jmallard

I have a client recently divorced, filing as HOH. There were two children, Husband and ex-spouse each claim one. My client's son is 15 years old but he is disabled. I don't know for sure if the son is considered Totally Disabled, but his disability is permanent and I know that he can't be left alone, attends special school and day care after that. This child will never be able to drive a car or hold a job. He will require physical care for the rest of his life. He gets about $5000.00 per year in non taxable interest and $4000.00 in ordinary qualified dividends, from a trust fund and gets a Schedule K-1. I file a 1040 for him (child) with the K-1 information and indicate that he is claimed as a dependent on his father's tax return. Doctors screwed up an operation in 2001 that left him in present condition - that's where the trust fund comes from. My question comes from the fact that I get a Warning from ATX software that "Dependent care expenses are being claimed for someone over age 13". I checked and do not get this warning in the 2006 Tax Year software, he was 14 last year. Is this something new? Can he still be claimed as a qualifying child for Child Care Expenses? I created and e-file (not submitted) and the Warning changes to "Informational". Any help would be appreciated. Jerry

Tom, I believe you have to file MFJ for California also. Use CA Form 540NR (Part-Year and Non-Resident). The CA NR Adjustments form is where you can show the residence of husband and spouse. The husband may be a non-resident, however, all income earned while in CA is taxed. Jerry

21. When you know the plural of "ya'll" is "all ya'll" 22. When you know the name of General Lee's Horse = Traveler I'm originally from Alabama

Tom, Also, In Asset Entry, oOn the Asset Input Sheet, you can select "Z-Amortization" in # 4 "Asset category" and then in # 5 you can select # 8, "Amort - 195 - Bus start-up exp". Hope that's what you're looking for.

Checked my EFile Manager and my column is also blank. Checked my 2006 and 2005 files and all e-files have a date and time in the column. Tried sycronizing with ATX and the column is still blank. Still, probably nothing to be concerned about.

Fridays is "Pizza Pizza" for us.

Thanks for the link. May come in handy come next year.

bcollen & taxperson Thanks very much for the information. Saves a lot of time that I would have spent searching. Jerry

CA Form 540 has been available for a while now. If your program won't auto update, try a manual download of the form. Jerry

I just acquired a client who moved from Oregon to California on 1 April 2007. I need to know what forms I need to e-file the Oregon Return. I've never done an Oregon Return before. Client is MFS (husband in prison) with only 2 W-2s ($15835 income, half from California, half from Oregon). I'm filing client as Part-Year Resident of California, do I only need the Oregon 40P (For Part-Year Residents) and the OR E-file info? The OR 40P only shows the Oregon Income (that's nice). The form only shows 4 letters of the spouse's last name, should I Override and add the last two letters of the last name? Is there a Form 8879 or 8453 equivalent that needs to be filed? These forms or similar were not listed in the Oregon forms. Thanks in advance. Jerry

I also do not want Vista on my computers. I bought a Dell XPS 720 from Dell in January 08. Had the option of Vista or XP, of course, I chose XP. Works great!

I think Elrod is referring to the date of the ATX2007 application file. It is a newer version. :)

You need to submit the 1099-R also. Copy B goes to Fed and Copy 2 to the State.

I pretty much agree with what 'Catherine' said also. I started with ATX in 1999 and enjoyed the yearly improvements and form based flow. The few times I had to contact support in the past were always responded to quickly and friendly and problems were fixed almost immediately, even if they had to do with programming. Of course, the ATX Community is where I always go first with problems questions. I am also a one person office with only 50 or so customers. Tax prep software cost is very important to me. I hate it that ATX dropped free e-filing and the ATX forum without notice. Had I known in advance I might have opted for the next version up with the free 100 e-filings and all states, the difference in price would offset what it is going to cost me for e-filing this year. I cannot afford a higher priced tax software package. Of course, this forum is outstanding and I am grateful for all the help I receive here. I'll wait and see how it goes for the future, but I don't have any good feelings about CCH. Jerry

Thanks Jack. That would have been a big mistake if I filed him as Head of Household. Sometimes the "if" "and" "or" statements in the tax instructions get me so confused I don't know what the h_ll to do. Jerry

Confused as to whether or not my client can qualify as Head of Household. Client is Single. He has a lady living with him for several years. She lived with him all year and had no income whatsoever and he supports her 100%. I believe she qualified as his dependent - am I correct? HOH Line 4 instructions state: Test 2. 1. Any person whom you can claim as a dependent. But do not include: b. Any person who is your dependent only because he or she lived with you for all of 2007, or . . . So, does this mean he cannot claim Head of Household? Thanks. Jerry

Deb, Thanks for your response, sorry mine is late In my senario I did learn that the Box 5 Scholarships amount has to be deducted from the Box 1 amount. Further checking with my client revealed an additional $1040 paid in Tuition and Fees, so that helped. Thanks again for your help. Jerry

[Excuse my typo in the Title - Should have been 1098-T - Couldn't find a way to delete and re-enter my post and can't edit the title] A bit confused on the 1098-T form. If Box 1 (Payments received. . .) is $6000.00 and Box 5 (Scholarships or grants) is $5000.00, what is the amount that goest to Form 8863? $1000.00 ? Do you subtract the Scholarships or grants from the Payments received? Thanks in Advance. Jerry

Sure, why not have an OT section. Jerry

Thanks for the responses. taxperson Yes, I filled out the date of death in the filer's information area. Taxpayer passed last September, so SSA files should be up to date by now. Jerry

Hi Everyone, I was wondering if the surviving spouse can e-file a tax return for a deceased taxpayer? I always thought that in this situation the surviving spouse had to paper file the return and attach a copy of the death certificate. Seems like ATX software doesn't care. It is ready to create an e-file for me. I just don't want a rejected return from the IRS and also want to do it properly. Any advise is appreciated. Jerry

I like speed too!! In January, I sprung for a new Dell XPS 720, quad core, Win XP, 3GB Ram, 500GB Raid 0 Hard Drives and dual 21" flat screen LCD monitors. ATX loads in 6 seconds for me to - including typing in my password to enter software. My old machine was a home built (2001) AMD XP2100, 512Mb Ram, 80GB Raid 0 Hards drives and CRT 21" monitor. It is my back-up machine now. ATX takes about 20 seconds to load. Maybe my last new computer. I'm gettin' old. Jerry

Great Advise !! Years back George Burns was on the Johnny Carson show on his 100th birthday. Johnny asked him if his doctor told him smoking cigars was bad for him. George replied, "My doctor is dead."

Thanks very much for all the replies. Cleared that up for me in excellent fashion. I like this community Jerry

Thanks for the responses This was my thinking also - it is 2007 Income. Guess I'm a big soft hearted guy - I was hoping it could go on 2008 Income because my client is a divorced lady with kids and having a hard time. But, that's why I asked here - didn't want to make a big mistake on her taxes. Thanks again. Jerry