by Leif Jensen | Oct 22, 2014 | General |
In a recent case involving a long series of losses did not trigger the hobby loss disallowance rules. The case of an artist had losses in 18 out of 20 years. Although she was a full-time art professor, while she spent a lot of time on her art career, creating 2,000...
by Leif Jensen | Oct 21, 2014 | General |
There has been a long-honored (?) concept among personal finance gurus: The money you spend on small purchases, say, a latte every day or so, could be redirected towards huge savings on a compounded basis. You are encouraged to look at the hundreds of thousands of...
by Leif Jensen | Oct 20, 2014 | General |
Firms still need to worry about getting caught by the 40% excise tax on “Cadillac” health care plans. While the penalties doe not kick in until 2018, there are potential risks to having to make huge last-minute cuts. The threshold for the tax is not all that high...
by Leif Jensen | Oct 15, 2014 | General |
I was inquiring about a practice for sale and I was told that I did not fit the profile. The profile required that my office be no farther than 15 minutes from the seller’s office… Now this is the Greater Chicago area, last Saturday I was able to hit the Circle...
by Leif Jensen | Jul 10, 2014 | General |
It looks like the economy may be getting better. I just received what I call a “Boiler Room” call. This is where an unlicensed guy calls up looking for prospects for the licensed rep that he works under. Once he hits his sales number he will be allowed to take the...
by Leif Jensen | Jul 9, 2014 | General |
A recent court case shows having some mileage records did not help another filer get a write-off. The details of the mileage log in question, show that the individual worked as a sales representative for a cable company and used his personal truck to drive to...
by Leif Jensen | Jul 8, 2014 | General |
It’s that time of year again: the kids are off from school and you don’t quite know what to do with them, so you need to keep this in mind if your school-age child is going to a summer day camp. This expense can qualifies for the dependent care credit if the child...
by Leif Jensen | Jul 7, 2014 | General |
I recently received a text from a client, who was inquiring as to whether or not if they owned a series of retail stores would it then be prudent, possible or legal to have two Series LLC’s: one LLC to own the properties the other LLC to own the retail businesses. As...
by Leif Jensen | Jul 2, 2014 | General |
I casually mentioned at one time that I was planning on starting the QuickBooks Webinar Workshops. The webinars would be designed to go over issues that clients are having with QuickBooks and answer their questions in a live format. Now the person that I mentioned...
by Leif Jensen | Jun 30, 2014 | General |
I was recently in a situation where some information that I had from one client may have been problematic to another. One of my clients was looking to branch off into a brand new business venture. This venture would take them into a whole new arena. The purpose of...
by Leif Jensen | Jun 26, 2014 | General |
When I purchased the office next to mine for future growth and expansion, I briefly considered buying Suite 113 which is directly behind the site I had just purchased. Since it was bank owed and had been on the market for over two years, I believed that I could get it...
by Leif Jensen | Jun 25, 2014 | General |
A while ago I wrote a posting discussing the potential loss of the Cook County Home Owners exemption. If that discount does go away as is being discussed that the homes should be sold at market costs to an LLC and then rented out, most likely to the previous owners....
by Leif Jensen | Jun 24, 2014 | General |
A couple of weeks ago I was having lunch with a fellow CPA. I had been meaning to stop by and see his operation for years. I am always willing to borrow a good idea from a peer. But I also wanted to talk to him about one of my growth plans for 2014. I have added...
by Leif Jensen | Jun 23, 2014 | General |
It seems that we have immortals living among us, and apparently I met one early this week! An appointment was scheduled well in advance of the date; I thought to discuss the possibility of purchasing this CPA’s practice. Obviously I was incorrect. The gentleman had...
by Leif Jensen | Jun 18, 2014 | General |
How secure is your data? Or rather, how secure is your client’s information on your systems, to be more precise? Because not only is there a secondary market for your client’s information, there are those who are looking to find methods of laundering money, purchase...
by Leif Jensen | Jun 17, 2014 | General |
On ongoing discussion point with clients throughout the year is retirement planning is how much is enough. Working with financial planner over the years I know that this is a very specialized answer for each individual or couple. But according to a recent Gallup...
by Leif Jensen | Jun 16, 2014 | General |
An ongoing issue for small business throughout the US is the ongoing costs of labor. The cost of labor will be on 34 state ballots this year, minimum wage increases have been proposed, and at the behest of President Obama, the federal minimum wage may be increased to...
by Leif Jensen | Jun 10, 2014 | General |
The IRS has just released their updated statistics for 2011. Taxpayers filed almost 5 million returns with adjusted gross incomes of $200,000 or more for 2011, up over 9 percent from the prior year. These high-income returns represent about 3 percent of all returns...
by Leif Jensen | Jun 9, 2014 | General |
I was in a networking group with a franchise owner. He never referred any business to me, including his own – but at one event we were talking, and he had imbibed a bit and he started to talk. He was sorry he had bought his franchise. He had owned it for a...
by Leif Jensen | Jun 4, 2014 | General |
Last week I was in in office for only one day. But on that day we were besieged with a local telephone directory salesperson who would not take no for an answer. I have been told by professional salespeople that know me that I am no one’s target market. I am...
