samingeorgia

There is another problem with this form. Under "Transaction Method" it states "... mail with Form 1040-SR and 1040-V to the address below." Some of my eagle-eye clients are asking if they have to file the 1040-SR on paper. We told them no because we are e-filing the return. You surely don't want to paper file AND e-file - that would be the biggest mess on earth. The verbiage on the previous years' 1040-V doesn't say this.

Would this be a good use for a Donor Advised Fund??

I've got you all beat -- I have Package X from 1974 to the last time they issued it! I told somebody I expect to be buried with them, like Pharaoh....

Thanks -- that's what I thought. It's farm rental. By the way, the rental agreement is very detailed! Farming is serious business in IL.... Down here in Georgia, you're lucky if they scratch something out on the back of an envelope.

New client -- a trust was created in 2020. The income-producing property is located in Illinois and the beneficiaries are in three other states. The Trustee lives here in Georgia. There is a clause in the trust which states that the trust "shall be governed ... according to the laws of Illinois" -- so Illinois, right?

Bless you, cbslee, for putting this info on the board. I signed up and used the service and it was great. Of course, the "journalists" at the LA Times don't like it, but who cares what they think. Finally, a tech entrepreneur has come up with an actually useful idea. Thanks again.

Thanks, Judy!!

So at the risk of sounding uninformed, what do you do with distributions in excess of AAA? I have been showing the amount as loan to shareholders.

These are excellent! Thank you!

"Here are four tickets from the Salvation Army. You see I took 12 bags to them. How much will that help?" "What was in these bags? Did you make a list?" "Clothes, some kitchen appliances... No, I didn't make a list; don't you have a general amount that you can claim?" To myself: "Oh yeah, I have an amount in mind...."

I've used CFS for several years and have been thoroughly satisfied. I think their website is taxtools.com. I'll check and edit this post if necessary. Note: I remembered correctly! It is taxtools.com. Pretty good company and reasonable price....

I'm having to "re-arrange" my house and find it necessary to get rid of two IBM Selectric II typewriters. No, I haven't used them in 15 to 20 years. Yes, they are heavy and in the way. But it so goes against the grain to get rid of perfectly good machines. It's the way I was raised! So, rather than spend a bunch of money with a therapist, I've decided to come on here and what you all think. Suggestions? Sympathy?

I remain well-pleased with this HP ScanJet Pro 3000 s3! No problems -- knock on wood!

Reporting back in: this HP scanner is still doing its thing just like it's supposed to (knock on wood). I get a message when I turn it on that it would work better with a high-speed USB port. The next time the IT guy comes around I may check on this. My computer was built in 2014, so it's not too far away from upgrade time anyway.

Here are the facts: an exempt organization bought a piece of property a few years ago and leased it to the general public for purposes not related to their exempt purpose. Since they borrowed the money used to acquire the property, it is treated as "debt-financed" property for UBTI purposes. As time passed, they paid off the acquisition indebtedness. This past fiscal year, the organization sold the property for a pretty good gain. As I read the law and regs, if there was a zero balance on the acquisition indebtedness for 12 months prior to the sale, the property is no longer "debt-financed" and the gain can be completely excluded. If there was a small balance at the first of the 12 month period, I would use the proportion of "average acquisition indebtedness" to the average basis and report this proportion of gain on the 990-T. Am I reading this right?

Evan, our office uses UltraTax on a "pay-per-return" basis. We have one or two big clients with big depreciation schedules and it would be a nightmare to convert. That being said, UT lost a LOT of utility when they discontinued CSA and forced everybody to ACS. My big client switched to QuickBooks, believe it or not, and so far, it's working as well as CSA ever did (!!!!) for a LOT less money. I predict that UT will, one day, say that you will use the cloud or begone. As big as Thomson Reuters is we accountants are a "spit in the ocean" for them.

Back in 2011, I entered into an office sharing arrangement with a practitioner. I was a long-time ATX user; he was using the other product from CCH (TaxWise, maybe?). We tried both and neither of us liked the other's software, so we compromised and got Drake. I tend to be blessed with "The Luck of the Irish", so I missed the great ATX debacle of the following year. Our office still uses Drake and I think it's great. The first year, I must have called their support twenty times, but after I finally got the hang of it calls to support are a very rare thing. I've learned over the years that you have to adapt to the software; it won't work the other way around. All software has its quirks. Just so you'll know what an old-timer I am, I miss good old batch entry (!). Before I chose ATX I used TAASC and really liked it. However, the Big Brains in computer world said that everything had to be on Windows, and TAASC could never make the shift from the good old days to the fancy bloatware from Microsoft. They sold out to Intuit and TAASC disappeared. Of course, Intuit didn't want the product, just the customer base for their never-ending sales operations. Drake is a small, family-run outfit and from what I understand, the big boys have, over the years, been sniffing around and showing off their big checkbooks. So far, Drake has resisted the temptation, but who knows what the future holds? I hope that by the time we are all pushed to "The Cloud" that I'm sitting on a cloud, strumming a harp....

"Excessive"!! Ha! It seems that a certain amount is OK....

I have been entering these codes and have had no issues. Looking at drivers' license info has been interesting this year, to say the least. To address a point made in a post by Cathy, I determined that one of my clients had the birthdays switched between husband and wife, although they were both born in the same year. They either told me wrong or I entered it wrong lo these many years ago and it's carried over every year since. This year, I realized that the DL expiration dates were inconsistent with what I had on the basic info screen. Ooops!

OK, I'm having a senior moment of some kind here. A client has a 1098-T for their kid in the local community college. Block 2 (Qualified Expenses) is around $ 900. Block 5 (Scholarships and Grants) is about $ 2,200. Kid is in third year of college and attends enough so that the "at least half time student" block is checked. I say no AOTC because the scholarships/grants is more than the expense. Am I right? These scholarship / grants are non-taxable. Thanks in advance.

Abby, at this stage of my life, "dependable" is more important than "sexy"

Update -- I ordered and installed the HP ScanJet Pro 3000 s3. I have used it some, and i'm very impressed. It's slightly larger bur feels very substantial. And lightning fast. Let's see how it holds up starting in January!

We may be revising our processes anyway. We have been discussing having the front desk person do the scanning, so maybe that would allow them to put the material directly into Document Manager outside the "View" mode in the tax software. It sure would be easier on me! Notwithstanding the above, I still say I will never spend another penny on anything Epson. These scanners are just too flimsy, especially considering the price. If they were less than $ 100, I'd cheerfully use them for a few months and toss them out and go buy another. Well, not cheerfully, but you get the idea.

Actually, the Twain issue is from Drake! I have spoken to them on two occasions and both times they said that I had to have Twain in order to scan in documents within the tax software into Document Manager. Maybe if I was scanning directly into Document Manager it wouldn't be a problem, but that would be one more step for me. I scan the documents into the software while I'm meeting with the client or working on the return. The few Creative Solutions clients I have are big, so I keep hard copies of documents in a file for each year and also scan in items into the clients' individual files in MS-Office. The CPA that I shared an office with passed away in January, and his successor is a big fan of Creative Solutions. We talked to their sales rep earlier this year, and they are hell-bent on pushing everything to the "cloud". That's another topic for another day. The HP scanner I ordered has not yet arrived. I will keep everybody posted. Thanks to all for the input. This board is invaluable.

Abby, that's what I used -- to no avail.