Well the scam artists are at it again, posing as the Franchise Tax Board and targeting elderly people with various items from red-light traffic tickets to offers to check on their refund status. See this post by Claudia Buck in Sacramento Bee Business: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/10/22/5843400/ftb-warns-of-scam-artists-impersonating.html Everyone needs to be on guard and tell your elderly friends and relatives not to fall for these crazy cons! 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 https://twitter.com/bstonercpa
Tax Musings of a Burbank CPA: Time To Think About Year End Planning!
October is slowly coming to a close and if you own a small business it is time to think of year end tax planning. Planning strategies to think about at year end are: 1. Purchases of business fixed assets – the Section 179 expensing of assets plus 50% bonus depreciation make this a definite tax advantage. But don’t buy something you are not planning on purchasing soon anyway as the tax savings are only a portion of the cash paid out (if you are getting a loan to help defray some of the cash outlay that may make the purchase worthwhile, but some planning is in order before pulling the trigger.) 2. Look into accelerating some deductions into the current year. Remember if you are cash basis you can deduct items charged on a credit card at the time they show on the credit card balance, not the time they are paid, which will allow for deferring the payment for the deduction into next year if necessary. 3. Planning on either accelerating income to take advantage of deductions or deferring it till next year. It can be as simple as when you send your December invoices or asking for early payments, [...]
Musings of a Burbank CPA: Are Your Clients Price Sensitive? Maybe It’s You, Not Them!
There always seem to be pricing problems in a business, but maybe you are the problem and not your clients and customers. See this post by Sandi Smith Leyva, CPA in CPA Trendlines: http://cpatrendlines.com/2013/10/21/are-your-clients-price-sensitive-maybe-its-you-not-them/ Just remember that even though Sandi is talking about the field of accounting in this article, it can apply to many business areas. If you separate yourself from the pack with a difference people can see, customers have more than just price to go on as far as value goes. Making yourself different and more valuable can justify a price increase if people feel you have expertise that is worth it. 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 https://twitter.com/bstonercpa