JRS

Former Dallas mayor Ron Kirk, who is President Obama's nominee to be the U.S. Trade Representative, failed to pay almost $10,000 in taxes during the past three years because of a series of mistakes, the Senate Finance Committee announced today. Kirk's errors involved honoraria from speeches, on which he should have paid taxes; the cost of sports games, for which he deducted too much; and improper treatment of accounting fees on his income taxes. Kirk has agreed to file amended returns.

This is what I found on the IRS web site: http://ftp.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/rr-06-20.pdf These are the requirements for California, to be exempt from Ca income taxes. http://www.ftb.ca.gov/forms/misc/674.pdf

The state has upped the ante in an attempt to revive the sagging housing market. As part of the budget, California is offering up to a $10,000 tax credit to buyers who purchase a new home before March 1, 2010, or until the $100 million in funding set aside for the program runs out. To earn the credit, buyers also have to agree to stay in the house for at least two years. Buyers must close escrow between March 1 and Feb. 28, 2010. The tax credit is paid over three successive years, beginning with tax year 2009. The home builder must certify to the state that the home has never been occupied.

Two things. I printed it pdf with no problem by using current page. Secondly, I checked the box on the top of the worksheet and it printed. I printed on my regular printer with no problem. I would check in print preferences and see what you have checked off. Sometimes pages won't print on the client copy that print on the preparer's copy and vice versa and worksheets have been my main problem.

and next year, they are going to have balloons and Making Work Pay person, out in front of your office waving a torch.

The Tax Book and Quick Finders, both have a FMV guide. I also give a copy of the Tax Book list to my clients who ask that infamous "What do you think" question and they call me back with a figure. They might not use it, but a least I can say I gave them a reference point.

A lot for NYC and a little for small town. Seriously, GearUp used to have an excel spread sheet on their web site. It was based on the time the IRS figured it would take to do the form. Since, "we" are tax pros, we should be able to do it in a quarter of the time. You could plug in your hourly charge and it would calculate a charge or you could do a per form charge. The rates here in California vary greatly from north to south. My daughter can get her taxes done in Orange County $50 cheaper than LA County by the same chain. My fees here are lower than HRB, but higher 50 miles to the south?!

The easiest way I have found is when I update. In the update window, before I update, I click on preferences, check the state I want, then download the updates. The new state forms are available in the program when I need to add them to the return I am working on.

Dear Valued ATX Customer, We are pleased to announce the winners of our End-of-the-Year Renewal Contest

I did read somewhere, the IRS was going to survey x amount of tax preparers and that they hired a private research company. But, that is all I can remember. I did find this on the webIRS plans annual tax preparer survey IRS plans annual tax preparer survey The IRS will conduct its annual survey of tax preparers beginning in early November. The IRS’s Small Business Self-Employed Division (SBSE) is gathering feedback on the preparers’ experiences with federal tax return filings, as well as dealing with the IRS on behalf of their clients. Pacific Market Research is conducting the phone survey for the IRS from November 2008 to January 2009. Randomly selected CPAs, attorneys, enrolled agents and unenrolled return preparers will receive a pre-letter from Pacific Market Research and a letter from IRS SBSE Commissioner Chris Wagner with complete details and a contact point. The 18-25-minute survey is voluntary and all responses will remain confidential.

I don't know if this will help. I have done a few and on the first one, I could not make it work until I went back and made sure all the appropriate boxes were checked (or not). I never ran an error check, so I don't the results it would have shown. Statement page 2 should be only used when a penalty applies.

My ethnic rant: Living and growing up in Southern California until I was in my 40's, I worked with and supervised many Hispanics, the majority from Mexico or first generation. I worked in groceries stores and was sent to one in Santa Ana to "clean up the 'Mexican' mess and reduce all the bad checks they were passing." Surprise, all the bad checks were from "gringos." Friday was pay day and the busiest day of the week. Starting at 4:30, the "Mexicans" would come in with the whole family and spend 75% of their pay check. Over 70% of the employees were hispanic and had a very "strong work ethic." Sundays, the store didn't need to open until after Mass, because we hardly ever had any customers until around noon. Once my company reluctantly accepted this "ethnic anomaly" and let me work with the community, the store volume doubled, not to mention, the lasting friends I made. I could go on, but my point was far more eloquently stated by jainen.

You will have to determine if there is any basis, then you can follow the statement I found below. If your client is like many of mine, finding basis can be really FUN. Q: Are "cash liquidation distributions) as shown on a 1099-DIV (box 8) taxable income? A: Liquidating distributions, sometimes called liquidating dividends, are distributions you receive during a partial or complete liquidation of a corporation. These distributions are one form of a return of capital. You will receive a Form 1099-DIV from the corporation showing the amount of the liquidating distribution in box 8 or 9. Partial liquidating distributions are not taxable income as long as you still have a cost basis in your original investment, they are used to reduce that basis. If and when distributions exceeds your cost basis, the excess is a capital gain. If, when the distributions are ended and the corporation has been completely liquidated, the distributions were less than your basis, the difference is a capital loss.

Both are piggyback.

From Lacerte for 2008, a list of states for piggyback and stand alone. http://www.lacertesoftware.com/resources/t...info/state.aspx

Check out this article. I didn't read the whole article, but it might help. http://www.investopedia.com/articles/retir...t/05/012505.asp

"Below you will find information regarding the next National Phone Forum to be held by the IRS Stakeholder Liaison Division. This timely topic of Cancellation of Debt. We look forward to having you join us on this call. Remember, if you have any questions please contact us at [email protected] . We apologize if you receive this email more than once. Thank you. IRS Stakeholder Liaison presents: National Phone Forum Cancellation of Debt Date: March 18, 2009 Cost: FREE Learn about: • Taxation of canceled debt • Exceptions and exclusions – with a focus on bankruptcy, insolvency, and qualified principal residence indebtedness exclusions • Reduction of tax attributes • How to complete Form 982, Reduction of Tax Attributes Due to Discharge of Indebtedness (And Section 1082 Basis Adjustment) Earn Continuing Professional Education credit • Enrolled agents receive one CPE credit for a minimum of 50-minute participation from the start of the forum. • Other tax professionals may receive credit if the phone forum meets your organization’s or state’s CPE requirements. • To receive credit, register individually and use your PIN. • Call in using your individual phone line so your attendance can be verified. • Look for your Certificate of Completion by e-mail approximately one week after the forum. If you have met all requirements, you will receive your certificate automatically; there’s no need to follow up. • If you and others in your office do not require a CPE certificate, please have only one person register on the group’s behalf and use your speaker phone to dial in. This will maximize the number of lines available for other participants and help reduce costs.

The purchase price of the new fund does not enter in to the transaction. Question: What is the transaction type of this stock - Sch D input screen trans type 1 non business G/L Question: What do you do with the amount stated in box 2 on the 1099-B statement - That is the proceeds from the sale. You need the cost basis in the original fund to figure the G/L on the transaction for Sch D.

When you get bored, go to about taxes.com and read some of the question from people using Turbo Tax or any of the others. Some, as stated above, have no idea what the out come will be and definitely don't know where it ends up. Some of the questions make you shake your head, then you realize what a sad shape our tax code is really in. It can make you understand why our clients often refer to what their "peers" think is correct tax law.

A long shot, but does he have qualified dividends?

For your client. OID is not something you just put on your tax return each year. 1099-OID – Original Issue Discount Original issue discount is the excess of the redemption value of an obligation over its issue price, and is amortized as interest income over the term of the obligation. The amount in box 1 is the amortization of the original issue discount for the year and should be reported as interest income on your tax return. Other period interest in box 2 is interest income other than the amortization of the original issue discount, and should also be reported as interest income on your tax return. Below is a website your client might want to read. Basically explains OID and what can happen if down the road you sell or cash in the cd and what OID can mean to his gain or loss. http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/7..._oid.html?cat=3

Had the same thing last year, unfortunately, the IRS wins.

I don't know if this will help. The IRS publishes a guide, Pub 1212, if I remember correctly, though it has been a few years. They also publish tables with the figures for figuring OID on certain issued "instruments." I think I had to request the tables by email, but, again it has been a few years.

Go to the 1040EF. Make sure you check use last year's account number. If direct deposit of refund or amount due, you check the box. If new numbers, enter them on this form and they should transfer.

Don't take this as "gospel", but this is what I have found: In my experience, which is limited, you won't find it in the loan docs. You have to find out what the "collateral" is. If the loan is secured "only" by the property it is nonrecourse. If a refi is taken out for more than the balance of the mortgage, the loan becomes recourse (from the research I have done). From Wikipedia: "A nonrecourse debt or non-recourse debt or nonrecourse loan is a secured loan (debt) that is secured by a pledge of collateral, typically real property, but for which the borrower is not personally liable. If the borrower defaults, the lender/issuer can seize the collateral, but the lender's recovery is limited to the collateral. If the property is insufficient to cover the outstanding loan balance (for example, if real estate prices have dropped), the lender is simply paid out the difference. Thus, non-recourse debt is typically limited to 80% or 90% loan-to-value ratios, so that the property itself provides "overcollateralization" of the loan. The purpose of non-recourse debt is to require lenders to underwrite their loans on a sustainable and prudent basis since the lender is in the first-loss position with these loans, not the borrower."