ILLMAS

"All those places on the floor" sounds like me too, this week has been a clean up week before I start working on year-end forms and quarterly filings. By Monday my office should be clean and ready to go.

I wanted to get an idea what others are doing new this tax year? For example, giving discounts, increasing fees, accepting credits, refund on a credit card, paperless filing, working less/more etc.... As for me, I will be doing a lot of reading to prepare for the EA exam, going paperless for my files only, and doing online back ups of my all files.

IRS just announce 4/18/11 deadline for filing, wo ho thanks for 3 more days of work.

Google my friend http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=nj+fingerprinting+services&aq=2&aqi=g9g-m1&aql=&oq=NJ+finger&gs_rfai= That is how I found a place in Chicago, I went to the closet place to me, I was thinking I was going to someone office, and it turned out it was convience store, very nice guy, he wouldn't let me leave until all the ink was gone.

I have another idea for dealing with birthday, how about we send a PRIVATE MESSAGE to the person, therefore we won't clutter the forum, I've an been an active member for a while and most of the bday people are not active or haven't post in years. I always enjoy reading NT Jokes, Rants, client experience good or bad Marco Edit: Someone already posted the idea, how about we remove our DOB from our profile better, I don't need anyone knowing I am getting older every year, sad but true LOL. Also another good idea to remove inactive members and have them re-register. I love this forum, I started at the Tax Almanac forum and I have to admit it is the most unfriendly tax forum I have participated in, there is always an A-hole waiting to let you know to use the SEARCH function or that you have some misspellings. Here in the ATX forum people are friendly and always here to help. Thanks everyone and have a Happy New Years. Marco

Did you prepare the original tax return? And filled out the third-party designee? If the tax return is for 2009 and you are the third party designee, then you can call the IRS on his behalf. Also, if you call the tax practitioner hotline, you might be able to correct the tax return over the phone. Hope this helps. MAS

Local news said H&R stand to lose millions because of this, therefore lowering their profits by 10%. 10% of millions is nothing for them, me losing 10% is significant :(

RAL's are a rip-off in my book, kind of glad H&R won't be able to provide it to thier clients. E-file 100% all the way and it's free, I rather wait two weeks for direct deposit and get 100% of my refund then, getting less because of the fees and interest they charge.

I've been using an iMac running windows via bootcamp since 2008, all windows based software that I have installed (ATX 2006 - 2010), Quickbooks 2005-2011 and Quicken have worked fine, however you are not safe from virus on the window side. Send me a PM if you have specific questions or need help setting it up. MAS

I use quickbooks, I am a pro-advisor so I buy the program every year and I am very happy with the fact, that it is one stop shop program, you can prepare payroll, prepare quarterly and year-end forms (W-2's, 1099 etc..). You can also use it to efile forms, but it requires registering each client with the IRS. For efiling my 2009 client info, I found easier using ATX, and it was a simple process importing the info from QB, then uploading to the SSA website and submitting them. I also use QB as a write-up program once in a great while for those clients that do their accounting and again I find it very easy to use. I recommend Medlin to a client because it was inexpensive, but I think this program is great if your clients are in California, I had to prepare the state forms using ATX, where in QB you can have access to most states. This year the cost of the software + payroll service went up, but for me it pays for itself in one quarterly payroll form processing. The only downfall I see, that if your client process their own payroll they have to buy at least the basic payroll service which is just under $300, but with the basic payroll service you cannot prepare any payroll forms (941's, W-2 etc...). I contact my clients once the quarter is over and have them email me a backup, then I process their forms.

$15 for 1-3 $20 for 1-3 with eftps payments $20 for 4-9 $30 for 4-9 with eftps payments $40 for eftps and direct deposit

I heard this joke, and thought it was funny so I am sharing it. A women walks into a store and sees a pair of underwear and top set that she liked, so she asked the saleman, how much for the set and he replies $100, $50 for the underwear and $50 for the top. The women is surprised by the cost, so she starts walking away, then the salesman tells her, wait come back if you really want the set, I will give you a deal, give me $30 for the underwear and $70 for the top. The lady gets excited and says great, the she paused for a monent, she is like wait a minute, you just pulled down my underwear and raised my top.

What is your base fee?

Search for Rosewill amigo, I was buying original HP for my printer and I paid around $120, this year a bought two Rosewill for under $100 and these are the ones that give more pages. Make sure the product number ends with an X, here is the link for the one you need and just check out the price!!! http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16828228033&cm_re=hp_4050-_-28-228-033-_-Product FYI you get an HP cartridge, just recycled by Rosewill.

I forgot to ask about the currency conversion, form 2555 requires to put down foreign income earned, how should i go to convert the currency to US dollars (i look up rates)? Would using today's rate be valid for most recent years and prior years? Thanks

TP is a U.S citizen but lives in another country for many years, he has a family and children, he wants to submit a Form 2555 to declare foreign earned income, however he has no US earned income. I have multiple question: Residency Test TP lives year round out of the country, so what form should be prepared a 1040NR or 1040, again TP has no US income? TP was born in the US. Dependent's TP is married and has children, dependents do not have a SS# or ITIN's (dependents would qualify for ITIN's because of the country they live in), so if the dependents don't meet the requirements then they can be excluded from the return or does the IRS accept foreign personal identification numbers? Form 2555 Since TP does n't have any earned income in the US and form 2555 is prepared, then TP return would be more like an informative return, don't know what good it would do for him, does anybody know how the IRS treats this type of returns. Any other thoughts you might have or suggestions that can help me out? Thanks MAS

Never mind, TP called hes broker and was told you cannot go from mutual funds to stocks, that you can only transfer to the same type of investment. Works for me.

TP changed broker in 2008, she recieved a 1099-B showing the day the stocks where exchanged, fast foward to 2010, clients gets a letter from SS, saying they are going to lower her benefits because her AGI was 89K in 2008. I called the IRS and requested a transcript and I can clearly see that the stocks that were supposed to be transfered or exchange appears if they were sold. TP cost was higher then the sales price so she has a loss, but I am just wondering if the way the first broker handled the transfer was incorrect. TP never recieved a check from the proceeds, your thoughts? Thanks MAS

When I registered to be a paid preparer/e-file/EFIN I had to submit finger prints, I don't think my finger prints will ever change, so I am wondering if I have to resubmit them?

TP recieved an inheritance from a family member, the trust was created in switzerland or his held in a swiss account. The will states that the TP is to recieve an X amount of money per month, TP is a US resident, and the money she is going to recieve comes from an investment account held in switzerland, I was reading the quickfinder and it seems the TP will be responsible in paying taxes on the amount she recieves. It doesn't sound like to me that this an estate or gift tax, your thoughts? MAS

Thanks, I like bare metal restore, I am thinking of buying a new PC soon and I would just like to transfer my info by a simple restore. It seems I would have to purchase a software to do a that type of backup right?

This questions is for those that use an online service to perform backup of your data. Can you explain how ATX client data is backed up? Is the whole program backup, do you have to choose the folder that holds the client data? I really don't like the ATX backup feature, I find it simpler just to export the data files to a folder I created (ATX 2008, ATX 2009 etc...) then I do a backup of that folder. However I don't do this that often, so is why I want to know how that service works for programs that have client files. Thanks MAS

The software I listed above allows to have many windows open at the same time allowing to see different programs at once. See the link for a demo http://www.winsplit-revolution.com/screenshots/videos-demos

Look into winsplit or gridvista. I don't think it can be done without a 3rd party software. MAS

Here is video of my daughter attempting to surf in our living room.