all have at the start, especially given all the new rules, forms, and etc.

If you open the ATX Document Manager, you can put the scanned files into it. The Document manager automatically makes, for each new client saved, a subfolder for "Source Doc" as well as one for the Tax Returns, and one for Work Papers.

Intuit and Quickbooks have put out a security alert warning: Phishing Alert for QuickBooks Customers--security plug-in or digital certificate Overview IMPORTANT UPDATE FOR QuickBooks Customers: Intuit is receiving reports of individuals receiving fraudulent emails from QuickBooks or QuickBooks Online. The two separate emails ask customers to either download a plug in to assess their security or download a Digital Certificate. Customers should delete either of these emails. As we discover these fraudulent sites (cyber criminals often use the same email repeatedly, although they change web sites), we take them down. You should go out to Intuit's website and look for Recent Intuit Security Alerts.

Terry, the question is whether the grant is taxable or not, or may be taxable on Feds but not state. Depends on what it was for. That is what you need to research. The department that gave the grant should be able to answer these questions, and then you will know what to do with it. Line 5?

I not only opened and closed the EIC sheet, I opened and closed the return. Still not showing the check under 'qualifies for EIC' unless I override it, although I've done the boxes in the worksheet. I've sent an email to tech support about it.

Well, it sounds like you meed to get support to look at it. Clearly something is wrong, and I've found their interactive support people to be quite good. Have not used them often, or recently, but when I did need them, it sure was great Good luck!

He should not have to pay SE tax on his non-US income. But he would have to pay income tax on it. Foreign earned income goes on Line 21, flowing from the 2555 or 2555-EZ.

One thing to remember. The normal process is that the state efile is not released to the state until the Fed return is Acked, on piggyback returns. This is so if there is a problem on the return, you can fix it on the federal and not have to fix anything on the state, since the state will not get anything until it's gone through on the fed level. This is a good thing, although it does mean the state will always be behind the federal, time wise, on piggyback returns.

OK, those were just suggestions to consider. Certainly would not apply to everyone. I don't understand why the program is doing automatic update if you unchecked that option, unless maybe you forgot to then check 'apply'? Not intending to be insulting, just trying to think of any reason. I tried the auto update, but did not like having to wait for it, so unchecked it. And it has not done it since. I do an update several times a day, but at my convenience, rather than have it hold me up if I need to open it 'right now'. As for space available, that is good, but it still speeds things up to defrag, in my experience, even if the drive is only 1/3 full. The MyDefrag program, especially, offers several options that can speed up access. It optimizes as well as defrags, and the deep defrag option [the Monthly one] made a noticeable improvement in one of my computers.

Not only that, but the instructions for the new form clearly say it is to be used ONLY for purchases after the date of the change.

I'd look at it from both angles, MFJ and HH plus MFS, and see which comes out best for the family, and best for her. If she is my client, or he is, or they both are, I'd still do it both ways and then inform them both, and let them decide. Which in this case means it it her choice, basically.

Have you sent tech support an email about this? Please do if you have not already done it. I checked on my test return, and it did mark the right boxes on mine for lived with you, but did not mark as qualifying person for EIC, but did for CTC. Double check the date of birth, a typo there can cause problems?

One other thing to check is how much free disk space you have. As a disk gets full, it takes longer to move around it. You might want to add a new hard drive, or move some seldom used stuff over to a flash drive or external drive to give it more room. And of course, you need to make it a habit to defrag your drive AT LEAST once a week, Consider downloading Defraggler http://www.piriform.com/defraggler/download or MyDefrag http://www.mydefrag.com/Manual-DownloadAndInstall.html either of which can be set up to run automatically. Then set it to run every night while you are gone, and it should help your machine run at best speed.

I agree with both Tom and Pacun. A partnership does not have to be in writing to be legal. But given that they did not get an EIN for the partnership, and then they used his personal SSN [or EIN?] with the vendors, so now he has all the 1099s coming to him, he needs to either give the cousin a 1099 for the cousin's share, or get an EIN for the partnership, then give a 1099 to the partnership. Doesn't really matter which you do, although the 1065 would be the cleanest way, either way their shares are going to end up on each partner's 1040 and SE.

The aid she gets from the state is not counted as the children's own support. That is only for money they earned. It is considered as support from the state, and at one time it was counted against the parent when figuring the parent's share of support. But then the IRS started not counting it against the parent, so you can ignore it, basically.