JohnH

You may as well forget this client - it sounds as though she is going to go to the person who will say she can deduct the most, regardless of whether it's legal. The "tax benefits" are one way these party plan promoters try to obscure the fact that very few people make any money doing this sort of stuff. But if she does come back, you should continue to insist that she can't deduct her tanning sessions or her manicures. You should also be prepoared to tell her that she can't deduct pet food and vet bills for her "security cat", no matter how much she insists that the cat guards her inventory when she's away from home. Don't laugh too quickly - sooner or later the party plan supervisor will probably bring this one up.

Bob, Tom, jainen: Thanks to each of you for the responses & the validation. This isn't a client who would try to figure out what they needed to say and then feed me that info, but I have several who would take that approach. It's helpful to know the temperament of each client, isn't it?

I don't see as much of a problem with this as some of you do. What's the big deal? If someone files an extension, they just won't fall in line for the rebate until they do file. That's the way it was handled the last time around and everybody survived (clients, us, the IRS, etc). The only effect I see is that once people realize this, there will be a clamor to file right away and some people won't be as amenable to extensions. I'm going to prepare for that by setting March 12 as my cutoff date - anyone coming in after that date will have to agree to an extension if I need to get one. I usually use March 20 or thereabout, but I'm going to be proactive precisely because of the rebate situation. The legislation says no rebates will be paid after Dec 31, 2008, so I assume Congress anticipated that not everyone would file before the first round of rebates goes out. They seem to understand that people get extensions.... And if any of my clients think it's a silly idea, I'll offer to let them give me their rebate check so they don't have to worry about what to do with that extra money. I might even use their check to buy a wide-screen TV since I'm going to violate the spirit of the rebate by putting my own check in my grandkids' college fund. Finally, there's been a lot of speculation here and on other forums about it being an "advance payment" rather than a straight rebate. I read the legislation and still can't say for sure, but I don't see anything that calls for it to be adjusted out on next year's tax return. It appears to me to be a straight-out payment. In other words, a true rebate.

If somebody would be willing to grade my paper I'd appreciate the help on the following. Taxpayer has $10K of first mortgage interest and $5K of second mortgage interest. There was a refinance of the first mortgage, but no "cash out" when the refinance was done, except for a couple of thousand of refi costs which were added to the principal. When the second mortgage was taken out, approx 50% of the funds were used to improve the home and the other 50% was used to clear up some consumer debt. Taxpayer is subject to AMT, so as I understand it I must adjust out 50% of the interest on the second mortgage on line 4, Part I of the 6251 , but the other 50% of the interest on the second mortgage is still allowable. I'll also need to adjust out a small amount of the first mortgage interest due to the refi costs which were added to the first mortgage. Do I have this right, or am I missing something?

You've obviously violated a tech support rule by solving the problem yourself without waiting the appropriate number of hours for them to get back to you at their convenience while your clients wait. They'll take care of your misbehavior with the next download - beware!

True story: Last year about this time I noticed a college-age snowboarder wearing one of the green crowns. I figured he was either working for them part-time and thought the hat would look cool on the slopes, or else they had prepared a return for him and the hat made an appropriate give-a-way for good customers in a college town. Either way, I've got to say it looked more appropriate on a snowboarder than on the street in front of a tax office.

I also vote for December. The H&U money is spent in the year the charge is made on the credit card, regardless of when the installation takes place.

Let's not be too hard on these people. After all, they have to stand out in the cold to get a few clients in the door, then go inside and prepare their returns while still dressed in that getup. (Well maybe they take off the headgear - I'm sure they don't want one of the spikes on the crown to poke somebody in the eye when they lean across the desk to shake hands).

I'm not at my ATX computer right now, but I think you can set up another preparer with a period or a space in all the info fields. Then just select that preparer when you don't want your info to appear. For what it's worth, I list myself as paid preparer for family & freind's returns as well, just to keep things simple.

Are you running Vista?

Why wouldn't you follow the directions on Page C-3 of the Schedule C instructions? That's why they printed them.

Does your phone have a battery backup for its clock & memory? If so, it may need to be replaced.

Page C-3 of the Schedule C instructions simply states that if you are reporting less than the total shown on your 1099-Misc form(s), you should attach a statement explaining the difference. That's what I would do, and maybe include a listing of the checks as a part of the statement. There's no justification for recording an expense that doesn't exist, although as a practical matter I wonder if it would be an issue if ther return wre audited (provided the net income on the Sched C is correct).

I like the new look. But if anyone really, truly, absolutely hates it, they always have the option of going back to using the official ATX community. It's had a new look since last April.

I think you should mount a hidden camera in your office & post the pictures of them snacking on the peanuts on this forum. Why should you have all the fun?

pdf Factory is worth its weight in gold. (or maybe worth MY weight in gold)

I remember a couple of years when I entered the info in a spreadsheet that I wrote myself running on an Apple computer. I'd then write the results on the tax form (typed it for the really important clients). Then I got a PC with an HP laser printer and a special cartridge for the tax forms. I thought the thing was magic. And I also remember coming in to the tax office I worked in while I was still in college and stapling 3 sheets of each form together with carbon paper in between. I'd make up these sets between clients. Eventually we started buying the carbonless forms from Nelco and just using the hand-assembled carbon sets for the low-volume forms.

I stick a refrigerator magnet at the top of my screen. It pulls up all the newest electrons first.

I'm not trying to start a new discussion - just wanted to have a topic that would make it easy to go back at any point in the future and research other discussions on Alternatives to ATX. I'd suggest the only responses to this topic should be suggestions on how to quickly locate other topics which discuss alternatives to ATX. The most recent string is "Is ATX Doomed?", and the way to locate it is to search on "Doomed". (Keep in mind that seaches are only successful on words of 4 characters or more)

I'm not sure if this is correct, but I think the Updated Forms List only shows returns that you have alerady processed which are affected by the update. So for example if the 8880 form updates, but you haven't yet processed a return which uses the 8880, then it won't be on the updated forms list. I also think this is another good reason not to roll over returns form the prior year until you are ready to actually work on that return. This is the procedure I've been following based on advice given in the past on this and the prior forum.

I updated yesterday and today on manual. There were only about a dozen each day, but there were some. I always use manual - don't know why other than I think William (or somebody at ATX) said to always use manual last year.

Tom: If you happen to take part of the deduction twice, just add the extra to the client's invoice for this year. That makes it all come out even, doesn't it? :)

You're right. My math skills are way out of sync tonight, and what's worse is,I'm from NC. At least your rambling is accurate.

Sen Dole was elected in 2002 - will be up for re-election 2 years from now, although I'm sure the campaign will begin later this year.

My first thought would be Line 21 - not subject to S/E tax since she is not in the business of donating eggs. And no reduction of the amount for basis or expenses. Of course, I'm assuming she didn't incur any significant expenses in the process and she doesn't do this on a regular basis.