With the holiday season just around the corner, it’s a perfect time to get your financial records in order. Tax moves you make now can mean finding more “green” to spend on family gifts and festivities. Here are five quick tips for you to feel more prepared about your financial status as you go into year-end. Avoid Penalties This time of year is ideal to double-check your tax payments to make sure enough has been paid in, and even more important, to avoid overpaying so your money is not tied up unnecessarily. If you’re not sure of your 2013 tax liability, check with your tax preparer. Balanced Books Rather than wait until the busiest time of year for accountants and bookkeepers, you can get a head start now on catching up your books You’ll have more of their attention and you may even avoid a rate increase if you get your books done early. Completed bank reconciliations are a very important part of catching up. Forms It’s not too early to get your orders in for the forms you need at year-end like your W-2s, W-3s, 1099s, and 1096s. That way, your forms will be onsite when you’re ready. [...]
General Musings of a Burbank CPA: Wolters Kluwer CCH Identifies Top Trends Affecting Accounting Firms
There are some trends that will affect accounting firms going forward. Here is an article in Accounting Today by Michael Cohn identifying these trends and how firms feel about how prepared they are: http://echo4.bluehornet.com/ct/49555533:28273190389:m:1:2505976388:CB3F4F6FCCD4347892B0E91401496019:r The items pinpointed are Client Service, Technology, Digital Mobility (reasearch availability), Talent Management and Social Media. Firms answered the survey and determined how prepared they were in each of the trends. Five Hundred firms were involved in the survey and the results were discussed by Wolters Kluwer CCH president and CEO Teresa Mackintosh at the CCH Connections conference in Orlando, Florida on October 27. For financial, accounting and tax musings, You can count on us to count for you! Email:bstonercpa@sbcglobal.net Phone: 818-317-6035 Website: www.briantstonercpa.com Android and the IPhone: Has been Featured On https://twitter.com/bstonercpa
Burbank CPA Financial Musings: How to fund a 401(k) when you’re your own boss
If you and your spouse have a small business (Single LLC, Sole Proprietorship, C or S Corporation) you can have a 401K plan just like the big boys. It is easier to administer than more complicated plans and gives you investment flexibility that the larger plans may not have. See this article in the Christian Science Monitor by Dmitriy Fomichenko for a more detailed view of this popular retirement vehicle: http://echo4.bluehornet.com/ct/49498606:28261600621:m:1:2505976388:9ABC5AF8F414455EDE3217C0F352FD67:r This is definitely an improvement over a Roth or regular IRA as the contribution limits are larger ($17,500 employee deferral in 2014 for you AND your spouse, up to 100% of compensation, and an additional 25% employer contribution of compensation up to a max of $34,500 each) so you could put away $104,000 if you each take a salary of $134,000. Plus the $17,500 can be a Roth component without the AGI limitations of a Roth IRA, so for high income people it is a great way to go to sock away money for retirement. For financial, accounting and tax musings, You can count on us to count for you! Email:bstonercpa@sbcglobal.net Phone: 818-317-6035 Website: www.briantstonercpa.com Android and the IPhone: Has been Featured On https://twitter.com/bstonercpa