Lion EA

On the official board, ATX employees were identified to let us know that we were hearing an answer or solution from, for instance, the inhouse efile expert. But on this unofficial board, identification should NOT be REQUIRED. If in the course of suggesting a solution to some member's concern, an ATX employee wants to explain the source of his/her expertise, that's fine with me. As has been mentioned, some of the members are quick to recognize the identities and/or backgrounds of posters and to let us know when we should pay attention and when to take the comments with a grain of salt or discount them entirely! Welcome to all who can shed some light on how ATX works. I for one am still evaluating other software, thinking stronger diagnostics and more reliable flow from federal to multiple state returns would suit my business better. And as I'll be on my own for the first time, I was disappointed by the close of the message board and the live chat with a techie, removing a couple of sources of help, especially very late at night. Thank you erc and kc and any ATX employee and all power users for populating THIS board.

Been seeing some restaurant ad for their CALI - fornia Salad...

Hey, MonkeyMan: Where do you see ATX -- the program -- going for tax year 2007? Not the prices, we have the price list. MAX, for instance, what will be the same and what will be different and what will be missing and what will be added? What's happening between and among ATX and TaxWise and the high end CCH programs, if anything? Any and all insights appreciated.

I saw that the Intuit site had forums for each of their software, including ProSeries. And, the salesman mentioned a forum at TaxAlmanac.org but I haven't yet checked out either of those. Have you used them?

Again, I'm not an Intuit fan (I used Parson's that was bought by Intuit years ago), but my QB support line is answered in Texas. As more of my clients go to QB or Quicken, I really have to evaluate the Intuit tax software to see if their integration might be of use to me. Someone mentioned Ultra Tax recently, so I think I'll install that disk next. Keep the comments coming. Knowing what are strong points and weak points with different packages in your experiences helps me to pick a few returns to give the packages a thorough workout in what really isn't a lot of time. Thank you all very much for sharing.

I was going to up to Max from PPS, but the loss of the message board hinted at other cuts in support. With a growing business, if I'm going to leave ATX, it should be this year before I have more returns to convert or retype. So, I've sent for copies of everything I could think of. Only tried ProSeries so far. I like what I've seen. Salesman claims support is in VA and not outsourced. Also said efiling fee of $150 is waived if purchased by 31 August. Since I'll be on my own, want really good diagnostics. 1040 and entities and efiling and a message board, too. An assistant would cost me about $3,000, so won't complain about price under that as long as I get my really good diagnostics. And, I understand what some of you say about Intuit products, but I have several small businesses that bring me their QuickBooks file to prepare their taxes, so integration with QB might be nice. I'm listening to any and all software comments.

H&R Block is posting over 110 courses online and still has classroom courses around the country. You can go to HRBlock.com to find a classroom near you, to register and pay for online and classroom courses, and to view the entire list of courses: Corporations, S-Corporations, Partnerships, NonProfits, and yes, even courses re US citizens with foreign income and foreign citizens with US income. The textbooks still have their share of typos, with the short time frame to write and edit and print and distribute; but you can check for course corrections online, also. Some textbooks are rewritten every two years instead of every year, so maybe they'll correct more of the errors by the second year.

And, don't forget that charitible mileage is a lower rate than business mileage...

Definitely listen to Jainen. Just a tiny detail...don't forget the small nontaxable subsidy the U can make to his transportation (not at the office, but something like $110 per month). But, you must go after ALL his costs in excess of his current situation; the U must make him whole if they take his property. As has been mentioned, this is not just imminent domain -- it's ADA, too. Let him be as amicable as he wants, but make sure he gets a bulldog lawyer who won't let go until the clients rights have been protected. Good luck.

Thanx for checking, Erc. I'll try again.

I tried sending you a credit card payment via the Donate button. Three times it returned the error message that, "This session contains invalid data." Let me know whether or not you received any payment(s) from me. If you received three, well keep all three if you're still out of pocket. If you didn't receive any, I'll try again another day or mail you a check instead. Thank you very much for all your hard work and time and money on this site.

The short answer is they continue to want to see financial information for the parent with which the child lives the most. Has the son established his own permanent residence? Even so, my daughter's girlfriend lives with her aunt and uncle as dad is hospitalized and mom is nobody knows where; she can't get financial information from either of them. Aunt and uncle are willing to be on her FAFSA. But, the powers that be were insisting on either mom or dad, even though child had not lived with either one since middle school. Aunt and uncle spent a day camped at some federal office up in the state capital to get their niece declared officially independent -- that after many weeks on the telephone and gathering all the various documents and affidavits and whatever they were asked to bring with them. Call the number suggested above and talk to a real person. But, why sweat it if you can get financial information on the custodial parent. At the numbers you mentioned, it won't make much difference or any at all -- formula looks for child to spend about 35-6% of his assets on college, but only about 5-6% of parent's assets. Sounds like the parents you mention don't have much anyway.

Had a long-running (auditor was hospitalized and replaced with someone in another city) Schedule C audit that client finally accepted IRS results. He'd had years of losses, and the IRS ruled "hobby." They wanted to see everything: receipts, canceled checks, where his money came from to pump into this activity running at a loss (inherited his father's investment account, so asked for statements), etc.; however, it was clear they really had made up their mind that it was a hobby and what direction they were heading from the beginning. They asked for written rebuttal on the nine points of business vs. hobby. We spent most of our time on that, writing and researching and applying to his business. I've heard from others that Schedules C, E, and F are the IRS's focus lately.