kcjenkins

I don't believe you can do that because it's the filing of a "joint" return form that makes it MFJ. And on a joint return, both have the right to see the entire return before they sign it, if they wish.

You actually know you are not going to read those old magazines. Throw them out, you don't need to pay a consultant to tell you that. Offer them to your local library, and if they take them you can always go there to visit them.. Many of those mags are now available online, or as an emailed pdf to you, check on that and switch to electronic versions of any you can find. The great part of that is that it's SO much easier to research from the archived electronic versions. Hey you Then when you have cleaned out those, start on your files. Huge external hard drives are very cheap now. buy a decent scanner, and start scanning old files, then shredding the paper files. Hey, you could even pay some teenage neighbor to cut the magazine spines, and scan in those, if you really can't bear to part with them. :rolleyes:

FYI: Use tax letters arriving (10-01-09) The BOE is sending letters to businesses with at least $100,000 in business gross receipts who are not already registered with BOE and do not hold a seller's permit. This means all businesses, regardless of business type (including tax practices), must register. The letters state that the BOE has identified these businesses as qualified purchasers subject to a use tax return filing requirement (even if no use tax is due). Businesses that receive the letter must complete the contact info and mail it to the BOE. The BOE will then register the business and send them an account number and log-in information so that they can e-file their returns. The 2009 returns are due April 15, 2010. Taxpayers who did not report use tax for 2007 and 2008 must file returns to report and pay that tax. We believe this is the first step in an audit process that will continue indefinitely. Spidell is working on a worksheet for clients to track use tax liabilities and a checklist for practitioners to easily get needed information. We will have the practice aids prepared and available at Spidell's Fall Tax Update Seminar. Register now at a location convenient to you. You may want to attend in November or December to prepare for the onslaught of requests from your clients.

Form 8825 is the rental form for partnerships and LLCs to use. Did he have them on the market in 08, and just could not rent them? Or they were not in condition to rent in 08?

I agree with Jainen on this one. Some jail time, sure, but it will not take long to have them learn the error of their ways. Long prison sentences should be for violent criminals, pedophiles, etc. 1 year or even less will totally reform most white collar criminals, longer may well teach them to become better crooks. Taking them out of society for too long also reduces their ability to repay. OF course, someone who is an extreme case, like Maddoff, should spend the rest of his life behind bars. But that is a clear exception, and I admit that is more about vengeance than about sensible protection of society.

Mine shows 11,700 as well. Unless one tp is over 65, in which case it is 12,800. Both over 65 it is 13,900. And there is a blue box, just above the line 40 for adding any deduction which is allowed to be added to standard.

I like it. Sure, I hate change as much as the next old fogie. But this one, while it takes a bit of getting used to, is better. Your email is your user name, and you do not have to keep changing your password. You can save searches, search within searches, have multiple search tabs open at the same time, etc. I think we are all going to love it once we get used to it.

George Gist v Commissioner TC Summary Opinion 2009-126 The law is clear: Keep a mileage log or lose your vehicle deductions. The IRS says that you may keep an adequate record for part of a tax year and use that part-year record to substantiate your vehicle’s business use for the entire year.6 To use a sample record, you need to prove that your sample is representative of your use for the year. By using your appointment book as the basis for your mileage, you not only build great businessuse proof, but you also do a great job of showing that your sample vehicle record mirrors your general appointments during the year. The IRS illustrates two possible sampling methods: 1. One identical week each month (for example, the third week of each month) 2. Three consecutive months The three-consecutive-months log requires only one start and one stop, and you are rewarded with nine months of mileage-log freedom. For this reason, the three-month log is the superior alternative. Here are the basics of how the IRS describes the three-month test: Reg § 1.274-5T The taxpayer uses her vehicle for business use. She and other members of her family use the vehicle for personal use. The taxpayer keeps a mileage log for the first three months of the taxable year, and that log shows that she uses the vehicle 75 percent of the time for business. Invoices and paid bills show that her vehicle use is about the same throughout the year. According to this IRS regulation, this three-month sample is adequate to prove 75 percent business use. Also remember to advise clients that the IRS authorization for a sample mileage log is for mileage only. The sample does not apply to your expenses for the vehicle. You need to track expenses for the entire year. The mileage log is an absolute necessity when it comes to deducting your vehicles. You need a mileage log if you • use actual expenses, • use IRS mileage rates, or • operate as a corporation. http://www.taxalmanac.org/index.php/Reg._1.274-5T

http://www.couriernews.com/story.php?ID=22717 This guy really had 'moxie'. Hagerty engaged in improper tax procedures beginning in 1999, according to the release, and, since 2002 — when he became aware of the IRS investigation — operated his investment company under at least nine names, including Global One Inc. and Premier Investments Property. Between 1999 and 2004, he understated income by about $3,952,010 and, between 1999 and 2001, overstated expenses by about $593,000, according to the release. Hagerty, originally charged with eight counts in connection with the scheme, pleaded guilty Friday to two.

wow !!!!! 101 years old today. If that's not a joke, it's amazing! :bday:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGZL6q-3LOw...feature=related Here you can read for yourself the text of these bills http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/ge...id=f:h875ih.txt http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/ge...id=f:h759ih.txt http://farmandranchfreedom.org/content/what-is-nais

http://mauledagain.blogspot.com/2009_08_01...530034174707113 State Tax Consequences of Cash-for-Clunkers Although the IRS has made it clear, following the language of the enacting statute, that the amounts paid by the government to auto dealers as part of the cash-for-clunkers program is gross income to the dealers but not the purchasers, there are some important questions to be answered with respect to the state tax consequences of the program. Read the whole article for a good overview of how different states are dealing with this program.

IRS Notice 2009-82 - Released on September 24, 2009 IRA Owners and Plan Participants now can now put back unwanted RMDs for 2009. RMDs were waived for 2009, but the relief came late in 2008 causing some people to take withdrawals that were not required. This Notice provides retroactive relief for IRA owners and spouse beneficiaries by allowing them to rollover (put back) 2009 RMDs received earlier this year. IRS is waiving the 60-day rollover deadline to permit any IRA owner, plan participant, or their spouse beneficiary to undo the 2009 RMD, regardless of when in 2009 they took the unwanted RMD. The deadline has been extended to November 30, 2009 or 60 days from the date the funds were received, whichever is later. This means your client who received an RMD (which was not required) in January or March, for example, now has the option of rolling those funds back int o a tax-deferred account. This relief does NOT apply to non-spouse beneficiaries who are prohibited by the tax code from ever doing a rollover. CAUTION: The one rollover per year rule is still in effect. This ruling provides new tax planning opportunities for your clients who are subject to RMDs, but as with any tax ruling – there can be costly tax traps as well.

Actually, they still do. They also have their own forum on here, if you just look for it. As for the backup services, I'd rather have an outside service than have CCH controlling all parts of my records. As mentioned, they can be rather arbitrary about changing their minds about what they offer us, as we all know. Besides, as mentioned, hard drives have become so reasonable, it's not expensive to have your own external backup drive if you don't trust anyone else. Most of us, though, use belt AND suspenders, using both our own backup drives AND VMS, Carbonite, Mozzy, etc.

Jainen, the problem is not with 'who' did it, the problem is that it is not only not getting fixed, the current administration is trying to expand the same sledgehammer methods to even more problems, while they continue to TALK about fixing the clearly extreme consequences of the older penalties.

This one is really a bad one, and even good anitvirus programs are having problems with it. Criminals are waging a nasty online campaign right now, hoping that their victims' fears of the tax collecter will lead them to inadvertently install malicious software. The spam campaign, entering its third week now, is showing no signs of slowing down, according to Gary Warner, director of research in computer forensics with the University of Alabama at Birmingham. This one campaign accounts for about 10 percent of the spam e-mail that his group is presently tracking, he said. "This is the most prominent spam-delivered virus in the world right now," he said. Since first spotting the spam on Sept. 9, antispam vendor Cloudmark has counted 11 million messages sent to the company's nearly 2 million desktop customers, said Jamie Tomasello, abuse operations manager with Cloudmark. That number is "very high," she noted. The messages typically have a subject line that reads, "Notice of Underreported Income," and they encourage victims to either install the Trojan attachment or click on a Web link in order to view their "tax statement." In fact, that link takes the victim to a malicious Web site. The IRS says not to open attachments or click on links included in e-mail that claims to come from the tax-collection agency. What makes this campaign particularly ugly is that the malware that accompanies the fake IRS messages is a variant of the hard-to-detect Zeus Trojan. This software hacks into bank accounts and drains them of money as part of a widespread financial fraud scheme. Researchers estimate that the Zeus criminals are emptying more than a million dollars per day out of victims' bank accounts with the software. Small businesses have been particularly hard-hit by this fraud, because banks have sometimes held them accountable for the losses. Testing a recent variant of Zeus on the VirusTotal Web site, Warner found that only five of the 41 antivirus detection systems used by VirusTotal managed to spot it. Although antivirus vendors have other techniques for blocking the malware -- they can stop people from visiting the malicious Web sites, for example -- the spam is giving the companies a run for their money. "It's difficult to stay ahead of it via antivirus because the Zeus binaries are changing a few times a day to evade detection," said Paul Ferguson, a researcher with Trend Micro, via instant message. "It's definitely a problem."

Bonnie, could you clear up my confusion? Is your client the employer or the employee?

:bday: and many more.

Introducing Copanion's Blog: The Tax Professional's Guide to a Paperless Tax Workflow We're excited to announce that we've launched a blog! The Tax Professional's Guide to a Paperless Tax Workflow is a new informational hub where any tax professional can come to learn about paperless tax preparation. Whether you're just getting started or looking to take your paperless tax workflow to the next level, this blog will be a one-stop-shop where you will be able to find relevant articles, case studies, and tools to help you along the way. And, most importantly, this blog will serve as an online forum where you and your peers can come to learn from each other—share real-life experiences, tips, and best practices. Learn More—Read the first two entries! Let us know what you think! Our blog exists to serve you—the tax professional. What would you like to read about? Send us an email or leave a comment on any blog post. http://blog.copanion.com/?utm_campaign=blo...tcEmail=4855220 And be sure to subscribe to our blog via email or RSS feed so that you'll receive the newest entries as soon as they're posted.

try Mary Nixon Customer Service Level 2/Email Team, ATX CCH Small Firm Services, a Wolters Kluwer business 6 Mathis Drive Rome, GA 30165 phone- 800-638-8291 fax-888-815-7587 [email protected] or Carrie Mathews Customer Service Level 2/Email Team, ATX CCH Small Firm Services, a Wolters Kluwer business 6 Mathis Drive Rome, GA 30165 phone- 800-638-8291 fax-888-815-7587 [email protected]

Columbus Day Power Outages - (IMRS 09-0000982 Revisited) Last year you told us we created problems when we had e-File and e-Services outages during the Columbus Day holiday, just before the big October 15th filing deadline, and that if we could not reschedule the outages, we needed to provide plenty of advance warning. These outages are required so that the IRS can perform critical operations and maintenance programs to enhance the reliability of the building infrastructure. In response to your complaints, we promised to represent practitioner interests in determining the dates for the 2009 power outages. We did, but we weren’t able to find reasonable alternatives. However, in response to your requests, we are giving you advanced warning that e-File and e-Services will be unavailable from Sunday, October 11, 2009 at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time through Tuesday, October 13, 2009 at 5:00 a.m. Eastern Time. We apologize in advance for any inconvenience.

Yes, doctors and nurses do make mistakes, but I've never heard of a US hospital taking an hour and a half just to deliver blood to the OR. And if they did, the family would at least get well compensated. Not if it's a national system.

Thqnk God she is doing well. If they had not known to leave it right where it was until at the doctors could remove it, the outcome would have been very different. Or, for that matter, if she had been in the UK, it seems. Government Doc Goes for Jugular More tales of British socialized medicine, from London's Daily Mail: A young woman died in hospital after waiting nearly two hours for a blood transfusion that could have saved her. Sally Thompson, 20, lost two litres [4.22675284 pints] of blood when a doctor punctured her jugular vein after failing to follow NHS guidelines while inserting a drip into her neck. Doctors at Manchester Royal Infirmary (MRI) made an urgent request for blood from the hospital's blood bank to help revive her--but none arrived before Sally died, one hour and 45 minutes later. Now a coroner has ruled that the inability to supply the blood was a 'significant failure' that contributed to Sally's death. . . . Sally's father, John Thompson, 62, said after the inquest into her death: 'This hospital is supposed to be the cornerstone of the NHS in Manchester, but they couldn't get any blood for two hours. According to former Enron adviser Paul Krugman, "In Britain, the government itself runs the hospitals and employs the doctors. We've all heard scare stories about how that works in practice; these stories are false." Feel better, Sally?

Wishing you a very :bday:

Wishing you a very and many, many more.