Category: Taxes
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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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“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…
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When can a tax preparer accept your word?
When can a professional tax preparer accept your word without documentation and when must a tax preparer rely on other contradicting information? These issues came up several times this week in my work. The guiding principles are listed in IRS Circular 230 but are frequently not understood by taxpayers. While almost half of all tax…
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Mobile scanning apps for taxes and accounting
If you want to handle taxes or accounting on your smartphone or tablet, you need a mobile scanning app installed on your device. The two most popular apps that are completely free, have no premium upgrade option, include optical character recognition, and are available on all cell phone and tablet computer platforms are: Office Lens…
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How to help employees pay for individual health insurance
Small business employers often help employees afford the cost of individual health insurance rather than enroll employees in the company’s own health insurance policy. This is often the least expensive way to ensure that employees find the best coverage at the lowest price. For employees this employer involvement is often the best way – sometimes the…
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What to do if your W-2 includes taxable health benefits
Summary: Employer-paid health benefits included as W-2 taxable wages is an accounting error that appears to flourish this year due to misinterpretation of tax laws surrounding the Affordable Care Act by small business accountants. The error financially hurts employees by overstating tax liability and reducing eligibility for various tax credits. Fix the error by talking to…
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Reviewing income tax returns for accuracy and opportunity
Reviewing income tax returns for accuracy is valuable because it can avoid processing delays, prevent errors that would cause audits and trigger penalties. There is a second potentially more valuable reason to review a tax return. and uncover opportunities for tax planning to reduce tax burdens in the future. Many accountants, including myself, offer a…
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How to change the tax reporting of employer health insurance payments
There is a ‘wrong way’ and a ‘right way’ to report a change in employee health insurance payments to avoid payroll tax liability problems Case 1: The wrong way to change employer reporting of health insurance Tom works for ABC Inc. at a salary of $50,000. ABC has no health insurance plan but agreed to reimburse…
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Employer health insurance payments are not wages
Employer-paid health insurance may not be included in employee wages. Doing so, even in error, does not alleviate the employer from possible excise taxes under ACA. This errant accounting practice also creates additional employer tax penalty liabilities for improper reporting of wages. This afternoon I attended a continuing professional education webinar where a fabulous tax expert…
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Explaining the Health Insurance Penalty
Accountants and tax preparers complain that they have been put in the position of enforcing the Affordable Care Act’s insurance mandate without compensation or training as health insurance agents. They are absolutely correct and this system has produced in some bizarre results. This was illustrated when one accountant wrote to me “I have clients that…