Category: Accounting
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Four small business accounting systems you will see less often in 2016
updated September 2018 to remove outdated recommendations. There are literally hundreds of high quality small business accounting platforms available today. The array of features is impressive and the cost is minimal when we consider the number of human labor hours saved in comparison with accounting tools of generations past. All of these services offer a…
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Excited about focus of services for 2016
Note: This service offer does not apply for 2017 and beyond. Please see the “Services” page for current offering details. I feel excited and energized by my planned specialization of services for 2016. I’ve just crossed the one year anniversary mark on the re-launch of my solo accounting practice after being out of the industry for…
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Where are the checklists for 2015 small business tax changes?
Accountants handling difficult tax and audit issues typically work from checklists. Checklists are a well-proven tool in many other work activities outside of tax and financial statement preparation. This year all of the significant federal tax law changes affecting small businesses pertain directly to the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. Accounting organizations like AICPA…
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Small business ACA compliance toolkit available for 2015
My firm Freedom Benefits offers a 2015 compliance toolkit to help small business employers who find themselves on the wrong side of 2015 ACA requirements. The tax penalties can be significant for the tens of thousands of firms affected. Equally important, IMO, is the need to effectively communicate the required changes to employees who are…
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Toolkit for small business health plans
There are three significant changes to federal income tax law this year that affect many small businesses. (While there were other 2015 tax law changes that affected small businesses most of the others were adjustments to inflation and those other changes cannot be impacted by the tax planning actions of small business employers). All three…
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The proper way for S corporations to report health benefits of shareholders
U.S. federal tax law differentiates the tax accounting methods for employee health benefits from the treatment of self-employed individuals. Operators of small businesses organized as S corporations under state law are considered to the self-employed for income tax reporting but are typically also employees of the S corporation. Employer paid health benefits are most commonly…
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FreshBooks Certified Accountant
I just completed about 4 or 5 hours of accountant training for FreshBooks small business accounting platform. It has some impressive features and I’m sure I’ll write about them soon. The short version of my review: FreshBooks is an excellent choice for sole proprietors who bill for their time. Support is excellent; they are “trying…
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Revenue Ruling 99-6 LLC partnership conversion to disregarded entity
I have a client who is considering converting an LLC that has elected treatment as a partnership to a disregarded entity owned by husband and wife in a community property state. The goal is to simplify accounting and tax reporting while still retaining the liability benefits of the LLC. No information is available as to…
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Tax planning is tough for high income clients
Many people do not realize that tax planning becomes more difficult as income increases. The easy strategies like those discussed in the article “Top 10 easy tax strategies” do not work as well. Tax planning sometimes requires adjusting to rapidly rising income; not such a terrible problem to face. But the tax calculation changes triggered…
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The wrong way to do year-end tax planning
Implementation is the most important part! The Thanksgiving Day online edition of The Wall Street Journal carried an article about year-end tax planning strategies. It caught my attention because this is my favorite part of my own professional practice; a service I look forward to providing in the last quarter of each year. It is…