One more carryover request: date of divorce

[Greta]

It would be nice to have the date of divorce carry over from prior year. For most people this should not change! People don't even remember date of divorce long past. So I look up prior year's file each time. Again, I do this before tax season because it's time-consuming.

[dkh]

I'm curious as to why you need this ?   

[Accountant-Man]

I hear your frustration, but why do it now? Why not wait until you are working on the actual return?

In my case, I always have the prior year's return open while preparing the current year, so It's not so hard.

[Accountant-Man]

To show whether the alimony is deductible or not.

[TaxGuyBill · Accepted solution]

I agree it would be great if Intuit had those things automatically carry over, but I wouldn't hold my breathe on Intuit changing things.

Accountant Man has a good point that it is best to be referencing last year's return anyways (and therefore it should only be very tiny amount of time to look at the divorce date or county), but assuming you want to continue doing it the way you are doing it, you might consider creating a spreadsheet with the information for all of your clients (county, divorce date and anything else).  That way you would have all of the information in one place, either for pre-season data entry, or to quickly reference while you are doing the actual tax return.

[Greta]

When taxability of alimony changed in 2017 new IRS code, they grandfathered the alimony deduction for older divorces. So each year the software asks for the date of the divorce.

[Greta]

How do I keep both years open simultaneously on the screen?

I think I've been doing that now, by moving one year down and the prior year up.

I just find that every minute saved during the crunch helps, whereas I have empty time now.

[Jim-from-Ohio]

best way is to have two screens.. if you only have you can go half size on each year but much better to have two screens.  I could not function without both. 

[TaxGuyBill]

Some people shrink the window to half-sized, and have one year on the right and one on the left (in my opinion, shrinking it helps anyways - it is quicker to scroll up and down).

Others (including me) use Dual Monitors so they are both open.  Most computers are capable of that, so you would only need to buy another monitor (and have space on your desk to put it).

Yeah, I understand that trying to front-load any work now can make things less busy later.

[Greta]

Ah! It never occurred to me to have two monitors. Great idea. I have a small desk and a small office. Maybe next year, though I'm seriously thinking of retiring. I'm a one-woman operation with 650 clients. I wish my husband knew how to cook.

[jeffmcpa2010]

I have two monitors attached to my computer. I generally have the current year tax program open on my right hand monitor (which also is a monitor which allows me to rotate it 90 degrees to portrait mode IE, Taller than wider) and everything else I may have open I access on the left hand monitor.

I know of some tax practitioners who use 3 monitors simultaneously.

[jeffmcpa2010]

One thing to consider about retiring. You could also just "Cherry Pick" a hundred or so of your best (easiest to work with, not necessarily highest fees) clients that you like to work with and get your workload down to a manageable level where you can work less hours and less stress, but still keep your "toes in the water", and tell the others, that you are "semi-retiring" and no longer have the capacity to handle their work.

[Camp1040]

I like using my dual monitors in portrait mode, takes up less desk space and the forms seem more natural to me in the portrait mode. If you have 650 clients I would run out today or order another monitor in a flash. FYI get at least a 32inch monitor, preferably bigger!  

[BobKamman]

And the dual monitors are proven Covid barriers!

[BobKamman]

I have a file folder for each client.  Stuff like that, I just write on the inside cover.  I have the folder on my desk when I'm working on a return.  

[dkh]

Client Status Worksheet has a Permanent Comments section at the bottom - this information will carry over to each year.  You could enter the county information, divorce date, etc  instead of looking to prior year return.

[BobKamman]

I used to do that with the Permanent Comments but then I installed Dual Monitors with one facing the client who happened to see at the bottom "When will these people ever shut up and go home?"

[ljr]

I still have the file folder and notes. I have enough trouble with 1 monitor - must be getting old. I keep prior year program open and just switch if I really need to. Although I like the idea of a monitor covid barrier. Maybe next year. . . .

[dkh]

        are they still a client ?  

[Greta]

I agree with ljr's posting. I probably couldn't manage a second monitor on my desk, in place of my snacks and odd papers. I will continue to switch back and forth between prior year's return as needed. I check my hard copy by glancing at last year's hard copy.