ILLMAS

The code would be 813000

No, he can only deduct his offerings if his denomination REQUIRES that he tithe, which most do not. Of course, you should ask him what, if anything is REQUIRED in order to maintain his employment. I have won that issue in an audit, years back, where the denomination had it in their written rules for ordained ministers in their faith. In such a case, it's a 'reasonable and necessary expense of his business', not a 'donation'. And I put it under Returns and Allowances. But I would not take it unless I had that in writing in my file.

Double checked and he is not required and thank you.

I have a TP that is a priest, the church were he resides issued him a 1099 for his service, he also has some expenses related to his ministry (books, training, seminars), he also has some donations, can he deduct those donations on Sch C instead of Sch A, he is not itemizing. Also, what would be the business code for him?

Thanks,

Isn't there a difference between a foreclosure and a short-sale? I thought that once you foreclosure, the bank takes over the property vs a short-sale, bank allows for you to sell for less, forgiving debt between the amount due and sales price. Then you get a 1099-C, here is where you pay taxes on the amount forgiven unless you are qualify for the Mortgage Relief Act. But it would be a good idea to know what going on, a couple of clients are in that situation of foreclosing.

There are a couple of cases - if you have Quickfinder or the Tax Book, they explain the situations.

I will check my quickfinder when I get back to my office.

Thanks

I believe no such cases exist.

Wayne Brasch

Ok thanks, for some reason I thought if you are trying to acquire more business and have to travel out of state, apart from car rental and lodging you were able to deduct 100% meals.

What are the cases when meals can be 100% deducted?

In these two case I had, both TP transfered the stock to another broker in 2008, however they received a 1099-B Broker Proceeds, Barter and Exchange Transaction and if you look at the date of the transfer appears under box 1a "Date of Sale", logically one thinks they were sold, number one because it doesn't tell you it was a transfer or exchanged nowhere on the form. I guess these two particulary brokers don't give enough information to let the tax preparer know they were exchanged and like I mentioned earlier the client is even worst, doesn't know nothing about their account.

I promise next time I get another client that transfered or exchanged stocks and it is not clear on the 1099-B, I will put zero cost and calculate a gain :-) at no charge for Sch D.

I have had two TP that transfer their stocks to another broker and they get a Proceeds from broker, worst of all the client doesn't even know what they did, they want for you to find out. From the 1099-B it looks so much like if the stocks were sold, and there is no reference that it was exchanged. Getting tired of this!!! Just had to get this off my chest.

Did you print it from the 2007 program or the 2008.? Organizers for 2008 need to be printed from the 2007 program in order for numbers to flow.

Ah thanks, I printed out from 2008, 2007 makes senses.

MAS

I printed and mailed out a client organizer and didn't realize the prior year amounts didn't flow through, I got a call from the client saying the amounts were blank. Is there something I need to check off to make the info flow (amounts, not TP name, address ....)?

Thanks

Try this first, see if the "Receive Acks" on your desktop generates a message for the ones you exported, if not I would just export them from your laptop to the desktop and try it again. The EFIN number is the same, so I would think the desktop should receive the the acknowledgement.

The import/export of files should not affect the version of ATX you are using, the problem is that if your desktop has the most recent form update, you would get a message on your laptop saying form XXXX is not available or vise versa. Also, if you just exported them to efile them on your laptop and made no changes except the efile, you should be ok, no forms or amounts should change.

A client got marry in December 2008 and troubles in the relationship started January 2009. she has found letters that belong to spouse that show back taxes owed plus some others issues. She (my client) wants to file MFS but husband will not give her his SS#. I told her that I will find if there is any other alternative and let her know. Has anyone had this situation before? If so, what did you do?

Out of my mind come ideas like: 1) Filing MFS without the spouse SS# and attaching a statement informing that she is unable to get it from husband.

2) Going to an IRS office with all documentation including the married certificate to see if she can get that SS# through the IRS employees.

Any ideas or comments will be appreciated.

Thank you, Lucho

Lucho, don't go through all that trouble, at the end the TP won't value your service and will question your bill too. Easy way would be to file single for 2008, this give your client a year to get the SS# for 2009 tax return. Something I am learning is that don't make your clients trouble your trouble :-)

TP has a condo she bought when she was single, she got married and bought another one with her husband. The first condo is not rented out, her parents stay there when they come to the US. The condo's are only blocks from each other, she really doesn't stay there plus her parents took over the mortgage and R/E taxes in 2008, so I am wonder if this considered a second home or she won't be able to deduct it since she doesn't live there at all during the year?

Thanks

Hi:

Do I need to file zero 1120s if there was no activity for 2008? Client doesn't have money and I wouldn't feel right charging for a zero return. What should I do?

Thank you.

I would just submit the the zero return along with the first return he has any activity and somewhat charge him for your work all together. A client might may think a zero return should be simple to due, but he doesn't know you have to set it up, put in the assets....

I efiled a couple of corporate extensions and were accepted, what is my proof to attach to the tax return once finalized? I know Proseries gives you some number on the bottom of the extension, but I don't see anything on the one that I printed out.

Thanks

Last year I filed a final return for a general partnership that was selling antiques, but the one partner who was most involved got really sick and so they said they had stopped the activity and donated most of the stock. I treated the inventory as distributed to the partners and then each got a donation per the reciepts they had since the partners actually donated the pieces, not the p'ship.

So now the sick partner is doing better and once and antique dealer, always an antique dealer, I guess. He's picked up some more stock and has been trying to sell it on ebay, but did not have any sales but incurred some selling expenses. They are looking to getting another space in an antique mall nearby. So, if they are firing up the p'ship again, can I use the same EIN? file it as a first return, or just ignore that I checked the 'final' box last year? Or, since the expenses are pretty low, just ignore them until they are going in full swing? ($950 in expenses approx)

Have the partners check with the IRS to see if they can reinstate the prior FEIN, also (if applicable in your state), you would have to check to see if the partnership was dissolved by the state. Things can get complicated, if they closed the bank account already and want to reopen another account, the bank is going to ask for a certificate of good standing along with a copy of the FEIN assigned by the IRS.

Client buys sports tickets, then sells them over Ebay for a profit. I've been putting these sales on Schedule D as a short term gain. I felt that this created an investment sale, and not a self employment transaction since he is not in the business of selling sports tickets and has a regular job. He never makes enough to create any self employment tax and it's not a regular thing, although he's done it for a few years now. What is the right way to handle these sales?

Diane

I see this as a business because there is a cost of doing business (Ebay Fees, Shipping and Handling Fees, Paypal Fee), after you take those costs in consideration + the cost of tickets, less whatever he gets for them is his profit.

I have a TP that is a doctor, every year he tells that he wants to go independent but what holds him back is the cost malpractice insurance. He is really not interested in the tax benefits between a regular Corp and an S-Corp, he is looking for additional protection against his assets incase of a lawsuit. Can someone who might have a case like this share what be better for him.

Thanks

How in the devil do I make the 1040X appear? If I go to add forms, look for 1040X it reads on "On CD", I inserted the ATX CD, clicked on the form and it seem it's working, but nothing. Any idea? Just a note, I update the forms every morning, I do the manual update, select all.

Never mind, I got it working.

Well some good news, after breaking my head trying to figure how Quickbooks keeps track of vacation and sick time by the minute, it was driving me crazy not being a able to match to a spreadsheet I prepared, very simple but very big differences between QB and my spreadsheet. Not the only problem, client employees were thinking they had more sick days becuase of how I setup the time tracking. To avoid all this, go to Company, then Preferences, then General, then click on Hours and NOT minutes, this makes a huge difference, at least to me, it more reasonable and clear.

We did all of our extensions on Tuesday, the 10th. They went through just fine, no problems, and have already been accepted. I am puzzled as to why ATX would need you to update your 2007 files. That is an issue I haven't seen before.

Maribeth

Hello, can you guide me on how to file an extension electronically? Anyone

Thanks

I have an s-corp client that runs their own payroll but has retained my services to process all of the payroll taxes. they use QB and a remote connection really simplifies things. I pay all payroll taxes through the EFTPS system. The client received a letter from the IRS concerning a 940 deposit that the IRS assessed a late filing penalty. My confirmation shows the settlement on 10/31/2009 and filed before 8:00 PM on 10/30 because the client asked me to wait until a deposit was received. Regardless, the payment was timely on my end. This client insists on holding my invoice until I prove that the penalty was generated from something other than my fault. Can a client withhold payment for any kind of reason? My logic is, my current invoice was for services provided at a different time so PAY ME. My engagment makes no reference to me having any liabilty due to late filing errors. If I simply forgot then I would feel like I owe the client something but this is not the case. What is the best way to handle this? This has only occured twice in our short two year realtionship and both times due to the client not having the money on time.

Terry D.

Have you seen the IRS notice for yourself? The IRS has been sending "This is not a Bill" notices, however it does look like a bill, it shows how many days the payment was late and what would of been the penalty and interest if charged. I have a client that is a weekly depositor, I also file via EFPTS, sometimes I make the payment a day or two late, a couple of months later they get the "This is not a Bill" notice.

I was wondering if someone has a spreadsheet or template to keep track of vacation and sick time. I did a setup on quickbooks but I want to reconcile to something else. I don't think QB vacation and sick time tracking is the best and it confusing to the employees. Send me a PM if you can help me out.

Thanks

I just got a call from my coworker and the same thing happened to him, however it was Sch E for him. He printed the return right before e-file, TP received a different amount on her refund! This really sucks, I will be looking at my returns more carefully from now on.

My client received a car allowance (use of personal vehicle) as part of his salary, however the amount he gets is less then what his actual expenses are. The allowance was basically used in fuel costs, but put in alot of miles on his car. If the car allowance is part of his W2 earnings, can I deduct the 100% expenses + mileage on form 2106 or do I have to reduce it by the allowance he recieved?

Thanks

I am thinking yes he can deduct the actual or standard mileage since he was being taxed on the car allowance, but I could be wrong.