Don in Upstate NY

Trivia note - the details that you list under "Other Expenses" on page 2 do NOT get transmitted to the IRS as part of the E-file.

Once again we confuse an IRS statement with the English language. Just as a qualifying relative need not be a relative, so a Business Rule need not refer to a business. Rather, it is a term of art that relates to the permitted and prohibited relationships in a data structure. Typical business rules might require that MFJ returns have a valid SSN for the secondary taxpayer, or that the AGI equal the gross income less the adjustments. See Pub 4164 (222 pages)

An aside - I converted to Win 10 about a week ago. Thought I'd do it now rather than when the 2015 tax software is distributed next month. Everything went smoothly except that my tax program (TaxWise) didn't work. A known problem to customer support; had to remove and then rerun the install program - maybe ten minutes overall. The process for 2014 also fixed my TaxWise for all back years. My real gripe is that Freecell isn't a part of Win 10, although a different version is available as a free app.

Been there, done that. Should be no problem. You'll be able to teach TaxWise by your second season.

This guy is a painter. I see no discussion that would lead me to believe that he has a qualifying home office, or even a "business" desk. Sounds like he just wants a comfortable chair to relax in when he comes home from work. That's a personal chair.

I use a simple ... NOL Explanation 2014 NOL CARRYOVER FROM 2013 - ORIGINALLY FROM 2010

What's really embarrassing is for the client to recognize the jacket you're wearing as one he donated. {I still have the jacket, but the client's son is now a CPA so I lost the client.}

That's a reasonible position. Interestingly, some software (e.g. TaxAct) will take any A or D transactions that you enter on their gains worksheet and report them on 1a and 8a, deleting them from the 8949.

The only exception I would note is that if she received a commission from a manufacturer of the product she sold, even if she sold it in her normal course of business, the manufacture's extra bonus, reported on a 1099-MISC, would NOT be subject to SE tax. See Pub 3204.

Close. You can't use exception 1 for any transactions that have adjustments, even if the adjustments are shown on the 1099-B. You pull those transactions out and report them seperately on the 8949, and report the remainder on lines 1a and/or 8a on the D.

This is always the case. The NY instructions for preparing the W2 say that the NY income (as shown on the W2) must equal the federal income. No allocation is allowed in preparing the W2. All allocation must be done by the taxpayer on the IT-203.

He bought a zero emisssion car (hey...I'm from NYC...we don't have cars here) and he sent me a certificate showing a $5000 GA credit. Well we do have cars in Upstate NY, and NY also had a credit for buying a hybrid. And unlike GA, the unused portion of the credit seems to roll on forever. Special form (IT-253) that cannot be e-filed, but must be attached as a .pdf (if your software allows it.) Anyone care to hazzard a guess an opinion as to how much of the unsed credit would carry over from a MFJ return when one of the taxpayers dies?

Client exercised a non-qualified stock option on a same-day basis. His gain on the option was reported on both his W2 (box 12 code V) from his employer and on a 1099-B (code A, short term with basis reported to IRS.) from the broker. We used to adjust the stock basis on the D by the V amount on the W2, resulting in ordinary income of the option gain and a short-term loss of the brokerage commission. How do we do this now (is there an adjustment code for this on the 8949?) [i'm asking what the correct form(s) should look like, not how to input the data into the ATX software.]

Just received a letter from the State of Tennessee Division of Consumers Affairs informing me that TRX has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Anyone having a claim against TRX must file a claim form by December 14. Copy of letter at this link. More info here. Don EA in Upstate NY [Disclosure - I received a full refund from TRX in March 2013 and have not corresponded with TRX or Tennessee since.]

At least for New York, you are correct. New York taxes capital gains as ordinary income.

I get that error message. And if I click the install link it offers to instal Media Player for Windows XL (I'm running Windows 7 Ultimate 64.) My solution - drop the webinar link into my Chrome browser.

I sold my slide rules on e-bay, and also my supply of Smith-chart graph paper. Don EA, BSEE, MSEE, MBA, NCI

Surefire Taxes also reselling in that price range. (My renewal was $549 plus tax and shipping for the whole bundle - 1040 and entities, all states, all e-file.)

Cite please?

One of the more popular desktop tax programs stores the "encrypted" login passwords in a file with the clever name of "password.yy" They must be using a very sophisticated encryption algorithm - a blank password is stored as all zeros. Now if one had a hex editor ...

Like the idea for someplace for 'catch-all' or 'other' packages.

The original registration law provided for a committee to be set up to define the necessary criteria (education, experience, etc.) for NY registration. As I recall the committee was set up, but never funded. So we were left with the "qualification" of having $100 on a valid credit card. There are also other NY laws regulating tax preparers, (must provide a "Clients' Rights" publication to customers), but they also don't apply to CPA/EA/Atty unless selling bank products.

New York makes it easy. The client is not allowed to opt out of state e-filing, nor can the preparer charge separately for it.

From the March 5 NATP newsletter ... Some Decedent Returns Being Rejected The IRS has discovered a programming glitch involving some accounts for decedents who passed in 2013. Any returns attempting to process electronically for taxpayers deceased in 2013 are incorrectly rejecting from MeF processing. Programmers are looking into the problem and the IRS anticipates a fix in the near future. Until the programming has been resolved, the IRS recommends paper filing the return. The key word is some. I had one accepted on March 1 with no problems.

Yea. That's what I had to do on TaxAct when I wanted the capital gains carry-over to print. Guess there's no perfect s/w.