by Leif Jensen | Dec 13, 2017 | General |
Gross income is the total of your unearned and earned income. If your gross income was $4,050 or more, you usually cannot be claimed as a dependent unless you are a qualifying child. Tests for a Qualifying Child: The child must be your son, daughter, stepchild, foster...
by Leif Jensen | Dec 12, 2017 | General |
The IRS is finally wising up. Before when a couple divorced the first to file typically got the kids, even if they were not entitled. It would not matter what the divorce decree stated, the recourse was to go back to court and get the judge to force the claimant to...
by Leif Jensen | Dec 11, 2017 | General |
I have a client whose revenue is decreasing by sales erosion. A surprisingly large number of their clients have reduced their orders slightly year over year. So the total sales are now 4% less than the previous year. I have recommended that they monitor their...
by Leif Jensen | Dec 6, 2017 | General |
In the past I have had to fire clients for “willfulness”. That is paying other creditors with available funds and not making the timely payroll taxes which is an example of what the IRS terms as willfulness. There is no defense against willfulness. Not paying payroll...
by Leif Jensen | Dec 5, 2017 | General |
There were over 7,600 ransomware attacks reported to the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) between 2005 and March 2016. The cost of these attacks exceeded $1.6 million. However the Kasperski Lab believes that the reported ransomware is much smaller than the...
by Leif Jensen | Dec 4, 2017 | General |
I was at a networking meeting and collected a batch of business cards. When we went to add them to the newsletter list, we found numerous misspellings of e-mail addresses (2 out of 16) and at least one business card with no name or contact information on them. Just...
by Leif Jensen | Nov 29, 2017 | General |
With all of the recent hurricanes, some companies have been better positioned to make money and take market share from others by planning ahead. It seems that having fully functioning facilities when everyone else is closed can really boost the bottom line. Who would...
by Leif Jensen | Nov 28, 2017 | General |
All of the good news coming for the large companies has the financial regulators scrutinizing how public firms are reporting their earnings. All companies publically traded must use generally accepted accounting principles for their financial reports. But under...
by Leif Jensen | Nov 27, 2017 | General |
There is a new trend in commercials that has caught my wife’s attention. These commercials tell quick stories with the product being nearly invisible. But the quality of the story is enough to keep her attention and stop to watch them. This is a unique idea, and will...
by Leif Jensen | Nov 21, 2017 | General |
My son was asking me about getting where I get work done on my dress shoes. From what I have observed and read Millennials are breed to look at recycling and refurbishing things, so his interest was not a complete surprise. Whereas other generations tend to dispose...
by Leif Jensen | Nov 20, 2017 | General |
This one truly surprised me when I found out they existed. No interest for 12/15/18 month credit cards. My whole understanding of the credit card industry has been that they insist on getting paid royally from both side of any transaction, just because they could...
by Leif Jensen | Nov 16, 2017 | General |
When you hear the phrases, “May I have a word with you” or “May I see you in my office,” do you think, “Uh oh, what did I do now?” This response does not create the optimal environment for you or your people to perform at their best. To create a better environment,...
by Leif Jensen | Nov 15, 2017 | General |
I don’t know why I surprised when I found out that Amazon now had added housekeeping and handyman services to their line. The company that was barely able to stay afloat with selling books is now planning to take over the world. If the stories are true they plan to...
by Leif Jensen | Nov 14, 2017 | Case Study |
There are times when someone comes to us to setup a new business for them. Two of these businesses come to mind and both of them had merit. The clients have the plan that this will be the next step in their lives. The first client was looking to start a window and...
by Leif Jensen | Nov 14, 2017 | General |
It seems that new technology start-ups are facing a greater hurdle than they expected. While they may have their great idea and are looking for VC or initial investors the larger tech companies (Google, Facebook or Amazon) are looking at what they are doing or trying...
by Leif Jensen | Nov 13, 2017 | General |
I was reading an article when a guy was remembering has little cash he had in his 20’s and how he pinched pennies. He apparently made his own jams and jellies. He jarred his own applesauce. Then as his salary increased he continued his penny pinching ways. Then one...
by Leif Jensen | Nov 9, 2017 | General |
Due professional care is a combination of professional judgment and skepticism. The AICPA defines independence of mind as a state of mind that permits a member to perform services without being affected by influences that compromise professional judgment. To reach...
by Leif Jensen | Nov 8, 2017 | General |
We have all heard of the phrase “fake it till you make it”. Since I am one who gets to peer behind the curtain, I am still occasionally surprised by those who still fake it. One gentleman was recently bragging that since he was getting married he and his wife-to-be...
by Leif Jensen | Nov 7, 2017 | General |
The American opportunity tax credit is a credit for qualified education expenses paid for an eligible student for the first four years of higher education. You can get a maximum annual credit of $2,500 per eligible student. So in this court case the cost to become a...
by Leif Jensen | Nov 6, 2017 | General |
The IRS has three tests, for workers classification each made up of multiple factors. Behavioral Control covers facts that show if the business has a right to direct and control what work is accomplished and how the work is done, through instructions, training, or...
