tax

will obamacare penalties kill your small business clients?

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drug in syringe on white background

fines run $100 per day, per employee.

by stephen l. nelson, cpa
and elizabeth c. nelson, cpa
small business and the affordable care act

by now, many of your small business clients understand they don’t have to provide employees with health insurance. the employer mandate starts when a firm employs 50 or more full-time-equivalent employees.

but here’s an awkward follow-up question: do your small business clients understand that many of the aca’s rules still apply to them and that they may still be vulnerable to the aca’s 4980d excise tax penalty—which runs $100 per day per employee?

learn more: small businesses and the affordable care act: what every tax practitioner needs to know (55-page pdf digital download)

can we talk irc code sections?

people sometimes hear references to the 4980d penalty and scoff, say you can’t believe everything you hear on talk radio or read at some blog. so let’s look at the actual internal revenue code section in question.

here are the first few sentences of irc sec 4980d: read more →

tax preparation fees and services

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screen shot 2015-06-09 at 9.19.17 pmthe national trends and averages

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

while tax professionals taking a well-deserved break this summer, they are also carefully assessing how well – or poorly – they fared in tax season 2015 and they are beginning to lay plans for tax season 2016. chief among their concerns will, no doubt, be a thorough review of their mix of services and fees.

fortunately, 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 has compiled authoritative data in an easy-to-use set of charts, graphs and infographics to guide the strategizing for 2016.

in this report, 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 reveals:

  • the average time it takes an amateur do-it-yourselfer to do a 1040 – useful information in understanding and communicating to clients the true value of a professional.
  • how many tax professionals give away over $100 per client in free consultations – and how competitive the market may be for practitioners.
  • prices by type of form: itemized 1040; state; schedule c’s; 940s; 1065s; 1120ss.
  • prices by region: west, midwest, northeast and south.
  • how many preparers charge to file an extension and how much they charge.
  • trends in 1040 business.
  • practitioners’ age ranges and years in business.
  • the characteristics of the communities in which they operate.

read more →

irs seeks more tools to fight refund fraud

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irs commissioner john koskinen
koskinen

fy 2016 budget provisions would expand authority for regulation, correctable errors.

refund fraud, especially that caused by identity theft, remains “an ongoing battle” for the irs, commissioner john koskinen said in testimony about the 2015 tax season before the house ways and means committee’s subcommittee on oversight.

“for that reason, and in spite of our budget constraints, we have continued to focus as much of our resources as possible on improving our efforts against identity theft,” he said, improving filters used to detect suspicious returns as they come in at a rate of more than 2 million suspicious returns so far, which is over 500,000 more than last year at this time. read more →

irs predicts ‘challenging’ 2016

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irs commissioner john koskinen
koskinen

budget cuts remain a concern.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

no matter what you think of your 2015 tax season, the irs thinks it had it worse.

commissioner john koskinen testified about the season before the house ways and means committee’s subcommittee on oversight, and said even opening on schedule was a “major accomplishment” because of additional preparation needed for the affordable care act and the foreign account tax compliance act, as well as a system update reflecting december’s tax extender legislation. read more →

irs reports everything went up except refunds

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tax professionals kept 59 percent of the e-filing segment.

when all the clicking and cursing was done, the irs had received more than 132.2 million individual tax returns this year, up 0.8 percent from 2014. as of april 17, it had processed 126.1 million of them, up 0.4 percent from last year and a rate of 95.4 percent for the season’s receipts.

related: tax preparation fees: the national averages [infographic] | irs form 3115: a sin and a travesty | accountants see solid business gains in 2015 | as market share slips away, accountants look beyond the 1040 | irs emerges as major tax season competitor read more →