JohnH

Bob: So at what point in the conversation did you say: "Why don't we meet at my office and continue this conversation? I'm happy to answer general questions off the cuff any time, but when it gets this complicated we really need to have a sit-down. My rate is $xxx per hour."

Pacun: As a practical matter I'll do pretty much the same thing because I also keep a couple of rolls on hand all the time. And I'll pat myself on the back when the next rate increase comes along. Assuming it's two years from now and the amount is 6 cents, I'll congratulate myself for saving $12 on those two rolls of stamps at that time. (Minus the $10 the money would have earned during the same time period). Of course, if the rate increase is only 3-4 cents, I'll just keep quiet.

The "FOREVER" stamp is a cute attention getter, but I'm still trying to figure out it is a good deal. Assuming the money invested in the stamp would earn 5% per year if invested in a safe investment, the next postal rate increase would need to be a multiple of 2 cents per year, whenever it occurs, in order for the holder to break even on the original investment in the stamp. And that doesn"t even factor in the probability of storing the stamps while waiting for an appropriate increase to have made the original invesment worthwhile. Beyond the "novelty" effect, it seems like the only time to buy & hold "FOREVER" stamps would be just before the next rate increase, and given the track record of the USPS, I'm betting they will just happen to run short on supply at about that time.

That's a diplomatic message they have up there, and very timely (meaning AFTER the tax season ended). Too bad they didn't have someone on staff with similar communications abilities and sense of timing charged with handling things for their sister companies back on Apr 5.

And he woould have enjoyed playing around with the: "(i) having happened at a time different from the time it actually happened;" assuming that it happened at or near the speed of light. I think the Australian Tax Office has found a unique way to deal with this whole space-time continuum thing... just let the Commisioner declare it to be and it becomes so.

Who is reported to have been completing his tax return and said: "This is much too difficult for mathematicians; it's a job for philosophers"?

Well thank you for noticing. I've had lots of practice.

It could be that you were too reserved in expressing your opinion, but I think it's really because I failed to mention that I'm keeping a running record on who agrees with me or doesn't. So you are in the "NO" column on my agreement record because you answered "YES" to my original question. And after thinking over your reasoning, I agree with you and disagree with myself.

So I'm thinking I'd log you in the "NO" column.

They were getting an overabundance of spam, but I'm sure their motivation had more to do with what was in the company's best interests than any concern for their users. After all there is a history here...

This was probably discussed on the old Community , but since there are no archives to search... When setting up depreciation on a residential rental condominium, does anyone make an adjustment for land value? I just always use acquisition cost for the basis, because the condo owner has an "undivided interest in the common elements", which means there is no way to value the land separately from the structure. I'd be interested if there is a difference of opinion on this question.

You're right - I'm a paper filer, so the efile limits aren't a big issue for me, at least until I'm forced by the govenment into becoming an eflinger. I do have the complete Zillion forms as a part of the TKO package, all states, all forms (including W2, 1099, 941, etc.) , and all interactive. I also have access to all the research on the ATX site. I'm sure there's something I'm missing, but can't figure out if it's important or even worth the difference. Before I switched everything to ATX a couple of years ago, I was using Creative Solutions for 1040 work and ATX for business returns. Saved quite a chunk by migrating over to ATX for the 1040 work without giving up much. I'm not even sure how I would up with this combination rather than TTO, but it worked for me and it was well worth the cost. Like the rest of you, I'm getting their renewal offers. I don't intend to jump at any of the early renewals, but am trying to figure out what I'd likely need from ATX (if anything) if I switched to someone else. This is the year I think it will be worth foregoing the early discount to avoid making a wrong decision. At the least, I plan to get an extended time to cancel without penalty. If their sales dept can't offer that concession, I'll probably bail out on them anyhow. Come February 1, everything has to be right or else a mistake can turn into a huge headache.

I've remained in a state of confusion about the exact combination of products I use from ATX. I have been buying the ATX1040 Office package plus the Total Kleinrock Office. The price for 2007 before discounts & freight is $595 for ATX1040 plus $699 for TKO, for a total price of $1,363. This combination appears to give me the same features as the Total Tax Office package, which costs $1,595 before discounts & freight. I tried on a couple of occasions to get the ATX sales dept to explain the difference to me, but nobody was able to do so. Since the package met my needs & I got busy, I quit asking. Does anyone on this forum know what I may be giving up for the $232 savings?

I'm looking for them to develop a pair of glasses I can wear that will automatically cause the data to jump into the computer when I stare at the document & click my heels 3 times. For that, I'll pay an extra $1,000.

Bob: You may have identified a unique marketing opportunity for savy software vendors. They offer free conversion prior to purchase, then the customer is poised to jump ship to them at any point without giving it a second thought if they are provoked. As a matter of fact, given the right circumstances I might even be willing to pay a reasonable fee to convert with the understanding that the fee would be deducted from the software purchase if I decided to follow through. That would be a great back-up plan.

That's an interesting comment by the tax advocate. I wonder if access to a lot of info in IRS computers was somehow trashed or rendered unreliable in the preparation & run-up to Y2K. ???

Understood, but my sales rep alter ego sometimes pops out at the most inopportune times...

KC: Another side of the coin - the calls & emails may be a nuisance, but how else will you know about their "specials, deals, & promotions." ?

Funny you should bring up extensions. I reminded a client at church this AM that I was still waiting for his refi points from his 2003 return so I could set up the amortization on Sched A (about $100/yr). He's a new client who had been self-preparing and didn't know about how to handle points, so he just ignored them. He said he'd been trying to get out the Settlement Statement but was busy and hadn't been able to get around to it. So I told him there's no hurry on my end - we have until Oct 15 to file the return. It's just a manner of when he wants his $6K refund. That seemed to get his attention - maybe he's looking for the info as I write this.

For what it's worth, I did find a couple of ways to look at the form while working in an input screen. The shortest routes I've been able to find so far are these: 1) When you are in the screen they call the "Hub", you will see choices in the upper-left corner numbered 1-13. Clicking on #11 (View Results) takes you to a "Select Form/Schedule to View". Selecting the form you are interested in will then display the form. Getting out of the form screen involves either clicking "File" + "Exit" or else presing "esc". This operation only takes you back to the "Select Forms" screen, which must then be exited. if you want to end up back at the "Hub". Since the "Hub" is essentially the 1040 summary, I don't know why they don't provide an icon to enable you to jump directly to the 1040 and back to the "Hub" with a single mouse click each direction. 2) If you are working on the input screen for a PARTICULAR FORM, there is an icon for "View Form" which you can click. This takes you directly to the form associated with that screen. Again, exiting requires the same multiple steps as above. When viewing the form, I did find it a little cumbersome that a multi-page form cannot be navigated by scrolling. You have to use "Page Up" & "Page Down" to move from page-to-page. None of these is a big deal in and of itself, but it definitely affects how you move around within the return, especially for someone like me who uses the wheel mouse for much of my navigating. Anynow, I can't find any method enabling a simple toggle back & forth which works with forms.

I see that Tax Almanac is sponsored by Intuit. It has a nice slick look and appears to have good content. I'll probably sign up & use it from time-to-time. But having already been burned once by a big software company's heavy-handed antics, I think I'll spend most of my quality on-line time here first and on the Yahoo Group second, with TaxTalk being third (assuming it survives).

Bob: I totally agree on the idea of keeping the tone of this Community positiive. Seems to me that anyone who bought their ATX software had a right to post on that forum, and the company pretty much allowed anything to be said which wasn't an egregious violation of their rules. But that doesn't need to be the case here - the bullies can be dealt with. This is an independent community, supported by voluntary payments, and it seems reasonable that anything the moderators find objectionable should be subject to being deleted, without question or recourse by the poster. I trust KC and erc's judgement on those matters.

I spoke with them this AM & got the username & password problem straigtened out in about a minute. Download took 30 minutes with DSL, and the install was about 8 minutes. After a reboot, it was ready to run - fully funcional 2006 program. Will be out of the office the rest of today, but I plan to run a couple of test returns this PM or tomorrow. I did enter a simple return just to get a feel for it how it functions. At first blush it looks OK. Can anyone tell me if there is a simple way to toggle between the form and the input screen while entering data, or is it always necessary to exit the input screen and then go through the intermediate steps to display the form? The form looks a little cheesy on the screen, but as long as it prints OK (which it does) that's not a big deal for me.

Marilyn: In years past I would occasionally accept a demo offer, load it, and maybe do a parallel run with one or two returns if I got around to it. This year things will be a little different for me. I expect to parallel a dozen or more business & personal returns with at least TaxSlayer and Drake between now and Oct 15. I came over from Ultra Tax 2 years ago and could jump back to them with a minimum of effort and essentially no conversion problems, but the price tag is a little steep for me, so it will stay on the back burner for now. I won't be jumping at anybody's early discount - the $100 or so of savings isn't worth making a critical mistake this year. You are right about the cloud. My attitude could change in the coming months, but right now I believe ATX would have to give me a "no questions asked" right to a full refund up until late February 2008 before I'd take a chance on them. I want to see the program running with all states and reliable tech support, with no more surprises such as features offered and then withdrawn, before I'm willing to commit. I doubt their sales dept will be willing or permitted to concede that much, so ATX is looking less and less attractive to me as a vendor, even though I like the program itself. The decision will be driven by matters of confidence & trust, as well as features & benefits.

I didn't start a new topic for this post - it's just a comment and seems to fit generally into the original title, although it doesn't follow the subject of the last few posts. Nevertheless... Maybe I'm not doing the math right, but I seem to remember that it was suggested that there were only about 100 or so uses of the original ATX Community. I can't remember where this number came from - maybe it was an esitmate of only the number of posters. Anyhow, I notice that the number of users of this Community is now approcahing 180. I'd say that's a positive growth curve, especially considering that this Community is growing entirely by word of mouth.