BulldogTom

HIllary....a centerist? What are you smoking Amy, because I want some of that. There is another aspect to this that is not the minimum wage, it is that half of the kids coming out of high school are not prepared to work in a burger joint or other entry level job. They don't have the minimum level of skill to earn the minimum level of wages. Those that do have the skills to compete are moving to the next level of education, not looking for entry level jobs. I would not pay $8 (CA minimum wage) per hour to a kid who can't fill out an application properly. Tom Lodi, CA

Something along the lines of "Due to changes in your tax and accounting needs and recent reorganization of my firm's staffing levels, I am unable to allocate the resources required to adequately provide the services you require. I am sure you understand that I cannot open an engagement where I cannot guarantee the result is a professional, complete, fully researched and defendable set of accounting records and tax returns" You may use this if you like it. Tom Lodi, CA

Are we looking at SE tax avoidance? That was my point also, when I posted about the need to send the 1099 for the rents paid. That will tell what is really happening. If it is legit, there will be a person with a tax id number who is expecting that 1099. If he balks at giving the number, there is a problem. Get the fee paid up front. Tom Lodi, CA

I would continue with the bookkeeping, but delay the work until payment. Then, when all paid up, ask for a nice retainer because of the impending closure of the business. Then ask for the reciepts for the expenses, and especially the landlord information for the 1099 that you are going to send out (for a fee, prepaid, of course) and after the business closes, it will be convenient for you to have thedocumentation on hand in case of questions. Then I would ask for the tax prep retainer. If he don't pay up, put him on extension until he pays. Then, I would do enough work to use up the retainer, and then show him the tax returns the way you know they should be. If he don't like it, he can walk. I never walk away from a fee if the client has money. Your client has money, go get it. If the client is broke, dump him. Tom Lodi, CA

Thanks KC. As always, you are my favorite. How is life with the grandbabies in town? Must be nice for you. Tom Lodi, CA

And none of this is affected by the spouse never leaving the country? Thanks KC. Tom Lodi, CA

I have been looking at the rules and just want to check that I am reading this correctly. Couple of questions that would help me out. If the spouse lives in US, do they still get the automatic 2 month extension? If they do not file a timely extension by April 15th (spouse in US), can they still make the election to exclude on a late filed return? If the 330 day rule will be met by the extended due date of the return, there is no problem with taking the exclusion, even if the 330 days were not all in 2007? Here is the situation, H is overseas from May to Dec. Not sure if he is still there, but I suspect so, because I am meeting with the W only. She is a referral and we have just breifly touched bases. She thinks all the taxes should not appear on his W2, but they do. Has not filed 2007 return yet. I think that if he meets the 330 day rule, we can exclude a portion of his 2007 income using the formula. I am just not sure if they get the automatic extension of time, and if a timely extension needed to be filed to make the election. If they don't qualify for exclusion, then the only thing left is foreign tax credit? Thanks in advance. Tom Lodi, CA

I am not sure, but I think I remember that you add a second asset called the "stepped up basis" or something else that will que you in to what it is, and then allocate 100% of the depreciation on that asset to the inheriting shareholder. Just a thought, but not real sure. Tom Lodi, CA

I haven't gotten to the K-1 screen yet. We have been swamped with Vacation Bible School this week. 40 of the most darling k-6th graders at our church. What do you get when you put 40 kids and 150 beach balls in a church sanctuary? A lot of screams and fun. Teach them the story of Gideon and let them try to make enough noise to confuse the whole neigborhood. Then put a target on the senior pastor and add 500 water balloons. It gets better, give them 40 squirt guns also. Throw in a couple bilble lessons and some craft projects, and fall into bed at 9 PM so you can do it again the next day. Tom Lodi, CA

I am testing my new signature line. Thanks for the tip - Judge. Tom Lodi, CA

Lobster U? Tom Lodi, CA

The estate was formed the date of death, regardless of when the EIN was requested. This is a specialized area of practice, so you might want to get some help on this. If you want to go it alone, go for it. My take, you need to find out first who is the executor of the mother's estate. That is your client. Then you need to know what testimentary documents existed prior to the date of death. This will tell you if there is a trust (sounds suspiciously like there was - but the facts are cloudy) that recieved assets of the estate, or if there is a probate process that still needs to happen. It also sounds like there is some kind of business, so there should be some trust accounting going on for the beneficiaries, and this accounting will be per the trust document, or if there is no document, but your state law. Someone needs to know what the mother had at her death, who is supposed to get that stuff, and who is supposed to make it all happen. Find that out first, then you can proceed from there. Without this knowledge, you cannot do this job, and no one on this board can help you go any further either. Good luck and charge lots. Tom Lodi, CA

For those of you interested, I am in the middle of an in-depth evaluation of Taxslayer Pro. Before I get into that, I will share my experiences at the CCH Small Services booth at the Super Seminar in Reno last week. They did not bring the ProSystem fx booth, they only had Taxwise, ATX and the WebSite development teams selling at the show. I wanted to look at Taxwise (they have 42" monitors to dsplay on - someday when I get rich I am going to get one of those) so I asked the salesman. He seemed to be nice enough until I told him I was currently with ATX. Then it was as mechanical of a demo as I have seen. Truthfully, it sucked and I would not buy from that salesman, even though the quick look I had at the software did not leave a bad impression. But I felt treated like old gum stuck on his shoe that he wanted to scrape off and throw away. The ATX people were not real knowledgable about the software. I could have done a better demo, but in all fairness, I only saw one of them demo and it was not a real in depth question the person had. The website people were very agressive trying to sell lots of websites. Back to Taxslayer. Show price is $750 and the regular price is $995. Includes all income tax forms. PR is through a QB knockoff that they sell as an extra for $199. E-file and conversions are free. Salesman promised 3 week turnaround time on conversions. All states supported. I tried to download the business forms and have not been able to do so. I will call support and find out why, which will give me a reason to evaluate the support staff. They seem to be about where ATX was in about 2000. The entry screens come from a menu that takes some getting used to. I found that the software runs faster on my laptop than ATX (no suprise). I have done a couple of very simple returns to get used to the entry. It calculated the returns properly (w2, EIC, 8880 credit, HOH). It does a thourogh job of asking all the pertinent HOH and EIC questions for due diligence. I am not sure I like all the questions popping up on the screen, but it does remind me to look at those items. I liked the billing options. The client letter was OK. One potential fatal flaw is in the E-file screen. I got caught into a loop that I could not get out of when I chose a direct deposit. The software asked for a bank routing number, so I just typed in 1's. Error, invalid RTN. Since I did not have a good RTN number, I could not get out of that place in the return. I had to close the software to get out. If that happened to me during tax season, I would freak out and toss the software. I will check on that with support when I call them. Overall, I think I could make the software work, but my spouse doesn't like the entry method very much. It is more like the HRB software she used in her prior life. I am not sold on it yet, but it is not a throwaway by any stretch. It could be an option for a 1040 practice. I will post more about the business returns and support when I get back to the evaluations in a couple weeks. Tom Lodi, CA

That was a cheap one. Don't you want your #500 to be a monumental post that will make the tax community sit up and take notice? Don't you want it to make up bow down at your billiance? Shouldn't it be something that reveals your innermost thoughts and feelings about our profession? Or...you could just pull an Elrod or JB..... "I like bananas" type post. Tom Lodi, CA

It is only one company, it only needs one number, regardless of what it is advertising its name as. It will need 2 Fictitious Business Name Statements (or is this a California requirment only?) My 2 Cents. Tom Lodi, CA

Zeke - you are posting too much and erc showed us that he is the only JUDGE, JURY, and EXECUTIONER on the board. Like in Sienfeld, NO POSTS FOR YOU. Tom Lodi, CA

I like being the on atxaholics jury. Since I am the person who ticks most people off, I have it made. But Joel is cheating. He is stringing his posts - 2 or 3 at a time. He really wants to be the judge. I think we should fine him 100 posts just to teach him a lesson. Tom Lodi, CA

It is an omen - you should not early renew. The tax gods will be angry with you for the whole year. They are warning you. No renewals until Dec 15th or pay the price in gremlins. Just kidding - or am I? Tom Lodi, CA

Hey now, as counsel on this board, you are violating privledge by telling mine and JohnH's secrets. We may have to hold a kangaroo court and fine you a contribution to the board if you keep this up. Speaking of which, I think we ought to consider a kangaroo court on the board. If someone ticks you off, take them to court. All fines paid via PayPal to ERC. Don't pay the fine, ERC kicks you off the board? What do you think? Tom Lodi, CA

It is the "shoppers" and the ones trying to get free advice that will sap your time. They will walk in with that "quick question" about the uncle who left the home to them that they sold but it never went through probate and the realtor held the money on the sale and how do they get that back? After educating them, they thank you and walk out. I know it seems unrealistic, because it doesn't happen when you work out of your home. Wait until you get the guy that comes in and you tell him he can't get EIC for his girlfriends kids that he just told you he supports, and then he brings in his girlfriend and wants you to make her HOH based on his wages. Or better yet, wait until he sends his brother in with his W2 and ID telling a different story about how the kids are his and the girlfreind doesn't live in the home. Seriously, this crap happens, and it will take your time up. Just be aware that when you are open to the public, the public will come in. Good luck. Tom Lodi, CA

Julie, I wish you the best of luck. I think you will do fine, but I would like to share the one thing that I believe might be a problem for you - walk in traffic. Being a one person office, you will have to manage who comes in and when. If you don't have a receptionist, you can get overwhelmed by the people just walking in off the street shopping your service. If your husband is going to manage that part for you, you will do great. Good luck. How far from Laguna and I-5 in Elk Grove will your office be located? My day job company is moving there next month. The owner of the company bought a building at that business park. Tom Lodi, CA

Mike, You ought to look at the Tax Update Circuits and offer a Clergy class. I am going to Reno for the Calif Society of Enrolled Agent Super Seminar next week, and I know if there was a class on clergy taxes, I would take it. We all need our 24 hours a year, and there are multiple opportunities to sell what you know to the tax preparation community. Gear Up, Spidell, and CSEA are just a couple out here in CA that provide CPE. You really should look at this as an opportuntiy to supplement your income at your practice in the off season. I think you would be excellent at it. Tom Lodi, CA

I am moving this topic from another one to start a new conversation. I thought I heard that Apple had a new OS that ran any program, even the Microsoft Office suite of products? If any of you techie types have heard this, please post. If it runs my tax software and my MS office suite, I am willing to look when I replace my computers next time. Tom Lodi, CA

Eric needs to make Zeke an honorary member just for the "Frikken Banana" avatar. Anyone who can find that deserves to be the top dog on the board. I still cannot look at a banana without smiling. Tom Lodi, CA

This is a little off topic, but I keep hearing that Apple is going to release an operating system that will run every Microsoft Office application. Is this true? As soon as Apple can run my tax programs and my MS Office Suite, I am willing to switch. I am two years away from upgrading all my computers, and would love to give apple a shot, but not until I can use Excel on it. Is ATX compatable with Apple? Drake? Taxslayer? Thompson Ultra Tax? or has Bill Gates won on the Tax Prep industry? Tom Lodi, CA