Category: Taxes
-
Implications of blockchain in everyday accounting
The AICPA co-published a new report on blockchain that is written primarily by accountants at Deloitte & Touche LLP. The report covers a range of issues from introduction of concept to a call for action for CPAs. It is not an accounting standards publication but rather a white paper on the issue of blockchain. The decentralized…
-
Questions about a QSEHRA?
(This inform is not updated to reflect 2019 proposed regulations so should be presumed to be partially obsolete). Yesterday I was hired for a single consultation engagement for a small business in Silicon Valley to answer a few simple questions about setting up a Qualified Small Employer Health Reimbursement Arrangement (QSEHRA). This is a simple,…
-
Husband and wife partnerships are complicated
I’m talking taxes here, not relationship advice. I’m the last person who should be giving advice on marital relationships. Unfortunately, I might not be much help on the tax and legal issues either. The best I hope to accomplish in this blog post is to list some of the issues, in bullet format, that should be…
-
Don’t replace common sense with technology
Tax filing is like grocery shopping Technology has transformed the annual tax filing ritual but far too many people are replacing good judgement with purely online mechanical tools. The result is a recent spike in errors leading to costly tax penalties and higher tax payments over the long-term. The most important part of the tax…
-
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…
-
Impact of Tax Reform on the Finances of Seniors
Most of the changes included in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act are already effective for 2018. These are mostly good news for seniors. Retirees will be less affected by the tax law changes than other Americans since the changes do not affect the way Social Security and investment income are taxed.However, changes that become effective…
-
Tax transcripts
I recommend, but do not require, that tax clients allow me to get a tax transcript from IRS to check the data that IRS has reported to them vs. the data that we have available from our own sources. This procedure adds to the cost of service but catches many errors and avoids IRS trouble…
-
Payroll taxes unresolved?
Do you have payroll reporting requirements for the first time in 2018? Or do you have existing payroll but are not happy with the reporting services? Good news: We can offer payroll takeover retroactive to 1/1/2018 with no setup fees and no takeover fees. That’s the best payroll service deal that you will see all…
-
#IRSFails
In this blog I’ve occasionally written about the extraordinary level of difficulty I’ve experienced resolving clients’ tax matters with IRS. Most recently posts like “Fun and Games With the IRS” and “Today’s adventures with IRS” attempt to document serious service deficiencies in a lighthearted and almost comical blog post. Today CPA Trendines covers the same…
-
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…