Catherine

@TaxCPANY -- you can also give the NEW pdf file a different name and it will still print to pdf.

@Lion -- paper is traditional for first anniversary. Money is paper! Gift cards are close to paper. If you really wanted to give them a physical gift (although it will be a bit late), American Stationery (www dot americanstationery dot com) has lovely gift sets of reasonably priced, high-quality personalized paper sets. @NECPA -- PayPal is indeed the way to go for taking credit cards (but it is easier if _you_ have a web site - and CPA site builder has a standard format site with no contracts for $50/month with file transfer and multiple email accounts etc.). You link your PayPal (business) account to the website - clients click on the "Pay My Bill" link and can pay by any method and they don't need a PayPal account themselves. Transferring the $$ to your business account is a matter of a couple clicks. It generally takes a couple days to transfer. Yes, there is a fee -- roughly 4%, if memory serves -- but for the few who want to use credit cards every year to pay my bill, in an entire year I don't spend on PayPal fees anywhere near what ONE month of credit card merchant service processing would cost.

Thank you Lion & pcmcpa both. Found the checkboxes etc. However, this being ATX, some of the links don't work properly and I had to over-ride a number of fields to get them to populate correctly.

Several clients this year have had Roth conversions. This is the first one who wants to pay the tax half in 2011 and half in 2012. I can't find where in ATX to make this election -- didn't find an election choice, there was nothing on any of the 1099-R input or IRA info sheets... I'm sure it's obvious and I've tripped over it a half-dozen times without seeing it - but could someone please let me know where it is? Thanks, Catherine

Printing K-1 packages is still convoluted and confusing -- there should be one button on the Print Manager that gives a complete K-1 package to send to shareholders/partners.

I believe the pertinent time stamp is the "received by" at the EFC. Your mileage may vary. In areas affected by Irene, we have 'til the 22nd for Federal but not all the states are going along with that. I purposely did not tell my corporate clients (neither they nor I were badly affected, so it's no extra trouble for them), as I didn't want my individual extension window shortened.

A zero doesn't show but does NOT get rid of the RED diagnostic error, for me. Odd that it's different for the two of us.

Perhaps this one is more of a "bug" than a major issue, but I've stumbled into it a couple of times and it is annoying. Form 1120 -- Schedule K -- Line 13, where total receipts & assets <$250,000 for year. Asks for cash distributions/book value of property distributions for year. No entry gives a red error warning that dist's must be entered. Zero doesn't show up and gives a red error warning that dist's must be entered. Using the Alt-0 to force a zero to show up on the line gives a red error warning that dist's must be entered AND that value must be numeric only. Last I looked, zero WAS a valid numerical value -- and what's more, it's the -correct- value if no distributions were made! Catherine

Thanks, Jack, I will try that next time. "Undo" doesn't work - and it should. Had not heard of the "esc" dodge, though.

Ignoring the Print (non)Manager, as you requested, here is MY biggest gripe. ATX is a big, complex program that takes a _long_ time to load a file, or error-check it, or any of a half-dozen different tasks. When a file is opening, I will frequently go off to send a quick email. Then *poof* the program finishes, absconds with my cursor, and first off over-writes the client name with whatever word I was in the middle of in the email (or whatever). A "lock" on that client name -- or just that the program won't over-write ANYTHING until there is a positive "click" in the field rather than just, "I'm ATX and I get priority so 'still need docu...' overwrites "Jonathan" in the name field". I have some clients with odd name situations (where the e-file will reject unless it's _just_ so) and many a time I have had to quit without saving and then re-open a file (uh, what a waste of time) to reinstate the correct name field. Heck, I'd -happily- settle for the "UNDO" choice under the Edit menu to work in those situations. Because it doesn't work in the name fields. Catherine

Yes, what they said. A bunch of organizations have programs for members (and even if you're not a member, frequently you can get the same coverage under a non-group affiliation plan for few small $$ additional). The key is to get a number of quotes for a number of different coverage levels. I had insurance for years through one program, and decided it was time (larger practice, more complex cases, etc.) to increase my coverage. The company I'd been with for years gave me a quote that seemed high. So I tried another vendor -- slightly better coverage for about 25% less. Yet that _same_ vendor had been too high, years earlier. I think some might specialize in particular "case sizes", and if you hit their target market, you get a better deal. Target Insurance Services (underwritten through The Hartford) and Placer Insurance Agency (underwritten through Traveler's) are two to try. 800-692-5752 and 916-784-1008 (respectively) are the numbers I have easily available for them. If you might have clients coming to your home, make sure you also get a business rider on your homeowners (or renters) insurance. Someone trips & gets hurt on the front step and they were there for business, the regular house insurance will NOT cover the injury. Catherine

Time for another donation? You have TWO college educations to pay for in a mere 18 years!

They are beautiful!!! Congratulations to you both. You _will_ sleep again, someday -- but it won't be for a while, sorry to say. Thank you for all you do for us here. Catherine

One thing I can tell you is that you need to use "continue" instead of "current" as the date for leaving. Try that for that one error, anyway. I've found lots of weird little bugs and errors in the 2555 but eventually get it beaten into submission (usually about ten seconds before it would have succeeded in beating _me_ into submission). The "other" ATX forum might be useful, as well, as lots of folks here seem to be taking time away from their computers this summer.

I knew that Terry's situation was different; I was speaking of my own client. And yes, I do have clients who deduct expenses that are ordinary and necessary even if etc etc. However, with this one client and the amount SO high as a percentage of salary, I want to make doubly sure that he understands what I will need him to have ready for me if this return is called for audit. Belt, suspenders, duct tape, and staples.

I have an issue right now with a client with very high unreimbursed employee business expenses for 2010. When I totalled them up, it was almost 10% of salary. This may actually be both reasonable and accurate, as it was a new job, he worked only part of the year, and he was required to come up to speed on some bizarre international computer security protocols (I don't even understand what he had to do). I have asked him to go through the list again, make sure that each item on the list was indeed required, see if there are any company papers/job offer letters/emails that show "as a condition of employment, you must complete/demonstrate competence in Protocol XYZ version 7.3". I also asked him to make certain that he has receipts (not just charge card statements) for each of these items. The working phrase I use (with thanks to a fellow EA here in Massachusetts) is, "If I'm sitting across from an IRS agent at your audit, can you be certain to give me the documentation I need to prove each and every one of these items?" If the client answer is "Yes," then I take him at his word and tell him to keep those receipts separate and available. But I sure don't want to sit here and confirm for myself each one of the receipts (and heaven forbid that I lose one!!!). Catherine

It sure is. Some of them are in areas where, in a few years, they should be positioned to make decent money. Others have been hit by this recession and are reeling. None of them are having fun, and a bunch are hanging on through sheer cussedness and/or lack of offers for a "real" job, with regular wages and benefits for themselves and their families (the employees are getting benefits, as mandated by state law). Only one of them, fortunately, has employees who gripe about how their "rich" boss isn't paying them enough.

Insurance!!!! Make sure your homeowner's insurance has a business general liability rider on it. Ours is only about $200/year. Your regular homeowner's insurance will NOT cover a client slipping on the stairs. Catherine

Tom -- I have no professional thoughts to assist you - but my deepest sympathies on the loss of your friend, and my best wishes for good advice from others here on this case. Catherine

I have a couple of clients currently who can afford the _employees_ just fine -- as long as they go without pay! There have been some very interesting gymnastics as they wait for late payments from their customers while trying to keep their own mortgage current.

Hi Bonnie -- I too work form my home. My "office" is a corner of the family room. My daughter's old desktop computer (re-purposed to a scanner station) is in the same room, still with the stuffed penguin on the tower. The coffee table is piled a foot deep in back issues of magazines, and the sofa has a pile of mending and several sewing projects in various stages out in plain sight. I use either my kitchen or dining room table as my meeting room/waiting room. I try really hard during tax season to keep extraneous junk off the tables - but it's still clear it's a house, not an office. I've had folks show up early, while I'm at the table with my sandwich and teacup. I've had folks show up _real_ early (during extension season), while I was out weeding and they walk up to me while I'm on my knees with my gardening hat and gloves on. The bathroom is always clean but I warn people about the teen girl "accessories" all over the counter. I use the front-door mail slot for a secure drop-box. A locking mailbox would work, too, if you don't have/don't want a slot in your front door. Yes, you can deduct your computers. I've never tried the office in home deduction, because while my area is _only_ for my business, it's only part of a room and family members put house-related stuff on my desk all the time (unsorted general mail, receipts, spare/dead batteries, and school permission slips in times past, as well). Not worth the bother to attempt that OIH! If you do good quality work, folks generally will NOT mind if your home looks like a home instead of an office. Catherine

I'll chime in with another reason that I like to see small companies with a separate payroll account. We've _all_ seen small businesses run afoul of the payroll tax payments - late payments, missed payments -- usually because they spent the money on another bill before the PR tax was due. If they get into the habit, early, of depositing every nickel needed for paychecks and PR taxes into that separate PR account, the money will not get spent on a new piece of equipment, or the rent, or to get the 2%/10 discount from Vendor XYZ.

Would that not relate to whether the home was habitable during the construction? If, for example, the power and water had to be shut down for the modifications to be safely & properly made, then I should think that lodging would be a completely reasonable position to take.

Thank you; I will make sure the executor knows. Catherine

Well, the paperwork from the IRA custodian was never sent, since no RMD was taken. They (executor/beneficiaries) knew _nothing_ about this account until I questioned where the 1099-R from that IRA was, and they only got a response earlier today. So there was no way to take the distribution in 2010.