Category: Accounting
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CPAs’ role in the political process
Within the next few weeks I expect to be involved in the filming of a video by the New Jersey Society of CPAs about the importance of CPAs’ legislative involvement. Here is the Illinois version of the same topic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lB_eKQlri-o. While I’m not the filmmaker and am not in any position of charge of the…
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PA unreimbursed business expense deduction creates an audit risk
For he past few years the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue aggressively audited the tax returns of individuals who took a deduction for unreimbursed employee expenses on Schedule PA-UE. The topic was covered by the Pittsburg Tribune in June 2014. My quick online poll of professional tax preparers last summer indicated that the audit rate was near 100% of…
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CPAs: “from crisis manager to opportunity director”
The theme of this year’s New Jersey CPA convention is changing our primary roles and focus “from crisis manager to opportunity director”. My mantra over the past few years is that CPAs need to be the agents of change for today’s businesses. I’m looking forward to hearing more about what others are doing in this…
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What is the value of a financial adviser?
One of the surprise lessons of this tax season was learning how many sophisticated and successful clients are paying more than five figures annually for what essentially amount to picking mutual funds. Many of the cases I saw while preparing tax returns were fees paid through Charles Schwab for funds offered in retirement plan accounts…
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Help for last-minute tax filers
These final 20 day of tax season can be stressful on taxpayers and tax preparers. I will work at least 14 hours a day in order to meet my own work deadlines and contribute to the workload of other tax preparers. Yet it makes sense for a young accounting practice to reserve time for new…
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Homeowner tax credits for energy efficient upgrades
Have you overlooked a small tax credit? The IRS offers two types of tax credits to homeowners in 2015 and 2016: the Residential Energy Efficiency Property Credit and the Nonbusiness Energy Property Credit. The first applies only to solar and renewable energy systems and is not discussed in this article. The second type of tax…
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Beware of these tax penalties
Yesterday my attention was drawn to several small business tax penalty issues. 1099-MISC Several situations came to my attention where small businesses and especially home-based businesses are not aware of their requirement to file form 1099-MISC for payments they made last year. Heed this basic rule: If your business pays $600 to an individual or…
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Two week reminder for corporate tax filing deadline
The March 15, 2016 deadline for filing most corporate tax returns is approaching quickly. To avoid penalties either the tax return or a request for an extension must be filed on or before that date. In either case, taxes due must be paid by that date to avoid extra penalties and interest, If your 2015…
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Time to look ahead for work after tax season
Updating the resume and setting minimal earnings requirements Looking ahead to the end of tax season I became concerned with my lack of future work projects. So I updated my online resume and sent out a few inquiries. I also updated a cover letter to go with the resume that is not published online and,…
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“Pay half” tax preparation offer draws public discussion
H&R Block has caused commotion within the tax preparation industry last week with its “pay half” offer for new clients. Likewise, Intuit has annoyed some with its TurboTax advertisements suggesting that tax preparation is a simple do-it-yourself project. The TurboTax “It doesn’t take a genius” ad campaign belies the decades of training that tax professionals…