Don in Upstate NY

I'm using TaxWise this year. It works. Two unexpected bonuses last week ... E-filed a return with a 2013 deceased taxpayer - ACCEPTED. E-filed a return with a 2013 1099-B showing a 2010 sell date - ACCEPTED. Looking for a way to print out the Schedule B when it's not required. Help?

I'm retired, but I get a W2 from my previous employer for the imputed income due to group life insurance. The W2 shows $28 income in boxes 1, 3, and 5, zero in boxes 2,4, and 6, $2 FICA due in box 12 [code M], and $4,800 in box 12 code DD.

If I had to use the little house at the back of my property at 3 in the morning and it was 22 out, I'd consider tearing it down and building something with indoor plumbing also. True, the little house didn't need a shade, but that's a small price ...

> Spoken from the experiences I have had. No compatibility issues ANYWHERE with IE11. Morningstar also has problems with their portfolio program on IE11. Message that Java must be updated, followed by sequence of messages saying Java is up-to-date, must be updated, is up-to-date, must be updated, ... Chrome works fine.

The latest version of Tax Exact claims that TaxExact is now on both PC and Mac!. You think they rewrote the code in Java or something like that? Maybe it was totally new code last year? [Academic interest only - not my current software of choice.] Don EA in Upstate NY

Maybe because the IRS is on the hook to provide about $200 million in EITC penalties over the next ten years. The amount goes UP slightly each year; we aren't supposed to learn or get better. [source - CBO Estimate of S. 1642 - Korean Free Trade Agreement http://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/cbofiles/attachments/s1642.pdf ]

Actually, I wish them well. We could use some new smaller software vendors in this market to compete against the big guys who are buying out the smaller vendors. Unfortunately, I can't figure out the business plan that would generate enough profits that would support the development of the software, much less the support needed during the tax season. [Personal disclaimer - I used TRX for about seven years but bailed out in January when it was obvious to me that the problems weren't going to be fixed any time soon. I'm not interested in trying TaxExact this year.]

Doesn't this belong in the Politics forum?

TRX Software Development, Inc. may have filed for Chapter 11, but TaxExact.com is still alive and offering the product for sale.

The "error rate" used by the IRS as a measure of volunteer site performance is almost meaningless. It traditionally has been the percentage of e-filed returns that were rejected on first submittal. So some returns counted as errors are actually correct (someone else incorrectly claimed the kid) while most of the returns with rejects are simple typos in SSN, EIN, etc. that were automatically detected, never processed, and caused no harm. In defense of the IRS, they needed a metric to assess site performance in a timely fashion. Since most real errors (mismatch between W2 and line 7, incorrect filing status, ...) aren't caught until a year after the return is submitted, the IRS chose to use the only thing available to them in semi-real time - e-file rejects.

TaxWise - A solid program that hasn't changed in years. There are some trivial things it doesn't do (like adding up the foreign tax shown on 1099-DIVs) but no major faults that I'm aware of. Good support of client letters and print packages. I bought the complete 2013 version (1040 plus all entities, all states, unlimited e-file) for about $725 including shipping from one of the resellers. (see Sure Fire Taxes or Ultimate Tax Service)

Once again, the Korean Trade Act comes to the rescue. The same law that increaded the EIC due-diligence penalty to $500 also takes care of prisoners' claims. From the EOB analysis ... Of course this pales in comparison with the revenue produced by the EIC penalty [$197 million], but every million counts.

Paychex (WiseGuides) continues to offer twelve free CPE credits per year. http://www.paychex.com/wiseguides/wiseguides.aspx

Even if that were true, it would not effect the mother's ability to claim the dependency deduction. Since they were both claiming N.J. as a qualifying child, the only support test is that N.J. is not providing his own support. Who is actually supporting him is irreverent. I missed that part about the grandparent being N.J.'s bio-dad.

That's what I always thought also. But a search of irs.gov brings up this ... This is from http://www.irs.gov/irb/2012-50_IRB/ar12.html Rev Proc 2012-49 and I'm not sure it applies to 1040s, but items 4 and 5 are not how it worked in the "old days".

I used the tool back in April when it was first released. My amended return from last November was listed, with a status of "please call 1-800-xxx-xxxx." I called; they had received the form but said page two was missing. Since page two has the signatures, without that page it was NOT a return and could not be processed. (OK...) But since it was not a return, they also couldn't notify me that the page was missing. (What ... ?) Anyway, they advised me to resubmit the whole package, which I did. As of this morning, it shows my return was received on April 5 and is being processed.

Is the IRA in question his only IRA and does it have only the $5000 contribution plus earnings in it? If the answer is NO to either of these questions then the taxable amount of the withdrawal will be more than $100. It isn't clear what the taxpayer's objective is.

We still have the "what is taxable" problem. Shipping on internet orders? Bagels? (Taxed in NY if they are sliced, not taxed if they are not sliced.)

I have yet to receive a call from ANY vendor for next season.

One other difference - Intellect allows you to intentionally schedule a conflict. Nice feature in case you using it to schedule events for several people who may or may not be using the same resources. (e.g. wife's book club and my tax appointment can both be scheduled for 10am next Friday unless they're at the same place.)

I have used TaxWise for about ten years as a IRS TaxAide volunteer. The annoying lack of seamless support for foreign dividends has been there since day one. In my opinion, one reason that TaxWise is so slow to change ANYTHING is the massive support and training effort that the IRS would have to go thru to retrain all of the IRS employees and volunteers that use TaxWise. I know of no other tax software for which the IRS publishes a training and usage manual (Pub 4012.) [by the way, the on-line version of TaxWise (TWO) works like a charm. The same lack of support for foreign dividends of course, but both products are STABLE.]

There are lots of tax preparers like that. We call them VITA or TCE volunteers. Some of us even live double lives - volunteers in the morning and paid preparers in the afternoon.

FWIW, the on-line version of TaxWise (which covers 1040s only) worked great this year. User interface almost identical to the desktop version with no worries about program updates or data backup.

The one I'm looking at right now says "Form 1099 (Rev 9-07)". It does NOT say "1099-INT" The text makes clear that this is "interest on an overpayment of federal tax", and "must be reported as income on your tax return."

Mine was also many years ago on a DOS program also; Parsons Tech, which I have never forgiven for putting to death. They weren't put to death, they are alive and well and functioning as Second Story Software.