JohnH

Thanks Eric. None of what's posted from either perspective bothers me - I like the give-and-take even when it gets a little out of hand. It's easy enough to skip over when it gets silly. But if it disturbs others then I'm fine with your guidelines and will certainly abide by them. We need to keep as many as possible engaged to suit our professional purposes. I appreciate your dedication to this forum.

Funny this should come up. I had a very similar situation with an AUR notice - we just responded to it last week. The taxpayer had a couple of tiny interest and dividend statements (less than $25 total). But they also had a 1099-S for the $275,000 sale of a personal residence. Since he is single, the 1099-S needed to be accounted for. So IRS listed the $275,000 along with the 1099-Div and Int statements. The odd thing is, we had reported the $275,000 on the original return and netted it out on Schedule D properly. Apparently nobody noticed that little detail. So we just faxed them a copy of the original Schedule D & 8949 and told them to send a bill for the rest of the adjustment. I have no idea why they missed it, especially because there was also a small loss carryforward (about $1,200) on the Schedule D which transferred to the front of the 1040 and they didn't question that.

Nope, the profits are not taxed upon distribution. The profits are taxed to the shareholders as they are earned, regardless of when distributed.

Not that you need to explain your decisions to a prospective client, but if you felt the need to do so, you could always print out this thread and show it to them.

I forwarded the link to a client who used it Tuesday night. He learned via the online tool that the amended return had not been received. He called IRS and they verified that fact - advised him to submit it again. We could have already known this had he sent it via Certified Mail with RR or Express Mail per my instructions, but since he didn't follow directions it was nice to have an alternate way to verify things. I expect he will be using the online tool again in the coming weeks. (I don't necessariy expect him to learn from experience to follow instructions with respect to mailing - "It costs too much".

cute, but the analogy fails; miserably; on several levels. In any case, I'm thinking his resignation will be "reluctantly accepted" by the President abut 6:15 pm on Friday.

Since we're all rambling here, did anybody notice that "thump" today. That's the sound of the bus rolling over Eric Holder.

I have an idea. Give their stuff back to them and let the hairstylist they are presently getting their advice from continue to handle this high-level tax planning. If you take this project on, you'll wish you had never seen them when the IRS correspondence begins. And anything that doesn't meet their wierd expectations will be your fault.

Where are you getting this "judge, jury, and executioner" hysteria? Certainly not from anything that has been posted thus far.

In this month's Atlantic, it is reported that a Pennsylvania newspaper writer described the Gettysburg Address as "silly remarks" , and a London Times article referred to it as "dull and commonplace". I suppose my thoughts would be, does anyone remember anything either of those two correspondents ever wrote or said?

My goodnes! You're looking at their RTRP 12.13, which is in revision status. You need to wait - don't do anything until at least their RTRP 12.18 or later.

A big THANK YOU to all those who have served in the past and continue to serve in the present. This country owes a debt of gratitude which can never be repaid.

I think your two posts are like washing one's hands. Both work together inseperably for the end result. Having a great product with a long history of reliability will certainly keep your current customers on board and will PROBABLY produce steady growth. Then, when a major competitor stumbles, you're in a position to reap a windfall. Drake's unique combination of efficiency, customer service, and corporate integrity creates another major problem for their competitors. I don't have any statistics to back this up, but I'm guessing Drake has a very low attrition rate. Once they get someone on board, the customer is very unlikely to leave. So any company losing business to Drake should probably adapt to the reality that this is business which for the most part is never coming back.

One of the earliest things Iearned about Drake was the usefulness of their tutorials. I began watching them in earnest the weekend before I made the decision to abandon ATX and buy Drake. Then when I began using Drake the next week, I realized that much of what I was doing as I set up new clients was mirrored in the tutorials. So I began running the applicable tutorial on one monitor while doing my data entry on the other monitor. In many ways it was like having someone from Drake sitting there beside me as I did my data entry. I'm so pleased with Drake that this year I'm going to take advantge of the early purchase discount. Frankly I never trusted any other software vendor enough to do that. But based on what I already knew about them in years past, along with my personal experience this tax season, I can say without hesitation that this company is different. They have high integrity (something tht is lacking with many of thier competitors) and their software is especially fast. Drake discounts $400 through May 31, then the price rises $100 per month until it hits the regular price.

Taxed - you do know it is possible to delete/modify your posts don't you? On several occasions I've decided in retrospect that I stepped over a line with something I posted, and I found it easy to either delete or modify the offending info. It's right there in the lower-right corner of the post.

Try this one: http://www.irs.gov/Filing/Individuals/Amended-Returns-(Form-1040-X)/Wheres-My-Amended-Return-1

I checked the most likely of the available choices as my reason for using Drake, but if "speed" had been available, I would have clicked that one instead. And of course, Drake's integrity would have been at the top of my list as well.

As a matter of fact, Iraq was a good idea - still is. The problem is that Iraq's value is more strategic that tactical, and it depends upon future administrations (even beyond this one) to implement the strategy properly. So far, Obama has done OK even though he has tried to blow it several times. But maybe he really does understand and he's just posturing for those gullible enough to focus only on the politics - one can hope.

Good thing we had Dubya. Looks like he had some pretty good ideas such as Gitmo, Afghanistan, Iraq, National Security, Drone Warfare. After all, most of the successful Obama counterterrorism policies are a continuation of the Bush policies - in some cases he's actually expanded them.

History is already judging various administrations.

Well, speaking of old losers, wouldn't you know Jimmy Carter hit the news again. Trying to clarify his wimpy position on marijuana, I think. And this just when the comparisons were starting to shift from the Carter administration to the Nixon years. Carter just continues to show his impeccable timing. I'll bet every time he gets news coverage, somebody in the Obama administration groans. Nothing like a past failure to focus people's attention on the management shortcomings and amateurish workings of the current administration.

Is Jay Carney beginning to act like someone who doesn't care whether or not he keeps his job? If he's smart, he will resign and claim it's a matter of principle. If not smart, he will stick around until the administration throws him under the bus, along with a bunch of people from IRS, CIA, and the State dept. http://www.whitehousedossier.com/2013/05/21/carney-sweats/ Will somebody please ask this man about Myanmar and make his day? This stuff is custom-made for SNL. If they don't do a Jay Carney skit soon, their writers are just out of touch. (Or they could just run once of his recent press conferences verbatim - no editing needed.)

The smartphone deposit really isn't any different than the scanner. The only problem I have experienced is getting the image just right - one check I had to process 3 tims before getting an image it would accept. Once it's accepted, they tell you to hold onto the original check for 5 days and then destroy it. I imagine the rules are the same for the desktop scanner.

Wells Fargo has a nice feature with their ATM machines around here - you can make deposits without a deposit slip. I carry a "For Deposit Only" stamp in my car, so when checks arrive at my Post Office Box, I just stamp them, drive directly to the ATM, and make the deposit. The bank emails me a deposit receipt with an image of the checks, and that's what I use to post the payments to my A/R. I had previously been thinking about getting a desktop device, but this method is much simpler. Several banks also offer a way to make deposits using the iPhone, thus obviating the need for the desktop scanning device in your office. I've tested it once or twice with Wells Fargo and Fifth Third Bank - I found it to be OK