indyscott

If not for the business activity of the sole proprietor there would be no SEP fees, so why would the fees not be an ordinary business deduction. The owner could hire an employee who would have to be advised of the existence of the SEP plan, and possibly participate.

Fees that are assessed for managing the entire SEP plan I would treat as ordinary business expense, part of the employee benefits expense.

I think I'd show the amount realized from the "sale" as an amount equal to the T's basis, regardless of how much $ he actually got. That way he doesn't show a loss. The sister takes the property and assumes her brother's basis, again regardless of the amount of $ trading hands. I think the underlying concept is that $ in one family member's pockets are indistinguishable from $ in another family member's pocket. It's like a really large pair of pants.. I better sign off, before I get really silly. Hopefully someone else will chime in. (It is 3 hrs later here in Indy than it is in CA)

bump

Is it not on the asset entry tab?

Tom, offhand, I'd say that you just show disposition of the property for the amount of the taxpayer's basis. T's basis becomes the transferee's basis. Amount of $ trading hands is immaterial.. that's what the rule disallowing losses from sale to related parties is all about, I think. I could be all wrong.

Linda, I bought the "PDF factory" print driver that ATX included free in the tax software a few years ago. It's installed as a separate printer so I can just change the printer in the ATX print screen and print to that PDF printer, which then allows me to delete pages. I just tried using the PDF print button in ATX and it creates a file from which you cannot delete pages.. (dumb). Do you not have a separate PDF printer installed? Another option would be to scan the doc, and create a pdf email from there.

"People often grudge others what they cannot enjoy themselves." Aesop, The Dog in the Manger Greek slave & fable author (620 BC - 560 BC) I hope that some of the animosity and hurt feelings disapate, and that there can be some kind of re-union of the knowledgeable and caring members under one roof. My fear for this board is that it will "suffocate" from lack of participants.

I still think there's something fishy going on..

Darn, it seems I recall hearing something about that in the news recently, but, I can't recall what it was. There would have to be an independent appraisal done to establish FMV. Maybe an art appraiser would know something about it.

When I use Fee Collect, the client letter won't pick up the amount net refund that the client will receive as a direct deposit. I have to edit the letter and type in the amount myself. This must be a programming problem. Does anyone else have this situation?

I have a $10 off card at Lowe's, Bob. Give me your credit card number and address and I'll buy you a new door and have it shipped to you.

What was wrong with Dan's answer? Linda didn't even show her work. I think maybe she copied off of Dan! ;)

It would be nice if we had a place in the returns where we could make "preparer's notes", and be able to print that. Actually, if you add the "Permanent File" form to your returns, there are two pages at the end of that where you can free form notes. One is just text, the other has a couple of numeric columns on it.

Pat, here's what the help file says: Making notes in fields You can make reminder notes in fields. The notes do not print with your return, but they will roll over to next year. The notes can be made only in fields intended for user entry. To create or edit a note in a filed 1. Right-click the enterable field in which you want to create a note or where a note already exists. 2. Click Insert/Edit Note. To remove a note, follow the same procedure, except click Remove Note. A field with a note is indicated by a small red dot in the upper right of the field. When your mouse pointer is over the field, you can see the content of the note. Maybe this is a good area for a program development suggestion... Speaking of program development suggestions.. oh, you probably have to go to the ATX website. Hope you have your three-part login info.. ;)

My client has medical expenses exceeding the 7.5% amount. Her W-2 has an explanatory section with additional info, part of which is that her box 1 income has been reduced by $504 for a Medical FSA. That info doesn't show up in box 12, just in the supplemental info section for the employee. My question is should I put that amount on line 16 in the Sch A Med worksheet in the box for "insurance reimbursement for above medical expenses"? Otherwise it would be double dipping, getting the funds into the account with no tax, and then reducing taxable income income again w/ a Sch A deduction. The W-2 supplemental info also lists $1,408 as a reduction in income for "Other Cafe 125". I'm not sure if I s/ do anything with that at all..

The partnership guaranteed payments are self employment income and subject to SE tax regardless of any rental activity the taxpayer's involved in. Also, her distributive share of partnership income or loss is ordinary income, and subject to SE tax. The rental activity is a separate activity, and I'm not sure what your thought is about whether the taxpayer lives in part of the house. Seems like renting the basement, is no different than renting 1/2 a duplex and living in the other half, or renting a free standing separate house. It's just a rental property, no?

I will say one more thing about the discussion board, which it that you have to find this one on your own. This no doubt reduces the number of people participating. (Some might view that as a positive, others as a negative.) But if the board were part of the ATX website I believe there would be beneficial synergies, ie it would be good both for the board participants and for ATX/CCH. Many of you posting here say you can't even get into the CCH site. How are they supposed to communicate with users if users don't even get on their website? Seems kind of basic to me that it would better for all if it were under one happy roof.

that's what I'm doing.. I made a spreasheet to allocate installment payments received to the various assets..

the US Master Tax Guide, par. 543 & 559 deal with Distributable Net Income. "DNI of an estate or trust generally consists of the same items of gross income and deductions that make up the taxable income of the estate or trust.. " except then goes on to list 7 exceptions.. "Capital gains allocated to corpus" is one of them. I think because the ST cap gains are ordinary income they're not excluded. So, I'd say the program is doing the right thing.

I'm almost afraid to say anything positive about ATX or CCH given the general tone of comments here on the board. I don't want y'all to boycott MY postings here. But at risk of incurring some flames I will say that I still think the software is a pretty terrific package, and the pricing is good for me. And, although the customer support isn't what it once was, I think it's probably comparable to what I'd get at Intuit. I think the ATX customer service was too good to last. I'm in no way surprised or dismayed at having to wait a little longer on the phone for customer service. CCH did make a pretty boneheaded decision last year to kill the discussion board. I'm mostly happy with this board. I do appreciate the help I've received, and I try to be helpful in return when I can.

I have a rental property with several associated separately entered improvements which the taxpayer sold on an installment contract to the buyer. Can I enter assign these several assets to a "bulk sale" and treat it as an installment sale? I've created a bulk dispostion, but when I go to each item to record the disposition I have to choose between Installment sale, and the bulk disposition. How do I make the bulk disposition into an installment sale?

I agree w/ Redneck, it is substantially a theft.

I'm not quite sure what Jainen's rather cryptic reply is intended to mean. I thought "annulment" of a marriage was something only the Pope did. Marriage laws are generally State laws, and I don't know what your State law says about annulment, but my guess is that WV takes marriage seriously. I conjur pictures of bearded men with shotguns "insuring" that a marriage sticks. I would say they were still married at 12-31, and hence only MFJ or MFS are available.

I made a call today, and waited maybe 10-15 minutes and did have a knowledgeable helpful person answer my question. I put the phone on speaker, and work while I wait. My call today was about 11 am EDT.