Maribeth

Okay, I'm confused. Doesn't Circular 230 mandate that we give the client instructions for filing. That's the client letter in ATX. Wouldn't that cover this situation? The client should have read the instructions; no need to refund the fee. ?? Maribeth

My 940's went through last night - the 30th - and were accepted. However, this morning, one of the 940's was returned as rejected. Accepted, then rejected????? The 941's are still sitting in limbo. Maribeth

And if there was a mistake and it was too close to deadline to send back to them for revision, then we had to use the white correction tape over the mistake and follow it all the way through the return. Sometimes it would be easier just to do the return by hand (which I also remember). Then . . . . when I went out on my own, the first tax sofware I used was Digitax. We had plastic sheets that went over the top of the "return" that we printed out in order to create the form. Do you remember that? Maribeth

Yes I do. We would have to get those big green input sheets however. Remember your hash totals? Maribeth

Has anyone, ANYONE, received acks for their 941's & 940's? Maribeth

Mel, please add me to your list for investing, testing, support, whatever. This is exciting and doable. I know you have all of us behind you. Maribeth

Here is the reply I received from Greg LaFollette. I haven't gone to the link yet but I thought I would post it here first. "I’ve opened that post for comments --- please post them there. http://www.thetechgap.com/2008/01/cch-small-firm.html I understand your frustration and will continue to encourage CCH and all other vendors to establish and achieve high standards for products and especially for support." Maribeth Sorry, I don't know how to make the link blue.

Me too. It would be an exciting opportunity and like KC I would love to be in on the ground floor of a new user-owned tax software company. Mel -- please give it a close consideration! Maribeth

JB, does your city/county have a web site that might have the fines/penalties listed? I would imagine that those items are determined locally and would not be the same throughout the country. Good luck tomorrow. Maribeth

Just sent an email to Greg also. I hope that he follows up in his blog regarding our emails. I don't believe that it will make any difference to CCH, our disgruntlement that is, but it would be nice to "our side" out in public. Maribeth

Your FYE 10/31/07 return is for a 2006 return. I believe that you cannot efile a 2006 return now. You'll have to mail the extension. That is what I have done. Maribeth

Notice 2008-5 for dependents. S-corp medical premiums is 2008-1.

Tom, I looked at Drake this year also before I renewed with ATX. My biggest problem with Drake is the "input" sheets and not being able to look directly at the return. I like the way that ATX is set up and after 9 years or so I don't want to go back to an input sheet process. If CCH pulls the plug on ATX, I too hope that KC will help guide us to the next vendor. Maribeth

Can you be more specific about what you are trying to accomplish. Are you shutting down the corporation? Do you wish to take more money out of the corporation? ??? Maribeth

We have been using it since about May of this year. The only problems I have had is that sometimes it is a bit slow but I believe that might be because it is so secure. We are using it for all confidential information whether it is business or individual clients -- information that you would not want to send through an email. Maribeth

We haven't tried yet but I imagine that it is still too early in the season to file. Maribeth

But is there a way to do that when the page I wish to move is not in the "group". For instance, I put the tax summary between the tax return forms and the supporting schedules. It makes a nice break between those pages. Is there a way to move forms/schedules/letters from one "group" to another "group"? Maribeth

We did it just a little differently but still time-consuming. We printed them all to pdf, then opened each pdf and deleted and rearranged the forms. Still a long process. My biggest prayer to the ATX programmers would be the ability to print returns in my order and not in their order. Maribeth

Yes, John, the full address is http://cpasecure.com. We have suppressed the ssn printing on the organizers since that option became available. Maribeth

We have started using a service called CPASecure. It is a secure site (doesn't have www in front of it). We set up our clients with their own account on the site. They upload their QB files, spreadsheets, whatever; I get a confirming email that they have done so; and I download their information. We now use emails for only non-confidential information. Their link is just cpasecure.com. The price is $9.99 a month. Maribeth

Mike, what pdf converter are you using to convert to Word? Maribeth

William, I am so glad to see your name pop up on our community. And I am so curious as to why your corporate masters have allowed you to become visible on this site now. Can you let us know? Maribeth

We looked at it last year and were going to do it. Then we read the fine print in the contract. One of the provisions was that the bank could have access to the tax return. Another provison was that the bank would do a credit check on my company. Neither one of those provisions are/were acceptable to us. Maribeth

The #1 change that I would even pay extra money for is the ability to create a default print order in the order that I want the return to print and not in the order that ATX or the IRS wants the return to print. The longest time I spend on a tax return is putting the final return in the order I want it. For instance, i want the tax summary after the forms and before the supporting schedules. I also would like a "lock' on the date prepared field on Page 2. It's okay once i have checked the "complete" box on the return manager, but I do a lot of planning after tax season and will access the return. If that complete box gets unchecked, then the current date populates in the field. Maribeth

On your K-1 input sheet, enter the PYA as another S-corp name and use the same EIN. Then put your losses on the ordinary income line. Maribeth