Transfer Quickbooks Into Turbo Tax

[SFBOB]

I know this board is largely ATX;I use ATX myself and have for 5 years.

I will be 80 years old in July, and am helping my son convert to Turbo Tax. He has been using quickbooks for several years and does his own data entry. He prints out the Balance Sheet,P&L and general ledger for my use.I have done his last 2 years taxes on Turbo Tax

Have any of you folks had experience in direct transfer of line by line data from Quickbooks into Forms 1065 and 1120S. Thanks for your feed back. Regards Bob

[Jack from Ohio]

It has been my personal experience that NO "Do It Yourself" tax software handles ANY business (Sole Proprietorship to C-Corp and all in between) correctly, UNLESS the person using the software is an experienced tax professional.

That being said, since Turbo-Tax and Quickbooks are both Intuit products, the transfer should be seamless.

During the setup of his Quickbook accounting, each piece of information that needs to flow to the tax return must be identified as to exactly which form and which line it is to be sent to. I believe this must be done BEFORE any data is entered for the current year, (but that may have changed) in order for Quickbooks to create the export file that will be imported by TurboTax.

Even after importing the information, careful checking of all the information imported as to proper placement and proper handling by the software is essential. This is where "Do It Yourself" software falls on its face.

I have copied the following statement from someone else, but it has become my advice to people who choose "Do It Yourself" software:

"Tax software does NOT equal tax knowledge."

[SFBOB]

Thanks Jack I am concerned that the information will be 100% correct when transfering into the tax return. I will be working closely with my son through the process.I will appreciate more feed back from members that are using this process. It seems that if a profeesional is doing both the accounting and tax return, the set up time should be worth the effort. Thanks Bob

[kcjenkins]

just a thought, Bob. You can import from QB into ATX, you know.

[jainen]

>>since Turbo-Tax and Quickbooks are both Intuit products, the transfer should be seamless<<

Unfortunately, being seamless is the problem. It makes it harder to verify and make adjustments. Quickbooks is not a tax program. For example, if the partnership is a retail store or a manufacturer, QB probably does not track inventory costs in the best way for tax purposes. But the number will transfer right into the tax form and look just fine.

Same with depreciation--the tax code does not follow Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, and state tax returns may offer or require other cost recovery choices. For example, I don't think you would enter bonus depreciation in QB. Section 179 deductions probably shouldn't go against book depreciation, but in any case must flow through the 1065 to be taken on the individual returns. Overall, you may not want MACRS in QB because it misrepresents the actual life of assets, cash flow, and P&L. The government sets depreciation policy as an incentive to investment in tangible assets. The business may well have opposite needs.

Partner contributions and distributions are almost certainly going to be problematic. What do they mean for business operations, and what for tax liability? There are various elections and decisions to be made on the books and separately on the tax return. So your goal of "100% correct when transfering into the tax return" is unrealistic. It's not just a question of what is "correct." Quickbooks and Turbotax record and manipulate data in different ways for different purposes.

[SFBOB]

Thanks to all for your feed back. I filed the 1065 forms on Turbo Tax in 2008. Set up all the depreciation schedules to transfer into form 8825. This is the same as Schedule E when filing direct with the personal 1040 return.

My son will be purchasing the advanced quickbooks; the standard version does not track more than 4 rental properties.

The plan is to load all programs on my son's computer out of state and my computer in California.Dad is going to give sonny boy a good hourly rate for the [MANY THE HOURS OF WORKING OUT THE DETAILS, WOW!!!]

[Jack from Ohio]

Thanks to all for your feed back. I filed the 1065 forms on Turbo Tax in 2008. Set up all the depreciation schedules to transfer into form 8825. This is the same as Schedule E when filing direct with the personal 1040 return.

My son will be purchasing the advanced quickbooks; the standard version does not track more than 4 rental properties.

The plan is to load all programs on my son's computer out of state and my computer in California.Dad is going to give sonny boy a good hourly rate for the [MANY THE HOURS OF WORKING OUT THE DETAILS, WOW!!!]

My suggestion... Buy REAL tax software.

Just my opinion...