by Leif Jensen | Oct 23, 2018 | General |
What is the ROI (return on investment) on your brokerage account or investments? What I am asking is who is making more money off of your money? You or the brokerage firm? I just had a new prospect come in and have me review his 2017 return for potential errors. ...
by Leif Jensen | Oct 22, 2018 | General |
It seems to be a very old question: are you working for your money? Or is your money working for you? If you are living paycheck to paycheck, you are definitely working for your money. It is hard to get enough money scrapped together at times to even start to think...
by Leif Jensen | Oct 16, 2018 | General |
Thoughts of retirement are changing in our society. I work with a large spectrum of clients of all ages and a lot of them are wondering if retirement is in the picture for them at all. The first to surprise me with this thought was when I was talking to a couple of...
by Leif Jensen | Oct 15, 2018 | General |
The threat of an IRS levy doesn’t let you tap your retirement plan penalty-free, according to the court informed a couple under age 59½ who withdrew more than a million dollars from their plan to help pay outstanding tax debts. After IRS assessed the 10% penalty, the...
by Leif Jensen | Oct 10, 2018 | General |
California has recently enacted a new privacy law. This law will set the tone as the toughest-ever U.S. privacy decree. While hastily signed into law in June, the sweeping policy will affect hundreds of thousands of U.S. businesses when it takes effect Jan. 1, 2020....
by Leif Jensen | Oct 9, 2018 | General |
We recently met with a couple looking to create a new Not for Profit, they were a referral from a center of influence. They are proceeding slowly and are looking for the right team to be put in place before they truly get started. I was impressed with the due...
by Leif Jensen | Oct 8, 2018 | General |
A couple in bankruptcy can sue IRS for damages for emotional distress. They owed taxes, which IRS tried to collect. Even after they filed bankruptcy, IRS sent them repeated letters demanding payment and threatened enforcement action. This was improper. The couple sued...
by Leif Jensen | Oct 3, 2018 | Uncategorized |
Let the buyer beware, definitely something to keep in mind when you are purchasing a business. I have a client that was working through the due diligence for the purchase of a competitor for months, only to have the business sold to an employee right before the...
by Leif Jensen | Oct 2, 2018 | General |
We were recently referred to a new client. They had purchased an existing business early last year. The client focused on running the business. The client spent all their time the past year, working in the business and not on the business. Now they are putting...
by Leif Jensen | Oct 1, 2018 | General |
Filing Form 941-X instead of 843 to recover overpaid payroll taxes isn’t fatal. A firm that twice paid an IRS assessment for payroll taxes filed the 941-X within 24 months of making the second payment to recover the duplicate funds. At the behest of an agency...
by Leif Jensen | Sep 26, 2018 | General |
The IRS continues to clamp down on charitable donations. Even small cash donations aren’t exempt from the strict recordkeeping rules, according to IRS’s final regulations. For charitable monetary gifts of any size, you cannot claim a deduction unless you have a...
by Leif Jensen | Sep 25, 2018 | General |
Issuing a fraudulent 1099 can cost lots of money. AN example of this was recently brought forth. A doctor received from the owner of his medical practice a 1099 form that reported an inflated amount of income. The doctor then filed a lawsuit in federal court. He...
by Leif Jensen | Sep 24, 2018 | General |
The common belief is that the IRS can only go back three years for audit. But there are circumstances when the IRS can go back more than three years to seek taxes. If more than 25% of gross income is omitted from a return, then the Service has six years to assess the...
by Leif Jensen | Sep 19, 2018 | General |
Privacy truly seems to be a thing from the past and now is a gossamer vapor of want and needs. According to Kiplinger we should all beware of free virtual private network apps proliferating in app stores. They believe that many are scams that swipe personal data, such...
by Leif Jensen | Sep 18, 2018 | General |
One of the side effects of being an active networker I get to learn about the horror stories of businesses that are not my clients. Learning about other company errors or mistakes that caused a downslide, may help me protect my clients by looking at similar early...
by Leif Jensen | Sep 17, 2018 | General |
I have to admit that I often still surprised when non-clients ask me detailed technical questions about their business. I have had people who work with a different CPA asks me questions because they feel I am approachable and their CPA is not. I know this because I...
by Leif Jensen | Sep 12, 2018 | General |
I am working with a client that recently closed their business. This client started with us after they had the business up and running. We offered to work with them at various levels, but in an effort to contain costs they because an annual client only. We were to...
by Leif Jensen | Sep 11, 2018 | General |
We have a client that has received an unofficial offer to have their company absorbed by one of their clients. They want to get him to be their in-house asset. Apparently they want him so bad that they have also left independence on the table as well. Companies...
by Leif Jensen | Sep 10, 2018 | General |
How would you like to enter the business world in the “Logistics” category? Not only start your own business, but not have to troll for clients and with a minimum initial investment? Your revenues will grow and the profits are all but guaranteed. The cost of entry...
by Leif Jensen | Sep 5, 2018 | General |
I know just about everyone has a smart phone and uses it for both business and personal purposes. A number of people have their bank and credit card information entered and accessible on their phone. Nothing surprising here, a vast number of people have the totality...
