Catherine

Happy Easter to all. And a good Passover as well.

In the "post new topic" (and the reply as well), at the bottom, on the right hand side, UNDER the box where you type there is a "manage current attachments" box, and under that is a BLANK box with a "browse" box next to it. Use the browse to find the picture, and then upload. Eric has given us lots of storage space (thanks, Eric), but you might still want to double check the picture file size first; some programs (and some pictures) make huge files that can be made smaller by reducing color numbers and other ways. Catherine

I've had a Brother MFC-8840DN for about three years now. Auto doc feeder, scans quickly (but not duplex; at least that I've found) and easily. ADF doesn't like real flimsy paper like you get with some 1099-MISC's, so those we (=Gwen, usually) do singly. It also copies (and scales larger/smaller), faxes, and prints duplex. It's been a very good workhorse. Prior to that I had an Epson with ADF; the ADF was very slow and the scanner mechanism itself broke. First time I fixed it (but got the Brother), this last time I think I'll just have to junk it; now that it's (WAY!!!) past warranty, it won't be worth the expense. Don't bother with any scanner that's not meant for office use; it'll drive you nuts until it breaks. Catherine

Noticed something odd in an e-file ack's (I print out the e-file acknowledgment history; one copy in my files, one copy to client). This client owed some money. As usual, the left column showed the negative "refund" amount. But the middle block ("Current Ack Detail") showed this same amount as an actual refund amount. Since someone cannot both owe $250 and be expecting $250 back on the same return, I wonder if there is a glitch in this middle box reporting. Has anyone else noticed this? Of course, in my copious free time, I went back to look at some of my other returns where the folks owed and indeed this is more widespread than just this return. It's like they don't have a way to show negative numbers. This particular client is an engineer, and he'll notice it and want details. I just know it. Catherine

There's another instance when the pdf file will be empty. If you print a return to pdf and the realize you've included a form you meant to not print (or neglected one you wanted), and you re-print, and try to give the same file name. You can go through the "this file already exists! do you want to over-write it" question and say "yes" -- but the over-written file will be empty. It is necessary to first delete the existing file and then re-print to pdf using the name again. Catherine

excerpted from The TaxBook, 13-31: "A cafeteria plan is a written plan that allows employees to choose between receiving a taxable compensation or a qualified benefit for which the law provides an exclusion from wages." So, FIT, yes, but I'm not sure offhand about SS or Medi.

On the order of, "I can neither confirm nor deny the rumor that CCH will be supporting ATX for only two more years"? (Please note, this is a rumor I just made up as an example here!!)

Gee, thanks. :wacko:

LOVED the stories and I definitely worked for more than a few of those doofuses (doofi?), LOL! And I sent the EB story on to some friends... Catherine

My 16-year-old does all my document scanning for me. She does a GREAT job, too. I pay her well for the work and get every penny's worth and more. Catherine

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! It insists on adding that frou-frou at the end; I just wanted to bump up the font size. :rolleyes:

Yardley CPA -- Sasha probably can't answer your last question. But if she could AND did, then she'd have to kill us all afterwards. ;)

Thursday, April 9th. The last Thursday before 4/15; many places will be closed tomorrow for Good Friday. I get a MARKETING call from CCH/ATX wanting to talk to me about "my business and training needs". HE-LLOOOOOO!!!! Just a wee bit BUSY here, folks! I think TRX just confirmed a sale. Thanks to all for letting me vent. Catherine

Happy Birthday!!!!

I don't know the answer to your question. However, I think it's going to depend on how the trust was written, and that in turn will depend on the will it was set up under and the attention paid to the set-up by whoever wrote the trust doc's. The attorney who set up the documents may be able to help with this one; certainly -some- attorney will be able to read the documents and give an opinion. Was exempt status ever applied for? Do the trust documents support the establishment of a private foundation? "Intended to do" and "actually did" can be quite different, after all. Extend, talk to the attorney, go from there. If it does qualify as a private foundation, perhaps you can amend any/all open years, too, as the filings would have been incorrect. Catherine

Client has family in Canada without ITIN's. Should I e-file his extension as Single? Can't e-file married as there is no ITIN for spouse. Or is this one that should just be sent in on paper? Hope to get it all straight and filed properly within a few weeks (sooner than a nastygram could come in, we hope), but thought I'd run it by folks here first. TIA, Catherine

I had trouble connecting to the server earlier today, but it seems to be fine now. Catherine

Client took classes to become a paramedic and deducted tuition and fees on 2007 return for classes in 2007-2008 school year. In order to complete the certification, he had to go out-of-state for several weeks in 2008 to do some either on-site training or supervised training; details slightly unclear to me. But without this, all the school/class work meant nothing. Question is, does the cost of the airfare and lodging to attend this required-for-certification stint count as required tuition and fees (under the heading of fees)? TIA, Catherine

Fabulous! Thank you for posting this.

This came up at dinner tonight. Somehow the discussion alluded to vampires. My husband noted that vampires -- both male and female -- are always dressed elegantly, perfectly coiffed, and exquisitely made up. So, how do they do it? No mirror images......

New client, came here late in '07 and never filed. So we need to do '07 and '08. He's here on a TN visa (Trade NAFTA status); wife and kids are still in Canada. What are my filing options for this guy? He's married -- so I could do MFJ and take dependents -- but then have to pull in wife's Canadian income etc, file on paper with W-7's, blah blah. MFS is possible and just do his US income. Any options I've missed? Anything I should query him about specifically to choose? Any reason to NOT put him on extension while I sort this all out? Thanks! Catherine

I just did a quick re-do of a 2005 return for a client's child at the client's request. Kid had to pay tax on a mutual fund sale of funds in an UTMA account. Here's the interesting bit: I went to ATX 2005, and had the devil's own time trying to get the program to correctly calculate the tax due. I had to go into worksheets and change here and adjust there -- it was a royal pain. AND, in the end I couldn't get it to calculate _any_ tax due, when I knew there had to be -- the kid had a couple of thousand in capital gains above her earned income. Wasn't much tax, only about $130, but it wasn't NONE. So, out of curiosity, I opened up my trial of Drake from 2005. Entered all the information FAST, and it calculated all the deduction amounts and tax amounts automatically. I didn't have to go in and adjust anything anywhere (once I found the checkbox to have the taxpayer claimed as someone else's dependent). In a program I don't really know, I did this in 1/3 the time I argued with ATX, and got a solid answer -- which I never did with ATX. Now, that doesn't change the fact that Drake is a royal PITA whenever you DO need to override something. But if CCH ever becomes truly, deeply offensive, I think I know where I'll go... FWIW, Catherine

I'm not sure why you would want to bother. The 1040X has to be paper filed anyway, so all you've done in the end is submitted an unnecessary e-file of an incorrect return. Just paper file the thing and get it OFF your to-do list. And remember, my advice is worth every penny you have paid for it. Catherine

I recommend getting a FEIN to any sole proprietor. Safeguard that social! And it takes only a couple of minutes online. The slowest thing is finding the online fillable form at irs.gov -- even if you put the exact name in the search box, the results frequently have the form hidden way far down in the list of matches.

Right-click on the line it FLOWS FROM (or to, depending on which direction you're going) -- it will be highlighted in whatever color you've chosen. Go to Edit -- Restore, and that will take away the itemization. Catherine