Tax Forms Guides for 2011 Editions of Tax Preparer

HowardSoft Manuals for 2011 Editions

The latest revision of Tax Forms Guide 2011 Edition is automatically installed when you update to release 2011.01w, and is then accessible from your Tax Preparer Control Panel for on-screen viewing while using Tax Preparer. As a result, there is no need to download the manual here if you have already installed release 2011.01w of the 1040 software. However, if you want to download the latest revision manually, you can do so here. Just right-click the underlined link, then click Save Target As... and save the file to the same location as your Tax Preparer software (usually C:\TAX). The on-screen manual will then be accessible from the Documents button on the floating Tax Preparer Control Panel when you use Tax Preparer.

• Tax Forms Guide 2011 Edition for our software for preparing Form 1040 returns (also included in all updates to release 2011.01w). (Adobe Acrobat format, 5,077 KB, revised 10/7/2011)

The latest revision of California Tax Forms Guide 2011 Edition is automatically installed when you update to release 2011.01e, and is then accessible from your Tax Preparer Control Panel for on-screen viewing while using Tax Preparer. As a result, there is no need to download the manual here if you have already installed California (540) release 2011.01e of the 540 software. However, if you want to download the latest revision manually, you can do so here. Just right-click the underlined link, then click Save Target As... and save the file to the same location as your Tax Preparer software (usually C:\TAX). The on-screen manual will then be accessible from the Documents button on the floating Tax Preparer Control Panel when you use Tax Preparer.

• California Tax Forms Guide 2011 Edition for our software for preparing Form 540 returns (also included in all updates to release 2011.01e). (Adobe Acrobat format, 1,252 KB, revised 4/11/2011)

The latest revision of Partnership Tax Forms Guide 2011 Edition is available here for download. It differs from the revision that is automatically installed with release 2011.01b only in references to certain line numbers on Form 3468. To download the latest revision manually, right-click the underlined link, then click Save Target As... and save the file to the same location as your Tax Preparer software (usually C:\TAX). The on-screen manual will then be accessible from the Documents button on the floating Tax Preparer Control Panel when you use Tax Preparer.

• Partnership Tax Forms Guide 2011 Edition for our software for preparing Form 1065 returns (contains minor revisions to version included in all updates to release 2011.01b). (Adobe Acrobat format, 744 KB, revised 3/29/2011)

Also see the updated User's Guide, below.

TIP: Be sure to read our Tips for using on-screen manuals, below, for easiest access to the page you need. You'll get quicker access than any static index could provide.

IRS Resources for 2011 Filing Season

IRS forms and publications. The Tax Preparer CD-ROM with which you start the tax season contains a wide variety of IRS forms, instructions, and publications that had been released by the time we compiled the disk. To keep up-to-date throughout the tax season, however, you can download the latest releases direct from the IRS web page for IRS Forms and Publications. You should save your downloads to C:\TAX\DOC2011 so that you can access them from the Tax Preparer Control Panel while Tax Preparer is running. Note that the IRS forms and publications contained on the CD-ROM you received reflect IRS releases through January 5, 2011 for the Pre-Release (2011.pre) and IRS releases through January 16, 2010 for the Regular Releases (2011.01 and 2011.01a).

FTB Resources for 2011 Filing Season

FTB forms and publications. The California Supplement CD-ROM with which you start the tax season contains a wide variety of FTB forms, instructions, and publications that had been released by the time we compiled the disk. To keep up-to-date throughout the tax season, however, you can download the latest releases direct from the FTB web page for FTB Forms and Publications. Just click the Get Forms button on this page and you will get a list of 2010 forms and publications that you can download. You should save your downloads to C:\TAX\DOC2011 so that you can access them from the Tax Preparer Control Panel while Tax Preparer is running.

User's Guide

Purpose. The User's Guide provides general operating instructions that do not change from year to year, but we have recently updated it to include new information on our Tax Preparer Control Panel, Windows graphic printing, and the use of Tax Preparer with newer versions of Windows Vista. This document includes quick guides for getting you started, tutorials using a sample return, and detailed instructions on keyboard controls, using a mouse instead of the keyboard, managing stored data (including copying or translating returns, removing forms from a return, printing client lists and mailing labels, etc.), high-volume data entry, printing, and program settings.

Updated in 2009. The April 2009 revision of the User's Guide is included in all releases, and is automatically installed in the proper folder for instant access from your Tax Preparer Control Panel.

However, you can also download the newest User's Guide here. Just right-click the below underlined link and save the file to the same location as your Tax Preparer program, usually C:\TAX.

• User's Guide for all Tax Preparer products. (Adobe Acrobat format, 2,972 KB, rev. 5/5/2009)

Once you copy this file to the proper location, you can easily access it from the floating Tax Preparer Control Panel by clicking either Documents or Help, then the name User's Guide.

Tips for using on-screen manuals

HowardSoft manuals and IRS documents are supplied in PDF format for easy on-screen viewing and printing. To view these documents you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer (available free on the internet and included on HowardSoft CD-ROMs). Here are our recommendations on using the manuals and documents in concert with Tax Preparer:

• Access manuals and IRS documents through Tax Preparer. Start Tax Preparer through Windows the way you normally do, then click Documents on the floating Tax Preparer Control Panel. From the drop-down menu you can choose HowardSoft's Tax Forms Guides or the IRS's Forms and Publications. Either way, the document you choose will open in its own Adobe Reader window.
• Position Tax Preparer and Adobe Reader windows side-by-side. Reposition the main Tax Preparer window and the Adobe Reader window by dragging the top bar of each window. Once you have them where you want them, you can resize them as follows:
  • To resize Adobe Reader window: drag any corner of the window to change the size to your preferences. Resize the document within the window by clicking the Fit Page or Fit Width icon (from a Tool Bar or from View on the Menu Bar).
  • To resize Tax Preparer window: Click the icon in the top left corner of the main window. Choose Properties from the drop-down menu, then choose the Fonts tab. Change the size of the font to change the size of the window -- a larger font produces a larger window.
• Use Bookmarks to find a chapter or section. Bookmarks provide a clickable Table of Contents of for all HowardSoft manuals:
  • Click the Bookmarks tab on the left edge of the window (for recent versions of Adobe Reader only), to alternately see the bookmarks or hide them.
  • Press F5 (Bookmarks key) (for older versions of Adobe Reader only), to alternately see the bookmarks or hide them.

  Once you see the bookmarks, click any topic to jump to that section of the manual.

• Use Find or Search to find a word or phrase. Find and Search both let you find the phrase you want, but each functions in its own unique way:
  • Press ctrl-F (Find), enter a phrase, and you are taken to the first occurence of the phrase. Press ctrl-G (Find Next) and you are taken to the next occurence. (You can press ctrl-G as many times as you want until you have viewed all occurences of the phrase.)
  • Press shift-ctrl-F (Search), enter a phrase, and you are shown a list of all occurences of the phrase (along with a few surrounding words). Click any item in the list, and you are taken directly to the corresponding page. (You can return to the list as many times as you want to choose other items in the list.)

  Both options are also accessible through the Edit choice on the Adobe Reader menu bar.