RJM

Thanks Jake, I never heard of this before !

I also don't like the bacon messing up the skillet. Now I cook the bacon on the grill outside, top rack on low heat. I miss the bacon taste in the eggs, but now the house doesn't smell like bacon for a couple days. My wife likes this too cuz she doesn't have to cook the bacon anymore.

Great article, fairly plain English for client perusal. Thanks!

Once in a great while a CD is corrupted. I had no problem with Vista Home installation. Maybe try to download a version and see if this works. -Bob

This is the earliest I have seen the new year disk come out. Installed it and seems to work great, with most of the basic forms. The client letter has some upgrades, but looks like it still needs to be customized to be useful, especially for e-filers. So far, I am believing that CCH really wants to maintain ATX as a strong independent product line !

Will be praying for both of you KC. Thank you so much for all your dedication to this board. Can't wait til tax season starts so we have a real active board again.

I always deduct painting as maintenance & repair expense. It does not extend the life, etc. The dishwasher and floor are 5-year MACRS items, and the faucets and showers I am guessing should be 5 year items, but if any piping was replaced this should probably be 27.5 year property. Anyone have better suggestion for the faucet and showers? -Bob

Andrew, that's basically the way I do it when I need a real good estimate: Override the depreciation, then re-do the return. You need to be aware of what changes in the law are occurring, and adjust for them, and you also need to mentally adjust for the "bracket creep", which I just use as a 3% or so conservative cushion. When there are major tax law changes which are difficult to override, I wait until ATX provides updates for the "Planner" spreadsheet, and they make the adjustments right in the program.

JJ- I have the old ATX accounting program which I think is great for small and medium clients. It is way better than QB and Peachtree IMO. I also have the new ATX Client WU package, but have not yet fully implemented it. Right now it seems to be less intuitive than the old ATX package, so I think the learning curve will be longer. I plan on implementing the CWU program by 1/1/08 assuming it passes further smell tests. Will comment on it in December.

Wayne, I sorta remember reviewing the MS Office Accounting package briefly, and noticed that it did not have an integrated payroll program, but that you had to go thru a 3rd party payroll processor to get tax table updates, FUTA/SUTA calculations, etc. Is this true? OR is there a built in payroll module in MS Accounting? -Bob

I switched from Prosystems FX with former employer for 5 years, to ATX as a self-employed. Most of my returns are larger, and a few with moderate complexity. I found the switch to the ATX forms-based input to be very easy, and intuitively superior to the input-form-based Prosystems. Several things are not automated in ATX (integrating children and parent returns comes to mind), but the "workarounds" referred to by previous poster never seem to take much extra time. My experience with Prosystems 5 years ago was sometimes unpleasant, because there were often program errors that would not be corrected until significantly into tax season. I have no experience with multi-state k-1's in ATX, however.

Am praying for healing for you and your husband, KC.

Happy summer ATXers ! I finally figured out how to print with the ATX programs 2-sided tax returns. Does anyone know if the IRS has a problem with this? I am assuming not, because the IRS-mailed forms are 2-sided. Any thoughts? I prepare mostly e-filed returns, but still would like to save on postage and paper when possible. ... Thanks for any input.

Thanks Wayne. Maybe my best bet is to run the accounting package on the old PC until ATX can provide an accounting package update, late summer I think. Never looked at the MS Office accounting package. The main reason I use ATX accounting is that it transfers payroll return data magically to the tax package. Does the MS Acctg Express include linked 941's and 940's? and are they e-fileable? This would make it worthwhile to look at for my client base.

I just bought a new PC, but had to buy with Vista. Also I use the ATX accounting package, and am wondering if Wayne or anyone else has tried the Vista OS with the accounting package. And what was the result? Will try to install the old tax programs either on an XP partition, an old PC, or using the "XP emulator" option on Vista, assuming ATX will not support pre-2005 tax programs for Vista. By the way, I re-upped with ATX for 2007. Nothing else appears to meet my needs for the cost. Will wait for the CCH decision on Taxwise vs ATX. I would think that they will spend significant effort on a conversion utility if ATXers are migrated over to Taxwise for 2008 season.

Also, if the mortgage loan already exists, the parents can file an election on the next return to NOT treat the loan as a mortgage, so they do not have any $100,000 home equity loan limit problems, if applicable. The election is made under Reg Sec 1.163-10T(o)(5), as a simple statement attached to the return.

MARGE- Please let us know how the OrrTax conversion seems to be working when you get it. If there are free conversions out there, which are reasonably complete, then I will be in a much better position to jump ship ! Thanks

Hi Bill ! Are you Bill Tubbs who did not post on the ATX board this year? If yes, I missed your often insightful WI tax comments this season, but did see you a bit on TTB's board. If you are a different Bill, welcome. For your issue 1), the Sch I instructions imply to me that we should be using 2004 federal tax rules, with the further adjustments specified in the instructions, and that we are to Re-Calculate the federal tax return with All these changes and reflect All the AGI and itemized dedux changes on Sch I. While the rules IMO incorporate ALL WI differences between federal 2004 law and the specific "Items Affecting" in the Sch I instructions, as a general rule I only adjust for the "first round" of direct differences such as depreciation, HSA's, itemized deductions, etc. These are items Specifically Addressed in the instructions. The only time I go the further step is when there are obviously large $ differences which may affect other items on the tax return. It just isn't worth the time and effort to go through all these machinations for a more ordinary return, and it is obvious the state does not check these items, cuz my clients never get audited on these things. For 2), I believe that the EIC adjustment should be made, as per 1) above. However, if the return has small dollars associated with it, I probably would never have bothered with investigating this difference. That's my 2 cents.

Janitor Bob and Old Jack- I could only imagine what you looked like, having read your posts last 2 years. I must say your photos are EXACTLY as I imagined, you are both handsome, in a special kind of way. Thanks JB and John H for a nice chuckle the last day of the season ! (from some posts I don't remember) Got back the last ACK an hour ago, and only 1 extension.... think that is my best ever. After a celebration (9 hours of sleep IS a celebration), now its time to catch up on accounting and payroll, some of my January statements are not done yet...... think that is my worst ever. But clients don't seem to mind. THANKS ERC for this miraculous recovery. Thanks ATXers, seems like most of the regulars have found their way here. Adios til fall probly.

What a drag ! I keep hoping that the bad news will end. Every new service reduction makes it that much more likely I will need to switch software, and deal with the dreaded conversion process, electronic or even worse manual. What a shame about ATX. It was I think the best package out there for the money, and was improving a bunch each year. Now, with the likely abdication of thousands of users, following a large abdication the year before, it will make less and less sense for CCH to maintain this investment. It seems to me inevitable that the ATX product will decline in adequacy for 2007 season, and eventually get folded into the other CCH small practice product line. WHAT A SHAME !

Good one !

Thanks redux. I am looking for a thorough S corp at-risk carryover spreadsheet, if anyone has. Something for accurately tracking basis under all the odd scenarios. I am using a homemade one, but it is much less than thorough. Don't really trust the tax programs to do these right.

Thank you erc for the tip... I am hesitating buying a new computer until I get some feedback on this compatibility feature. i.e. does it really help? Greg Markus please update this board with your results from trying this Vista feature !

Marge, will you fire the client? I think I would, without knowing all the details. I have learned that when a client lies to me there is usually trouble down the road.

My current thinking is, I hate software conversions ! But, I am going to evaluate some packages this summer. The best one for me seems to be Ultra Tax with Creative Solutions. I have heard bad things about Ultra Tax, but mostly good things. And I used Creative Solutions before. It is going to cost quite a bit more than my ATX package. But if they have a fairly reliable conversion program, for tax and accounting, I think I will sign up by October or so. When the season is over, hope to review what CCH is advertising regarding ATX features for the new year. The tax program has really gotten better each year. I still find new convenient features every few returns, and am pleasantly surprised.