elfling Posted March 14, 2008 Report Share Posted March 14, 2008 Am I the only one running into this scenario? Perhaps I am using a methodology that just needs some tweaking . . . I take my laptop to a client's home, prepare the return using ATX Max, check it, get it ready to efile, export to a flash drive. I then return to the office, import the return from flash drive to ATX Max on my desktop. When I click on efile I get some message about not being able to set up efile (goes by too quickly to read) and then the program immediately starts downloading acks for tons of files that have already been completed. And although it seems to not change any dates, DCNs, or statuses it's really buggy in that nearly all my "complete" checkmarks in the e-file manager vanish. Grrr! How annoying. I've put the checkmarks back (which is no easy task) 3 times already. I considered just leaving them go but find I miss the usefulness they provide in sorting physical files. After the kooky download I am able to proceed with the efile of the imported file without any problems at all. Acts no different that the ones done on the desktop computer. Any ideas? Elfling Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pacun Posted March 14, 2008 Report Share Posted March 14, 2008 Am I the only one running into this scenario? Perhaps I am using a methodology that just needs some tweaking . . . I take my laptop to a client's home, prepare the return using ATX Max, check it, get it ready to efile, export to a flash drive. I then return to the office, import the return from flash drive to ATX Max on my desktop. When I click on efile I get some message about not being able to set up efile (goes by too quickly to read) and then the program immediately starts downloading acks for tons of files that have already been completed. And although it seems to not change any dates, DCNs, or statuses it's really buggy in that nearly all my "complete" checkmarks in the e-file manager vanish. Grrr! How annoying. I've put the checkmarks back (which is no easy task) 3 times already. I considered just leaving them go but find I miss the usefulness they provide in sorting physical files. After the kooky download I am able to proceed with the efile of the imported file without any problems at all. Acts no different that the ones done on the desktop computer. Any ideas? Elfling My suggestion is... leave the date blank on 8879 form. Then try to create the efile, solve all other problems and leave only the error message about the date. Print, have the client sign and then export your file. When you get to your office, import it, open it up, type the date and create the efile on the desktop computer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BulldogTom Posted March 14, 2008 Report Share Posted March 14, 2008 Elfling, We do it a little differently, but similar. We take the laptop to the clients, prepare the return, and create the e-file. After printing the client copy, we delete the e-file, export, and e-mail the return back to the office. At the office, we import the return and recreate the e-file. This keeps all our dcn numbers in tact. It works for us, we have not had a problem the last 3 years doing it this way. Oh yeah, the laptop has a single user ATX installation, and the office ATX is networked. Even when we put the laptop on the network, we do not access ATX from the server on that machine. I don't know if that is important or not. Tom Lodi, CA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elfling Posted March 14, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 14, 2008 Pacun & Bulldog Thanks for the input. Perhaps simply eliminating the efile forms before exporting will make a difference. It's something to try. I don't prefer to not create the efile at all since it is useful for discovering odd errors. BTW: This is only my second week owning a laptop, so much is new to me on that front. I do not have a portable printer. The returns are printed after the import in the office and then either delivered or mailed to the client. I also do not have internet capablilty in most clients' homes. We are a small town in rural PA with a growing senior citizen base. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BulldogTom Posted March 14, 2008 Report Share Posted March 14, 2008 I agree that you should always create the efile before you export the return to check for errors. We have just found that deleting the efile and recreating at the office keeps everything in sync for the DCN numbers. Tom Lodi, CA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack from Ohio Posted March 14, 2008 Report Share Posted March 14, 2008 Elfling, We do it a little differently, but similar. We take the laptop to the clients, prepare the return, and create the e-file. After printing the client copy, we delete the e-file, export, and e-mail the return back to the office. At the office, we import the return and recreate the e-file. This keeps all our dcn numbers in tact. It works for us, we have not had a problem the last 3 years doing it this way. Oh yeah, the laptop has a single user ATX installation, and the office ATX is networked. Even when we put the laptop on the network, we do not access ATX from the server on that machine. I don't know if that is important or not. Tom Lodi, CAI agree that you should always create the efile before you export the return to check for errors. We have just found that deleting the efile and recreating at the office keeps everything in sync for the DCN numbers. Tom Lodi, CA Tom's method is quite correct, and the fact of single user install on the laptop, and not accessing the program from the server is very important. The DCN is the issue. I transmit returns for another ATX user, and have experienced the very same issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elfling Posted March 21, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 21, 2008 Success! I'm only out with my laptop about once a week and today was that day. I totally set up 2 returns including the efile but then discarded the 1040EF form. Exported to flash drive, imported to the desktop upon returning to the office. Opened each return and put the 1040EF's back in. And, woohoo!, no crazy objections from the ATX program, no kooky downloads, no fuss at all. Thanks guys for the great advice!!!!! :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BulldogTom Posted March 21, 2008 Report Share Posted March 21, 2008 Cool, glad it worked for you. Tom Lodi, CA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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