If you are a CPA, Enrolled Agent or other paid tax preparer, every year from October through December you are required to renew your Preparer Tax Identification Number with the IRS to be allowed to prepare returns for the next year. You are also required to pay a fee of around $65 at the same time to said IRS. With the IRS being rebuffed in court regarding requiring the Registered Tax Return Preparer designation of all preparers (along with required license and continuing education fees), a group of CPA have filed a suit that says the IRS doesn’t have the authority to levy the PTIN fee and requesting all fees from 2010 be refunded to preparers. See this article in Accounting Today by Michael Cohn for the details: http://www.accountingtoday.com/news/legal-watch/cpas-sue-irs-over-ptin-fees-71919-1.html Before the court ruling I would have said ‘good luck with that lawsuit’, but now I wonder how it will turn out. As more details come to light, I will let you know. 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
Musings of a Burbank CPA: Retirement-saving changes you should keep an eye on
The new federal budget proposed by President Obama has some retirement plan proposed changes that people should be aware of. Nothing has gotten farther than the proposed stage yet (and with this Congress, I think passage is unlikely), but see this article in the San Jose Mercury News written by Janet Kidd Stewart of the Chicago Tribune for a list of the major potential changes: http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_26477736/retirement-saving-changes-you-should-keep-an-eye The scary part is losing some IRA and 401K exclusions, as well as the potential of making Roth IRA accounts subject to the Required Minimum Distribution (RMD). But like I said, none of this is law yet, and the way things have moved in the past, we may all be retired before any of the budget items actually pass. 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 Tax Musings: Remember Your Auto Mileage Log or You May Regret it Later
If you are self employed or if you have a job where you drive a lot and don’t get reimbursed for mileage by your employer, make sure you keep a log of your automobile mileage each year. You need to calculate your business miles as a percentage of total miles annually, then use either the business miles at 56 cents a mile in 2014 or use the percentage to calculate your actual auto expense. If you get audited, your auto log (complete with beginning and ending odometer readings and the purpose of all the business travel daily) is the only piece of taxpayer prepared information that the IRS auditor is supposed to accept (but it doesn’t hurt to give the auditor a couple of auto repair bills that tie the odeometer readings that are in the log). I have been involved in many IRS audits where the automobile expenses were looked at by the auditor and I am pleased to say that to date I have never had a change to taxpayer auto expenses because of the mileage percentages (once we had a problem with some of the actual auto expense documentation, but if the taxpayer took the standard mileage [...]