What's New - CFS Tax Software, Inc. - Software for Tax Professionals

What's New for 2008 Programs

What's New for TaxTools 2008

More Flexible Find Module Search -- Find Module Results – The Find Module button now displays all matches at once in a separate "Find Module Results" category.

Federal/State Tax Planner – Now it is easier to copy an entire column of data, so you can duplicate scenarios/years. Two new data entry options were added to the Tools menu. "Repeat Entire Column As Is" copies all values in the same column across the columns to the right. "Repeat Entire Column Inflated" inflates all values in the same column across the columns to the right.

New Modules for 2008
Kiddie Tax - Minimizing Effect of New Tax Rules for 2008 - This module calculates the tax savings that may result from recognizing the child’s long-term capital gains in 2007 rather than waiting to recognize them in 2008.

Loan Calculator: Comparison of Fixed Rate vs. ARM vs. Interest Only (ARM) Loans - This module will compare a fixed rate loan to an adjustable rate (ARM) fully amortized loan and an interest only ARM loan given the loan amount, term and interest rate.

Loan Calculator: Reverse Mortgage Estimator - This module estimates the loan amounts, costs and withdrawal options associated with the two types of government sponsored reverse mortgages.

Timeshare Ownership Compared to a Vacation Rental - This module calculates a cost comparison between owning a vacation timeshare and renting a comparable vacation rental (i.e. hotel, condominium, etc.).

IRA Minimum Distribution - Multiple Account Worksheet - This module provides a worksheet for managing the required minimum IRA distribution for taxpayers who have multiple IRA accounts and who wish to exercise some control over how much to take from each account and still meet the minimum requirements.

28 Forms (see below) from CFS Audit & Collections were added to TaxTools 2008, since Audit & Collections was discontinued. The online version of the Internal Revenue Manual is available via a link in TaxTools 2008. This document is fully searchable and includes the most relevant portions of the IRM.

List of Forms from AC
Form 211 - Application for Reward for Original Information
Form 907 - Agreement to Extend the Time to Bring Suit
Form 941-M - Employer's Monthly Federal Tax Return
Form 952 - Consent To Extend Period of Limitation on Assessment of Income Taxes
Form 12203 - Request for Appeals Review
Form 12507 - Innocent Spouse Statement
Form 12508 - Innocent Spouse Information Request
Form 12509 - Statement of Disagreement
Form 12510 - Questionnaire for Requesting Spouse
CA Form 4905BCT - Offer in Compromise, Banks, Corporations
CA Form BOE-490 - Offer in Compromise
CA Form BOE-490-C - Offer in Compromise for Corporations, LLCs, Partnerships, Trusts, and unidentified Business Organizations
CA Form DE 999 - Request for Offer in Compromise
CA Form DE 999A - Offer in Compromise Application
CA Form DE 999B - Offer in Compromise Application Financial Statement
CA Form DE 999D - Installment Plan Agreement
CA Form DE 2251A - Affidavit of Mailing
IL Form IL-2848 - Power of Attorney
IL Form IL-4506 - Request for Copy of Tax Return
MI Form 151 - Power of Attorney
NJ Form M-5008-R – Appointment of Taxpayer Representative
NY Form DTF-4 - Offer in Compromise
NY Form DTF-4.1 - Offer In Compromise Fully Determined Liability
NY Form TR-152 - Request for Copy of Filed Tax Return
OH Form TBOR-1 - Tax Information Authorization and Declaration of Representative
OR Form 150-800-005 - Power of Attorney
TX Form 01-137 - Limited Power of Attorney

Late Tax Changes and TaxTools 2008

In late December 2007, Congress finally passed legislation that would keep 23 million taxpayers from falling under the AMT. H.R. 3996 will extend for one year AMT relief for nonrefundable personal credits and increase the AMT exemption amount to $66,250 for joint filers (from $62,550 in 2006) and $44,350 for single filers (from $42,500 last year). For TaxTools 2008, the Federal/State Tax Planner was updated with the new AMT exemption amounts and personal credit changes.

In late December, the IRS released Notice 2008-5, which eased the dependency exemption rules for qualifying relatives. The notice essentially provides an exception to the rule that a person who is a qualifying child of another taxpayer cannot be claimed as a qualifying relative. CFS has updated the Dependency Exemption Flowchart in TaxTools to accommodate this change.

There were also several other tax-related bills that Congress sent to the President in late December. These bills covered various tax law changes, including mortgage debt relief and military family tax breaks.

Due to the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008, the IRS will soon be issuing rebate checks to millions of taxpayers. To help you calculate the amount your client will receive, we have created a new module in TaxTools 2008 called the Economic Stimulus Rebate Worksheet.

The Paycheck Withholding Calculator in TaxTools 2008 also includes tax tables for most states for 2008. And many other modules were updated and revised for 2008 tax rates and changes.

CFS will be releasing TaxTools 2008 soon containing the latest tax law updates. There are also several new features and modules in TaxTools 2008 (see list below). To take advantage of these new features and to ensure that you are giving your clients accurate tax projections, make sure you have renewed TaxTools for 2008.

What’s New for Tax Corresponder 2008

Find Template

What’s new: The Find Template search utility now searches for templates containing the keyword in the title or body of the template. A description of how this works, from the help file: "A user may locate templates quickly in the list by entering a keyword in the Find Template dialog. The Find Template dialog is accessed from the FILE menu or the Find Template button on the Template Library screen. After entering a keyword or string and clicking <OK>, the category will change to "Find Template Results" and all Templates containing the text in the title or body of the template will be displayed. To quickly return to the "All" category with the current template selected, press CTRL+<F3>. Pressing CTRL+<F3> again will repeat the last find operation."

New Templates

Sixteen new templates were added for 2008, covering a wide range of tax topics.
Client Firing Practitioner
Divorce Issues
Kiddie Tax - Strategies to Lessen the Impact of 2007 Law Changes
Govt. Correspondence: Balance Due Refunded to Client in Error
IRAs: Election to Take a Lump Sum or an Annuity from Employer
Estate Planning: Gift Tax Exclusion-How Much May I Give Away in One Year
Charitable: Non-Cash Charitable Contributions That Exceed $5,000
Charitable: What Qualifies as Charitable Travel and Is Deductible
Mortgages: Home Equity over the $100,000 Limit
Employer: Guide to Hiring a New Employee
Tax Planning: Hobby vs. Business
AMT: Home Equity Interest and AMT Adjustments
AMT: Mortgage Interest and AMT Adjustments
AMT: Refundable AMT Credit
Section 266: Election to Capitalize Investment Expenses on Unimproved Property
Year End Tax Tidbits

What’s New for LivePayroll 2008

Worker's Comp Reports in LivePayroll 2008
LivePayroll now has workers' compensation tracking and reports. Workers' comp codes can be added and assigned to employees and/or income items and can be assigned rates. Employer's experience modification factor or rate can also be set. Workers' comp reports can be set up and created. Various options for creating the report are set up on the workers' comp report setup screen.