Mannes & Cowger Accountancy Corporation

Overtime Rules

admin — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 22:21:28 +0000

Do the overtime rules have you confused or concerned? Not sure when to pay overtime or how to avoid paying overtime? The Labor Department has released permissible methods to avoid paying overtime to your employees. Please call me for more information.

Fixed Asset Issues

admin — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 22:21:07 +0000

Are you carrying assets on your books that you long ago got rid of? This is potentially a double-whammy. If you dispose of an asset, you can write off the remaining tax basis for a loss on your tax return. Also, you can remove the asset from your business property tax roll. If you are carrying a large number of disposed assets, this can add up to a fair amount of dollars going to the government instead of in your pocket.

Where is your return being prepared?

admin — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 22:20:21 +0000

Have you ever closely read the engagement letter your CPA asks you to sign each year? If not, be on the lookout for this or some similar clause:

“We may outsource preparation of your tax return.”

What your CPA is not telling you is that the outsourcing may be to India. That’s right, your CPA may have transmitted your tax and financial information to someone in India to prepare your return, someone even they have not met in person. Believe it or not, this is all the rage in the CPA profession. If it’s no big deal to your CPA to send your information to India, why didn’t he/she come right out and tell you? Why hide it in a vaguely worded clause buried in a letter most clients never read? Maybe they don’t want you to know.

Tax Scams

admin — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 01:33:43 +0000

There are plenty of tax scams out there. One of the most common is claiming that the government has no authority to collect taxes under the Constitution. Another scam states that you can opt out of the US jurisdiction of taxation by claiming you are an “American” citizen, not a citizen of the USA. Semantics, yes, but these scam artists are duping thousands of taxpayers each year into paying over hard earned cash to unwittingly participate in the scam. BEWARE! The 16th Amendment of the US Constitution grants the power to tax. These cases have been heavily litigated in the tax courts and the Supreme Court. The taxpayer loses every time and gets hit with very stiff fines.