BulldogTom

Interesting. HSBC is still providing RAL banking for HRB but not for anyone else. HRB must have some kind of insurance on their RAL business to keep HSBC as their bank. At one point they owned a big chunk of Household, but I thought they divested that holding. Thanks JRS. Tom Lodi, CA

I was sitting in my office when a bus went by with an HRB advertisement on it for W2 Loans. Some crap like "I got my money with only a W2 because I got people". The bank I am using (SBBT) strictly forbids W2 Ral's. So who is HRB working with that allows them to make this loan? or are they making this loan themselves? After Household got out of the RAL business, who is HRB going to use for their bank? Are any of the Banks that ATX is partnered with allowing W2 loans? I don't want to do any of them, I am just asking. Inquiring minds want to know. Tom Lodi, CA

I have been trying to modify the billing master and it just isn't coming out the way I want. I came to the same conclusion you did, but I was hoping someone would figure out a better way. Thanks KC Tom Lodi, CA

Use the annualization method on the 2210 to try and reduce the penalty for underpayment if you don't get enough paid in. Tom Lodi, CA

No. I think I saw part of it one time. Not my style of TV. Tom Lodi, CA

I love the new feature that allows line item billing in the Sch D and in the 4562. Of course, I want my cake and to eat it too. I would like to be able to charge for the form AND each line item. Has anyone figured out a way to do this? For example - I have a client that has 4 trades and another that has 40 trades. I want to charge each $10 for adding the form to the return AND $1 for each line item. First client pays $14 for his Sch D and second client pays $50 for his. Any Ideas on how to make that happen? Thanks. Tom Lodi, CA

Aha! It is the Bunny. It is always the Bunny that has the answer in ATX. If they ever got rid of the Bunny, the software would be useless. Thanks for the proceedure Dan. Now - if I can just figure out how to charge for the Stimulus Payment, I would be on my way. Tom Lodi, CA

Taxbilly, you are ruining my fun. I figured that is what Jainen meant, but because it was not the most precise sentence he has ever written, and could be twisted a little bit, that is what I was doing. What do they call it - trying to get his knickers twisted? Now, back to the original intent. Do you think that is why they left it that way? We are talking about a very small amount of returns that would have a foreign property tax for their main home. I think the majority of us are looking at the personal residence tax amount and comparing it to the standard deduction plus the 500/1000 amount. I know what I need to look for. I am just wondering if this is how the software is intended to operate this year? Or am I missing something (like a new check box) that will make the software do this for me? Tom Lodi, CA

No - you can deduct the amount of property taxes you paid on your personal residence on your Schedule A, and it does not have to be FOREIGN. The new change this year is you can deduct up to $1000 of your personal residence property taxes as an additional amount of your standard deduction. Since we are already filling in the amount of the personal residence property taxes on the Sch. A worksheet, it seems to me that amount should flow to the worksheet for the additional amount on the standard deduction. The software already makes the choice of which option is best (std vs itemized), so it should make the std deduction plus the amount of prop taxes paid versus the sch A amount part of the decision process, don't you think? Tom Lodi, CA

I have been playing with the software, and I found two things I don't really like this year. #1 - If the property taxes are filled in on the schedule A, but the amount of Schedule A is less than the Standard Deduction, the amount of Property taxes does not flow to the new worksheet for the Standard deduction. You have to go manually to the worksheet and fill in the amount again. Am I doing something wrong? Wouldn't it seem that if there is an amount added to the Sch. A for property taxes, it would flow to that worksheet when it realizes that the Standard deduction is better? #2 - Stimulus Refund Recovery Worksheet. This thing takes a little bit of time to get through. I want to charge for it, but I can't find a place to add the charge in the billing rates? Am I just missing it, or are we not able to charge for this? I only want to charge if I have to fill out the forms. If anyone out there has some time to check these out and see if the problem is with me (most likely) or if this is in fact the way the program operates this year? Tom Lodi, Ca

Good call KC. It is not a real bother. He is not selling anything (yet?) and it may work out for us in the long run. If there are too many of these type of posts, then start putting them in the round file. Tom Lodi, CA

There is another way - similar to the others - if the two computers are networked. Create the file like Kyle said, export to it, and then on the new laptop, import from that file across the network. Tom Lodi, CA

Mel, Since your title was about retirement contributions, are you looking at an IRA contribution for the year? Is the company allowing you to continue to contribute a portion of your pay to the 401K during your "on call" employment period and just not matching your contributions? My take is you are still employed, so your wages are definately qualifying for either situation above, subject to all the normal rules. Here is a piece of advice. Take your 401K and roll it into a self directed IRA at the first opportunity. If you are happy with your company's financial provider, keep them, just roll the 401K to the IRA. There is no penalty or taxable transaction for doing this. When I was working for Del Monte, I left my 401K in the Merrill Lynch account because it was doing fine. Then I got a notice that the company changed the fund offerings and I was being "moved to comparable funds" in the Merrill Lynch family. I didn't think much of it, until I got my next quarterly statement and 60% of my money was gone. Like I said, even if you like the company that is offering your investment choices, you should still roll your 401K to an IRA. Tom Lodi, CA

Kyle, Nice to meet you. You should stalk the board here on a regular basis. Tell Kerry that no one is going to talk to him until he posts a picture of those beautiful kids of his (a result of his wife's looks, not his). Tom Lodi, CA

I was with Republic for 3 years. Nothing bad to say about them. Switched to SBBT last year. I had used them in my past software life and I really like them. I would not have a problem recommending either bank, but I prefer SBBT. I only do about a dozen bank products per year. Tom Lodi, CA

Hey Kerry, I think you are working at that new support network in Maine? Is that correct? How much will they charge me to have you do a little system maintenance and setup for the 2008 ATX software. Probably just an hour or so to make sure all the network connections are correct. My computers are running a little sluggish with 2007 (3 years old) and I don't want 2008 to be a problem. Send me a private message if you don't want to post here. Thanks man. Tom Lodi, CA

I am blushing profusely KC. Thank you for your kind words. Yes, I finished up my Masters Program. And the next time you are out here visiting your grandchildren, call me and we will go out to dinner again. If you are willing to drive up to Lodi, I will treat you to dinner. Tom Lodi, CA

Rick, That is a good question and I don't know the answer. I THINK that the intention of the law is one residence, one credit. That would be an ASSUMPTION, and you know what they say about those. Also, watch for the phase outs. If you client is making more than 75K (filing single) they start to phase out and it is gone at 95K. Heads up. Tom Lodi, CA

The first thing you need to see is the sales agreement. If there is no breakout of the sale of the equipment and the goodwill, then you will have to list all the equipment at FMV, and subtract from the sales price to get the amount of goodwill. Goodwill is a §197 or 195 (I forget which one) intangible asset amortized over 15 years. Obviously, your client wants as much asset cost as possible to depreciate and as little goodwill as possible. Get good estimates of the FMV of the used equipment. An outside estimate is better than the numbers the client will pull off the ceiling. Tom Lodi, CA

Your assumption is that I screwed up the payments. Wrong. I made every payment on time. I followed the CPA's written instructions. I showed them copies of every EFTPS payment and backed it up with the copy of the bank statements showing when the payments were deducted from the account. I know how to present the information to the CPA firm for the preparation of the tax return. Of course a CPA would never admit that one of their bretheren was wrong. That is the way that community opperates. Remember, these are the same guys who gave us Enron Accounting.

They forgot to complete the form to eliminate the penalty. All estimated taxes were paid on time.

>>What form was it, by the way?<< Form 5806 Underpayment of Estimated Tax by Corporations >>I take offense to that comment.<< I appologize.

The owner is going to call the partner.

The company I work for hires a CPA firm to prepare the corp tax return. Per the owner's instructions, all issues related to the tax return go through the CPA firm. After filing of last year's tax return, we get an FTB notice for underpayment of estimated taxes. FTB wants $1,100. I call the CPA firm and forward the notice. They tell me we should not have to pay and they will take care of it. The preparer of our return just left out the form on the return. Don't worry about it they tell me, it will be taken care of in no time. Six months later, it still is not fixed. FTB is still saying there is a penalty for underpayment. So what comes in the mail today ---- you are going to love this----- a bill from the CPA firm for $1,500 for their attempt at correcting the return they screwed up that resulted in an $1,100 penalty. I could never be a CPA. They have balls of steel and will steal from God or Satan. Tom Lodi, CA

Mel, Your opinion has value. Charge for it. If they want a yes or no, tell them you will write up an opinion for a fee. In the opinion, state the conflict. Make sure your employer knows what you are doing. Then cash the check. Tom Lodi, CA