News Bulletin - April 4,  2008

Please do not respond to this Email. It is a broadcast.

We have listed below a few 'How to' items that may be of interest and provided answers to some frequently asked questions. You could find more items in the FAQ section of our web site: http://www.visualtax.com/t1faq.asp

Most recent T1 update

The last update we posted on our web site was on March 28, 2008 by the name T1UpdM28.exe.

The easiest way to download the March 28 update is the following

a. Close the T1 program

b. Click here to download:  www.visualtax.com/downloads/t1updm28.exe and select Open or Run

Please read the 'What's New' section.

How to find out if your program is up-to-date

Run the T1 program. Click Help on the top menu and then click the last item 'About'. 

The line 'Your Current update is: yyyy/mm/dd'  indicates what your last update is. If it is prior to 2008/03/28 you will need to download the last update.

How to download the last update posted

You can use one of the following methods:

Method 1. While running the T1 program click on Help of the top menu  and then Click Check Update via Web. This downloads and installs the update and restarts the program. In some Windows versions you may get an error message 'Cannot create output file'. This  means that the update cannot be installed since the T1 program is still open. You should use Method 2 to do a download/install. Please let us know what Windows version you are running if that error pops up in your machine.   

Method 2. Close the T1 program and click here to connect to our web site www.visualtax.com and click the Downloads tab. Scroll  down and locate the T1-2007 section. Click on the last Update file (i.e. T1UpdM19.exe) and select Open or Run

There is no harm in downloading/installing the same update

Read the 'What's New' any time you install an update.

Click the top menu 'Help' item and then select What's New.

Some significant program changes this year

1. Handling joint T3 and T5 slips: These slips can be entered on ONE of the spouses, but you need to specify the %. i.e. If a slip is exclusive to one spouse, the other must have 0%

2. CCA: This is a major departure from previous years. Starting with the Feb. 24 update the program requires that all CCA related data is entered on the AssetsB and Autos forms (new forms). To ease this transition a new button is available on the Assets form called 'Populate from statements'.  Please press F1 for help while on the AssetsB form. 

Please read the rationale for this change at www.visualtax.com/ccaredesign.asp 

Starting with this year, all UCC's will be maintained on the Assets form(s) which now provide the continuity from year to year. A bit more work is involved this year, but there are benefits over the longer term: more accurate record keeping and compliance with CRA requirements.

3. Family Optimization: Most splittable credits now have a % split between spouses allowing you to fine tune the tax payable. Percentages can be entered on Medical, Donations, Dependants, Adoption expenses, Public Transit, Fitness, Disability transfer, etc.

The Automatic Family Optimization available in the Power version considers the Pension Splitting and the rest of the credits and tries to find the Optimum Split. This feature works well in most cases but it may fail in some cases. It is best to test the result by changing any of the recommended percentage splits or use directly the Pension Split on the T1032 form.

How to find EFile Error Codes in the Program. Click EfileOnline on the top menu and then click "list of efile errors". If you click "All (Master List" all the error codes will be shown on the left side panel. Some 6 character error codes begin with the letter "Y" on the Master List.

Efile Error Codes - 6 characters long such as 188518. These errors refer to the line numbers of a self-employment statement or rental statement. The last 4 digits (in the above case 8518) is the line at fault. In general, all individual income and expense lines MUST be positive and not less than a $1. If you received multiple codes like the above, usually by fixing the first one will take care of the rest.

Efile error: Invalid characters in the free format area: Usually it is the self-employment statement. In general, all individual income and expense lines on a self employment statement or rental MUST be positive and not less than a $1.

Efile Overrides: If you need to override the value transmitted to Efile, you can use the Efile memo form (EFMEMO). 

Suppose you want to override line 371 to send $1 to EFile: Bring up the EFMEMO form, and scroll it down until you locate the Overrides section. Enter 371 on the LineNo box and 1 on the Value for Efile box.

How to track the progress of Efiling and tax preparation

Click on File,  then click 'Open Selectively..' and select a filter

Program Overrides

In general, we only have specific and controlled overrides. CRA is discouraging the use of blind overrides as it breaks the balance between the various schedules.

Fitness Worksheet

If the name does not stay, enter the amount first under the Amount column

Back up the tax data

We encourage you to back up your tax data. See Utilities | Backup all tax data. Also copy the backed-up tax data folder to an external drive (CD or flash drive). It can save you a great deal of problems in the event the computer in not operable any longer.

How to copy files for home use (i.e. into your flash drive)

Method 1. Open up the Client Book (via the Open button), highlight the one you want to copy and click on the Button 'Copy/Move'. Then enter the desired destination folder such as E:\Data. 

Method 2"  Email a tax return to yourself. Open the Client Book (Via the Open Button), highlight a return and Click the EMail Button. Then at home, open the Email and save the attachments into your data directory (i.e. C:\T1-2007\Data). To open the new file, run the program and click File | Open by file name

Client Letter does not work: See http://www.visualtax.com/t1faq.asp

How to delete a shared slip or statement or any other 'shared' form between spouses? 

There are several forms shared between spouses. The program attaches them to both returns so you can use a split % without having to re-enter the info. This applies to several worksheets (UCCB, Fitness, Dependands, or even Business Statements that have a split % between the two spouses) .
To remove the data from such forms:
a. Stop the coupling (Click on the red 'Family on' button)
b. Right click on the form (any place in the blue area) and select 'clear current form'.
c. Press F8 to switch to the other spouse and Clear it from that spouse as well.
d. Re-couple (click the Family Coupling icon)

How to register in the User-to-user Forum

We encourage users of our software to register in the VisualTax Forum. 

Unless you are already registered in the Forum, click the following link to access the Forum  http://www.visualtax.com/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi  

and then click 'Please Register' at the top right hand corner. It allows you to participate and exchange knowledge with other VisualTax users in an anonymous way. Many users found the Forum a fast way to get answers to tax questions or program operation.  

Yours truly,

VisualTax