Accounting

Taxes and Retirement Income While many taxpayers plan for retirement by investing in retirement savings accounts, it is important for taxpayers to also plan on how to handle income during retirement as well. Timing The timing of different retirement distributions could drastically affect the amount of taxes paid throughout retirement. To start, the various retirement accounts available have different tax treatments. Traditional IRA  and Roth Accounts Withdrawals from traditional IRA accounts Read more [...]

Artificial intelligence (AI) has arrived in the accounting profession in a big way. The good news is it’s streamlining accounting tasks, finding patterns in data you can take action on, and generally making things better. Here are just a few places we’re seeing AI and machine learning impact accounting. Transaction Coding Most systems have incorporated some form of machine learning into transaction coding. When bank feeds are imported, each transaction needs to be coded to add the account code Read more [...]

Identity theft happens when someone uses your personal information without your permission. While this can include credit cards, banking information, and passwords, it’s your Social Security number that’s the biggest IRS-related identity theft problem.  An estimated 4 to 5 million taxpayers are currently affected by identity theft with the IRS. When their Social Security numbers are stolen by an identity thief, the thief files for a tax refund early in the season. When you go to file your Read more [...]

Hiring a new employee is a big accomplishment in any small business, and there are a lot of steps involved, too. Here’s a handy checklist to help you stay organized when you bring that new hire on board.  First things first, the legal and accounting items: Signed employment agreement, typically an offer letter. There may also be a supplemental agreement outlining employee policies. Payroll documents include: IRS form W-4 Form I-9 Copy of employee’s government-issued ID Read more [...]

Disasters and Taxes While some may say that tax season in and of itself should be classified as a “federally declared disaster,” the phrase holds more weight this upcoming year as thousands of families have been devastated by the California wildfires and East Coast hurricanes. Beginning in 2018, the personal casualty and theft loss deduction is limited to casualty losses incurred in a federally declared disaster area. The casualty and theft deduction is only available to those who itemize Read more [...]