gfizer

I've been efiling with ATX for several years now and this is the first year I have ever encountered this problem. This is the latest I have ever had to be in the office on April 15th and I'm not very happy about it but as of a few minutes ago I FINALLY got all my returns transmitted and they all show "Validated by EFC" so I hope that's a good sign. I am outa' here! Hope everyone enjoys their evening!

Is it just my clients or is anyone else getting calls about Federal estimated tax vouchers not arriving in the mail. I bet I've had thirty calls in the past week from clients stating that they never received their vouchers. Anyone know what the deal is? I've come to the conclusion that maybe they are coming up with the economic stimulus rebate money out of funds saved on printing and mailing the vouchers!

Thanks to all. I was pretty much leaning that way myself. I'll make sure they have copies of their last two or three years returns, depreciation reports, and the info they brought in and I'll wish them well and send them on their way. I must admit I'm a little relieved to be out of the middle of this mix. Thanks again.

Well, I guess this situation is no longer my problem. My secretary just took a phone call from the wife stating that she would be here Monday morning to pick up their stuff so they could take it to someone else and IF they owed me anything I could let them know on Monday. How would you guys handle this situation? Just hand their info back to them and walk away or give them the prepared returns along with the billing invoice or something else? Also would you have them sign something summarizing my involvement to date and acknowledging their decision to take them somewhere else? Thanks for your input. This whole situation has just really been bearing on my mind and my heart. It's nice to have a group of professionals to talk to and bounce things off of.

Thanks everyone for your input and ideas. In answer to some of your questions....no, there was no mortgage against the property whenever it was gifted to the wife. The debt against the property was acquired later. A lot of the money was used for improvements/maintenance to the farm buildings used in the dairy operation. Unfortunately all of these buildings/improvements lie on the land that was retained by the taxpayers and not on the land that was sold. There were some expenditures for fencing (which is all now fully depreciated) and surveying (which I've included in their very minute cost basis). I felt so sorry for them when I told them what they were facing yesterday afternoon. They believed they were doing the right thing by selling it and getting rid of the debt before they were foreclosed on. I sent them home and asked them to review their information to see if there is anything they've missed. I will advise them that we need to file the return in order to avoid late filing penalties, ask for an installment agreement ($50 a month from now to the end of time) and then deal with the collection process as it comes. Anyone else have any better suggestions?

I know where you're coming from and it's true that the fact of the matter is that they owed the debt against the farm. In answer to your question, no they haven't been living high. From what I can gather much of the debt against the farm was generated by a combination of poor management of the farm by the couple's son and attempts to bail him out of his financial mess. They just kept getting in deeper and deeper with farm operating loans and the like and by the time they realized they couldn't get out of the hole by digging out the bottom it was too late to salvage anything. I know it's not my fault but it is just so sad. I just can't imagine working all your life and having nothing to show for it. Especially when your deadbeat kid helped get you there. I hope I'm not $300,000 in debt when I'm their age. And if I am I know it won't be because of my kids. I love them to death but I believe there comes a time when you gotta' cut em loose and let them clean up their own messes.

The mother did not retain a life estate in the property. The house and remaining acreage is valued at around $70,000-$80,000. They have a son who has had his own share of financial difficulty and has recently filed bankruptcy so I doubt he would be able to come up with the funds. If I decide to do an OIC should I wait until I start receiving hate mail from the IRS seeking payment or should I file it immediately? Thanks for your input.

To my knowledge a fiscal year return is filed on the form for the year in which the fiscal year began and not the year in which it ended. I have never had this problem with a corp but have dealt with it for returns filed by fiscal year farmers. I had three who got letters all in the same year basically stating the same thing you are talking about. We did a lot of correspondence and talking on the phone and someone at the IRS finally admitted they didn't know what they were doing and changed everything in the system to show that everything had been timely filed. Good luck!

Actually the farm was gifted to the wife from her mother by deed so the wife's basis would be her mother's basis, correct? But her mother inherited from her parents back in the 40's and they had inherited it from their parents way back when. So, I believe that the wife's basis is the very small amount that the land was valued at when her mother inherited it in the 40's. It is unimproved farmland with no buildings. Their principal residence was located on the farm but they had the house and 30 acres surveyed off and they retained this portion for themselves so principal residence exclusion doesn't apply.

I have this little old couple who have been clients for several years. He is in his 90's and she in her 80's. He is a veteran and legally blind. They have struggled financially for many years and finally couldn't deal with it. They were going to lose everything and wanted to avoid bankruptcy so they sold the farm that the wife had inherited from her mother, who had inherited it from her parents, who had inherited it from their parents and so on. Of course they never bothered to consult with me before making the sale. They sold the farm which had practically no tax basis for $260,000.00 of which all but $2,200 went to pay off the mortgages against it and the closing costs. They were thinking that since they only got $2,200 of the money that that would be all they had to pay tax on, which we all know is not the case. They owe nearly $40,000 in federal and state tax. I feel sorry for them. I mean they are living on social security and a va pension and all they have is their home a few acres they retained from the sale. Anyone know anything that I might be able to do to help these folks out?

Same problem here. Returns I sent on 4/8 and after still show "Validated by EFC."

Thanks, Booger. I looked on last year's W-2 and that's exactly what it is.

Okay, at the risk of sounding stupid I'm going to ask this question. I am doing a return for a new client who finally got tired of being robbed blind by Block. In looking over the copy of the 2006 return and there are no figures on lines 57 through 62 of the 1040 but I see an entry on line 63 of $5 for total tax. Beside the line are the letters "UT." Maybe my brain isn't working as it should this late in the season but for the life of me I can't figure out what "UT" stands for. Any ideas?

Thanks. I was afraid of that. Glad to know I'm not the only one. Thankfully the client is a close friend so I'm sure he'll be understanding. You can be sure I'll be much more careful in the future.

Yes, this is correct. It is only necessary for one of them to be under 65.

Yes, for 2007 returns you can choose to deduct either state and local income tax or general sales tax.

I had a client in to sign returns. While he was here he wanted to do some tax planning as he will begin drawing his ss benefits this year. I plugged in his projected ss benefits on this year's return so we could get an idea of how his return would be affected (yes, I know this was stupid but I was in a hurry). I guess the automatic backup feature saved the return before I closed it and now I've efiled the return with the projected figures for 2008 on it and not the 2007 figures. Is my only option to amend the return? Or can I somehow retract the efile before it is accepted?

I have a taxpayer who paid a lady a total of $1055 for 2007 to do some light housekeeping. No federal income taxes were withheld. My understanding is that if wages are less than $1500 that no W-2 or schedule H is required to be filed. It doesn't seem fair to me that the employee will have to report the income as self-employment income when the employer is willing to pay the ss and medicare. Is there some other way to do this or is there something I'm missing here. I'm sure this is probably a simplistic question but I just got back from a week long mission trip in Mexico on Saturday and I'm not functioning at full speed yet. Thanks for your input.

Her earned income is so low that she gets very little EIC but on the other hand if he uses the dependency exemptions for the kids and claims HOH it makes thousands of dollars of difference in his refund. Again, my goal is not to maximize their refund at any cost. I simply want to do the returns correctly. As I understand the rules, whenever the kids can be qualifying children of more than one taxpayer then the taxpayer with the highest AGI would get to claim them. "If a child is claimed as a qualifying child by two or more taxpayers in a given year, the child will be the qualifying child of: the parent; if more than one taxpayer is the child’s parent, the one with whom the child lived for the longest time during the year, or, if the time was equal, the parent with the highest AGI; if no taxpayer is the child’s parent, the taxpayer with the highest adjusted gross income (AGI). " Am I understanding this correctly?

The mortgage is in the male taxpayer's name and he pays most household expenses. The male taxpayer also pays the childcare costs for the two kids.

Uncle Sam is alive and well here in our part of Kentucky as well. I kind of feel sorry for the poor guy. Maybe he and the teenagers they hire to dance around in front of Little Ceasars pizza advertising $5 pizzas should get together and form some kind of union....

Okay. Here is my situation in a nutshell. I have two taxpayers. They are unmarried but live together, share all expenses, and have two minor children together. Female is self-employed and earns approximately $7000.00. Male has income from employement of approximately $50,000. This is the first year I've done their returns. Female stated that she usually claims the two children on her return and claims head of household status and that he usually files single with no dependants. If I understand the rules, the correct way to file would be to show her as single with no dependants and to file him as head of household claiming both children. Incidentally, filing this way nets them the biggest refund but that's not my goal. I just want to do it right. What do you all think?

I've efiled several returns with no problems. I noticed today that two of the Kentucky returns show "Form 8453 required" under the PIN status column. I've never had this problem before. Anyone else experiencing the same thing?

I got mine today as well.

Don't be so sure. Kentucky law allows a husband to be held responsible for his wife's debts.