If you watch TV, chances are you’ve seen the new H&R Block commercials for this tax season. As a small Utah CPA firm, I covet H&R Block’s marketing budget. In my opinion, its marketing messages have been pretty compelling. But therein lies the problem with its marketing. Compelling doesn’t mean truthful or accurate. Starting with the fine print on the commercial, I feel H&R Block’s…
During tax season, I hate it when I hear, “I’m surprised to see you.” Background: In case you didn’t know, client referrals are a huge part of any CPA firm’s growth. At Incite, we make a concerted effort networking with clients and other professionals. Between the months of January and April, when we network, we will hear “I’m surprised to see you” more than a…
Each year I do a few things the exact same way. I set my New Year’s resolutions, the next day I break my New Year’s resolutions, and then I create my mileage log template. (I actually don’t do resolutions. I believe in setting SMART goals in annual, monthly, weekly, and daily increments.) But the mileage log I definitely do. Here is the template I am…
This is the email we sent out to our clients to help them get things going for tax season. Even if you are going to do your taxes yourself, this has all the resources you need to organize yourself. “This is a long email and all the info included is important to make sure your tax filings go as smooth as possible. Please read all…
The IRS created a 20-point checklist that a business owner can use to determine if the new hire is an employee or a contractor. Just because one says he’s an employee or one says she’s a contractor doesn’t make the determination. The whole list has to be considered. Please also note that if you want the new hire to be a contractor, this list can…
Uncle Sam Grinch can be green with greed often. The “statutory employee” is certainly one of those areas. What is a statutory employee? IRS defines them as independent contractors that may be treated as employees for employment tax purposes. Oh blessed charitable spirit of the IRS! The taxpayer may be treated as employees for the 15.3 payroll tax. It should read have to be treated…
By Sunny McIntosh Having kids can be such an amazing experience. Kids enrich our lives with all sorts of predictable and unpredictable challenges. But they can be really expensive! If you own a business, consider hiring your kids. Teaching them life lessons related to money starting young will not only be good for them, but also hopefully mean they won’t be living in your basement…
There are four levels of knowledge: Know: I know how old I am. Know about: I know about how old you are. Know you don’t Know: I know I don’t know how to fix an electrical issue at my house. Don’t know you don’t know: I think I know something I really do not know. Where do you fit in? Sorry to say, when it…
If you operate as an S corporation, you have some different compliance hoops to jump through then if you were a sole proprietor or had created a partnership structure. One of those “hoops” is making sure you are paying a “reasonable” wage to yourself. The IRS says, “An S corporation shareholder who performs more than minor services for the corporation will be its employee for…
And Avoid Dropping the Ball by Denny Goodenough One of the biggest challenges facing most businesses is cash flow. Start-ups have often put all the their cash into R&D and set up of their business, so giving credit to clients is out of the question. Rapidly growing businesses often find it hard to keep up with orders and waiting thirty days or longer for customers…
Click here for the pretty version of understanding your insurance. by guest Kellie Scott With the 2015 Open Enrollment approaching, we want you to be prepared. Did you know? To have a health insurance plan start on January 1, 2015 you must enroll between November 15, 2014 and December 15, 2014. Did you know? To get great coverage you don’t have to pay for the most…
By Sunny McIntosh (newest Incite Tax employee) This tax season will be unlike any you’ve experience so far. Yeah for Obamacare! (We all agree the insurance system is broken and needs fixed. We feel there could have been better ways to improve it that make the burden more equitably split amongst all people wanting health insurance.) The 8 million taxpayers who bought insurance through Obamacare…
Before the holiday season of Thanksgiving and Christmas get too crazy, it would be good to take some time and see if you can minimize your tax burden for 2014. Once December 31 is passed, 2014 is locked in. As a disclaimer to the info below, there are a ton of popular tax rules that expired at the end of 2013 that congress may still…
I recently had a client ask me why the books show income and then show a bad debt expense when they write off an invoice. If they didn’t get paid on it, why is it income. They were mad that the income is showing up at all. This post is my response to the client trying to describe why accounting rules do it that way….
By Chris Miles (guest blogger) Are you feeling a little stressed with the holiday season coming up and wondering how you will afford a nice Christmas without running up credit cards? Would you like to have some extra cash to take that nice getaway with your family? To help you have more money this holiday season, here are some easy money saving tips that have…
A reverse mortgage is a home loan that provides cash payments based on home equity. Homeowners normally “defer payment of the loan until they die, sell, or move out of the home.” Upon the death of homeowners, their heirs either give up ownership to the home or must refinance the home to purchase the title from the reverse mortgage company There are people who are for…
Weren’t the pre ObamaCare days wonderful? No one argues that the insurance system was broken (it still is by the way). But at least the rules of providing insurance to employees and what was deductible and not deductible were clear. In the past, as a business owner you could utilize a section 105 medical reimbursement plan to make your medical expenditures a tax write off. …
Many times a letter from the IRS is considered an audit. A common letter we see from new clients is an IRS letter saying our new client forgot to include an HSA distribution as income on a previous year’s tax return. These letters can leave you with all sorts of warm and fuzzy feelings toward the IRS and the professional who prepared the return for…
We had a client buy a piece of equipment for his business. This piece of equipment happens to be handicap accessible. So we looked into it and there happens to be a tax incentive in doing this. IRS code sections 44 and 190 explain how a business owner can get a tax credit and/or tax deduction if they improve accessibility to their facility. So let…
By Guest Blogger Bo Brower What is a captive insurance company and how can a small business take advantage of a captive? A captive is an insurance company established to insure the specialized risks of an affiliated business entity. It issues policies, collects premiums and pays claims. A captive can be owned by one or more business owners and can be a financially efficient tool…
At Incite Tax, we do our best to not use acronyms or industry jargon that others won’t understand. After all, we are tax geeky and we spend all day doing this stuff. Our clients spend all day running their business. When it comes to the type of business structure you should have, also known as entity type, there are some terms you need to know…
by Dustin Griffiths and John Briggs Stock Trades and the IRS At a quick glance, buying and selling stocks is pretty straight forward. If you dabble in options, it can be a little more complicated but still fairly straight forward. When it comes to tax implications however, it can be fairly complicated with the IRS. We will address three issues. Are reporting on the correct…
Accounting Today posted an article by Michael Cohn early July 2014. The article summarizes a report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration(TIGTA). (A position created in 1998 to provide independent oversight of IRS activities.) http://www.accountingtoday.com/news/irs_watch/irs-loses-billions-on-erroneous-amended-tax-returns-71263-1.html I have four major issues with this report. First – The title itself is a sign of everyone’s misunderstanding of the IRS. The IRS collects money for the…
The tax code is very complicated with thousands of rules and exceptions. Because of that, there is no such thing as a one size fits all solution. That being said, if you are a small business owner or an independent contractor (meaning you get a 1099-MISC) you should look into the benefits of an S Corporation. Benefit One: Payroll Tax Savings Ordinary income (that’s the…
Incite Tax & Accounting is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) firm with offices in Draper, Utah. With over 10 years of experience handling business taxes for large and small Utah companies, Incite Tax is one of the most qualified business CPA firms in all of Utah. No matter your tax needs, Incite Tax is the firm for the job.
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