Tax Prep by Deb

My rep called yesterday and left a voice mail that mine will be shipping on the 28th of November

I AM SO JEALOUS!!!!! My Mom and Dad and I would go every fall, but since my Dad passed away, I haven't been able to convince my mom to go. But every year I get prices, ect.... hoping to she'll change her mind. Deb!

Me too! 11/5 Deb!

I believe it is a revenue generator. I agree if they accept federal that should be it. I can't even see the need to pay the annual 25.00 to California when the new procedures take place, however when an agency is formed at a government level, it is nearly impossible to make it go away. CTEC, the agency used by California to regulate tax preparers has stated that the funds enable them to better educate the public of the need to use only CTEC or other professional (licensed) preparers, and that they use the funds to go after those who prepare taxes illegally. They say they are making a difference, but year after year I see horror stories come into my office asking for help because of the mess made by someone not registered, or licensed. Deb!

California has done this for years, and Oregon too! I just completed my continued education requirement for California, and out of 200 questions I only missed 1. California has stated that when IRS begins testing, and requiring continued education, they will accept what IRS requires for their own standards therefore not impossing two tests for us. We will still have to pay the 25.00 annual registration fee however. To be honest with you all I was suprised to learn a few years ago that so few states had any competency requirements. Deb!

Eric, Am I blind or have you removed the link to donate? Will it be put back? Deb!

"so I chalked up the "accuracy" issue related to ATX to users' not understanding taxes in the first place and relying on the program to prepare the return and catch all errors" I've used ATX ever since I began computer generated tax preparation. I to have had an overall good experience with ATX, but if you will notice this thread was started in 08. There have been rocking times along the way and since 08. 2010 was overall a good year, and a great time for you to begin, however please do not judge the issues over knowing how to prepare taxes. If you were not using the program when we had issues, you aren't really in a good position to judge. I'm rarely negative in my replies, but please keep in mind, that many of us that post on this board go way back with the product. We have seen it develop, in fact part of the reason it is such a good product is because they listened to us the user, and made changes accordingly. When it was bought out by CCH the support was horrible or non existent. The issues we had that year had nothing to do with not knowing how to prepare a tax return. They had some major issues! However as time progressed, they started improving and you are seeing the end result, a very good program! I hope this is the case going forward, however I expect problems along the way just as it has been from the beginning. Just my two cents worth! Deb!

Does anybody know if a late filing penalty for an 1120S can be made online thru EFTPS? My client has their account already set up, however when I try to enter the 1120S as the form it gives me an error. It is not in the drop down box either. Do I make it under the 1120? or can it be made at all? Client needs to make this payment ASAP! Thanks, Deb!

Provided of course that they never refinanced and took out equity. If they did take out equity, then do the insolvency worksheet. It's not as cut and dry as it may seem. Deb!

Have your client check his last payment received and the first one received this year. Sometimes they will write the check in December, but not mail it until the 31st or even in January. Your clients records maybe reflecting the payment they said they made in December in his January information. I had a construction contractor for which this happened to several times. When IRS questioned the discrepency between the 1099 and what we reported I simply attached a sample of the last checks received and they agreed with our original return. This may not be the case with your client, however it is just one possibility. Deb!

I just got a new computer with Windows 7 Premium Home Version 64 Bit and have installed 08-10 of ATX and didn't have a single problem. I absolutely love the speed and ease of operation. It takes a little getting use to because popular things of XP have changed a litle bit, but everything seems to be great with my new system. Deb!

I have just upgraded to a new computer with Windows 7 Home Premium Edition, and so far it has been great. We had a bit of trouble networking however I think we may have it fixed now. My tech guy could find no reason for the problem, but after one day and a shut down it booted all the computers off the network except one. But I was having the same problem with the old computer set up as well. So were not exactly sure what the problem was or is, but so far I am extremely happy with the speed of program load up and over all functionality of Windows 7. It does take a little getting use to as names of things and how you find them has changed a little. But I love my new computer! Deb!

I have never had the problems your having with Dell. I own 5 computers now, the oldes is 8 years old. Never have I even had a hiccup with any of them except when Mcafee allowed bugs in and I had to have them de-bugged. As to support in India, I have been told that you have the right to ask for a US based support person. I have a client who had a problem with HP and after several attempts with India said she wanted someone of the states to speak to and she was told that was her right. It took a couple of days but someone from the states called, and sent her a new computer within days. Sometimes I think we allow ourselves to be intimidated but on the other hand Dell has an obligation too! That's exactly why I went into Costco. I know I will first have to deal with Dell, but I also have the Costco name backing me, as well as they add an additional year to the warranty. Also if for any reason I'm unhappy I can take it back to Costco, full refund, no hassle. Deb!

Actually mine came with a 300 power supply, that's the main reason I went with this instead of a less expensive one. I only paid $799, it has blue ray however I probably will never use it except to install programs.

I just bought a Dell Inspirion I580-4797NBC from Costco. It came with 6GB of Ram, and a 1 TB Hard Drive. It has Windows 7 Home Premium Version running on 64 Bit. I absolutely love it. It also comes with a 24" monitor. My fully loaded ATX program with 275 clients opens almost instantly, Quickbooks opens in a flash. My only regret is that I did not buy it sooner! Deb!

Just got my new computer set up, programs installed, files moved over, and I absolutely love this new computer. My old monitor was 19" my new one is 24". I love it, love it, love it. So far the computer is everything I hoped it would be and boy does it open ATX and Quickbooks super fast. Thanks for everyone who commented on my Windows 7 questions, as well as for your recommendations in choosing a new computer. Deb!

I too, wanted to say a great big thanks to all of you who have helped me thru another taxing tax year. This was probably my best ever. I had many new clients and for the most part my returns were very easy compared to past years. I am looking forward to taking a few days off, then I will begin working on the extended returns. Again, Just wanted to say a big thanks to all who contribute! Deb!

This sounds alot like California. They are trying to get money every way they can and are getting more and more aggressive at it. This year alone I have received three letters from the board of equalization reminding me that due dilligence on my part involveds making sure my clients are aware of the use tax law on purchases made out of state and on the internet. One even suggested that I look over there receipts to see if they owe it. Since when did we become the tax collector? If I'm not mistaking someone else is being paid for that job and duty! Just venting of course! Deb!

I have a strong feeling that even though it has been reported over and over again in the news, that all my clients think today is the deadline. I've been extremely busy these last two days and I have a good feeling that Monday will be very peacefull! How about everyone else? Deb!

I have a couple of clients who recently divorced. They share custody of their only son. The mom has 51% and the dad 49%. When you add up the nights that also confirms custody arrangement. The divorce degree allows for the dad to claim the son every other year. It is his year and has claimed the son. His income is way to high for EIC and he has already remarried, so therefore not filing HH. My question concerns the mom. Because she had him for more than 1/2 the year, can she claim the son for the EIC. I've read and it seems like she probably can, but I would appreciate anyones thought on the matter. My brain hurts, and I'm wishing it was already the 19th! Deb!

I have a client, who is also a very good friend of mine. She has been working as a waitress part time for half of last year. After repeated requests she was finally given a hand written w-2 which shows in box 1) $1,952.23 box 2) $207.00 box 3) (nothing in this box) box 4) $317.21, box 5) (nothing in this box) box 6) $74.19. Nothing in box 7 or 8. My client does report her tips to her employer and when she found her last paystub for the year it indicated wages and tips totaled $5,115 which would make the amounts in box 4 & 5, social security tax withheld and medicare tax withheld correct. But box one is only showing the amount for her wages, none of her tips, nor is there any amount in box 7 social security tips. It's not likely that she will be able to get them to correct the W-2, but she would like to file with the correct figures. My thinking is using a substitute W-2 with the correct information, even though she has a W-2 it is grossly wrong, hand written at that. Any thoughts? Deb!

I don't have your problem as my system is exaclty the same as it has been for over 8 years, but my mouse is misbehaving too! I'm half tempted to turn my cat out on it and see if that fixes it! HaHaHa :lol:

Anybody? Deb!

I hope that someone who was kind enough to repond to my initial question will help me again. I'm actually finishing this tax return and frankly I do not have a clue where to begin. The monitoring contracts were sold on an installment basis. The client is going to give me the complete contract, however for 2010 they received 28,000. I know I have to start with the installment sale form, but how do I record this? Can someone please give me a starting point. I agree that this is sec 195 intangible assets, and from what I can see it's reported as section 1231? But on the imput screens on either form 6252, or 4797 there is no drop down menue to tell the program what section it is. Am I missing something? Please if anyone can tell me where to start my entry I'm sure I can figure this out. Thanks, Deb!

Update! Client asked brother, brother said it was reported on 4797. But again, this property never generated any income of any kind. I still feel that schedule D is the way to go. Am I right or wrong? Deb!