BulldogTom

I concur with jklcpa. Tom Newark, CA

I just got my PIN and logged into MyFTB. It is pretty cool. The clients I have POA's on listed already. See the transcripts, which returns have been filed, collections and payments. This is one thing the FTB got right. Hopefully the IRS will follow suit and put something like this together. I still hate the State of CA government, but I do like this website. Tom Newark, CA

Same here. Had to do the 2014 database restart, but other than that "normal and annoying" problem, tax returns are looking fine. Tom Newark, CA

One of my best audit wins was one of these. I thought I had no chance on the tool rental part of the audit. There were several other issues (IRS was trying to get SE tax on gambling winnings, denial of child tax credit, etc) that I knew I was going to win on, even if I lost on the tool rental 1099 issue. By the end of the 3rd page of my appeal letter, I think the auditor got tired of reading and just issued the no change letter. Every employee at the shop this taxpayer worked at got audited and they all just sent in the check to the IRS. I would not have fought it if there were not other issues that the IRS challenged on the return. Still brings a smile to my face when I remember that audit letter. Tom Newark, CA

Someone better get some chocolate to TN in a hurry. She is about to go off.......... Tom Newark, CA

I read that article today and I thought the financial advisor - who was also a doctor - was brilliant. I don't like ACA - and I make no bones about that. I am not opposed to a universal health law, just this piece of crap legislation that we have now. So when anyone can show the government how stupid their law is by taking advantage of it, good for them. If Congress does not like the result they got....THEN THEY SHOULD HAVE READ THE LAW BEFORE THEY PASSED THE LAW!...or in the famous words of Speaker Nancy Pelosi "you gotta pass the law to find out what is in the law"...well I am sure she is really pleased to find out that millionaires are getting subsidized health insurance from her signature legislation. Back to the strategy of "laddering bond payouts", I think that is a very good strategy. That is the kind of financial advice that is tailored to the individual's needs and resources. Even if it did not involve screwing Obamacare out of some insurance premiums, it is very well thought out and could work for a select group of individuals. Tom Newark, CA

I was able to fix the problem by removing the child, saving the return, adding the child back in and retransmitting. Weird..... Tom Newark, CA

Terry, I did the research on this several years ago when I had a client going through a nasty divorce. Never forgot the concept. Here is a quick quote from a google search on the subject. "California uses the date of separation as the essential date for determining property interests; property acquired by a spouse after the date of separation is considered to be that spouse’s separate property, while property acquired before the date of separation is community property" Tom Newark, CA

I think you guys are reading too much into the law. What the author above is saying is that you can have a 105 MERP that is in conjunction with a Minimum Essential Coverage Health plan. The key is that you have the MECHP in place. If you do that, you can wrap the MERP around it and still be in compliance with the ACA. This is what I have understood and I think that is all the author is saying. just my 2 cents Tom Newark, CA

I am getting a reject error for the dependent on line 6 c2. There is no 2nd dependent and there is no second line????? Anyone having an issue like this. The client is a repeat, so the return is rolled over. Accepted last year and no issues with the dependent. The dependent is on record 1 on the dependent tab and there is not a second dependent or line. Weird....I hope this does not require a call to support. Tom Newark, CA

Terry, There is a quirk in the CA Community Property Laws that you need to know about when splitting income. The community ends on the day the couple split with no intention of reconciling. It is a facts and circumstances test. So, if they split in May, you would only have 5 months of community income, regardless of when the divorce is final. Tom Newark, CA

When you roll over your first return, you select the boxes on the upper right hand side. One of them is billing rates. If you don't click on that when you do your first return, the rates won't come over. Once you do click on that box, every return afterward will have the billing rates. You only have to do it on one return. Hope that helps. Tom Newark, CA

I would like to see one of those Intuit "genius" commercials tackle the ACA for a self employed person on the exchange and show how many iterations of the calculations they do to come up with the right amount of SE Health Insurance Deduction and Premium Subsidy. Lets see them explain that in a 30 second commercial? I keep thinking of the woman (sister of the client) who came into my office who "prepared" the prior year returns for a couple who came to me because they were under audit. The clients asked her to come in because they did not know the answers to any of the questions I was asking. The audit had to do with 5 rentals that were throwing large losses and the deductions for those rental losses. I asked her how she came up with the deductible loss on the rentals and she said "I just kept clicking on different answers in Turbo Tax until I got the highest refund". Tom Newark, CA

We are having issues with the Database Server Error coming up, especially on the laptop. It just seems to not recognize the database server is running. The fix is simple and takes about 30 seconds now, but it is kinda a pain in the rear. Also had the issue with the Partner K-1 info not showing up. All you have to do is go into 2014, uncheck the complete box on the return, open the return, then save the return and mark it complete again. You don't need to duplicate the 2014 return. Pain in the rear as well. I wish I had known about the K-1 partner issues before I nearly completed a return and had to start all over. Lucky it was pretty small. Tom Newark, CA

I should know this, but I am having a brain cramp. Situation: Husband dies unexpectedly. 9 year old son qualifies for SS survivor benefits from his father. Is the child providing his own support from that money or is it considered provided by someone else? Thanks for the basic refresher. Tom Newark, CA

You can do it from each return. There are settings tabs on the billing form like TAXMAN says. If you want your billing to come up the same way every time, modify your master billing form. Then every return will come out with the invoice the same way. Tom Newark, CA

I cannot believe it. After years of having to override the information on the CA Sch B,C for my S Corps, I was shocked to open it up and see that the form is completely filled in and correct. ATX just scored a major point in fixing that issue. Saved me about 20 minutes of overriding on this one return alone. Wow....just Wow. What a geek I am to get overjoyed by a tax form and software. Tom Newark, CA

If you are going to do a partnership return, your partner information will not show up. There is a KB article on this on the ATX support site and it is discussed on the "other" board. To fix the issue, you have to go into 2014, uncheck the complete button on the return you are going to roll over, open up the return, save it, and then go into 2015 and roll the return. Hope this helps someone before they finish a chunk of a return and lose their work because they have to roll the return again to get the partner information to come across. Tom Newark, CA

I just know what support said. The software was looking for the network server and I am stand alone. But what does support know anyway. It could be anything and they were just blowing smoke at me to make me feel better. I just opened the software and it did the automatic update and I had a issue that was not there before I updated to 15.2. Support worked on it for an hour and finally fixed it after the first level tech support person called someone who knows something. Typical of ATX support as well. Tom Newark

Support took over an hour to figure out that the update 15.2 was for the network version and was installed on my stand alone. They got it fixed, but it was not just a simple console restart. It was the port number that was changed. I hope this is not a sign of things to come. Tom Newark, CA

I have tried that from the console. Still not getting 2014 returns. Tom Newark, CA

It looks like this might be a 15.2 problem. I just tried on my laptop and when I updated to 15.2 on that one, the same issue popped up. Anyone else having an issue with the rollover manager after updating to 15.2?

Stupid F****ing software. How do restart the ATX server on a Sunday when there is no customer support and you can't rollover your tax returns? Any help would be appreciated. Tom Newark, CA

Dear Client, I am so happy to hear that your spouse has finally retired. Nice to hear about the severance and the rollovers and distributions from your retirement accounts. Remember when we talked about this in April (while completing your tax return at the last minute) and I asked you to set up an appointment with me in the summer to go over your potential tax considerations these moves? Asking me to cancel my Christmas Travels to meet with you and your husband to go over this is totally not going to happen. You have a Merry Christmas too. Tom Newark, CA

8+8 = 16 16+6 = 22 22/2 = 11 11-8 = 3