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How do you Properly Allocate W-2 Income between 2 States with ATX?


PJCCPA

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Well, then let me first reply that it was not my intention to offend EA's and other Tax Professionals, so if you were offended, then I apologize.  I do see the value in the Enrolled Agent Credential which is why I also started studying for that, too as well.  Although I am a brand-new licensed CPA, I have 20 years of prior Accounting, Auditing, and Tax Experience.  I only have about 2 years of combined Public Accounting experience, about a year and a half of Auditing back in 1996-1997, and then I worked for a Public Accounting Firm this past Tax Season and completed 165 Individual and State Tax Returns including some local returns.  Since these were mostly High-Net Worth Clients such as Doctors, Lawyers, Business Owners, and perhaps those born with a Trust Fund, the majority of the returns that I did were more complex in nature so I saw a little bit of just about everything in one Tax Season.  I have also had a few clients of my own on the side over the past 2 or 3 years, but this will be the first year that I will be signing off as the paid preparer with my own EFIN number.  So I admit that I have much more to learn in the Public Accounting realm.   I enjoy the profession and love doing it, but I have grown weary of bending over backwards for greedy Small Firm owners who do not want to put the time and money into grooming me to be a better CPA and expect me to be perfect 100% on every single task without giving me a learning curve to make the adjustment from going from Corporate Accounting back to Public Accounting even when I told them up front what I'm good at, what I need to work on to improve, and what I have absolutely no experience with at all.

Sincerely,

Peter J, Chrustowski, CPA, CGMA, MAFM

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4 hours ago, Peter J. Chrustowski, CPA said:

Well, then let me first reply that it was not my intention to offend EA's and other Tax Professionals, so if you were offended, then I apologize.  I do see the value in the Enrolled Agent Credential which is why I also started studying for that, too as well.  Although I am a brand-new licensed CPA, I have 20 years of prior Accounting, Auditing, and Tax Experience.  I only have about 2 years of combined Public Accounting experience, about a year and a half of Auditing back in 1996-1997, and then I worked for a Public Accounting Firm this past Tax Season and completed 165 Individual and State Tax Returns including some local returns.  Since these were mostly High-Net Worth Clients such as Doctors, Lawyers, Business Owners, and perhaps those born with a Trust Fund, the majority of the returns that I did were more complex in nature so I saw a little bit of just about everything in one Tax Season.  I have also had a few clients of my own on the side over the past 2 or 3 years, but this will be the first year that I will be signing off as the paid preparer with my own EFIN number.  So I admit that I have much more to learn in the Public Accounting realm.   I enjoy the profession and love doing it, but I have grown weary of bending over backwards for greedy Small Firm owners who do not want to put the time and money into grooming me to be a better CPA and expect me to be perfect 100% on every single task without giving me a learning curve to make the adjustment from going from Corporate Accounting back to Public Accounting even when I told them up front what I'm good at, what I need to work on to improve, and what I have absolutely no experience with at all.

Sincerely,

Peter J, Chrustowski, CPA, CGMA, MAFM

Well, Peter, if I may speak for everyone here, you insulted almost all of us in one way or another. First, you insulted EAs directly. Second, you insulted the ATX program that almost everyone here uses successfully and has done so for many years, and most here really enjoy the program and its features. Third, you insulted all of the CPAs saying we are all anal and thereby also insulting anyone else that isn't a CPA by implying that non-CPAs aren't sticklers for detail or that their professional designations were somehow easier to obtain. Then, you insulted me indirectly by not listening to my posts where I basically hand held you through the mechanics and some theory related to Delaware nonresident returns until I gave you some of my background. And now lastly, you've insulted all small firm owners as being "greedy" and making you "bend over backwards." 

After I gave you the first answers and a link to the instructions, you should have gone back and used that to learn about the form and where you were going wrong in your preparation, and not continued on in an argumentative tone about what should be included on the return.

Also, I have to say that firm owners or supervisors in tax prep firms, whether they are CPA or EA firms, are not able to devote this level of hand holding to each individual member of staff, especially when things heat up and the season gets rolling. I know because I did the hiring for the firm I worked for, was the supervisor that had to keep work flowing and help the underlings, and did about 85% of the review of products before they were finalized.

Our group here is comprised of mostly very knowledgeable and well-seasoned tax professionals that don't feel the need to put out all their credentials in their usernames or signatures, and we all give freely of our valuable time to help each other. I'd also venture to say that most of us are also the firm owners, a mix of solo preparers and those with employees.

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Again, I'm sorry and I apologize and its not my intention to insult people here.  I sincerely appreciate all of your help and advice on this matter.  The last two firms that I worked for did not treat me fairly.  One kept one of my personal friends as a business client which I helped bring into the firm as an investment in my future career with that firm, and the other still owes me money from accrued vacation pay that was never paid out to me.

I did read all of your posts carefully and I have zeroed in on the problem with the software, which is not an easy fix with the ATX Software as I was just on the telephone with customer support.  This is probably going to be a deal breaker for me in using this particular software going forward.  

Sincerely,

Peter J. Chrustowski, CPA, CGMA, MAFM

 

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I don't know anything about the states you mentioned so I stayed out of the conversation while others answered your specific questions.  But along the way you mentioned Drake, so I'll throw in a suggestion that you seriously consider Drake.  Several of us on this forum switched to Drake a few years back and have no intention of returning to ATX.

There is a learning curve, although nowhere near as steep as some might lead you to believe.  Once you get comfortable with Drake, you'll become addicted to its speed and efficiency.  Plus it is really stingy with memory & resources.  Nothing comes close to Drake in speed - anyone who says otherwise hasn't learned how to use it properly. And since your time is directly related to you profitability, you have the ability to make more money using Drake. Bells & whistles in the software are cute, but you can't deposit them in the bank.

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John, while all of that is true, Drake is far less intuitive and may not be the best choice for this new preparer.  That brings up the issue again on placing too much reliance on the software as a crutch though, but it is up to him to choose what best suits his methods and needs.

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You're right, Judy.  Maybe Drake does require a level of understanding a lot of new preparers would not necessarily possess.  I was just trying to nudge the conversation in the direction of the best overall business tool.  Personally, I like to use the most efficient tools possible, since greater efficiency translates into more profitability. That's a useful concept for someone just starting out.

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I have the Drake Demo software on my Laptop.  I called them today and they said that they unlocked it so that I can add Delaware and try it.  ATX is going to give me until December 15th now before I have to decide on returning it.  Tomorrow, I'm going to a CPA friend's home practice to try out ProSeries from Intuit.  I will be making a better informed decision this way.  I was not yet fully ready to start my own business but I am doing it out of necessity for a dependable income.  I am only going to be doing it part-time nights and weekends while seeking a day job elsewhere.  I also wanted to thank you all again for pointing out that I need to be more careful so as to not insult people.  I was never very good at being politically correct, but I can see where it is becoming a problem.  I have been down on my luck for nearly 10 years since getting laid off of my last two permanent full time jobs during the Great Recession, and although I used to always have an optimistic outlook on the future, I suppose that I have developed a bit of a bad attitude lately so I will need to work on that going forward.  I overcame a disability to go back to Graduate School for a Master's Degree of Accounting and Financial Management, taking night classes in Philadelphia while working temporary contract jobs during the day in Delaware.  I finished with Distinction, at the top of the class with a perfect 4.0 GPA and then parlayed that into finally passing all 4 parts of the CPA Exam.  Then I had to get additional CPA-signed affidavits of work experience that totaled over a year, since I had to get multiple ones and put them together piecemeal.  This whole process took me about 6 years in total, and it was supposed to magically change my long-term employment prospects.  So far that has not yet happened, and I'm about out of time and refinancing options, so I'm doing this to try and pull myself up by my bootstraps before its too late.

Sincerely,

Peter J. Chrustowski, CPA, CGMA, MAFM

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Peter, I've tried sending you a PM, but I think the comma in your username is creating a problem. I am receiving a message that I'm using an invalid user name. Please try sending me a private message so that I can respond to it, or please edit your username to remove the comma.

Edited by jklcpa
problem with private messaging
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Just now, Peter J. Chrustowski, CPA said:

I checked my mailbox on this forum, but I did not yet get your message, Judy.

Sincerely,

Peter J. Chrustowski, CPA, CGMA, MAFM

 

30 minutes ago, jklcpa said:

Peter, I've tried sending you a PM, but I think the comma in your username is creating a problem. I am receiving a message that I'm using an invalid user name. Please try sending me a private message so that I can respond to it, or please edit your username to remove the comma.

 

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I'm a CPA, and at my only stint with a (big) CPA firm, I used ProFx, which is top of the line software.  It also costs 20k or more.

i do quite a few multi-state returns (I love multi state because I'm a frikkin masochist- yeah I seek out those suckers as a specialty) and I find ATX handles them just fine. When I find a situation that ATX can't handle, like when I had same sex couples that had to file an out of state return as single, I just copy the return and then change the filing status to do the oddball state, deleting what I don't need for that return. No need to input from scratch. 

Also, the out of state tax credit calcs improved 100% in the last 2 years. They are much easier to do than they were in 2011.

All that said, if you are used to menu inputs like with Profx, Drake will not be much of an adjustment. But I will also stress that you MUST know when a return is correct.  I have the all-states guide and go through a states instructions very carefully when doing one I'm not very familiar with, and look for oddball credits and deductions a state might have. And I always check to see if anything has changed on all the states I do.  

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