we have all heard a lot of buzz about value billing. it sounds like a great concept to boost a firm’s bottom line, but have you tried it. chances are you haven’t.
why not? because although it is a great theoretical concept, it’s too complex to implement. and there are various reasons why it is hard to implement in accounting practices.
errors associated with educational credits, specifically for form 1098-t, can be easily misinterpreted.
eligible educational institutions often file form 1098-t to report either the aggregate amount of payments received (box 1) for qualified tuition and related expenses or the aggregate amount billed (box 2) for such tuition and expenses. should you receive this form, here are four common errors to watch for, and how to interpret them.
benvie
1) educational credits are based on the amount of adjusted qualified education expenses paid for the student in 2016 for academic periods beginning in 2016 or beginning in the first 3 months of 2017. an issue occurs when the costs for early 2016 tuition were billed in 2015, and the educational institution utilizes box 2 of form 1098-t.example: in january 2016, alex pays $6,000 for his final semester of classes. the university alex attends actually billed the tuition payment in december 2015. in may 2016, alex pays certain qualifying expenses amounting to $200. alex receives form 1098-t for 2016. box 1 is blank, and box 2 includes $200.
internal revenue service workers may be chronically understaffed, but they’re not stupid. they’ve been in the tax collection business since the civil war, and the irs has been harvesting income tax since 1913. it has processed billions of tax returns, and it knows the tricks that taxpayers often try. it also knows the tricks that wanna-be cheats use to exploit the tax system, effectively robbing the honest people who pay what they owe.
for the last three years, the irs has given a name to the most common schemes to swindle either taxpayers or the nation’s treasury. it calls them “the dirty dozen.” this year, half the dozen are scams by third parties that attempt to rip off taxpayers. the other half are taxpayer attempts to effectively rip off their government.
sleazy tax tactics don’t do a practicing accountant any good. the slime taints the tax pro, and the pro may be put in the very uncomfortable position of having to defend the taxpayer before an irs agent. this is not the light tax preparers look for at the end of the busy season tunnel. they’re thinking “bahamas,” not “irs office.”
clients who know about the dirty half-dozen will be disinclined to try a trick the irs is expecting. sharing the list will go far to ward off problems. read more →
while the average u.s. household pays more than $5,700 in federal income taxes, there is significant disparity when it comes to state and local taxes. read more →