Real Estate Tax Appeal Deadlines

Thursday, September 2nd, 2010

Many times, we find that clients’ property assessments are incorrect. With the South Florida real estate market being so volatile this past year, it is important to make sure that your property tax assessments are accurate.

If you feel that your assessment may be too high, the deadlines to appeal your property taxes are approaching.

• September 16, 2010 – Palm Beach
• September 20, 2010 – Broward
• September 20, 2010 – Miami-Dade

The steps to appeal your property assessment can be challenging. For example, you’ll need to be able to document the market value of your property as of January 1st of the current year by showing its value relative to the qualified comparable sales. And you’ll need to make your case to the Special Magistrate at the Value Adjustment Board hearing.

If you need assistance with this process, please contact a Kaufman, Rossin accountant or contact the following resources directly who specialize in these tax appeals:

Mitchell Feldman – President of FBS Property Tax Abatement, LLC
305.350.7360 or mfeldman@fbstaxabatement.com

Todd M. Wolff – President of LeaseGuard, Inc.
561.998.2800 or toddwolff@leaseguardusa.com

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Scott F. Berger is a tax principal at Kaufman, Rossin’s Miami office.  Kaufman, Rossin & Co. is one of the top CPA firms in the country.  He can be reached at sberger@kaufmanrossin.com.

Foreign Tax Reform is Law – What Does It Mean for You?

Thursday, August 26th, 2010

On August 10, 2010 President Obama signed into law H.R. 1586, the Education Jobs and Medicaid Assistance Act, which includes a $9 billion package of international tax reform. These international tax provisions will fund most of the bill’s revenue offsets in effort to save thousands of teaching jobs and help states fund Medicaid shortfalls.

The legislation is designed to reduce the opportunities for U.S. corporations to optimize the use of the foreign tax credit by incorporating a host of international tax reform measures and closing a number of foreign tax credit loopholes.

For example, the provisions will:

• Eliminate the ability to split foreign taxes from the associated foreign income in order to prevent inappropriate separation of creditable foreign taxes.
• Reduce foreign tax credits on stepped-up assets in order to prevent taxpayers from claiming the foreign tax credit on foreign income that is never taxed in the U.S.
• Restrict tax treaty use to resource U.S. income in order to segregate the income so that it is not used for claiming foreign tax credits.
• Limit the amount of foreign taxes deemed paid with respect to Sec. 956 inclusions (relating to investments in U.S. property) in order to limit the foreign tax credits claimed on a deemed dividend.

Other provisions of the legislation include the repeal of the 80/20 rules under which interest and dividends received from a domestic corporation or a resident alien were treated as foreign source when for a 3 year period and at least 80% of the gross income was active foreign business income. 

In addition, the new law eliminates the advance payment option for the earned income credit. However, the elimination is projected to impact a relatively small number of taxpayers.

Most of these provisions are effective for taxable years beginning January 1, 2011, yet some may be retroactive.

Keep in mind this is a summary of some of the provisions of the legislation. If you’d like further information on how these provisions may affect you and/or your business, please contact Yadira Hiraldo at 305.646.6031 or yhiraldo@kaufmanrossin.com.

Yadira Hiraldo, CPA, is an international tax manager at Kaufman, Rossin & Co., one of the top CPA firms in Florida with offices in Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Boca Raton.

Be Aware of Misleading Amnesty Notices

Tuesday, August 24th, 2010

The Florida Department of Revenue (FDOR) is sending out Amnesty notices to taxpayers who, according to FDOR records, have outstanding notices for sales tax, corporate income tax, etc. These notices include a statement of amounts the FDOR claims are due.

You might be tempted to automatically pay these notices in order to take advantage of the Amnesty program, but you should check them first to determine if the alleged liabilities are in fact owed.

For example:

• In many cases, these statements include liabilities which the FDOR has estimated to be due where a sales tax return, corporate income tax return or other state return was not filed.
• And in some cases, these notices are being received by S Corps and partnerships which have no Florida Corporate Income Tax filing requirement.

If you’ve received Amnesty notices be sure to check the statements against your records and/or contact your accountant to make sure the claims are correct. For more information, contact Dan Wagner at 561.620.1718 or dwagner@kaufmanrossin.com.

Dan Wagner is an associate principal in the State & Local Tax Practice department at Kaufman, Rossin & Co., one of the top CPA firms in Florida with offices in Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Boca Raton.

Still No Estate Tax – A Window of Opportunity for Lifetime Gifts in 2010

Thursday, August 19th, 2010

It’s August and, unbelievably, there is still no estate tax in 2010. We have seen large estates like that of George Steinbrenner, and other billionaires passing in 2010, avoid huge estate taxes. And unless Congress passes retroactive legislation those estates will have avoided estate tax and generation skipping taxes.  

We can’t imagine anyone wanting to die to take advantage of the current estate tax opportunity.  Fortunately, the current law also provides an opportunity to make large lifetime gifts in 2010.

Here are some reasons why making gifts now make sense.   

• The $13,000 annual exclusions and $1,000,000 gift tax exemption for gifts in excess of your annual exclusions is still in place.
• Right now the gift tax rate is 35% on amounts over the $1,000,000 exemption. This rate can be as low as 26% if the transferor survives three years from the date of the gift.  However, in 2011 the maximum rate is scheduled to go up to 60%.  
• As of now, there is no Generation Skipping Tax in 2010.  Gifts directly to individuals more than one generation below the transferor are not subject to the Generation Skipping Tax which historically has been as high as 55%.
• With the extremely low interest rate environment many gift strategies, such as charitable lead trusts and GRATs, result in lower gifts than in higher interest rate periods.
• Transfer values are lower with the depressed real estate values and stock markets. Closely held business interests are likely to be valued lower.

What is the downside?

• Estate and gift tax might be repealed permanently. However, this doesn’t seem likely in a period of budget deficits and the fact that transfer taxes in recent years affect less than 1% of the population.  
• If the transferor dies in 2010, no transfer tax would apply under current law and unnecessary gift taxes would have been incurred.  This can be avoided by using techniques which will make the gift incomplete until after the tax laws for 2010 are certain.

If you have questions about how you can take advantage of current planning opportunities, please contact John Anzivino at janzivino@kaufmanrossin.com or 305.857.6706.

John R. Anzivino, CPA, is an estate and trust principal at Kaufman, Rossin & Co., one of the top CPA firms in the Southeast.

Back to the Basics

Monday, August 2nd, 2010

On July 14, 2010, I hopped on a plane to Jamaica with one goal in mind – no, not to bask in the sun and get as tan as possible on their beautiful white sandy beaches, but to educate local Jamaican entrepreneurs by teaching them the basic skills they need to operate and grow their small businesses. 

The University of Miami American Airlines/Eagle Jamaica Project is the final result of University of Miami Hyperion Council members devoting their energy, time and knowledge to creating lessons and real-life activities to teach 50 Jamaican small business owners.  In the U.S. we take a lot of things for granted like basic education, financing, paved roads, modern technology, clean water and shelter. How would you run your business if you didn’t have access to all of these things (which we consider necessities)? It would probably be pretty challenging, which is exactly what these business owners are experiencing.  And by business owners, I mean chicken farmers, agro-processors, juice producers, and hair dressers among others.

Although we couldn’t help them through all of their challenges, we are confident we taught them sound business practices.  We presented lessons that taught these Jamaican entrepreneurs basic accounting, marketing, operations, and business plan development skills.  We actually visited some of their businesses to help them distinguish themselves in their local market and obtain small business loans.  We worked in small groups which helped us really get to know these participants on a deeper level and understand their mission and vision.

It was truly amazing to see how these third world businesses survive on a daily basis.  Even though it was my second time visiting Jamaica and implementing this project, I was still stunned and fascinated by what I saw.  As a new addition to Kaufman, Rossin, I’ve grown accustomed to the great work environment that I experience every day.  We’re able to make business decisions by the click of a button, and many of our employees have graduated from some of the nation’s top schools.  And it goes without saying that we have clean water, beautiful facilities, and some other great amenities that come with being a part of the Best Place to Work For in South Florida.

Experiencing Jamaica and meeting these extraordinary people reminded me of how great things are here, and how entirely different it is just one time zone away.  As I now begin my professional career at Kaufman, Rossin, I bring to it my one-of-a-kind experience meeting and teaching these inspiring business owners as I was exposed to a different way of living and operating a business.  As we work in our robust, modern business world sometimes it’s necessary to go back to the basics – and enjoy the simple things in both life and business.

Aubrey Swanson is the social media coordinator with Kaufman, Rossin & Co., one of the top accounting firms in the Southeast. She can be reached at aswanson@kaufmanrossin.com.

Hurricanes are no joke.

Friday, July 2nd, 2010

On Sunday night, August 24, 1992, Hurricane Andrew ripped through South Florida and caused more than $26.5 billion in damages. Our firm’s offices were closed for two full weeks – power in the neighborhood was out for a week, and then we were closed for another week to replace the electrical panel that had been flooded and the air conditioning towers that had blown off the roof. The name Andrew was retired by the National Weather Services, and replaced by the name Alex.

If you were in South Florida in 1992, you won’t forget that hurricanes are no joke.

Hurricane season runs June 1 through November 30. Building a “culture of readiness” for your family, employees and business will help you make good decisions and provide you with options to minimize the effects of a disaster like Andrew.

If you don’t have a plan, start planning right away.   Ask yourself:

• Who is my emergency management team, and what tasks should each of them be assigned?
• Which staff, materials, procedures and equipment are absolutely necessary to keep the business operating?  
• What are my backup plans if any of these are unavailable? 
• Can employees work at home if necessary? 
• What is my communications plan – how will employees know the status of the business and whether they should try to get to work?  How will I know all employees are safe?
• Which customers should I make sure to contact immediately, to let them know the status of the business?  Do I have their contact information easily available?

To learn more about how to prepare your business and minimize the effects of a hurricane or other disaster, register for my free breakfast seminar on July 22nd.  You’ll get important tips and answers to your questions, and receive a free copy of the Kaufman Rossin Disaster Preparedness Guide. 

Jorge Rey is Director of Information Security for Kaufman, Rossin & Co., one of the top CPA firms in the Southeast.  He can be reached at jrey@kaufmanrossin.com.

Best Place to Work

Friday, February 26th, 2010

Yesterday, our firm was once again named the #1 Best Place to Work in South Florida.   That’s a very special honor for us, and I wanted to share a few thoughts.

What makes this place so special is our employees. We don’t just hire great accountants. We recruit, select, mentor and develop great people.

Here’s what I mean.

• Our people love what they do, so our clients get the special attention and the caring service that sets us apart from other accounting firms
• Our people care about each other, so our teams  — everything from client audit teams to our championship CPA softball team – help each other improve performance all the time
• Our people are smart and resourceful.  They recognize that, to continue to grow, they need to see beyond the numbers to what matters most to clients, and find ways to deliver.
• Our people care about our community, and are willing to spend time and energy to make it better.

For 48 years we’ve put our employees first.  As the firm has grown we’ve put new programs in place that help to maintain the caring, family atmosphere.

I’m gratified that, while the economic downturn has affected everyone in South Florida, our employees trust that management is still focused on maintaining our Joy At Work culture.

What do you think makes a great place to work?

Teach more, learn more, add more value.

Friday, November 20th, 2009

Just read Bill Taylor’s HBR blog post The Rise of the Teaching Organization and I couldn’t agree more. 

He writes:

“Executives have come to understand that for their companies to stay ahead of the competition, their people, at every level, have to learn more (and more quickly) than the competition: new skills, new takes on emerging technologies, new ways to do old things, from manufacturing to marketing to R&D….

But one thing I’ve learned over the last few years, as I’ve traveled the world in search of organizations unleashing big change in difficult circumstances, is that the most determined innovators — the organizations with the most original ideas about how to compete and win — aren’t just committed to learning. They are just as committed to teaching.”

Organizations that look beyond their own walls to find new ideas, or venture out to share the innovations they have created, can benefit in so many ways!  Building awareness of their business is an obvious one — but sharing ideas that help others comes back in so many more  valuable ways.

Don’t miss this post!  I’d love to hear what you think.

Law firms: Are your trust accounts secure?

Sunday, August 9th, 2009

Many law firms, large and small, hold funds in trust (or escrow) for their clients.  These funds can be entrusted to you for a very short term, or for quite a long time and the amounts can be substantial.   But whatever the circumstance, make no mistake, you are responsible for the security of those funds.

Are you sure that your trust accounts are secure?

Making sure those funds are properly safeguarded requires adequate internal controls. Internal controls are a process by which those charged with governance promote operational efficiency, help ensure the reliability of financial statements and compliance with laws and regulations, and (perhaps most important to a law firm’s reputation and profitability) reduce the risk of asset loss.    (more…)

Your business could be at risk

Friday, July 31st, 2009

Did you know that your business may be held responsible if your clients’ sensitive identifying information is stolen from you?   Depending on your industry, a variety of federal and state laws have been enacted which impose fines on companies who customer files are breached.

Seems pretty unfair, right? If your company is victimized, how can you be held to blame?

With the volume of electronic transactions increasing dramatically, it is almost impossible to be in business and not collect or hold personal identifying information — names and addresses, Social Security numbers, credit card numbers, or other account numbers –- about your customers, employees, business partners, students, or patients. The risk that personal identifiable information will be breached puts your customers at risk of identity theft, one of the fastest growing crimes in America.

To encourage businesses to address the increasing risks, several federal and state laws have been enacted and new laws are currently being considered. Penalties range from fines of $100 per violation (which means for each individual record!) to loss of federal funding.

So what can you do to protect your data and your customers? Effective internal controls are key.

The combination of hardware and software will not prevent data breaches; technology is just one piece of security. Effective internal controls, security procedures and proper training are critical as well. Protection plans should address four key elements:

1. Physical security, including building and computer room controls.  Who can get in, and when?
2. Electronic security, including encryption, access controls. 
3. Employee training on security awareness
4. The security practices of contractors and service providers: data protection clauses in contracts, monitoring.

Breaches can happen and no program is infallible.   But instituting a privacy and security program to protect personal identifiable information will help you manage your business privacy risks, protect your bottom-line and develop the most cost-effective ways to protect sensitive information. 

Read the full article

Jorge Rey is an Information Security Manager at Kaufman, Rossin & Co, one of Florida’s largest independent accounting firms.  He helps clients assess and strengthen internal controls related to data security.  He can be reached at jrey@kaufmanrossin.com.