HV Ken

Thanks for your reply. If I understand you correctly, there is no place on the PA 40 to report the local tax withheld ? It just gets withheld and is (assumed to be) the correct amount ?? And I thought NY was confusing!!!!!

Hi. Looking for some help preparing a PA return for a college student who is a dependent of our client and client is NY resident. Student received W2 (~$9000) from university (Univ of PA). PA state taxes, and Philadelphia local taxes were withheld. Problem #1: In the ATX W2 input, it only allows for localities of Allentown, Pittsburgh, and Springfield. Problem #2: I don't see anywhere on the PA 40 return to account for the Philadelphia local tax that was withheld. The state tax withheld exactly equals the tax liability. Not sure what to do with the Philadelphia local tax withheld. The local tax withheld amount is actually greater than the state tax withheld. Thanks for any assistance!

Hi Michael, My business returns efiled yesterday received acks today. ATX keeps their "blog" pretty much up to date at: https://support.atxinc.com/myatx/index.aspx. They then have specific ones for specific topics. You can also subscribe and have them sent to your email (so its a push rather than a pull).

Thanks for the pointer!

Found pub 530....

In New York, when obtaining a mortgage, one of the closing costs is a "mortgage tax". We have always advised clients that this tax cannot be included in itemized deductions (Sch A). Today we were asked by a client to provide documentation to validate this, as they were told by a friend that you can add it to Sch A. I have read the IRS form instructions, checked the various CCH pubs we have, and cannot find anything on this one way or another (or at least am not looking in the correct place). Can someone point me to a reference to substantiate that it can *not* be included on Schedule A ? Thanks!

I created a spreadsheet via Forms -> Create Spreadsheet. No matter how I try to print it, all I ever get is a blank page! I have tried with the sheet both protected and unprotected, from within Print Manager and using the "Page" option, but nothing seems to work. What am I missing ??

Looks like this is fixed already.... ATX EFC Rejection 17 2/12/2010 Your client's 1040 piggyback e-file is rejected by the ATX EFC, citing the following: EFC Rejection - 17: Bank application contains invalid data. To correct this problem, update your ATX software. Refer to Document ID: 14661 for instructions on updating your program files.

ATX seems to be suffering from some software quality issues this week. First this one: 1040 Error: Error: A summary record was not found in this e-file. Save the return, close and reopen, before recreating the e-file. If error persists, reboot computer and recreate e-file. And now this one....

ATX EFC Rejection 17 2/12/2010 Your client's 1040 piggyback e-file is rejected by the ATX EFC, citing the following: EFC Rejection - 17: Bank application contains invalid data. This problem has been reported and is currently being investigated by our programming staff. ATX strongly recommends waiting for the fix to become available rather than working around the problem. To work around this problem until a fix is available, you can create the federal-only e-file with a bank product and separately file the state-only e-file. Remember, you must deselect the bank product refund information on the state EF Info worksheet if you choose to file the federal e-file separately from the state e-file. IMPORTANT: If you file a federal-only e-file with a bank product, the state refund will not be included in the bank product refund amount and you cannot file a bank product with a state-only e-file. Your client will receive their state refund via direct deposit or in the form of a paper check from the state.

It appears with a recent update, Client Copy is again appearing on the worksheets....

Never mind - the credit (aka loan) does not start to be repaid until tax year 2010. "The recapture period is the 15-year period beginning with the second year following the year of purchase (Code Sec. 36(f))."

I went and did the same research and was just going to post the same response!!!!! I found my answer in the CCH 1040 publication.

Thanks KC - tried that, but this now throws an e-file error saying that we cannot e-file a return that includes Form 5405. Even though the 5405 is not in the return! I guess the other question is, is Diane correct that the repayment doesn't start until tax year 2010 ?

They already know. Received this email this morning: "1040 EF Info - Error: A summary..." when creating 1040 e-files 2/11/2010 "1040 EF Info - Error: A summary record was not found..." when creating 1040 e-files You receive the following message, referring to form 1040 EF Info, when creating a piggyback or state-only 1040 e-file: 1040 EF Info - Error: A summary record was not found in the e-file. Save the return, close and re-open, before re-creating the e-file. If error persists, reboot computer and re-create e-file. This problem has been reported and is currently being investigated by our programming staff. To work around this problem until a fix is available, you can create and transmit federal-only and direct-state (CA, MA, ME, or MN) e-files; however, you cannot create piggyback or state-only e-files until this problem is resolved.

They already know. I received this email this morning: "1040 EF Info - Error: A summary..." when creating 1040 e-files 2/11/2010 "1040 EF Info - Error: A summary record was not found..." when creating 1040 e-files You receive the following message, referring to form 1040 EF Info, when creating a piggyback or state-only 1040 e-file: 1040 EF Info - Error: A summary record was not found in the e-file. Save the return, close and re-open, before re-creating the e-file. If error persists, reboot computer and re-create e-file. This problem has been reported and is currently being investigated by our programming staff. To work around this problem until a fix is available, you can create and transmit federal-only and direct-state (CA, MA, ME, or MN) e-files; however, you cannot create piggyback or state-only e-files until this problem is resolved.

Has anyone figured out how to begin paying back the 2008 $7,500 First Time Home Buyer Credit (that is, Loan) that is supposed to be repaid over 15 years ($7500 / 15 years = $500 / year) ? The only spot I can find on Form 5405 page 2 seems to be if you sold the home. What about the simple case of beginning the annual repayment ? Thanks!

The other day I was thinking about posting how it appears the mysterious client copy state return doesn't print problem was gone, until today, when it started happening again. I wonder if this is a problem that only appears when you pass a certain number of returns ? Anyone else experiencing this problem again this year ?

Our clients so far have expressed an interest in not waiting for the TAT on the first time home buyers credit. So we do the two step: 1) e-file return w/o the credit 2) amend to get the $8000 credit

Thanks for the details, Joel!

Here is the response I received: Dear Ken, Thank you for contacting us with your suggestion. I'm sorry that you are unhappy with the changes on the Billing Invoice. We put in many production hours on the Invoice this summer to add the most popular customer-requested features. We tried to make choices that would please the majority of our customers, realizing that any change will always leave someone unhappy. The removal of the total at the top of the Forms Statement was at the request of other users of the form. We actually had multiple conflicting requests for this field. Some wanted it to go completely; some wanted it be a sub-total, showing only the forms that were listed on the Forms Statement page (these were users that preferred the option of displaying the forms on the Invoice, with the overflow going to the Forms Statement); and some wanted the total to be the sum of all of the forms, statements, and worksheets...whether they were displayed on the Forms Statement page or on the Invoice page. Yours is the first request to bring back this field. Based upon your suggestion, we will look at this again in the off-season, to see if it's possible to offer an option to turn this feature on or off by the customer...and possibly to also offer the choice to make it a total or a sub-total. Unfortunately, our efforts right now are concentrated on getting forms developed and delivered as quickly as we can, so this feature will have to be considered for a 2010 tax year enhancement. Again, please accept my apologies for the change. I hope that you have a prosperous tax season, and thank you for using ATX. Sincerely, David Lewis, EA Tax Manager, ATX CCH Small Firm Services, a Wolters Kluwer business

Well, I can't say whether it has or has not improved, since I can't compare it to two years ago! I suspect that it has improved, but with the wide variety of W2s (most of the ones I see are shaded, different layouts), it has to be a difficult task for the OCR.... I believe they just need an abundance of real W2s, but how do you do that with all the privacy laws now in effect ? Or would sending them to ATX be covered by the fact we are already doing that anyway when we e-file ?

This post, on the other hand, was quite useful! Thanks for the pointer.

OK - so this referenced post expressed your issues with the ATX document manager as: "IT SUCKED!" That really doesn't offer any thoughts as to what it was you didn't like, what was missing, etc. That is the kind of information / details I would find helpful!

Hi Joel, Thanks for the pointers and thoughts on a document manager. It's a new concept to me, and I want to ensure I am investing in one that makes sense for the long haul, so you give me some points to ponder. As for scan & fill, I reached my limit this weekend and will be seeking a refund as it is just not ready for prime time yet. I still believe in the concept and hope that it improves and becomes a useful tool. It would certainly be easier if there were standard formats for the basic documents used in reporting information that gets reported on tax returns. But I dream....