BulldogTom

Is there a limit on family size where it will not change? Like a family of 6 or 7 and the premium does not go up any more? Tom Newark, CA

Is a fire extinguisher then deductible as a medical expense? Tom Newark, CA

Wow. This is an interesting post. Please let us know how it resolves. I am very interested in this. Thanks Tom Newark, CA

Very Straighforward. 1099MISC with all the details of the withholding on the form explanation. Royalties from oil. Popped in the ND income on the NR, selected the Non-resident box and it was done. Put the Schedule S on the CA return. Piece of cake. Tom Newark, CA

EWWWWW.....that is not a good thought. Tom Newark, CA

I am doing an amended return for a client for 2012. God this software is awful.....I remember why I almost dumped it. ATX is a lot better now, but that 2012 package sucked badly. Tom Newark, CA

It is also requiring a school code. TP is a full year non-resident. What school code should I use? OOPS - Found it in the list. Non-Resident Thanks Tom Newark, CA

TP has an interest in Oil in ND. ND withholding on the 1099 indicated. I pulled up the forms and it looks fairly straightforward. Is there anything that I should be looking out for that is a "gotcha" for ND? Does ND have an e-file acceptance or can anyone who is federally accepted e-file to ND. Thanks in Advance. ND is a new animal to me, but with the oil boom up there, I think I might be getting more of these. Tom Newark, CA

Just finished the amended. My spouse talked to them and gave them a discount on the amended. GRRRRRRRRRRRR. I don't even have a stapler that will go through the CA amended because the documentation is so much. But they will pay full price for the 2014 return. Tom Newark, CA

Long time client. Has a rental, royalties, detailed schedule A, 2106 etc. Because they are friends, we always gave them a discount. Last year, their son talked them into going to Liberty so he could get a $50 referral payment. They also got a very heavily discounted return. Like only $17. But the bill would have been over $550 without the discount. So this year they want to come back. Sure, send me over your 2013 return. Roll the return from my software and put in the numbers from last year so I can roll the return again. Guess what, they don't match up? Why? Well, the rental has NO DEPRECIATION on the 2013 return. I keep looking at the schedule E and I don't see the depreciation. So that $17 return that got your son $50 cost you $1400 in Federal and State Taxes paid in 2013. Now I get to do the amended and the 2014. I bet they never leave again. And there will not be a discount this year. Tom Newark, CA

Wicked Witch of the West (WWW) to Dorothy "You will pay your estimated taxes my pretty.....and your little dog too!" Castle Guards singing while marching " O E O..... Pay the estimates....O E O....Pay the estimates" WWW to the monkeys "Fly.... and go get that mileage log. Kill anyone you have to, but bring me back that mileage log....in tack." WWW to Dorothy in the castle try to get off the ruby slippers "How will we get your Employee Business Expenses out of you? This must be done DEL..I...CATE..LY. You have one hour!!!!!! When the sand runs out, so does your appointment time." Obama as the Castle Guard to the republicans in congress as Dorothy.... "You killed her" Dorothy "I didn't mean to, I was just after Lois Lerner. If she would have just testified, I would not have thrown a bucket of budget cuts at her" There is so much more that could go with that movie and taxes. Oh, what a wonderful post to start the last few days of tax season. Tom Newark, CA

Can you use the safe harbor for Daycare? I don't know that answer, but it is what I do for my schedule C's who can't get me good records. Tom Newark, CA

Are you talking about the hard copy of the client returns that you send them? If so, you can use the watermark feature on the client copy. I have "Client Copy" on my watermark but you could use "E-Filed" if you wanted to. It won't go on the signature line, but it takes up a big part of the page. Tom Newark, CA

You make a great point. Everybody has a different way of processing a return. One is not necessarily better than another, just different. I came to ATX after 5 seasons with Proseries, so I was very familiar with the data sheet method. I liked Proseries, and I would have stayed, but I just could not stomach the price. The learning curve from Proseries to ATX was very short. It took me 2 seasons to get good at using Proseries (I did not have a lot of clients, so I had plenty of time to work with the software). It took about 10 returns to get used to ATX. The thing that I learned when first starting tax prep work was to review the final return and make sure you had everything in the right place. You had to know what the expected outcome of the return was, and then double check your input against the source documents. I can do that with ATX on the screen, and make corrections so much more quickly in ATX than I ever could in Proseries. When in Proseries I had to work from what was essentially a PDF on the screen, then go out, go to the data sheet, make the change, go back to the print preview, check it again, etc. I find the ATX interaction much faster for the way I prepare and review. It is a personal choice. Tom Newark, CA

Yeah, I had that one time before. I can't recall off the top of my head, but it has to do with the way CA 3801 categorizes the passive activities compared to the Fed. I am guessing that you have more than 1 passive activity on the return? In one of the worksheets in the back of the 3801, you have to make an adjustment to the activity to put it on the line that it wants to match up to. It is a pain in the @$$, but once you figure it out, it is a pretty easy fix. Sorry I don't have the software in front of me or I could probably find the area on the form that you need to go to. Tom Newark, CA

Don't forget about on form entry and the former bunny hop (now green arrow). I would have gone to Drake a couple years ago if not for this feature. No one else has this entry method in a program with all the forms that ATX has. It is price, and it is forms (PR forms especially), but it is also entry method. It is intuitive to me to be able to look at the 1040 and say "I need some data there...the client told me something that should go in that box. Now why isn't it there?" Then I click on the Green Arrow and go looking for the way I should enter that data. Tom Newark, CA

When I first read this, I thought the OP was about individual returns no longer being unlimited, that it was going to something like a PPR program. This is a misleading post and I think it should be retitled by the moderators. It should be more reflective of what they may be doing, which is possibly adding more steps in the number of users to the pricing. Tom Newark, CA

KC, remind me why he left? I miss him a lot. Sometimes I would post things in such a way that I knew he would rip me for, just to see what he had to say. Tom Newark, CA

I tend to agree with Jack, although I do believe this is a new era of regulation and it needs to be discussed and thought through. My first reaction was - TIRES! no brainer, repair. Then I thought about the differential, and not being a master mechanic and putting my IRS idiot hat on, I thought, what would an idiot IRS agent who is overworked and under appreciated and certainly has no interest in getting it right say? Obviously, the IRS guy is going to say Capitalize because it makes the tax bill larger. But I still think it is a repair. And I think it would be a winner at the higher levels of audit. But it would probably go to appeals before it got looked at by anyone who would take a reasonable position. This is where I miss Jainen. He would give us the IRS position. Tom Newark, CA

Full day of work on Friday, Good Friday service that night, full day at the office on Saturday, Dinner Saturday night with a client at the best Chinese restaurant this side of Shanghai (Dave Wong's in Stockton CA if you want to know), Sunday morning service, Easter dinner with family. NO taxes on Easter. Tom Newark, CA

If Brooke Shields came to my office looking for a form, I would turn the whole office upside down looking for one. Fat chance of that ever happening. But Brooke could be my incompetent bookkeeper all she wants (until my wife kicks her out of the office!!!!!) Tom Newark, CA

You can't make a blanket statement like that with out knowing the "benefits" . You are only looking at the tax and bookkeeping side of this. The man has to have a life as well, and she may be worth keeping around for that life. Tom Newark, CA

My wife and I have a saying in our office....."SALY is a bitch". I hate the saying. Tom Newark, CA

Terry, Are you against using ATX? I use MAX and I have about the same number of clients you do. I feel it is a great product, even though we went through hell a couple years ago with it. For the money, I think it gives me a lot. Support now sucks, but it is better than it was 2 years ago. I use this board more for support than I do the support phone. I don't know what you are paying for One Desk, but if you are really that concerned about the software, it might be time to go take another look at ATX. Tom Newark, CA

I would be careful. You might get a letter that the return is being examined due to a deceased dependent on the return. I think this is something the IRS is trying to root out for fraud. If it was me, I would print the envelope and mail it. Explain to the TP that it is being mailed because of fraudsters who are stealing decedent SS#'s. If your software allows you to indicate a decedent dependent, this would show the IRS that you are telling them everything, rather than giving them information you know to be untrue. Just my 2 cents. Tom Newark, CA