Depreciation in Conversions

[chief]

I wonder if any of you have had experience in conversions of previous year's returns. What are some of the things to look for when checking these returns for accuracy. I am particularly concerned about depreciation schedules. Are they generally carried forward with accuracy. Still are their other factors to check for?

[Lion EA]

I've only had to convert once and then only a few returns, so I'm no expert. But, from my experience and what I see on message boards, depreciation is definitely something to review. The software I used did give me a report of points to check. Things like depreciation when less than 100% business use. I don't remember finding any differences, though. I did lose a state ID number on a CT-1065SI, but that was easy to type in from my paper copy; the path for that state ID was just very different from its entry in the old software that it found its way to one CT form but not to another. If you can convert a complex return early when you have lots of time to pour over it, then maybe you'll see what reports or diagnostics are available and what to pay close attention to as you get busy during the season.

[David1980]

I've only had to convert once and then only a few returns, so I'm no expert. But, from my experience and what I see on message boards, depreciation is definitely something to review. The software I used did give me a report of points to check. Things like depreciation when less than 100% business use. I don't remember finding any differences, though. I did lose a state ID number on a CT-1065SI, but that was easy to type in from my paper copy; the path for that state ID was just very different from its entry in the old software that it found its way to one CT form but not to another. If you can convert a complex return early when you have lots of time to pour over it, then maybe you'll see what reports or diagnostics are available and what to pay close attention to as you get busy during the season.

I know some of the common depreciation things that conversion have problems with in general are AMT prior year depreciation, state depreciation if different, 150DB or SL methods (sometimes gets converted over as 200DB), MQ vs HY, listed property. There may be other issues as well depending what you're converting from. I'd assume you are doing TRX OrrTax to TaxWise (only thing that makes sense for this forum). Probably you would see problems with things like depreciation for an OIH on Form 2106 (since it's not the most common item and was changed in the 2007 software.) Might also check prior year depreciation on items when using/not using the "Calculate prior year depreciation" feature in TRX OrrTax. Oh, and prior year depreciation for vehicles where some years were standard miles.

I'd just do a check on a few items as far as dates and amounts to satisfy myself it's coming over properly. Then when preparing the 2008 returns any "weird" items that could be considered uncommon (amortization?) I'd check at that point.

Someone who's done a TRX/OrrTax conversion to TaxWise would have a better idea of the specific issues for that conversion. For sure see if there's a report or help file showing what is supported in the conversion. As far as I know almost noone converts information for the AMT credit for example so it would be nice to know what all is expected to convert so that you know what you need to do manually if it existed on the 2007 return.

[Don in Upstate NY]

For sure see if there's a report or help file showing what is supported in the conversion.

The conversion software is available on http://www.trxprotwsupport.com/ . Log in with your first name as the userid and use your previous TRX password (TRXnnnnn). Click on download, then conversions. There is a documentation file with a detailed list of what will actually be converted.

I tried the software on about fifty of my 2007 IntelliTax returns - it works. I haven't dug deeply into my depreciation returns to see how well. I'm going to wait until we get the real release codes for the 2007 and 2008 software to do any serious conversions, lest I have to do them all over again.