Time is precious for most of us these days, and often, we need help at home so we can have more time to run our businesses or careers. That may mean hiring help for personal tasks such as caregiving for the young, elderly, or special needs family member. When you first hire a household worker, there’s a whole different set of rules to follow compared to hiring for business. Underground Payroll There is a whole industry of “underground” payments made to domestic workers. Individuals such as housekeepers, regardless if they live with you full time or work once a month, are wrongly paid as contractors, and often in cash, most of the time. According to the IRS, in court case after court case, these workers should be paid as household employees, even if they are part-time. Cracking Down One of the focus areas for the IRS is this area of household payroll. The current and strong drive to bring this underground payment system to the light is caused by several new pieces of legislation. A few states have recently passed a domestic workers bill of rights. Changes in minimum wage and overtime requirements are going into effect in 2015. And [...]
General Musings of a Burbank CPA: How to Get Referrals from Friends
A lot of times it is hard to ask friends to refer business to you. The friend is afraid of hard pressure sales tactics and you don’t want the friendship to suffer, so you don’t talk about it. How do you break the ice and encourage friends to get you referrals? See this article in AccountingWeb by Bryce Sanders for a three step way to get things started: http://www.accountingweb.com/article/how-get-referrals-friends/223930 The thing I like about this technique is it is low pressure and is just a conversation between friends. It more or less is the start of a conversation and is just more of a note to friends to just mention your name when someone they know needs professional expertise. 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
Tax Musings of a Burbank CPA: ACA Updates Tax Preparers Should Know About
There are some new forms for 2014 that are related to the affordable care act (ACA) that tax preparers need to be aware of. See this posting in Accounting Today by Roger Russell: http://www.accountingtoday.com/news/tax-season/aca-updates-tax-preparers-should-know-about-72109-1.html One of the biggest issue is going to be form 1095-A from the insurance exchange showing people covered by the exchange in the household and subsidies paid by the exchange for the insurance. You use this to calculate how much subsidy you are actually eligible for and whether you have to pay some of the subsidy back. There are other forms also related to the ACA that you will need, but this form is the most important. 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