Lion EA

A very :bday:

I'm tech-challenged, but the Windows help mentioned using an existing fax machine. It might be worth a consult with a techie to see if you can network your existing line to send and receive. It seems like it should be possible. And, to keep a good monthly package.... Hopefully, someone who does that will jump in. Also, over on the TMI board, The Tax Book, there's a techie MAJ I think who offered his services for preparers posting questions and has provided some great plain English explanations. Come join us: http://www.thetaxbook.com/

With eFax, faxes are received in their message center and an email sent to me with the fax attached. When I turn on my computer and check my email, or check my email from some other computer, or go on line to their message center from any computer (or my iPhone to go on line or check my email, for that matter), I can read my faxes. They're stored for me until I read them and then for a year or so. Think of receiving email when your computer is off; it's waiting for you when you check on it and doesn't get turned away just because you're not on right now. Ages ago I used the built-in Windows fax to send but not to receive, so really don't remember much about it.

The ones that I won't prepare are the ones who allude to income but claim they don't have a business or refuse to give me information. Out my door. But, they're not reporting their income, not even reporting that they have a business. Since they aren't deducting expenses anyway, they have no incentive to prepare 1099s. They won't be filing any more 1099s than before, since they don't file any.

A very :bday:

I have been telling EVERYONE to charge EVERYTHING and doing so myself also to get in the routine!

I no longer use ATX, so am just trying to remember/guessing. I think you input on Sch E or a related worksheet any updated loss (just like you'd do for a new client coming in to you with rentals previously) and not directly on the 8582. Just trying to give you leads until an current user jumps in...

You might want to install Fax that comes with Windows: Using Fax Using Fax Fax provides you with complete fax facilities from your computer. You can configure fax settings, send and receive faxes, track and monitor fax activity, and access archived faxes. Using Fax, you can choose to send and receive faxes with a local fax device attached to your computer, or with a remote fax device connected to fax resources located on a network. Fax is not installed by default during Windows Setup. To install the Fax component Open Add or Remove Programs in Control Panel.Click Add/Remove Windows Components.In the Windows Components Wizard, select the Fax Services check box, and then follow the instructions on your screen. Notes To open Fax after installation, click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to Communications, and then click Fax Console.For more information on using Fax, click Help in Fax Console.

A very :bday:

Thanx, Billy.

:spaz:

I have another client that started taking power bars on her trips and no longer eats at restaurants when traveling for business. I could recommend that method to my other client. She'd be more likely to do that than to type in every restaurant she eats at on the road when she can just point and click on the word Restaurant now and be back to sewing her product. By the way, her criteria is speed, something I don't know how to tell her to track in QB. She wants to spend as little time as possible not selling when she's driving from town to town. And, comparing speedy service or lack of at McDonald's in Hoboken to the Greek Diner in Scarsdale does her no good when she's on her way to a potential client in Springfield. Which makes me ask, will she need a W-9 from EVERY McDonald's or one for each common owner (how will she know until she receives the W-9?) or one for the whole world of McDonald's? (There are six different Staples that I shop at in CT, as well as ordering office supplies on line that get delivered from Staples in NY. Are they all under one parent company/EIN or not?!) When it's law, I'll do my due diligence to make sure my clients are following the law if they want me to prepare their returns. I already ask about (and sometimes insist upon seeing, if I have doubts) 1099s to independent contractors and educate my clients re employee vs. IC. But, this is still the discussion period for this new but future requirement, so I hope we're all providing input to the IRS &/or to our professional groups who are providing input and to business groups who are providing input and even to our congress people, since there's a new bill proposed to change the current law before it takes effect. I am a real QB neophyte, so apologize for using subcategories instead of vendors. As I said, she gives me her P&L which has business meals (probably M&E in that terminology) and her bankers box of folders for the year with receipts filed, her mileage log, new equipment flagged, etc., so I can look for any detail I need.

I printed mine on some good white speckled paper that's my second sheets for my letterhead; with a white mat and black frame (cheap from Christmas Tree Shops), it looks pretty classy even without any color! I printed landscape 11 X 8.5, so except for the line partially across the top and the fact that I just couldn't center it, it blends nicely with my other black frames holding things like my EA certificate. It'll ruin my display if I remove it from my wall, but it expires 12/31/2010. Oh well, I'm still very happy to save $100/year and not have to navigate through that web site ever again! :D

Yeah! But what should I do with my framed certificate?! :scratch_head:

She has all her receipts, but I'm not her bookkeeper. The P&L she gives me breaks down her travel expenses into lodging and meals and a rare airfare (and she has a mileage log). She has been tracking her meal expenses year over year and as a percentage of sales and in a couple of other ways. But, she has not been adding up the receipts from Mama's Diner in Boise vs. Athena Diner in South Bend vs. you get the idea. She's been typing her meal receipts into QB, but the detail shows simply Restaurant. Her business expenses have a business purpose; but until this new rule kicks in, TRACKING her spending in individual restaurants while on the road has not been of interest to her, cannot provide HER (as opposed to the IRS) with any information that she can conceive using to help her make better business decisions. What will having 119 subcategories under Restaurant do to make her a better business woman? She knows how much she spends at each fabric wholesaler to buy the materials she uses to make the products she makes and sells. She can quickly compare how much she spent at ABC for cotton/polyester vs. how much at XYZ. But, if there's only one restaurant in Podunk, and she spent $29.99 there in 2010 and $62 during 2009, will she have learned enough helpful information that you or I or the IRS can convince her to set up and use all 119 subcategories of restaurants?!

As an example, I have one client who sells a product and travels to a handful of cities. She puts all her travel meals under one vendor "Restaurant" in QuickBooks, since she's never see a business reason to track the individual restaurant amounts (she doesn't sell to restaurants). But, since she travels frequently, she very well might spend $600 or more at one or more restaurants and would need to spend time tracking something that, for her, has no business purpose and provides her with no useful information, just provides information to the IRS. She knows who her best customers are, and she knows how much she spends on travel meals. She has no desire to know how much she spends at each restaurant nor any desire to try to get her waitresses to fill out W-9s!!!

A very :bday:

A very :bday:

A very :bday:

A very :bday:

A very :bday:

A very :bday:

I also had an 800 number from eFax. Then, I discovered most of my clients had national plans and did not pay long distance charges. And, I wanted to pick my own number. So, I upgraded from the free service and chose my own fax number from eFax. I think the best thing about any of these internet-based fax services is that you don't print the junk faxes.

A very :bday:

A very :bday: