A new client claims he is a fiscal year filer with January 31 as his year end. I called Drake to see how to enter & the tech stated all 1040 filers are due 4/15. I thought fiscal filing was allowed for 1040's, am I wrong?

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Drake is a software company. Did you really expect a software tech to know more about taxes than you as a tax pro?

Look at the 1040 page 1 just above the filers last name field and you will see the date fields to insert for the fiscal year filer. Now... ask the client to give you a copy of last years tax return to make sure he filed as a fiscal year filer and to see how the other preparer has been reporting things. Good luck.

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Thanks Jack, of course you are right as I remember the line on the 1040 you mention. I will just manually delete the late penalties from the Drake program as this return will not be due until May 15th. Thanks again for your response to my silly question (I knew better when I asked it).

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>>(I knew better when I asked it).<<

No.. asking is what this forum is all about. If in doubt...ask! It never hurts to ask... just remember that the answer may sometimes be wrong. :)

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I don't remember, but if you fill-in the correct quarter due dates for a fiscal year on form 2210 your software should not calculate a penalty?

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>>Did you really expect a software tech to know more about taxes than you as a tax pro?<<

No, but I would expect a software tech to know how to fill out their own forms, and I would expect his answers to only relate to that subject.

So Drake does not support a fiscal year 1040 -- anybody know any software that DOES? It would be pretty complicated. W2 income must be allocated to the fiscal year, while W2 withholding goes by the calendar year, etc.

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>>W2 income must be allocated to the fiscal year, while W2 withholding goes by the calendar year, etc.<<

I have never done a fiscal year 1040 so I really don't know how things are to be allocated. Strange tho that on a calendar year 1040 taxpayer receiving a *K-1* from a fiscal year business/fiduciary does not have to allocate.

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>>W2 income must be allocated to the fiscal year<<

The whole concept is strange. Personally, I've never seen it either, but that's what Pub 505 says.

Now I have this idea for changing myself to fiscal year. I'm gonna use February, since 2008 is a leap year.

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Good luck.

The IRS discourages this election unless you can establish a very very good reason.

In the long run, this makes no difference. Sort of like rounding cents but one is rounding days.

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Hey... only filing every 4 years would cost a lot less, save paper, and be good for the environment!!...and me :)

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According to once-upon-a-time campus rumor, there was an accounting prof at Univ of MD who adopted fiscal years for his children by filing their first 1040s on a non-calendar year. Turns out, if you're adopting a non-calendar year, rathat than changing to one, on your first return, no reason or explanation is needed.

The prof's name was, IIRC, Bohrer. Anybody heard of him? This was .. uh .. a long time ago... Like maybe thirty years...

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