samingeorgia

I looked at it for about 15 minutes while waiting on a client and thought it looked kind of like Creative Solutions depreciation program in layout. The depreciation program in Creative Solutions is really good and more intuitive than most of their stuff. However, I didn't set up a client or attempt any entry. RoyDaleOne, which program do you use?

Last year (I think it was when I renewed) I asked about the Fixed Asset program that was mentioned in the literature. I told the sales person that I'd like to try it and she said ok. Frankly I forgot about it, but early this week I got a CD from ATX. Lo and behold, it was Fixed Asset Manager. I wanted to try this because I do some review work for organizations that do the tax return in house and I need a way to compute good old GAAP depreciation for the financial statement. Haven't tried it yet -- just installed it this morning. Has anybody else tried it?

I have been very pleased with CFS. Good looking output and easy to use. I haven't efiled 941's or W-2/W-3's. It seems to me that it's less work to print then, slap on a sticky note, and let the client do something. On a related note, I find that managing 8879's adds about 10 minutes to each efiled return. In the past, I printed the 8453 and handed it to the client -- "Mail this in three days or they're coming to get you!" This year I had to make a separate area for "pending" files and try to keep up with who has returned the forms so I could efile. What do others do?

I don't do a lot of client bookkeeping, but I do like the program I use. I use "Accountant's Relief" produced by Accountant's World (they have a website under this name). The program is fast, costs about $ 600 per year, and produces SSARS-compliant financials. Unlike Quickbooks, it uses the familiar "journal" approach to double entry bookkeeping, i.e., it has an audit trail. I'm using it for once-a-year tax / financial statement clients - just set the preferences to "one period" and enter everything in one pass. This gives me a good G/L and nice-looking financials. The cost might seem high for just one client, but if you charge them right, you can do OK, and will have the program for other clients. Accountants World is also pushing an online version of this program that can be bought on a pay-per-client basis; that would lower your cost. Sadly, you will, no doubt, have to also have Quickbooks on your computer so you can fix clients foul-ups (Cash on hand negative $ 32,580 is typical), but for me, if my name is going on it, I want something that looks more professional and has a decent audit trail.

I've done it two years running with no problems. Ford employee / retiree with minimal amount of uncollected SS/Medicare on a W-2.

Mail them? MAIL THEM?!!!!?? E-file 'em, man!

OK, I'll answer my own question for the benefit of anybody out there who's interested. GA has its own Form 8453 which has to be signed and kept in the preparer's files. So now we have two forms to get signed and keep up with. The 1120S was updated this morning, but still says "not approved for paper filing". I went to the GA DOR website and found a "fill-out-able" form which can be printed. I'm using that for the ones I want to get finished this week. Get finished = off my desk = bill = collect fee.

Earlier, a poster said that if you scroll to the right you find lots of info in e-file manager. I just did and saw that while the federal 1040 e-files all show practitioner PIN, there is a notation beside GA stating "8453 required". What the heck! Also, I want to finish some 1120's and 1120S's this weekend and the forms are marked "not approved for filing". This has happened before and it was the idiotic GA DOR sitting on its thumbs -- as usual. Any ideas on either issue?

This thread has been a trip down memory lane! When I first started I used a service bureau for write-up, then went in-house with a Digital Equipment machine that was expensive and slow. I used Computax, too, but I decided that it was easier to pencil the numbers in on government-issue forms and run photocopies -- TRA 1986 shot that in the head. Last year a client asked me what I'd do without computers. "Change jobs", I immediately answered. Seriously, though, until about Windows 3.1 the accounting software available was just downright primitive compared to what we could get out of the old service bureau mainframes. The disturbing part of this thread is that so many of us remember all this -- I wonder how much new blood is coming into the profession. When she was in high school, my kid said she'd rather pick up cans on the side of the road than be an accountant. Nice, huh.

As of the middle of this week, they were having problems converting a colleague's ATX data to CS. He sent them the data in December. Tread carefully.

I have been away from the forum for a few days but am delighted to see this topic brought up. Two years ago at the IRS National Forum in Atlanta I mentioned this very idea to William as an alternative to ATX selling out to big companies. I do see issues with selling to a large number of investors in multiple states -- that needs to be addressed. Also the non-compete agreements may be a lesser issue. I am definitely interested in following the progress of this idea. I have no connections to CCH other than sending them $$$ for Max this year.

Best wishes, JB! We enjoy your quirky, offbeat humor!

IRS has apparently had enough of Congress' BS! I for one don't blame them! I have said for years that the smartest people in the world are the people who take the gobbledegook that lawmakers enact and put it on a form that (usually) works well with the return as a whole. If our Senators and Representatives can't pass tax legislation until way into December, how the heck can IRS get its forms adjusted and tested? How are we supposed to stay on top of these changes, when in most cases, we go to tax seminars in October and November? Everybody needs to tell these elected fools to quit grandstanding and do their "Jay Oh Bee".

Thanks guys, that's what I thought.

I'm working on a project this weekend - a long-time client died and there are some unfiled tax returns. I'm getting everything caught up for the family. The taxpayer was a farmer and had a pretty big NOL. He died in 2004 - does the NOL disappear upon his death? His wife continued the farm, but it was in his name prior to death.

We'll see what happens next year. This year's pricing change was just a few bucks; next year or the year after I expect them to send out the usual corporate BS about how they're "helping us" by increasing the price, reducing features, or canceling ATX-MAX and switching us to the Universal Tax product line that they bought. I forget the name of that software.

If I was a betting man I'd say that the former bookkeeper diverted some or all of the 941 deposits for his own use. It's gonna be a long, bumpy ride: get an engagement letter and a hefty retainer. IRS may waive some penalties but they're not likely to waive interest. Depending on the ultimate amount, they may wind up needing to get a loan on their building to settle everything out. Recovery from the former bookkeeper will be nil.

Thanks, Don in Upstate!

At times in the past when the rates were going to change by an undetermined amount, the USPO printed stamps with letters rather than prices in cents. Does anybody have a reference that gives the values? I have some "F" stamps and want to use them without overpaying or getting the mail returned. Needless to say, the USPS website is useless.

I agree with KC -- they need to set up a blind trust. Most of these guys couldn't afford the tax hit if they were forced to sell their holdings to accept government service, especially a political appointment that could be gone with the next election. I'd seek an atty. that specializes in such matters and knows the regulatory ins and outs, i.e. a big firm with a large Washington, DC presence, if it was me.

I manually sign the returns so that grandma won't call me at 9:30 at night: "Did you forget to sign this return?"

Has anybody tried voice recognition software? I went to a study group last fall and one guy said he was using it. Highlight the data field and just say the number. If I remember correctly, he was using a high dollar package like Ultra Tax.

Bill, Bill, Bill... Reading the instructions, like asking for directions, violates the unwritten 'Code of Men'! Seriously, thanks!

At the Tax Forum in Atlanta last year, one of the speakers said that you could go to the IRS website and find out what 2848's are in effect on your CAF number, and that it's a good idea to terminate the POA if the clients have moved on or you don't do their work any more. I looked at the IRS site and couldn't figure out how to do that. A few years ago, I get a referral of a brother-in-law of a client who evidently had some substance abuse issues and had IRS breating down his neck. I got the POA and the client (clean and sober at the time) and I set up a payment plan with IRS. Now, evidently, he has lost his job or has somehow stopped making payments. I haven't seen the "client" in two or more years, don't really know how to contact him, and don't want to possibly compromise disclosure issues by hunting him through his in-laws. Anybody have any ideas?

The trend in tax software seems to be for the big companies to buy out the little companies and shut them down. I was with TAASC and loved it. The tax season before the sale, though, I had nothing but trouble with it. At the IRS Tax Forum last year, I personally asked William if there were any plans for ATX to get sold and he said no, that ATX had a big enough user base and was successful. Well, the next month or two, here comes CCH/Wolters-Kluiter or whatever their name is with a big ol' check and you know the rest. I'm not bashing William, but I admit to a feeling of deja vu in this situation. I really have enjoyed using ATX and would like to think that everything will be ok, but the "incident" with the message board is troubling. I've never been an especially prolific poster on that or any other board, but I do enjoy reading and learning from the comments of others. And the truth is that there was a whole lot less bashing and complaining on the board this year than in the past. As I stated after the shut down, CCH will probably come up with some "corporatespeak" doubletalk to rationalize what they intended to do from the get-go. Complaining about board whiners as a justification is bs in my opinion. I think, to protect my business, that I'm going to evaluate some other software. I just cannot risk having some corporate type decide on December 1 to kill off my tax software.