Category: Accounting
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One door closes, another opens
“When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us”. – Alexander Graham Bell A poorly matched tax engagement ended early yesterday on the same day as I brought in a record amount of new business. I hardly have time…
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Quickbooks pricing revisited
The pricing information in this post is now of of date. I can save businesses $500+. But should I? Quickbooks remains by far the most popular small business accounting platform capturing about 4 in 5 businesses in this market. The services I most commonly work with – accounting, taxes, banking services, financial planning, payroll and…
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2018: The year for a Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA)
(This inform is not updated to reflect 2019 proposed regulations so should be presumed to be partially obsolete). Summary: Small businesses with middle-income employees may use a Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA) to help cover out-of-pocket medical costs or individual insurance premiums as one of the easiest ways to cut 2018 taxes at minimal administrative and setup…
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The Impact of “Funny Numbers”
Will the ‘tone at the top’ trigger an increase in tax fraud? There are a few topics that I don’t talk about or write about in this blog. It’s usually because they are some combination of distasteful, unethical. illegal, immoral, controversial and a ‘no-win’ situation. One of those topics is accounting fraud. I covered the…
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Five reasons to not extend your business tax return due date
As a tax planner and an advocate of automated accounting systems, I’ve said many times that preparation of the tax return is the least important and certainly least valuable service that I provide. I’ve used the phrasing, even over the objections of tax preparers, that the business tax return should almost effortlessly “fall out” of…
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Tax Preparation Fees for 2017 Tax Returns
This post and pricing information is now out of date. “How much do you charge for tax returns?” Of course this is a common question from new and prospective clients during tax season. The answer is that I simply use the published national average fee for tax services as a benchmark. Those rates are published…
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Everything you need to file your income tax return.
About half of us file our own returns and half get professional help. Of the options remote professional tax service is fast, efficient, safe and economical. No matter what method, now is the time to check to e sure you have the information necessary to file. Today is February 4 and you should have everything needed…
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Unreimbursed partnership expenses revisited
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act triggers changes to the tax treatment of unreimbursed partnership expenses for 2018. Partnerships should revisit their policies to ensure that partners and employees maximize tax savings under the new law. Under former law a partner could deduct the expenses of the partnership on his or her individual income tax…
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Tax savings with accountable plans
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act snuck up on many of us. Suddenly in January 2018 tens of millions of Americans are denied a range of tax deductions that have been part of our personal and business financial culture for more than a lifetime. While most taxpayers will see a decrease in taxes, some of us…
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3 steps to perfect small business bookkeeping
Small business bookkeeping in a perfect world would involve three steps: STEP 1: Enter transactions as they occur by the person actually making the transaction. For example, you stop to buy gasoline. You snap a photo of the receipt on your cell phone and enter the transaction on your mobile phone accounting app. Later you…