I am writing this topic as something that continues to be a minor inconvenience to me… although admittedly it likely just irritates my OCD condition… so minor most users may not even notice.
In many instances (and for various reasons) I may not always wish to claim the maximum CCA on differing assets. I realize that TaxCycle has a setting in the S8 schedule if I don’t wish to take CCA, or if I want to claim a certain total amount of CCA in general. The S8Claim screen has further settings where I can select one of the 4 options (A,B,C or D).
If I wish to claim an amount of CCA that differs from what TaxCycle calculates I am limited to letting the software decide which particular class of assets to make the claim on, which is dependent on A,B,C, or D of the S8Claim form. If I wish to make my own decision with regard to the amount of CCA I wish to claim on each particular asset class, I must over-ride the CCA claim for each of those pools in either the S8Asset schedule or on the S8 itself. Unfortunately, when you over-ride the CCA claim for an asset the software generates at least 2 diagnostic messages for each class that you have manually entered the CCA as follows;
S8Asset (8-a): Override: Federal CCA TaxCycle calculated xxx.xx
S8: Override 217-CCA for the year. TaxCycle calculated xxx.xx
I have never been able to figure out how to enter my own CCA amount without requiring an over-ride and without generating at least 2 diagnostic warnings per asset class. I have tried to go to File–>Options–>Review–>2017T2 and there is no way that I can see that would allow me to uncheck a box pertaining to either of those diagnostic messages. At very least I would have liked to get rid of one of the messages. Also, if I right click either of those messages in the “Review Section” of the tax return, there is no option to “Never show this message for any clients”.
My irritation is not particularly that TaxCycle warns me when I enter my own amount for CCA, but the software feels it necessary to really shame me and generate 2 virtually identical messages on the same over-ride, one of which I feel is redundant.
Of course, in my idea of a perfect world TaxCycle would include an additional field on the S8Asset screen for each class, where the user could manually enter their own amount of CCA for each class if they wished to claim a different amount. A diagnostic message would only appear IF the amount of CCA amount entered manually by the preparer exceeded the normal maximum amount allowed for that class.
For instance, on the S8Asset screen, between the Asset Information and the Current Year Addition/Disposition Transactions sections, there could be 2 items (the first of which would be a safeguard to confirm the user’s intent to manually enter the CCA).
1 - Do you wish to claim an amount of CCA that is different from the calculated amount? (Y/N)
2 - Enter the amount of CCA you wish to claim (which could contain all 3 jurisdictions; Federal, Alberta, and Quebec)
I do realize if something like this was implemented, it may be a major change to the software, as there are other areas (for instance the S8Claim area, Optimizations) that also have a hand in determining the CCA amount to claim.
I don’t know if the double diagnostic messages for over-ridden CCA fields bother any other TaxCycle users, or whether it’s just me that likes to have as few review messages as possible when I have completed a tax return. I would like to play a role in preparation of the tax return, which includes the opportunity to select the amount of CCA I wish to claim without feeling the software is somehow questioning my logic.
Although the above example is from a T2 return, this applies for both T1 and T2… especially T1 for me because I round all CCA amounts on all T1 schedules (T2125, T2042, T1164, T776, T777 etc), which means I virtually over-ride every CCA amount on every schedule that includes pennies.
I made mention of this a while back, but thought I’d bring it up one last time.