Harlan Lunsford <hlunsford[at]bellsouth.net> wrote:
- quote -

I've been working on computers since the days of keypunch
machines and paper tape input, programming in Fortran,
Basic, and (shudder) LISP. Mid-70's, back when I was an
undergrad, and so young I was too stupid to pour sand out of
a boot with directions on the heel. If I were to drink to
_those_ days, I wouldn't be stopping at one.... ;-)

- quote -

If I buy Taxwise, I will mention your name and let you know.
Then if you get the cut, donate it to any group you wish.
Including the Harlan 5PM relief effort.

Catherine

Moderator: My kind of woman!!

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Harlan Lunsford wrote:
- quote -

The AARP do TCE with TaxWise and volunteers get to use it
for themselves.

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Catherine White wrote:

- quote -

Quote: "I share(d) your pain" once upon a time, back
around 1996 I think. AT the time I didn't know my software
(Taxwise) included such computations,but found out it did,
so it was easy from then on.

- quote -

Then you'll really like Taxwise, because "WYSIWYG", and
instantly, too.

If it were 5 pm, i.e. happy hour, I'd drink one more time to
good old DOS. I cut my teeth on Basic programming back in
1978 when personal computers came out and there were no tax
program available. In fact the accounting software I still
use is written in Qbasic,so it's good that Windows XP still
supports DOS via an emulator. But any printer I buy these
day has to have a good old fashioned cable instead of that
newfangled USB thingie.

How about this, CAtherine? If you buy Taxwise, and if you
mention my name, and if they follow through with my cut,
I'll donate it to hurricane relief.

ChEAr$,
Harlan

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Harlan Lunsford <hlunsford[at]bellsouth.net> wrote:
- quote -

Thanks to all who responded. I eventually got the Drake
evaluation software up and running, and it confirmed my
by-hand 1045 results. That was certainly one of the more
confusing forms I've dealt with in _years_. I hope I
won't see another one for a while.

As it turns out, I'll be carrying forward only. I could
save her $100 or so from two years ago, and nothing from
last year, by carrying back.

Harlan, I will check out the Taxwise software as well.
There were a number of items in the Drake that I just
didn't like. I've heard people complain that it's too
much like an old DOS program. That didn't bother me;
I remember too well all my old DOS work. But I didn't
like the data entry sheets only format; I really like
to see how the forms fed into each other and to follow
a link to source numbers when something doesn't look
right to me.

Catherine

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Catherine White <cgrantNoSpam[at]alum.mit.edu> wrote:

- quote -

We have insufficient information to tell where she should
carry the loss.

- quote -

I think the 1045 is easier. Even when I have to use the
1040X I still calculate the 1045 worksheets to show the
calculation of the NOL and the amount left to carry to the
next year.

- quote -

Without the numbers I can't tell what you are doing wrong.
The forms work, they just aren't as clear as they could be.

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Catherine White wrote:
- quote -

It sounds like you should make the election to forego the
carryback. This needs to be done on the original return to
be effective; otherwise, the carryback is required.

Even if you do forego the carryback, you should complete the
1045. This will help you determine the amount carried
forward to 2005.

Lanny K. Williams, CPA
Nawarat, Williams & Co., Ltd.
Income Tax Services for Expatriate Americans

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Catherine White wrote:

- quote -

By all means persevere and do it, if for no other reason,
your own satisfaction.

Now, as for Drake's screen not resembling the form, that's
the way they chose to do it, input screens only.

You might want to look at Taxwise (tm) out of Rome, GA.
Their inputs are on form and schedule screens. IOW, what
you sees is what you gets.

ChEAr$,
Harlan Lunsford

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"David Woods, EA, ChFC, CLU" <dwoods[at]woods-financial.com> wrote in
- quote -

That's right, by hand. I use Tax Act, and they don't have
the 1045. I also have an evaluation copy of Drake, which
does have the 1045, but I haven't finished re-inputing the
2004 return. I did look at the 1045 in Drake, though, and
there's lots of stuff on the first page, anyway, that
doesn't look at all like the paper form, and that looks (at
first glance) like there's going to be lots of hand
calculations before the program is useful.

So far, I've talked to three other tax pro's I've worked
with in the past for help. No one has been able to help me
at all. One has _never_ seen an NOL, one hasn't seen one in
longer than it's been for me, and the last one I spoke with
only does them for corporations, not individuals. His
comment was "the corporate is much easier, good luck".

So I'm still slogging through this mess by hand, and I'm
still confused. I have determined that carrying back won't
do the lady much good (just got her '03 and '02 returns;
she's a new client). Since she's self- employed, most of
her tax is SE tax and her other taxable income is small, so
it's not like she would get a large refund. But, if only to
make sure I can do this in the future, I'd still like to get
this figured out properly.

Catherine

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"Catherine White" <cgrantNoSpam[at]alum.mit.edu> wrote:

- quote -

Umm, your software won't allow you to do the 1045? It sure
sounds like you're doing this by hand.

--
David M. Woods, EA, ChFC, CLU
Woods Financial Services
Norwood, MA 02062
www.woods-financial.com

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I have a client with a NOL for '04. I haven't even seen a
NOL since 1993. Things have changed a bit since then, plus
I'm more than slightly rusty on the whole process. I'd like
to try to carry back the two years, since I think it's more
likely to be useful to her going back rather than carrying
forward. Opinions?

I'd also like opinions about going the 1045 route versus
1040X, if I try to carry back two years?

On top of this, I read all the instructions for 1045's and
then the Schedule A for the 1045, and got completely
confused. The Schedule A/1045 instructions seem to send you
in a circle that makes showing a NOL impossible. If you
have to enter losses as positive numbers and then combine
them at the end, and the result is greater than zero, then
there's no loss. What?! Obviously, I'm missing something.

Advice, please?

Thanks!
Catherine

<< ================================================== ===== > << The foregoing is intended for educational purposes only > << and does NOT constitute legal OR professional advice. > << > << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting > << messages to this newsgroup are at www.asktax.org. > << Copyright (2005) - All rights reserved. > << ================================================== ===== >