I appreciate all of the comments that have been made to my posting.  As we have all discovered, Lacerte allows us to access each part of the software in different ways because we all work differently.  Some of us, myself included, much appreciate the ability to use Lacerte as a place to leave notes and do allocations within the data fields so that we have fewer documents that can get misplaced.  Others, like yourself, much prefer to prepare separate worksheets and enter the net amounts.  This flexibility is one of the reasons why we work with Lacerte.  My point to the posting should probably have stated to please allow this flexibility throughout the software and not limit us to only entering positive amounts.

Let me share an example of when a negative number needs to be in a return.  I had a client purchase a property mid-year and they received a credit through escrow on the property taxes that are due next year.  I will be reporting a negative amount for property taxes as the taxpayer reports on the cash basis.  If Lacerte limited this field to only positive amounts, we would not be allowed to report the credit in the proper place on the return.  Thankfully this field allows a negative amount to be entered and thus I am a happy tax preparer.  This is not the only time I find negative numbers being the correct amount to be reported, so again, I am asking for the ability to use Lacerte in the way that works best for me in my practice as all of us desire.