HV Ken

To date, when the instructions say the transactions need to be itemized, I have been successful in getting a CSV file of the transactions, and the entire process takes less than 5 minutes, so the charge is minimal. But if I did have to charge per transaction, my rationale is this: if they are willing to pay between $7-$12 per trade, they should be willing to pay $3 per transaction to include those trades on their tax return!!

Client pulled out their entire 529 plan, none of the money was used for education expenses, and no other exceptions apply. I understand this is taxable and there is a 10% penalty. I am just looking to confirm that it is only the earnings portion of the distribution that is taxed and penalized, which is my understanding. Thanks!

@Phil - the instructions are pretty clear when you can and cannot simply use totals.

@Jack - we are talking about different imports. I am referring to importing stock transactions.

@Carolbeck - Thanks! Will take a looksee. @Jack - not true. I have used the import function plenty of times this season for stock transactions. It is standard issue!

I thought I read on a thread to a discussion that someone converts PDF files to csv files so they can then be imported into ATX? If this is true, can you give me a hint as to how to accomplish this? Thanks!

All I can say is: PHEW!

Just got an email around 3p Eastern from my CCH-SFS contact: I just got off the phone with the IRS and they confirmed that Reject FW2-010: “If Form W-2, Line 16 ‘StateWagesAmt’ has a non-zero value, then Line 15 ‘StateAbbreviationCd’ and ‘EmployersStateIDNumber’ must have a value.” was incorrectly enabled this weekend by the IRS and they are in the process of disabling it. They expect to have it disabled within a few hours.

@Jack - initial post said: "She signed return, with her PTIN and Efin # and Company name all on return. I googled her name... came up in IRS PTIN data base with yet another address in Detroit Listed for her and her company..."

If they know this particular preparer is generating fraudulent returns, how are they still able to have an active and valid PTIN?

Jack, please send an e-mail to KG explaining the inconvenience caused by this change. I proposed to ATX that they do not even allow the e-file to be generated in the case that the state id is blank. Thanks.

Good question - seems odd that leaving it blank for NY would cause a Federal reject. If it is indeed new, then maybe you will start to see them as well.... I have an email in to customer support asking for more information - I was posting here to see if others are experiencing it as well.

Well, you are going to start getting them for W-2 now, unless you always remember to put a value in field 15....

I like this one. 3% of 35k - that's a $1,050. payday!! Ca-ching!!

I don't know if this is new or if it is just the first time I hit it. I am getting "Rejected by Agency" when the Employer's state ID no. is blank on the W-2 input. This means I am generating the e-file, submitting it, receiving acks, looking at the rejection error, finding the W-2 in my files, fixing it, re-generating the e-file, submitting it, etc. It sure would be nice if this could be made into an error on initial e-file generation? In other words, don't create the e-file if the state ID field (15) is blank, since we know it will get Rejected by Agency anyway. I have either always filled in the Employer's state ID no and just missed it on a recent e-file, or this is a recent change. Just curious.

We're #1! We're #1! Way to go NY! Carolbeck - what part of NY are you in?

Ha! I beat you to this one!! See my post earlier.

This came in to my inbox today. It was a very quick read for some good chuckles. http://www.sageworks.com/blog/post/2014/02/23/10-things-accountants-are-doing-during-busy-season.aspx?utm_source=direct&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=3192014 Hope it brings a smile to some of you!

If they paid over $9000, the Goodwill value would most likely not be $6553. What did they base that value on? We use a book called "MONEY For Your Used Clothing" with guaranteed values for non-cash charitable donations. Check out mfyuc.com!

I have a tax professional account on NY Online, and then I attach my sales tax clients to that account and can pay their sales tax from my account. You just need them to fill out an EZ-2000 (I think) authorizing you.

I would encourage a careful reading of Circular 230 before asserting that position....

I wish their financial advisors would tell them about the tax consequences when they pull the money out. Instead, we end up being the bad guy....

When we see the quality of some of the returns performed by paid preparers, it makes me a fan of regulation. I took and passed the RTRP exam - I thought it was a decent attempt to separate those who shouldn't be preparing from those who at least have a basic understanding of what it takes to prepare returns for a living, or even a side job. I am among those in support of the RTRP program.

This is really just an advertisement to download his "How to Review Tax Returns" book for the discounted rate of $95 (from $165).

Not for this particular case, but in these other cases have you considered first filing MFS, and then amending to MFJ later and whatever the better refund would have been would go towards the debt. They didn't have that money anyway, and it is being used to pay down the debt!