Category: Uncategorized
-
Acronis backup poised for a comeback?
Acronis was once considered to be at the top of the backup services for retail PC customers. Then the products and the issues they were designed to address became too complicated. (See the screenshot below as an example of how it became ridiculously difficult for an average retail customer to use the product. Any product…
-
Why do I have to reveal my income when buying medical insurance?
Some people ask why the online health insurance marketplace requires personal information like household income and number of people in the household just to get a price for medical insurance. It is a legitimate question and appears to be a growing concern among affluent online shoppers. After all, no other consumer product requires this information just to…
-
What is the best time of day to post on social media?
For a business person like me who uses social media regularly and blogs daily, when is the best time of day to post a blog? What about a Facebook post or a Tweet? I conclude this is a simple question without a simple answer. The published articles on this topic, including the graph below, suggest…
-
Sandy flood insurance claim review won’t be an easy process
US Senators from New York and New Jersey have been working for many months to get FEMA to admit that its contractors ripped-off Sandy victims by low-balling flood insurance claims. Finally FEMA agreed to review all flood claims of people who felt they were short-changed by the assessors. I was among those affected. In short,…
-
Run QuickBooks reports at the same time when a bank requests financials
I learned a simple lesson today dealing with a client’s bank: In this situation, I am the new online bookkeeper and there is another outside CPA involved. The bank needed unaudited financial statements. I am not allowed to prepare them for this purpose under the online bookkeeping agreement.The client produced them and sent them to…
-
Why most people do not invest
“few people do other things financial advisers recommend, like waiting until they’re 70 to take Social Security, opening 529 college savings plans and making good use of Roth IRAs, he says. The real problem is income stagnation and “a widening gap between the affluent, who can afford to save and invest for retirement, and everyone…
-
Consumer tax scam focuses on Affordable Care Act
The IRS published this warning for taxpayers to choose their tax professional carefully as they say reports are coming in from around the country describing unscrupulous preparers who instruct their clients to make individual shared responsibility payments directly to the preparer. I have not received any complaints of this type but the overall number of tax-related consumer…
-
Charitable organizations should not give tax advice
I’ve run across situations recently where donors to charitable organizations feel ripped-off when their accountant or tax preparer (during tax filing season) told them that they would not benefit from a tax deduction they made in the prior tax year. This creates tension, undermines the goodwill that the charitable organization has built and, even worse,…
-
Usually NO tax deduction for charitable donations
You’ve made a charitable donation to a qualified organization and they gave you a receipt for your donation. Great job, you deserve to feel good about your action! Now, do you get a tax deduction for your good deed? In most cases the answer is “NO”. Here is why: 1. IRS says that only about one in…
-
Audio Post on full time employee testing under ACA
This user question was about inconsistencies in payroll reports that make ACA compliance testing difficult for employees who work somewhere near 130 hours per month. I referred to it as the “grey zone”. Excerpt from my written response: “It is an interesting question and it seems that you have a good handle on the…