Lion EA

EZ Insurance Solutions/Affinity Insurance Services $500 deductible $100,000/250,000 I'm in pricey Fairfield County, CT, $298. I filled out an on line form; they sent me a couple of options to choose from.

Maybe your state would give out information from the state copy of the W-2 that was filed with them....

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Our most complex returns come the latest, when we're the most sleep deprived. I'd love a program with great federal diagnostics that can jog my memory and help me get an accurate federal return prepared and carry everything to the resident state. Then, if in future years, it could handle multiple states with the same seamlessness...

Me too. Or, at least I had it while I was willing to accept the small annoyances to get the big program in the past. Had to go really slow and make sure I clicked on the exact right spot.

Oh, yeah, let's have Mel building a web site while programming new tax prep software and preparing tax returns and raising kids or grandkids and will we let him eat or sleep? I guess, being in Hawaii is vacation enough, so he should work 24/7 just like the rest of us during tax season!

Can an S Corp be a shareholder in/receive K-1 income from an S Corp?

Oh, yeah, it's expensive; although, I'm getting it at half price for three years and pay monthly with no interest. I don't know why, as a small company, or something. Based on how many returns I thought I might do -- and I was waaaay too optimistic when I committed myself. But, it's still no more than I'd be paying to hire an assistant. Yes, I was so mad at CCH that I looked at it last (that's why I bought so late and am so low on the learning curve); but the tech support blew me away. I haven't used these features yet, but liked the fact that I can group returns to work with kiddie tax (parents and siblings) and K-1s (partnership and partners). I'd always loved the completeness of ATX, the forms available; but moving W-2s and 1099s to a separate module ruined some of that usefulness for my needs. Drake seemed almost as complete, but wasn't going to be able to handle many of my complex returns. ProSeries Pro looked good, but was going to be almost as expensive as the discounted ProSystem fx; and Lacerte that could handle all my returns was not offering me any discounts. Ultra Tax looked great until I read their support hours -- shorter than other software. Again, being alone, support was high on my list of priorities.

Yes, I'm a she, but answer to almost anything respectful. Guess it should be Lioness, but the nickname Lion goes back to high school and ties to my middle name and sorority mascot and.... And, no, the icon is not me but my stepdaughter in the UConn Marching Band; now she plays baritone horn instead of flute/piccolo.

ProSystem fx is a very complex software. I'm having a long learning curve. But, I didn't buy until the season and have the type of clients that come in late. Also, no returns on my computer to convert and get a head start; because I worked for a company before going out on my own this season. So, I have to take some responsibility for my slowness. Things are buried deep in menus since there are so many things and thus so many menus. It wasn't intuitively obvious to me how to deal with both a resident and not-resident state, but a techie talked me through it. There are forms and worksheets and IRS forms and e-file forms, and I haven't learned the difference between them, when one would be better, which circumstances need a certain one, etc. On my own, so calling tech support for lots of hand holding. They are amazing. Called yesterday to hold my hand while I transmitted my first e-file (federal and two states). Gal talked me through all of it, never leaving the line even when she had to get someone from another department to join us to solve a password problem; so I had TWO of them with me for lots of time. She showed me two ways to do things and how to check up on the returns later. I can't tell you how important tech support is to me on my own, especially since I'm too old to be comfortable with all the computer stuff. I still can't find everything about printing or not printing certain pages and changing order, but the printing is fine with me until I do learn to fine tune it, and I learned a couple of printing features. I really am getting what I pay for, and I have a three-year lock on the price.

was drifting off to sleep (been sick) but put on my slippers and parka over my nightgown and went out to look. Pretty pink. Didn't return, but saw the bright moon back out my office window much, much later. Wish I'd had a good view from a window earlier when the fun stuff was happening. too cold

I'd been sure I'd use ATX when I went out on my own, already used it for a dozen or so returns at home and used it at work for entities, etc. But was so mad at CCH for closing our message board.... Well, I sent for all the demos and gave a quick look at the high-end and the run-m-thru-and-sell-bank-products low end and spent some time on Drake and even reserved ProSeries Pro. But, ProSeries wasn't going to handle some of my returns, so they were giving me Lacerte free to use as pay-per-return when needed. Thought, with my clientele, why learn two programs; so took a longer look at the high-end products. Lacerte was fine, and many of my clients use QB, so liked that it could probably import the best from QB. Went to an all-day seminar on Ultra Tax; liked Thomson with NO products for our clients, just for us professionals. Then was looking at ProSystem fx and had to call tech support with an issue. Well, this guy spent three hours with me, showing me all the menus, walking me through a sample 1120S to show me the product. Blew me away. I bought ProSystem that day. With my clientele waiting for brokerage statements and AMT issues and K-1s and setting up my new home office, I'm just getting started. On my own, so calling tech support with stupid little start-up questions that I would've solved in December if I'd chosen my software sooner. But, I get right through and get undivided attention and am ridiculously happy with tech support. I've only completed three returns and have some in progress, so low on the learning curve for actually using the software. Some things seem buried awfully deeply in menus, but I'm learning. I'll report back at the end of the season.

Thanx, Alpha. Shoot me an email when he gets the wood flash drive mastered. I'll buy a BUNCH of them for Christmas presents. Will he be able to put on my logo? Keep those kids earning money!

Is your son the one who makes the wooden (and other luxury materials) pens? If so, did he ever make the flash drive covers he was thinking about at one time? They'd make a great client gift...

Where can I purchase some of that RIGHT NOW?!

Some states require MFS for state even if MFJ for fed when one of the spouses is not a resident for essentially the same amount of time as the other -- a case like yours where they were residents of separate states before marrying and one of them moving to the other state. Check the state instructions for both states involved.

Look around at several HRB locations. They have night courses and Saturday courses and maybe even Sunday courses. It's now broken down into shorter sections or Building Blocks. Go to HRBlock.com in the late spring or summer or even fall and look for Income Tax Course, then it'll ask you for your zip code and how far you're willing to travel. Good luck.

And, here in pricey Fairfield County, CT.

You don't want her to return to you next year. And, you definitely don't want her friends to come to you. Spend your time on the clients you do want to keep. And, go out in the back and yell.

I've already told Mel that I'd invest right now &/or pay right NOW for one or two year's worth of the future tax software. Hope he takes us up on our offers when he needs to capitalize his business.

Maybe I'm returning to my 60's college days, but Mel in Hawaii makes me think of mellow; how about Mellow Tax? Would our clients be less stressed if they knew we were using Mellow Tax? Would we?

Maybe Mel can run a naming contest with entry fees to raise money. Or sell the naming rights like those big stadiums. He could run an online auction like SnapNames or someone just did to auction off popular domain names.

Well, if she's really, really sure...she must have some other clients that didn't send her 1099s, so use the amount she claims she earned, and have her sign your engagement letter. If she and you think her amount is right, you won't be raising any red flags if her total is as much or more than the total of all the 1099s she does receive. Is her total income per her the same as her total bank deposits for the year? And, did you ask her if she received any reimbursed expenses, repayments of out-of-pocket costs, etc.? I've had clients that knew how much the project paid, but forgot that their total payments from a client(s) were higher due to reimbursements on top of the project cost. She needs to report the full amounts she received, because she'll be deducting her expenses, including reimbursed expenses, on her own schedule C.

I get crop shares AND cash rent. I've been putting the cash rent on E and the crop shares on 4835. Is that right? I also need drainage tiles. Can I 179? I live in CT; the IL farm was passed down from my grandfather.

I like the new look. Very business like. Now my assistant doesn't think I'm just chatting on chat boards! We can handle formatting changes that help keep this board up and running. Thank you for all your hard work.

But, what is cook?

You guys are sure CCH will axe ATX. If that happens, what makes TaxWise better than ATX? As a program? From CCH's decision point of view?

From CCH's decision point of view? The fact that TaxWise has a contract with the IRS. That TaxWise's largest customer is the IRS. 50,000 individuals wanting 50,000 individual things from you vs. 1 really big client to serve. Of course, if these were the only two products CCH had, then multiple clients are better. But CCH has other product lines including other tax programs at higher price points, so how they make the decision re their low end product will include how much money they can make for how little in resourses it will cost them. We've already seen which technical support center survived.

Maybe the tax payer asked his preparer for a mortgage letter and was turned down. So, he went to another firm and gave them "enhanced" info, received returns, but never filed them. Where do YOU fit in this story? Are you at the CPA firm? The mortgage company? I met a realtor, of all people, who told me (long before I was a tax preparer) that he'd "kept" his net income low for a few years, and then was turned down for a loan when he tried to buy a house! Why was he surprised?!