StevenL

Client moved out of his home in July 2009 to take a job out of state. The house was put up for sale immediately and while it was up for sale, he rented it for the last 3 months of the year. The house sold in January 2010. Is there away for him to report the income and expense of the rental without having to report it on Schedule E? since it is for just a short period of time. Thanks for any help you can offer. Steven L.

Thanks KC I appreciate your help.

Hello Everyone, Are loans by an officer of an S-Corp business to the business reported on Line 5 of form 1120S? I have looked for information on this but haven't come up with anything. I would appreciate any help you can offer. Thanks, Steven L.

You ask a very good question. To be honest, I don't know if he considers himself an employee or not. I will have to ask him. Would it make a difference on how the return is prepared one way or another?

Thanks everyone for all your help. It looks like he should claim the depreciation on form 2106 to Schedule A and 1040 which was how I was thinking it should be done too. This is a one person S-Corp so he is the owner and sole shareholder. Also, since the S-Corp is basically a side business he definitely uses the vehicle more for his regular job. As to charging the big bucks...I agree...however I was very upfront with him and told him that this was my first business return so I wanted to do it more for the experience (and to start building a clientele) than the money. I believe his return is a bit more simpler than what I might experience in the future so I look at it as good way to get my foot in the door of preparing business taxes. Thanks again for your help. Steven L.

Hello All, I have been preparing individual returns for several years but this is my first time preparing a business (1120S) return so I hope you don't mind if I pick your brains and rely on your expertise on a few things. This is a one person S-Corp where the owner recently purchased (after his lease expired) a vehicle that is used exclusively for business. He wants to be able depreciate the the cost of the car on the business return but he's already in a loss situation so I believe it is best if he claims the depreciation on his 1040 individual return. He is an attorney that works for a firm and the S-Corp is a consulting business he has on the side so he's using the vehicle for both jobs. My questions are: 1. Should he claim the depreciation on the vehicle against the business or against his job? 2. If he claims it against his business it will only increase his loss so is it possible to carry forward the losses to future years such as an NOL? That is all I have for now. I appreciate any advice you can give on this matter, Thanks, Steven L.

Hello Everyone, Is the sales tax deduction for vehicles purchased between Feb. 16, 2009 and Jan. 1, 2010 allowed if the vehicle is leased? Thanks, Steven LaForest, ATP

Has anyone used the 1040 Review program? www.1040review.com If so what is your opinion of the program? Thanks.

I recently efiled a clients return with a refund for Michigan. Unfortunately, I realized afterwards that the wrong bank account number was on the return for direct deposit. Is there a way this problem can be corrected so the refund is deposited into the correct account or will the client just have to wait for a paper check. I told the client to call the MI toll free number to see if he could give the correct account information but I also figured I would try here to see if any one had a better solution. Thanks for your help and I hope everyone has a Happy Easter. Steven LaForest, ATP LaForest Tax Service

Thanks for your input. I will pass this information along to my client.

I don't know if anyone can help with this but I thought I would throw it out here and see what happens. Client brought in a "Statement of Liability" from the City of Detroit claiming she owes taxes, interest and penalties of $257. from 1988. This is the first notice on this that she can recall having received. She did work in Detroit in 1988 but since its been over 20 years she doesn't have records from back then, having destroyed them years ago. I told her I thought the best thing to do would be to have them provide proof that she owes this amount since it's from such a long time ago. I also think it's possible that a statute of limitations may come into play here. Is you were dealing with a situation like this how would you handled it? What advice would you give to your client. Thanks for your input.

Thanks everyone. I very honored by your good wishes

I stopped doing immediate family a long time ago. It just wasn't worth the hassle. I only do a few cousins returns now. I give them a family rate but everyone else in the family, I just say, sorry I'm too busy.

FORM 1040 $85.00 State MI-1040 included w/above Schedule A $20.00 I don't do Schedule F where I'm at. Other forms depends on which one it is. NATP also has a fee survey you maybe able to find at their website. www.natptax.com Steven LaForest, ATP

After reading all your posts I have decided to remove the 1099-A and not report it at all. Thanks for all your help Steven LaForest, ATP Dearborn Heights, MI.

Thanks for the confirmation KC. I appreciate your help.

Hello Everyone, I have a client with a 1099-A for abandonment of their primary residence and I want to make sure I am entering the information correctly since I have never done one of these before. I entered the amount in box 4 of the 1099-A as miscellaneous income on line 21 of the 1040 then, since they filed for bankruptcy I entered the same amount of line 2 of Form 982 to reduce the taxable portion to zero. Is this the correct way to report this or is there another way I should go about reporting this? Thanks for all your help. Steven LaForest, ATP Dearborn Heights, MI.

Accredited Tax Preparer. Accreditation through Accreditation Council for Accountacy and Taxation www.acatcredentials.org

Well you have definitely given me food for thought. Hopefully, I can clarify what it is I am looking for and why. I wanted to know if there was some survey that was done or possibly some statistical information that showed the % of self prepared (meaning a person who prepares his/her own tax return either hand-written, online or using an off the shelf tax program i.e. Turbo Tax) returns that contains errors vs. the % of professionally prepared (meaning a person who is paid to prepare a tax return...yes, I know...being a paid preparer doesn't necessarily make one a professional) that contains errors. The reason I am looking for this information is that I want to use it to show the benefits of using a professional to prepare your taxes (rather than trying to do it yourself) to potential clients. I hope this does clarify what I am looking for and why. Thanks for all your responses. Steven LaForest, ATP Dearborn Heights, MI.

Hello All, I was wondering if anyone knows of any statistics that would show the number of self-prepared tax returns that contained errors vs. the number of professionally prepared tax returns with errors. If so, where is this information available.? Thanks for your help Steven LaForest, ATP Dearborn Heights, MI. 48127

Thanks for your help. I was able to go in to the program with the help of ATX Support and got it fixed.

I am having problems opening the ATX programs for 2005 and 2006 on my computer. Whenever I try to open these programs my computer locks up. This only happens when I try to open these ATX programs. I used Taxslayer for 2007 and do not have any problems opening their program. I always have to CTRL-ALT-DEL to get out of these programs and the Windows Task Manager shows an "ATXScheduler" running. Has anyone else had this problem with ATX programs? If so, is there a fix for it. I would appreciate any help you can offer. Thanks, StevenL