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A new survey shows that employers will drop coverage and cut hours. One of President Obama's proudest boasts about the Affordable Care Act is that it helps small business. The White House website says the health law "makes it easier for businesses to find better coverage options" and "stops insurance companies from taking advantage of you, giving the consumer and business owner more control and making health-care coverage more affordable." Small businesses aren't buying it. That's the finding of a Public Opinion Strategies survey of more than 400 business owners with between 40 and 500 employees conducted in September and October for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and International Franchise Association. Some 64% of small business franchise owners (such as owners of fast food and retail stores) believe the law will have a "negative impact" on their business, while only 5% expect a "positive impact." For non-franchise businesses the ratio was 53% negative and 12% positive. Only one in 12 agree with the President that the health-care law will "help" their business. Even more problematic is how businesses are already responding to the new law. The White House continues to deny any relationship between hiring and ObamaCare. The poll finds 27% of franchise businesses and 12% of non-franchises have already replaced full-time with part-time employees in anticipation of the law's employer mandate. ObamaCare defines a full-time employee as someone who works 30 hours or more a week. The survey also reveals that the "49er" effect is very real. These are businesses that will cap their full-time payroll workforce at 49 employees to avoid ObamaCare's insurance mandate for companies with more than 50 full-time equivalent workers. Of firms with between 40 and 70 employees, a little over half say they are likely to "make personnel decisions to keep" their "workforce below the threshold of 50 full-time employees and avoid the requirements and penalties associated with the new health care law." More than one in four businesses (28%) say that in 2015, when the employer mandate is scheduled to take full effect, it is "likely" they will drop their insurance coverage and pay the penalty of $2,000 a year per employee. These are the plans employers and employees were promised they would be able to keep. Opinion surveys are often unreliable predictors of how people will act in the future, but these findings do at least expose the widespread anxiety that businesses are feeling about ObamaCare's new costs. If the economy and business conditions improve and customer demand rises, employers may swallow these costs to expand their operations. But in an economy with nearly 20 million Americans out of work, discouraged from even looking for work or forced into part-time jobs, ObamaCare is making the search for employment all the more challenging. One fix that might mitigate some of these negative employment effects would be to pass a law proposed by Senators Joe Donnelly (D., Ind.) and Susan Collins (R., Maine) to change ObamaCare's definition of a full-time job to 40 from 30 hours a week. Better still would be for Congress to repeal the law and pass a business and worker-friendly health-care reform

Jack, would appreciate a copy of your report. TIA [email protected]

trying to attach PDF wsj re irs0001.pdf

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323838204579003093483824248.html?mod=WSJ_hps_LEFTTopStories

I wish you lefties would refrain from checking your brain in at the door when you enter a discussion beyond political rhetoric. This is not about who done what back when, but how we have progressed into a totalitarian state and who is doing who now! I realize that you libs are not big fans of capitalism, but would you rather live in the authoritarian regimes of Cuba and North Korea? If so, I may buy you a one-way ticket to the country of your choice providing the stock market (DJIA) increases by 500 points tomorrow. Capitalistic Pig.

Client has three LLC’s that operate in the real estate market. LLC number one operated as a flipper and has filed as an 1120-S through 2010: the other two LLCs are single-family rentals and report on schedule E as disregarded entities through the year 2010. The companies had maintained their accounting records on QuickBooks in the past up to March 2011 when they individually filed chapter 7 bankruptcy. At this point they quit using QuickBooks and keeping any accounting records, and the rental deposits from all companies were intermingled into the bank account of the S Corp. The client has attempted to separate the income and expenses by each LLC in order to file 2011 tax returns, but the record keeping is atrocious and I see no way through this other than going back and rebuilding the accounting records in QuickBooks or some other accounting system. However, the client has resisted taking these required procedures in order to prepare their tax returns. However, I have been able to assemble enough data to prepare the individual return that includes the disregarded entities on schedule E but have little confidence in their accuracy. Question: if I prepare this return can I submit it as unsigned by myself as a paid preparer? Or is there a special statement or form that I should add to the return informing the lack of sufficient records in the preparation of the return? Or should I just dump it? TIA

I also use Parker. It justifies the cost (~$250) on the1st need.

If I close everything, reboot and go to MYATX and click the download this is where the hangup comes after about 7 minutes. I cannot get past this to save to desktop.

I have closed the program, but cannot get to the part where the program asks if I want to save to desktop.

After struggling through the tax season using version 12.8 on a standalone XP with 2G of RAM at my office, I have finally secured the g0n@ds to upgrade to version 12.13 (I have a laptop at home running Windows 7 with 4G of RAM that is updated to 12.13. This has served to supplement problem returns prepared at the office and that have been exported to a flash drive. So I am not totally insane). However, when I attempt to download 12.13 at the office from the ATX website, after seven minutes the download box informs me that I cannot connect. I have installed on my computer AVG antivirus and the Windows firewall. So my question would be should I disable the antivirus and firewall temporarily to attempt to download this version. Or does anyone have any better solutions ? TIA

I also received an offer for ProSeries.

A few days ago there was a posting by Jack from OH that I cannot locate where he recommended hardware/system, etc. I cannot locate this thread at the moment. Can anyone give me a clue. TIA

With tax season just around the corner, the National Society of Accountants has surveyed its members to determine average tax-return preparation fees by form and by region. The group has 11,000 members, most of whom are sole practitioners or work at smaller firms. They have various credentials, including CPA, IRS enrolled agent and accredited tax preparer. According to the survey, the average cost to prepare an itemized Form 1040 with a Schedule A (for itemized deductions) and a state tax return is $246. The average rate for a return without itemized deductions is lower: $143. “I think most people would say this is worth the money,” says NSA official John Ams. “Just reading the return instructions can take hours.” The survey also reported the average fees for preparing other IRS forms, including the following: $205 for a Form 1040 Schedule C (business) $556 for a Form 1065 (partnership) $759 for a Form 1120 (corporation) $717 for a Form 1120S (S corporation) $468 for a Form 1041 (fiduciary) $628 for a Form 990 (tax exempt) $59 for a Form 940 (Federal unemployment) $134 for Schedule D (gains and losses) $155 for Schedule E (rental) $185 for Schedule F (farm) The survey also found that tax-preparation fees varied by region, firm size, population, and an area’s economic strength. Here is the average fee for an itemized Form 1040 with Schedule A and a state tax return in different U.S. census districts: New England (CT, ME, MA, NH, RI, VT) – $237 Middle Atlantic (NJ, NY, PA) – $258 South Atlantic (DE, DC, FL, GA, MD, NC, SC, VA, WV) – $253 East South Central (AL, KY, MS, TN) – $279 West South Central (AR, LA, OK, TX) – $226 East North Central (IL, IN, MI, OH, WI) – $225 West North Central (IA, KS, MN, MO, NE, ND, SD) – $196 Mountain (AZ, CO, ID, MT, NV, NM, UT, WY) – $233 Pacific (AK, CA, HI, OR, WA) – $288 All fees assume that a taxpayer has gathered and organized necessary information and provides it to the preparer on time. The average fee to file an extension is $41, though that figure rises to $80 if information isn’t submitted at least 15 days ahead of a filing deadline. A spokesman for the group adds that nearly all its members offer free consultations. Tax preparation

Income-tax rates. The top rate on ordinary income such as wages for joint filers earning more than $450,000 ($400,000 for single filers) would rise to 39.6%. Current law would be permanently extended for income earned below that level. Left unclear is whether the $450,000/$400,000 threshold refers to adjusted gross income (AGI) or taxable income. AGI doesn't include subtractions for itemized deductions, while taxable income does. (italics & bold added) adjusted gross income (AGI) or taxable income; seems like to me that is a glaring difference. I knew I should not have drank that whole bottle of vodka last night!!

It's a situation where I did not get paid.

Is there a procedure, forms to be filed, etc to withdraw as paid preparer. TIA

Hang in there KC. We will be praying.

An analsis of the IRS 20 Factor guidelines,suggest that the below factors among others have the more heavy weighting (plagarized):: Furnishing of Tools and Materials*: if the independent contractor has his own business, he will own his tools, equipment and expendable supplies. Working for More Than One Firm at a Time*: Multiple customers indicates the worker owns his own business, i.e., is an independent contractor. Exclusivity indicates he is merely an employee. Significant Investment*: What does the worker have at risk? Does he own the major equipment needed to accomplish the work? If so, he is probably an independent contractor. Due to space limitations and the fact that I am now well endowed with Vodka, I shall return later with a more compelling documentary for the other factors that may be considered. But go for the IC. Our professional duty is to protect our client,

I use Parker and I really like it.

I computed it using Excel and got 20.

These numbers add up to 742K. There are supposed to be 1,200,000 tax preparers, so what happened to the unaccounted for 458K? You can tell that this is an election year.

Sorry to hear of your loss. I feel sure that you had a good life together and will see each other at a future time.

Spoken like a true Marxist!! BTW you guys did a great job in Cuba, USSR & N. Korea.

Start with Form 8594 to allocate Purchase Price. If Goodwill amortize 15 years. http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i8594.pdf http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f8594.pdf

Gramps could have saved considerable time and effort by sending her a one way ticket to France with a note "have fun you Commie b*#ch"