Lion EA

My new daughter-in-law's mother asked me how to title money so her daughter has access but no tax consequences now. Investment advisor suggested TOD but told her to ask me! Mother's name and SSN would be on account with mother paying taxes; daughter's name would be on as Transfer On Death. Daughter would inherit with step up (or down) when mother passes? Mother doesn't want daughter liable for taxes during mother's lifetime. Does TOD accomplish what she wants? (My brand new daughter-in-law lost her father as the newlyweds were flying back from their New Zealand honeymoon and were blindsided upon landing at LAX and learning of his death. That must've been a horrible flight back to the east coast. We spent a few days sitting shiva with them in March in PA. Trying to answer their questions as they arise and ease them through this.) Thank you for any thoughts, suggestions, advice.

For those like Joan, I do lots of free IRS webinars, teleforums, etc. The old Tax Talk Today has new sponsorship and a low package price. My local NY/CT-ATP has good, inexpensive education, but my local NAEA and NATP chapters are a bit more. There are a couple of financial houses that provide free education, too, online. I've used Janney, Montgomery; and someone posted about another that I tried a couple of times but no longer (computer problems this season!) have the link. QB has free education online and scattered throughout the country.

I love ProSystem fx. I get the best price for my selection of returns by doing pay-per-return (have to buy unlimited something, so it's CT, with federal and other states and entities pay-per-return). I had looked at ProSeries, but the salesman admitted it couldn't handle some of my more complex returns (don't remember what the issue was, AMT? KiddyTax? Huge Schedule Ds?) so was going to give me Lacerte free with ProSeries, so I could use Lacerte pay-per-return when needed. I didn't want to learn two new software packages at once, so went back to the drawing board to re-demo Lacerte, Ultra Tax, and ProSystem fx. Was impressed with ProSystem fx support and have never regretted my decision.

Pacun, thank you very much for your thoughts. I think I'll be more effective with support now!

Keep nine personal returns and prepare other entities. Or, give e-filing a try now during the off season without the time crunch and stress of the regular season, when you can get tech support on the phone if you need them. Try it; you might like it.

Like I say, I had to take a picture to prove to myself that I wasn't dreaming. I really do have a floor and a desktop buried under all those stacks of returns and mail and stuff. You should've seen it when the kids came to stay. Then I had to move all the boxes out of the guestroom and pile them high on my client chairs and my floor. Still have some boxes in my basement that I haven't unpacked from when I left Block years ago! Would've been so much easier if they'd done this article after tax season, but it was a lot of fun and a definite change of pace from taxes.

CCH posted the video on that same page now: http://www.cchgroup.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/content_partners_default I was still missing the connection for my third monitor, the hutch was still on my computer desk, and I hadn't cleaned up my bookshelves. If a file uploaded, it's my office when I finished cleaning it for the photo shoot; and it's never looked like that again!

Half the fans failed on my brand new Dell Studio XPS, so the power supply overheated and shut down the hard drive. One failure in January, two in February, dead from 4 March through 28 March, and warning light back on by 14 April. Dell tech support stinks. They kept blaming it on the OS. Well, I bought the OS from Dell !! But, the grinding noise was not the OS. Even though I paid for next-day onsite repair, they refused to send someone until mid-March; but Dell had sent the wrong fans. The end of March, Dell sent a tech with fans, power supply, and motherboard. They refused to send me a new computer. Extremely difficult to get up a tier to a supervisor, and then they were still in India with no authority to order new parts or replace my dead computer.

That's only because I was up all night cleaning up, throwing stuff in boxes to stash in the guest room and in bins I just bought at Home Goods and under my desk and across the room from where I figured they'd photograph! You can see the leftmost portrait monitor behind me and the rightmost landscape monitor above my tea mug.

Thank you. I love the portrait monitors. I have 2009 tax prep on the left to refer to, 2010 in the middle, and then whatever I need on the horizontal, usually email and research. But, as more people send me their documents electronically, upload them via FileShare on my web site, etc., I have their documents open on the right and can prepare a return without touching a piece of paper! Now, if I could just get Dell to be as responsive as my software....

I love my 24" monitors, too. I got three of them and turn two so an entire page fits on without scrolling down; have mail and research on the third horizontal one. The part that brings me down, though, is that the very new, very expensive Dell they're connected to was dead all of March and has its warning light back on in April. I hate Dell, but love my monitors! (You can see my set-up in the Partners magazine link in another thread.)

I had one during the 2009 tax year in 2010 that had not received $250 (young, working woman), but we had to put that in to e-file. A substantial refund, and the client chose that route. She dealt with SS after receiving her refund, and then we filed an amendment. You'd think a year later, they'd have worked out the kinks.

Thank you, everyone, for letting me brag!

Thanks for posting the link, Gail. I found after I posted the free subscription info that the magazine is actually available there, too. The photographer and his assistant spent hours laying out my office for their shoot (after I'd been up much of the night cleaning and boxing up stuff to stash in the guestroom!). Lights and reflectors and moving furniture and having me grab the kids' photos from another room and a mug. I did buy a plant the day before, so it wouldn't die before it got photographed. My daughter removed the hutch from my computer desk so it looked more like an executive desk and blocked the window less. I loved that lamp but hadn't had a place to use it in my house for years, but put it on the desk to fill in the space where the hutch used to be below the poster on the wall. I got my hair cut that morning. But, all of you home-based preparers will appreciate that the art director told me to have five business outfits available for the photographer to choose from. I don't have FIVE business outfits. I see people only once/year so can wear the same thing over and over. (And, when no clients are expected, I'm in my flannel pajamas and fuzzy slippers.) Muted colors, no prints, no black or white or red or yellow, etc. Well, my daughter and I hit Macy's after Christmas sales to buy me some tops to wear with my black skirt. I did have five choices for him; and he had me use three of them, changing into each twice for close ups and distance shots. My make-up and hair were a mess from all that changing and the static electricity. The final outfit consisted of a gray sheath I found on sale at Banana Republic for $19 and a cardigan from Macy's for $4. The magic of photography!

It's a good magazine, even without using any CCH products. When it's April and I'm tired, fx is worth every penny I pay! I received a 50% discount for a small, start-up company, locked for three years, back when I began. But, I now use pay-per-return which works out better. And, once a customer, most other products are 25% off.

I thought you would like to start receiving Partners, CCH's new quarterly publication. Partners provides winning tips and techniques, groundbreaking new ideas and best practices that will help you improve your workflow and all you to build and sustain your profitable business. If you want to receive a FREE subscription, visit http://tax.cchgroup.com/cforms/taa-default.aspx?leadsource=subscribe-partners

Aww. You make me feel like a celebrity! The magazine's art director stressed copywrite laws and forbid me to use the article or photos for any commercial purpose, such as on my website. Now that the magazine is out, I'll ask her if sharing it with my colleagues on a message board would be personal use and, therefore, allowed.

I have a favor to ask of CCH Users who receive Partners magazine. I'm featured in the Spring 2011 issue on pages 6 & 7. They sent me five copies, but I'd love more. Please send me your Spring issue when you're done with it. I'll be glad to reimburse postage or make another donation to our ATX Community. Thank you very much. Rita Lewis Dollars & Sense, LLC 73 Eleven O'Clock Road Weston, CT 06883-2503

Federal Tax Day - Current,I.2IRS Reinstates Renewal Period for Enrolled Agents Whose TIN Ends in 4, 5, or 6 (Ann. 2011-29), (Apr. 20, 2011) The IRS has reinstated the renewal period for enrolled agents whose Social Security numbers or tax identification numbers end in 4, 5 or 6, beginning June 1, 2011. Section 10.6(d) of Circular 230 requires that, to maintain active enrollment to practice before the IRS, enrolled agents must renew enrollment every third year after initial enrollment is granted. The renewal period for enrolled agents whose social security number or tax identification number ends in 4, 5, or 6 was scheduled to begin on November 1, 2010, and end on January 31, 2011. In Announcement 2010-81, I.R.B 2010-45, 638, TAXDAY, 2010/10/15, I.4, the IRS delayed the renewal period for affected enrolled agents. The new renewal period will conclude after 90 days, on August 30, 2011. Enrolled agents whose Social Security numbers or tax identification numbers end in 4, 5 or 6 must submit their applications for renewal of enrollment, along with the $30 renewal fee, to the IRS during this period. The IRS expects to process these applications and issue enrollment cards before November 28, 2011, 90 days after the end of the enrollment period. The enrollment status of enrolled agents who come within the provisions of Announcement 2010-81 is not affected due to the delay. Renewal of enrollment will be retroactive to April 1, 2011, for enrolled agents who come within the provisions of Announcement 2010-81 and who properly renew their enrollment before August 31, 2011. These enrolled agents must still complete all continuing professional education hours as provided in section 10.6(e) of Circular 230. Enrolled agents not affected by Announcement 2010-81 should refer to sections 10.6(d)(2) and (3) in Circular 230 to determine their renewal of enrollment periods. Enrolled agents whose Social Security numbers do not end in 4, 5 or 6, whose renewal of enrollment period was prior to January 31, 2011, and who are delinquent in renewing their enrollment must pay the $125 renewal fee. Announcement 2011-29, 2011FED ¶46,336

Sometimes our clients remember what they think they heard. Preparer might've used MFS and your former client heard Separate as Single.

Thank you to everyone! Happy Passover! Happy Easter! And for those of us who seem to work year round, I'll be seeing you soon and often! I think I got smarter this year, guess I'll know as the year progresses. When I got into a return that needed research, I put them on extension and moved on to the next return that was more ready to be completed. I think that moved returns through more efficiently during the season, but it's left me with more research to do in the next months. As a sole proprietor, I hope I can engage you and the rest of my virtual water cooler to provide me with leads and direction and the questions I need to ask in the off season.

I say whichever way the client wants, with your guidance. I can see e-filing without the son; it's as accurate as you can be now that you know the son claimed himself. Later you amend parents. Or, paper file the final way -- not that's it's really final for you since you'll probably be explaining to the other spouse and then the son what's happening. It's the 18th. I vote for the path of least resistance. But, explain it to your client (with your own bias, of course) and let him make the call or think he's making the call.

Over how many years do I depreciate an oil tank added to a residence with OIH?

File the return and buy us all a drink with your extra money.

Do you really break out the value of the central air conditioning of a residence before you depreciate an OIH ?? I understand about taking the indirect oil delivery expenses as part of her OIH, but I also understand that we should depreciate the OIH percentage of her house, which has been done for many years, including any capital improvements, renovations, etc. So, for 2010 she replaced the oil tank. What class is an oil tank?