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

Yay Birthday! Happy Happy! :bday:

Kea, My sympathies on your loss.

Glad to be of help!

I'll add to the happy birthday wishes! Happy Birthday, Chad! Sounds like you had a great day. Catherine

I'd still file the Mass return. If your client is listed as owner, she'll get a nastygram from Massachusetts demanding its' portion. Mass. renters get to deduct half their rent (up to a deduction maximum of $3,000 per year). They used to ask for the landlord's name and address right on the Form 1. They don't bother with that anymore since they have all the ownership records available online. So they'll be asking questions if you don't pre-empt and answer them first! Also, I don't know when your client left the state, but they are the very dickens to convince that you're no longer a resident, either. Catherine

Hi jasdlm -- If all your client has in Mass. is the rental, that is the only thing that should be showing on the Mass. return. The for NTS-L-NR should populate and show line 10 Mas AGI of 6337. That should qualify her for "no tax status" and then thre will be nothing on Form 1NR/PY page 4 line 40 (income tax total). Does this help? Catherine

Just saw this post and can't answer right now because I have to go out for a while. I will look into this (unless someone else has answered) when I get back and post then. Hang in there! Catherine

That has been my big question since this thread started, and my intention has been to call TRX after 4/15 and just ask them. I've been getting ATX Max, to get the business returns and all the states -- seems every year I need a new oddball state or form. But I don't seem to lose the old ones as quickly. And having all the payroll forms makes it much easier to service some of my accounting clients. So I don't want to downgrade, for sure! So if someone _knows already_ and is willing to post..... Or if no one does, I'll call and post the results here once they've told me. Catherine

I'm actually slowing down now. Most of the folks left are going on extension -- I'm missing data and for whatever reason they can't get it to me. And there's going to be one of the "Tea Party" events in Boston on the 15th; I'm taking my younger girl out of school (and my older one if she can get off of work) and we're going in for it. My husband is going to try to join us as well. Great way to finish off the tax season! Catherine

Frack. Forgot that part. What happens when you rent to a relative FOR fair market value and then they don't pay up after a month or two? After all, that's not the deal you made.

Put 'em on extension. That's what extensions are for! Do what you can and no more. Catherine

As sad as it is when clients pass on, what was more disturbing to me _last_ year was the number of new clients that I got because their prior _preparers_ had passed on suddenly. In fact, I got another one this year -- prior preparer just keeled over about a month or so ago. Lots of clients then have either time delays or more serious trouble just getting their original documents back. So take care of yourselves, everyone -- we owe it to ourselves, our families, _and_ our clents! Catherine

In the end I just over-rode the stinking worksheet. Sigh. I haven't got the patience to deal with tech (non)support right now. Thanks for all the good suggestions, though. I'll keep in mind the deleting and re-adding the form, and the others. Catherine

The turn-it-back-on-Eric joke was truly a thing of beauty. Thank you KC, Tom, Kyle -- and even Eric for starting this one. Catherine

How far back (years) does this go? Can you amend those prior years to show it as a money-losing rental (which is in fact what it was)? That makes the loss a business loss. doesn't make the son any less slimy. Or the broker, either. But those are non-tax problems. Or only tax problems sort of sideways.