Posts Tagged ‘IRS’

La Crosse Accountant answers: “What now?”

Monday, 23 April 2012 08:25 Written by La Crosse Accountant, RKB Accounting & Tax Service 0 Comments

The dust is truly beginning to settle around our La Crosse, WI tax preparation offices after our very busy TY2011 tax season (ok, maybe that’s just pollen).

Regardless, we’re beginning the process of serving you during the “off season”, and evaluating how things went. To that end, I’ve got ONE BIG FAVOR TO ASK:

(If you haven’t already done so) Would you take three minutes, right now, to jot me a quick email about your experience with me and my staff? It really helps us to evaluate our season. Plus, it’s helpful feedback for new and potential clients. I’ve found that I can “promise the moon”  with a potential client, but they really want to hear from somebody like YOU.

One more thing on this: could you be as specific as possible? You may not be comfortable disclosing savings amounts, refunds, etc, but as much as you’re willing to share, would be great!

Thanks again…and THANK YOU for trusting us with your finances this year. We know how personal it is to you!
Your La Crosse Tax Professional ‘s FAQ Guide For After The Tax Return Dust Settles
It’s a familiar feeling.

Relief. Exhilaration (or frustration at having to pay *more* taxes!). Gratitude for a job well done by your preparer.

Unless you’ve filed for an extension, however you feel about your tax return…chances are, it’s done.

But, even now, we do get some questions. So, I thought I would answer some of the basic ones for you. If you have any additional questions, feel free to give us a call (608-782-6433) or send me an email.

We’re here for you!

1. “When will I get my refund?”
Well, the IRS does seem to have entered the 21st century.

If you had us “e-file” your return, you can check your status right now, or if you had us mail a paper return, after about 3 to 4 weeks.

When you’re checking with the following options, make sure you have a copy of your tax return on hand or know your “filing status”, SSN and the exact dollar amount of the anticipated refund.

• Online: Go to IRS.gov and click on Where’s My Refund.
[or go right to: http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=96596,00.html ]
• Automated Phone: Call 1-800-829-4477 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for automated refund information.
• In-Person Phone: Call 1-800-829-1954 during the hours shown in your IRS form instructions. [Of course, the hold time for the IRS is ... somewhat of an issue :) ]

2. “Do I need to keep a copy of my return?”
Yes, for a *minimum* of three years. There’s all kinds of contexts where it’s useful. We do keep one on file, on your behalf, but it’s just smart and safe for you to keep one in a secure place at home. (I’ve already written about Amended Returns, and you need a copy for that process, of course.)

As for the supporting documents from your return, anything that relates to a home purchase or sale, stock transactions, retirement, business or rental property, should be kept much longer than the three years.

3. “I think there’s a mistake in my return. What should I do?”
Sometimes, you’ll find a receipt or a documentation after April 17th which really would have changed your prior year tax return. That’s, again, when you would have us file an “Amended Return”. Here are some other common reasons to Amend…
•           You neglected to report some income earned.
•           You claimed deductions or credits you should not have claimed.
•           You did not claim deductions or credits you could have claimed.
•           You filed under one filing status, but you should have filed under another.

You might have other questions, which I haven’t addressed here. Let me know!

(And don’t forget to write me a quick note about your experience! THANK YOU!)

La Crosse Accountant Explains How To “Reclaim Control Over Your Taxes – Even Old Returns”

Monday, 16 April 2012 08:20 Written by La Crosse Accountant, RKB Accounting & Tax Service 0 Comments

Part of me can’t believe that I’m taking the time to write this post, here, Monday morning the 16th (the day before the filing deadline). But I also know if I don’t do it now, this tax season having been so full … well, I’ll admit that we can anticipate a bit of a break being needed come Wednesday :) .

And, of course, the other part of me (the wiser part) says: “Reginald “Kim”, helping people with their taxes is only the means to a greater end: enabling your clients to live richer lives, without having to fret about the details.”

My relationship with you (and all of our clients in and outside of the La Crosse, WI area) is worth the time investment (and more).

And speaking of investments, I know that a fair number of our clients were graciously invited to send their final “investment” to the IRS (and their state) this week.

And some of our clients also received (or will be receiving) a payment from the Treasury, as a sort of “thanks for letting us have your money for a year!” gesture. No interest paid out, of course.

Both of these circumstances are problematic in their own way.

In the following weeks, I’ll be sharing with you how you can fix that — but one of the first (and often overlooked) methods is … well, allow me to elaborate.

La Crosse, WI’s Most Trusted Tax Professional Explains The First Step To Reclaiming Control Over Your Taxes
Our clients who filed with us this year already feel the peace-of-mind that you were able to claim every possible deduction which is legally allowed in the tax code for 2011. After all, we put each return through an extensive review process to ensure you keep as much of your hard-earned income as the IRS allows.

But what about your friends, both here in La Crosse, WI and beyond? And what about your previous years?

Well, since the filing deadline is already upon us, they (and you) might think that the proverbial “fat lady” has sung on 2011 returns (and 2010 and 2009). Not so.

Because according to the most recent report on the matter, issued by the General Accounting Office, taxpayers overpay the IRS almost $1 billion every year due to incorrect itemization and preparation.

What’s worse is that those who prepared their own taxes (with a software, or on their own) are the most vulnerable, according to the report. But did you also know that taxpayers who used one of the “big chain” preparers are almost as bad off?

An excerpt from an additional report from the GAO: In a Limited Study, Chain Preparers Made Serious Errors

In GAO (United States Government Accountability Office) visits to chain preparers, paid preparers often prepared returns that were incorrect, with tax consequences that were sometimes significant. Some of the most serious problems involved these preparers…

1.  Not reporting business income in 10 of 19 cases;
2.  Failing to take the most advantageous post-secondary education tax benefit in 3 out of the 9 applicable cases; and
3. Failing to itemize deductions at all or failing to claim all available deductions in 7 out of the 9 applicable cases.

More clippings from the report:
* The 19 paid preparers we visited arrived at the correct refund amount only twice. On 5 returns, all for the plumber, they understated our refund amount by a total of $3,465.
* All 19 of our visits to tax return preparers affiliated with chains showed problems. Nearly all of the returns prepared for us were incorrect to some degree, and several of the preparers gave us very bad tax advice, particularly when it came to reporting non-W-2 business income. Only 2 of 19 tax returns showed the correct refund amount, and in both of those visits the paid preparer made mistakes that did not affect the final refund amount.

So what can your friends do about this? And what could YOU do about it, if you didn’t have us handle your taxes in prior years? Simple: file an “Amended” Return.

Many tax businesses don’t provide this service, but even though we’ve completed our clients’ returns, we WILL review any of your friends’ returns–at no charge.

See the below special message, for more details…

+++++++++++++++++
“No Charge” Return Review
Special Gift Certificate
As a complimentary service this year, we will provide a Return Review To Any Non-Client.
We will also review prior year returns from clients who did NOT have us handle their taxes during the year under question..
No charge will be made, unless we have to file an amended return.
Email our office or call 608-782-6433 to set up this complimentary service!
Deadline May 4th
+++++++++++++++++

Sending you our affection, through a haze of tax forms…

La Crosse Accountant Discusses “Freedom From Taxes”

Monday, 09 April 2012 08:30 Written by La Crosse Accountant, RKB Accounting & Tax Service 0 Comments

It’s the final week of tax season, and our office here in La Crosse, WI is hopping!

Which isn’t to say that I don’t have the time to step away for a moment and write to you, my friend (if you have all your papers in, and are waiting for our completion — fear not! My team is hard at work, as I type…).

This is often our busiest week of the year (so please be understanding), but it’s also the week when we receive, with clockwork regularity, many questions about extensions.

So, I’ll be clearing that up this week, but before I do so, a few quick unrelated points:
1) Next Tuesday, April 17th is the filing deadline, but it’s ALSO (by actual coincidence) “Tax Freedom Day”. This is the date pegged by the Tax Foundation as the date when you’ve finally worked to pay off your taxes. The rest of the year is “take home” pay. :(

2) Don’t forget that April 17th is also the deadline to contribute to IRA’s and HSA’s in order to have them count on this year’s (2011) taxes.

And, onto this week’s Note on Extensions…

Your La Crosse, WI Tax Professional Tells The Truth About Extensions
Let’s clear some things up with some facts about getting an “extension”.

As you know, Tuesday April 17th is the filing deadline for a federal tax return.  If you need more time to get your paperwork complete, you need to file (or have us file on your behalf) Form 4868 (Automatic Extension of Time to File) with the IRS by the end of the day on the 17th.  This gives you an automatic six-month (until October 17, 2012) extension of time to file.

Here’s the deal: An “Extension of Time to File” is not an “Extension of Time to Pay”, unfortunately — except for certain cases (more in a moment). In normal circumstances, the Extension simply gives you an automatic six months of additional time to get your paperwork together and file that return.  But, if you owe more than what you paid with your estimate, you’ll be accumulating penalties and interest on the difference–so PLEASE don’t take the entire six months to do this!

The exception to this rule is for:
1) Wage earners who have been unemployed at least thirty consecutive days during 2011 or in 2012 up to this year’s April 17 tax deadline; or
2) Self-employed individuals who experienced a 25 percent or greater reduction in business income in 2011 due to the economy.

So, if that’s you — let us know! We’ll get you payment relief.

For the rest of you, when filing your “Extension of Time to File”, you’ll need to estimate what you think you owe to the IRS.  This should not be pulling numbers out of thin air (or other various body parts)!  You’ll still need to go through your receipts and tax documents and get them “somewhat” organized.

From here, you can estimate both your income and your expenses, and then approximate what you owe Uncle Sam.  Keep in mind that this is an ESTIMATE.  And, you’ll have to pay what you estimate you owe at the time we file for the extension.

You can do this all electronically through our office, you can mail in the form WITH estimated payment (must be postmarked by the 17th), or you can call a specialized provider and pay by credit card. We can provide you with the appropriate number to call.

And it’s NOT TOO LATE! See below, and come by right away!

To more of your money in your wallet!
+++++++++++++++++
“PROCRASTINATORS ONLY” Special Gift Certificate
 $23 Towards Any Tax Service
“Yes, I Have Procrastinated Filing My Taxes This Year … But I Still Want to Protect Myself from All the New Tax Laws and Get MORE Money Back from Uncle Sam with A Peace-Of-Mind Guarantee that’ll Keep Me Sleeping like a Baby when My Taxes are Filed with the IRS!”
Deadline April 17th
Not valid with any other offer
+++++++++++++++++

‘Why Put Off Tomorrow What You Can Put Off Today?’ Asks La Crosse Accountant

Monday, 02 April 2012 09:09 Written by La Crosse Accountant, RKB Accounting & Tax Service 0 Comments

On Friday, I remember thinking to myself: Reginald “Kim”, I’ve never seen it this busy before! By that, I mean a RUSH of new clients, referrals and longtime clients streaming through our doors these first couple weeks of April.

And then, I remember thinking the very same thing last year.

That said, the good news for folks here in the La Crosse, WI area (and, beyond, I suppose!) is that we’ve been preparing for this season all year, and our capacity is still not at the breaking point (though truly busier than we have ever been). for these next two weeks (see the bottom of this email for details).

Even at this late hour, we will gladly receive friends of our existing clients — we make a special point to accommodate clients’ friends, because we’ve found that our great clients have very good taste in friends!

So, send this blogpost to five of your friends right now and make sure they let us know you sent them. They can also call: 608-782-6433 and we’ll be their last-minute lifeline!

And, a few words for the possibly-panicked procrastinators in our midst this week…
Oh, but before I go there, two important tax items of note:
1) First off, the actual tax deadline is Tuesday, April 17th this year (due to a DC holiday).
2) That’s also the day which is the LAST day that you can make an IRA contribution which will count for 2011. Don’t miss that chance, because you may even be able to deduct some or all of those contributions for THIS tax year.

Now, I started writing a new Note for you today … and I turned to my Note from last year for inspiration. And, well, I’m not sure that I can even improve on it, and the busyness-induced temptation to offer it to you once more was simply too great :) . But it’s just as timely as ever…

La Crosse, WI’s Most Trusted Tax Professional Reveals: When Procrastination Is Really Smart
Right now, there are an infinite number of things you could be doing, especially around here in La Crosse, WI. No matter what you work on, you’re not working on everything else. So the question is not how to avoid procrastination, but how to procrastinate well.

In my view, there are three kinds of procrastination. Depending on what you do instead of working on something, you could work on:
(a) nothing,
(b) something less important, or
(c) something more important.

That last type, I’d say, is good procrastination.

This is the “absent-minded professor” who forgets to shave, or eat, or even perhaps look where he’s going while he’s thinking about some interesting question. His mind is absent from the everyday world because it’s hard at work in another.

That’s the sense in which the most impressive people I know are all procrastinators. They’re type-C procrastinators: they put off working on small stuff to work on big stuff.

What’s “small stuff?” Roughly, work that has zero chance of being mentioned in your obituary. It’s hard to say at the time what will turn out to be your best work (will it be your thesis for your PhD, or that detective thriller you worked on at night?), but there’s a whole class of tasks you can safely rule out: shaving, doing your laundry, cleaning the house, writing thank-you notes—anything that might be called an errand.

Good procrastination is avoiding errands to do real work.

Good in a sense, at least. The people who want you to do the errands won’t think it’s good. But you probably have to annoy them if you want to get any real work done. The mildest seeming people, if they want to do real work, all have a certain degree of ruthlessness when it comes to avoiding errands.

Some errands, like replying to emails, go away if you ignore them (perhaps taking friends with them). Others, like mowing the lawn, or filing your tax returns, only get worse if you put them off. In principle, it shouldn’t work to put off the second kind of errand. You’re going to have to do whatever it is eventually. Why not (as past-due notices are always saying) do it now?

The reason it pays to put off even those errands is that real work needs two things errands don’t: big chunks of time, and the right mood. If you get inspired by some project, it can be a net win to blow off everything you were supposed to do for the next few days to work on it. Yes, those errands may cost you more time when you finally get around to them. But if you get a lot done during those few days, you will be net more productive.

So here’s where we come in.

Consider us “The Ultimate Procrastination Solution”.

Allow us to take the pain away from these second-level tasks (like getting your return filed) — and you go back to writing that killer novel.

And, of course, here’s something which will make it even easier…
+++++++++++++++++
“PROCRASTINATORS ONLY” Special Gift Certificate
$23 Towards Any Tax Service
“Yes, I Have Procrastinated Filing My Taxes This Year … But I Still Want to Protect Myself from All the New Tax Laws and Get MORE Money Back from Uncle Sam with A Peace-Of-Mind Guarantee that’ll Keep Me Sleeping like a Baby when My Taxes are Filed with the IRS!”
Deadline April 17th
Not valid with any other offer
+++++++++++++++++

Re: Guarding Against Your Own Private Downgrade

Monday, 15 August 2011 08:50 Written by La Crosse Accountant, RKB Accounting & Tax Service 0 Comments

“No one is in control of your happiness but you; therefore, you have the power to change anything about yourself or your life that you want to change.” – Barbara de Angelis

Last week, we were all reeling a little from the S&P downgrade and all of the other chaos flying around the “body politic” (and economic, to boot).

After the cool light of a week’s news has passed, businesses and families seem to be adjusting to a new normal. Consumer confidence is at its lowest in decades and the political future seems murky — will these serious budgetary problems be addressed with any kind of certainty?

It remains to be seen.

 

But, I’ll blush a little to say that my advice from last week seems to have proven wise.I’ll rehash it here with a few expanded comments:

 

Boldon’s Key Reminder #1:The only thing certain about the stock market is that it’s volatile. I believe you saw the truth in this statement? Even today, as I write, we’re north of 100 points higher … and that’s after a wild roller-coaster ride of down, and up, and down, and now up and up. Hold fast — sure, the short-termers may have profited from any of these gyrations, but what’s most important, for your family’s financial future, is that you keep the loooong view. Which, of course, leads me to my second reminder…

 

Boldon’s Key Reminder #2: What you choose to “ingest” over these next few days will greatly impact your state-of-mind. If you chose to ignore this advice, it’s likely your blood pressure felt the consequences. Truly — the “mass” media do better (financially) when there is chaos, so there is a very real, monetary at least, incentive for them to highlight turmoil. If you’re wise, you steer clear. I’m not suggesting that you stick your head in the sand, just … use a strong filter.

 

Boldon’s Key Reminder #3: The only thing you can truly control is yourself. With every passing week, I see the growing truth of this statement. The economy, your job situation, your retirement — it’s all out of your hands, in a very real sense.

That said, we met with families and clients last week who were taking positive action. With our advice, just a few small tweaks can realize six figures of true savings over the course of years.

Which is why I’m giving you one more chance on what I suggested last week:

Call my office this week: (608) 782-6433 and request one of our limited Tax Planning Saver Sessions. During this session, we will analyze your current situation and identify clear action steps for the last quarter of 2011 — designed to save your bottom line hundreds (or even thousands).

You CAN control your tax strategy … and we can help.

To You and Your Family’s Peace of Mind!

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