Joel

Client sold property in 2007 as an installment sale and opted out of reporting the gain on 6252 and reported all of the gain in 2007 (figured the tax rates after January 20, 2009 may well be higher than present). It appears that the buyer is going to default and seller will have to repossess the property. IRS will only allow opting out of the opting out with their prior approval. Has anyone had any success in asking for this approval? If so, any suggestions as to the procedure to follow?

I have been a ATX user for 6 years. Have not renewed. Always have renewed in the past before the end of May. Have not received a phone call or e-mail this year. I guess they don't want me to renew.

After e-filing a clients tax return, I send then a snail mail letter (a modified version of the client letter) advising them as to the date and time that the IRS accepted their return and instructing them as to "send in their balance due" or when they might expect their refund, either direct deposited or snail mailed to them. I finish off the letter with a thank you for allowing me to prepare their return and reminding them that I am available at any time for questions.

I think joanmcq is correct in the extrapolation of the h/w joint venture rules to include Sch E rental ownership. That is probably why I was advised to not have joint ownership on a Sch E. Now the question is, is that correct and how do we handle rental income to joint owners? Do we split the income and expenses onto two Sch E's? How should we handle this?

I was recently advised, but without documentation, that the IRS no longer allows joint (husband and wife) ownership of rental property. Has anyone seen anything in writing about this?

Best of luck to you Julie. Those of us who have moved our office in the past had many of the same feelings. We all wondered if it was the right thing, but it always seems to work out best. Your exposure sound good and once you are in the new location start window advertising and offering discounts to anyone new who walks in. It will all be for the best. Good luck on the art gallery. That should also bring walk in traffic and more exposure.

Tom, Afraid I was somewhat ahead of you. I graduated from the Academy in 1955, was stationed on the Winona in Port Angeles for 3 years and then 1 year in Alaska at Cape Sarachef Loran Station. In 05 I attended our 50th reunion at the Academy.

David, I was told by the Sales Manager that there was no limit on the number of installations from one software purchase. I have ordered the software for evaluation (there is not a 30 cancellation limit) and a limit may be in the fine print. In reading the pdf of the operational manual for the 2006 program the instructions are there for network installation and no mention is given about a limit of the number of work stations.

Deb, TRX is networkable. The server computer has the client database on it and is the only computer that should be used for transmitting returns.

I guess all of the predictions did not come true, as the 2008 filing season (for tax year 2007) is substantially complete and we don't have many days left.

Jeff is correct. The passive losses are carried forward until there is passive income to be offset by these losses or until a disposition of the partnership when all unallowed losses are allowed.

I have a client with multiple partnerships. Each partnership may have k-1 income from multiple states. I use a spread sheet to accumulate the positive and negative income for each state from each partnership. The resulting total income is used to prepare the various state tax returns.

My understanding is that the IRS will not send out the coupons to taxpayers who have a paid preparer listed on their return.

You can do a bulk disposition on an installment sale. As long as all of the assets are of the same class they can be assigned to the bulk installment sale when you select each asset in the asset manager.

Just remember that the amount of capital gain (150,000) is included in AGI and therefore, unless the client has extensive itemized deductions, his taxable income would be above the upper limit for the 5% capital gains rate (63,700 for MFJ) and some of the gains would be taxed at 15%. In addition, unless all of the 150,000 was 1050 property, there could be some recapture.

If you go to MYATX under the efile tab you can get the date and time the return was accepted by the IRS. Joel

Years ago I had a couple with the husband on disability retirement and his wife legally blind. They had an adult disabled son living with them and being supported by them. Until he reached age 65 (normal retirement for his company) I was so happy to prepare their tax return and give them the EIC credit. They were so appreciative of the EIC benefits they received.

Just leave them blank. Put the date of death for the spouse on the tab ( same one as birth date ) and the system will put filing as surviving spouse on the signature line and add the date of death entry on the top of page one of the 1040. Joel

I have been the Treasurer of a 501c3 organization for several years and we only require one signature. The organization insists that all checks be written using the automatic carbon copy checks so that there is an immediate and permanent copy of each transaction.

Jack, Cancel the last. Worked out a method of downloading. Thanks, Joel

Jack, Tried to download your spreadsheet but was unable. Could you repost it or email directly? Joel

I was advised by a tech support person that even their computers will be locked out if they don't change passwords. He said he changes his at the beginning of each month, using the same password followed by the number of the month, such as xxxxxx01, xxxxxx02, xxxxxx03 etc. I started doing that in January and have had no problems. Joel

Poilly The IRS matches just the first 4 or 5 letters in a taxpayers last name. With a spouse using her maiden name, hyphen married name the only part the IRS look at is the first of her maiden name. If it matches the name on the social security card then the name will fly with the IRS. If the total length of both spouses names is too long, then change middle names to initials, eliminate the hyphenated married name for the spouse and if still too long change first names to initials. Joel

Heathcliff!! Didn't he just die in NYC???

I have a client who is having an irrevocable trust established and the attorney is suggesting it be set up with a trap door. That is, if the grantor asks for proceeds from the trust and the trustee refuses, then the grantor can replace the trustee. The purpose of the trust is to avoid estate taxes. I see the following problems; Since the trust is irrevocable then the income is taxed to the bene (the grantor's Daughter, the trustee) and with the grantor receiving the proceeds how long would the relationship last? Funding of the trust would result in filing of a gift tax return and reduce the estate tax unified credit Finally, since I am not an attorney, I am only looking tax consequences. Any thoughts or suggestions I might further give to the client? Joel