Safeguard data from natural disasters

Tuesday, June 26th, 2012

If your local meteorologist says a Category 3 hurricane is coming tomorrow, are you prepared? You may have shutters on your windows and a stockpile of canned food and bottled water, but what about your financial records?  The IRS identified several steps that individuals and businesses should take to protect themselves against losses from natural disasters.

• Create an electronic set of backup records (e.g. bank statements, tax returns, insurance policies).
• Document valuables with photographs or videos of home contents and store with a friend or family member who lives outside the area.
• Update personal and company emergency plans.
• Check on fiduciary bonds if you are an employer who uses payroll service providers; a bond could offer protection if the provider defaults.

IRS specialists trained to handle disaster-related issues can be reached by calling 1-866-562-5227, and copies of previously filed tax returns can be requested by filing Form 4506 (Request for Copy of Tax Return).

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

Create STRONG passwords that you won’t forget!

Monday, June 11th, 2012

Too often we are expected to create random, complicated passwords with special characters and lots of restrictions. Especially now, with all the security breaches, we recommend the following method to help you develop passwords that are strong and easy to create and remember:

For website passwords, use the first four or five letters of the website to start the password. For example: 

For added security, add the @ symbol and a number (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0) to the first letters of the website. For example:

Pick a phrase that is easy for you to remember, but that no one else will be able to attribute to you. For example:

Passphrase: “My Wife’s Birthday Is April Twenty-Fifth Nineteen Sixty Six”

Use the first letter of each phrase to form an abbreviation. For example:

m – My
w – Wife’s
b – Birthday
i – Is
a – April
t – Twenty-
f – Fifth
n – Nineteen
s – Sixty
s – Six

Abbreviated pass phrase: mwbiatfnss

Add the passphrase to the first letters of the website, the @ symbol and number. For example:

Following this pattern will help you develop strong passwords that are easy to create and remember. Remember that at a minimum the passwords must:

• contain at least 1 letter
• contain at least 1 number or punctuation mark
• be at least 8 characters long

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Jorge Rey, CISA, CISM, CGEIT is an associate principal and the director of information security & compliance for Kaufman, Rossin & Co. Kaufman, Rossin is one of the top CPA firms in Florida. Jorge can be reached at jrey@kaufmanrossin.com.

Using payroll service for QuickBooks 2009? It’s time to upgrade!

Friday, June 8th, 2012

Payroll service for QuickBooks 2009 will be discontinued on June 30, 2012, and all payroll subscriptions for customers with QuickBooks 2009 will be inactivated.

On July 1, 2012, QuickBooks 2009 will no longer automatically calculate correct payroll taxes or provide payroll tax forms. Live technical support and add-on business services such as payroll, credit card processing, QuickBooks Email, and online banking will also be discontinued.

However, if you don’t use live technical support or any of the add-on services, and are happy with your current version of QuickBooks, you can continue to use it.

Products for which services will be discontinued are:

• QuickBooks Pro, Premier and Simple Start 2009
• QuickBooks for Mac 2009
• QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions 9
• QuickBooks Premier Accountant Edition 2009
• Credit Card Processing Kit 2009
• Invoice Manager 2009

We encourage you to upgrade your QuickBooks software as soon as possible to minimize disruption to your business. If you have any concerns, please contact your Kaufman, Rossin professional or one of our QuickBooks ProAdvisors.

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Lisa K. Grossman is an associate principal at Kaufman, Rossin & Co., and a leader in the Firm’s QuickBooks consulting practice. Lisa is a Certified Public Accountant in the state of Florida and a QuickBooks ProAdvisor. Kaufman, Rossin & Co. is one of the top CPA firms in the country. She can be reached a lgrossman@kaufmanrossin.com.

Top 10 reasons you should update your estate plan before the end of 2012!

Wednesday, June 6th, 2012

1. Tax exemption is higher now than ever, but not for long.
   The current estate, gift and generation skipping tax exemption is currently $5,120,000 ($10,240,000) per couple. This is higher than it has ever been and is scheduled to drop to only $1,000,000 (only $2,000,000 per couple) in 2013 unless Congress and the President can reach an agreement. This may be a use it or lose it!
2. Your plan may disinherit your spouse!
   Do your current estate planning documents include a formula for determining the amounts passing to heirs or trusts for heirs based upon the exemption? With the currently high exemptions, your plan may disinherit your spouse!
3. Is your business safe from creditors or predators?
   Do you have a succession plan for your business? Does your plan include the use of asset protection trusts funded up to the amount of your exemption to safeguard your business from your heirs’ creditors, spouses and predators?
4. Interest rates are historically low!
   The interest rate that the IRS requires to be used for interfamily loans, sales to family trusts, and other planning techniques is at historical lows. The current required interest rate for a 9 year loan made in June 2012 is only 1.07%.
5. Discounting the value of assets is still available.
   Discounted values for lack of control and lack of marketability for interests in Corporations, Partnerships and LLCs are still available for interfamily transactions. There has been much talk about limiting such discounts, but currently, discounting is still available for planning purposes.  When discounting the value of assets by 33%, the effective interest rate on a note as mentioned in item four above drops to only 0.7%!
6. If you’re feeling generous – there’s no estate or gift tax!
   If you are currently giving or planning to give significant sums of money or assets to your favorite charity, the current low interest rates allow you to help your charity and transfer assets to your heirs with no estate or gift tax. Ask about the use of a charitable lead trust.
7. Consider a Roth IRA conversion for estate tax savings.
   If you have a large IRA or retirement plan as part of your taxable estate, which is in excess of the exemption, you should consider a Roth IRA conversion. This will reduce your taxable estate and provide years of tax free cash flow to heirs.
8. Avoid aggressive taxation on your vacation home.
   Do you have a vacation home outside Florida that will be subject to state estate tax and the costs of an ancillary probate administration in that state? Simple steps can avoid the often very aggressive taxation of these homes.
9. Is your life insurance subject to estate taxes?
   An irrevocable life insurance trust can avoid the estate tax and provide asset protection for your heirs.
10. Do you have a family member who has special health needs?
    You may want to consider unique provisions in your estate planning documents.

Don’t wait until the end of the year to get started.  Do it now!

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John R. Anzivino, CPA is in charge of Kaufman, Rossin’s estate, trust and exempt organization practice. Kaufman, Rossin & Co. is one of the top CPA firms in the state and offers a wide variety of services for high-net worth individuals. John can be reached at janzivino@kaufmanrossin.com

Another IRS email scam

Tuesday, June 5th, 2012

The IRS will never initiate contact via email. If you receive an email claiming to be from the IRS, it is a SCAM!

Below is a screenshot of one of the scam emails being sent.

If you have any concerns or questions, feel free to contact your Kaufman, Rossin professional.

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

QuickBooks – There’s an app for that too!

Tuesday, May 22nd, 2012

Are you an app lover? Do you use apps for more than just games?

If so, you’ll appreciate that QuickBooks has the capability to integrate with numerous applications to simplify billing, invoicing, customer management, financial management, and mobile accounting. One of our favorite apps is Bill.com.

Bill.com is a paperless bill pay service that integrates with both desktop QuickBooks and QuickBooks Online. If you’re trying to organize payables, gain greater control over cash flow, and gain access to bill pay functions on your smart phone, then this app may be great for you.  Even if your accounting firm pays your bills for you, this app will help you get clear, instant access to your records.

How it works:

• You get a dedicated email address or fax number to send in copies of your invoices. They’re all archived in a secure, web-based portal.
• You can maintain proper internal controls by having separate staff upload, approve, and pay bills.
• Payments are sent via ACH, if accepted by your vendor, or via paper checks.
• If a paper check is required, funds are first transferred to Bill.com.  Then, a check is cut from Bill.com’s account. This lessens your exposure to check fraud.
• Users have access to a cash flow calendar allowing them to easily schedule, postpone, and project expenses.
• All accounting information exports to QuickBooks, eliminating the need for duplicate data entry.
• It works with any computer or mobile device. This provides a great solution for owners who travel frequently and want to stay on top of their expenses or retain the authority to pay bills themselves.

This is a trusted service, recommended by the AICPA’s CPA2BIZ division.  It’s gotten very strong reviews from the QuickBooks community for both its functionality and user support.  A package for up to 5 users is $49.00 per month plus $0.99 for each paper check required.

App savvy professionals can get more information at http://www.bill.com/.

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Meredith Tucker is an accounting services manager at  Kaufman, Rossin’s Boca Raton office, and a QuickBooks ProAdvisor. Kaufman, Rossin & Co., one of the top CPA firms in the country, offers  QuickBooks training and consulting services. She can be reached at mtucker@kaufmanrossin.com.

Got science?

Monday, April 9th, 2012

If you have a scientist or engineer on staff or contract, you could be missing out on government incentives designed to support advances in technology.  Both the Federal and state tax codes have credits for research and development expenses.

I spoke with Businessweek about this topic recently.

The Federal credits have become more attractive for entrepreneurs in recent years because they’ve been simplified, can be transferred in an acquisition, and can be taken retroactively.  And they are particularly good for startups, since R&D costs incurred in years when a company has no income can be carried forward to offset taxes on future profits.

Florida’s credit is new, and applies to expenses in tax years beginning January 1, 2012.   There’s $9 million available for this year, on a first come basis.  If you spend more this year than you did (on average) for the past four years, it’s worth investigating.

If you haven’t had an expert evaluate whether you should claim this credit, contact me at shaggard@kaufmanrossin.com for an assessment!

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Sean Haggard, CPA, is a tax manager in Kaufman, Rossin’s Boca Raton office.  Kaufman, Rossin & Co. is one of the top CPA firms in the country. Sean can be reached at shaggard@kaufmanrossin.com.  Connect to Sean on LinkedIn.

Changing the Way You Do Business? 5 Great Tips From SXSW!

Tuesday, March 20th, 2012

After five days of non-stop sessions at South by Southwest (SXSW), the world’s largest interactive, online, social media, and tech conference in the world, I am eager to share this year’s themes and key takeaways. In the short time since last year’s SXSW Interactive conference, it is incredibly apparent how quickly technology and the online world changes, adapts, and improves our lives and businesses.

Here are 5 key takeaways I learned at SXSW that could change the way you do business.

1. Content, content, content!  Have you ever heard the expression, “content is king?” Well this is true now more than ever. Content strategy, creation, and curation were covered in multitude. Creating good content is not an easy task, but thought leaders shared some helpful tips:
   1. Create a content strategy that includes workflow, substance, structure, and governance revolving around your core strategy.
   2. Experiment with different types of content: text, photos, graphics, videos – and be sure that all content is flexible and tailored to your audience and platform with a specific goal to achieve.
   3. Write with a journalist mindset. Content is all about real-time marketing, storytelling, and an editorial point-of-view.
   4. Do more with less. Increase the quality of your content, not quantity. And it’s smart to re-use and re-purpose good content.
   5. Don’t forget to use a little humor.
   6. Is your content compelling to readers? Visible to search engines? Linkable to partners? Shareable through social media? And transferable to mobile devices? Make sure it is!
2. Social media is here to stay. It’s evolving and becoming even more personalized. Integrate social media efforts into the entire marketing plan, and turn your employees into your online activists. And how do you prove ROI? That’s still a burning question among all the experts… My favorite tips include creating your own value system, benchmarking, and paying attention to the final outcome of your efforts.
3. Data is no longer boring. Data is now fun, interactive, and visual! All companies have mounds of data that can be interpreted visually to create stunning infographics, interactive charts, and useful, eye-appealing content.
4. Search engines aren’t what they used to be. How do you improve your company’s Google or Bing ranking? There are many solutions such as creating great content, focusing on the user experience, including meta descriptions, leveraging social media, and much more.
5. Future technology is really cool and a little creepy. Creating an online, automatic, and personalized alter ego from online data is already possible. Google Plus Your World is changing and personalizing our search results based on our profiles, searches, and friends’ online activity. Augmented reality is soon going to become reality. Instead of revolving around your mobile phone, your phone will revolve around you. And location-based technology will be even more interactive and automatic.

I hope you find value from these takeaways, or at least start thinking about this evolution of business! If you’d like to learn more, I invite you to attend two opportunities on March 27th:

• PRSA – Miami Chapter’s panel, “ The Continued Evolution of Social Media: Hear Key Takeaways from the SXSW Interactive Conference,” where Christine de la Huerta of rbb Public Relations, Stephanie Camargo of The Axis Agency, and I will be speaking.
• Catalyst Miami’s “Social Media for Non-Profits” presentation which I will be hosting.

Finally, thank you to everyone who participated in #ILoveAccountants during SXSW! It was a fun ice breaker, and it was interesting hearing everybody’s responses.

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Aubrey Swanson is the social media coordinator at Kaufman, Rossin’s Miami office. Kaufman, Rossin & Co.is one of the top CPA firms in the country. She can be reached at aswanson@kaufmanrossin.com. Connect with Aubrey on Linkedin. Follow Aubrey on Twitter.

ALERT: You may have paid too much sales tax!

Wednesday, March 7th, 2012

Sales and use tax rules are complex and can be confusing.  It’s surprising how often entrepreneurs pay more taxes than they’re required.  Many never even know they overpaid thousands!

If your business is in the manufacturing, hospitality, or healthcare industry then you may qualify!

Our experts find overpayments and recover them.

Our State & Local Tax professionals will analyze your payments and see whether you have a refund due.  We look at your fixed asset and consumable purchases over the past three years, and often find vendor overcharges of sales tax, or sales/use tax paid on nontaxable transactions. Then we file a refund claim with the State to recover the overpaid tax, or we prepare a report so you can recover the overpayments by taking credits against future sales tax payments.

It works.  We’ve found significant refunds for many clients.

For example:

• We recovered approximately $130,000 in overcharged sales tax for a South Florida resort hotel.
• We recovered approximately $250,000 in overpaid sales/use tax for a Central Florida manufacturing company.

Here’s the best part: it costs nothing unless we succeed.

The work is performed on a contingency fee basis. There is no cost to you unless we find an overpayment and get your money back.  Our fee is paid out of the cash we recover.  There is zero impact on your budget.

Clients find our experience invaluable.

This time-consuming work requires a significant base of knowledge about the rules and how they may be applied.  It takes detail orientation and patient attention.  Kaufman, Rossin has built a team of professionals whose technical skills and abilities in this area are unmatched.

• We have 15 years of FL Dept. of Revenue (“FDOR”) experience
• We have extensive contacts within the FDOR.
• We started doing this at the Big Four, but chose to bring this real value to entrepreneurs at Kaufman, Rossin a dozen years ago.

Want to know if you overpaid – and get it back?

For additional information on our State & Local Tax (SALT) Practice, please contact:

• Dan Wagner – 561.620.1718 – dwagner@kaufmanrossin.com
• Or your Kaufman, Rossin account professional.

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Dan Wagner is an associate tax principal in Kaufman, Rossin’s SALT practice.  Kaufman, Rossin & Co. is one of the top CPA firms in the country. He can be reached at dwagner@kaufmanrossin.com.

#ILoveAccountants

Tuesday, March 6th, 2012

Why Do You Love Accountants?

There are endless possibilities as to why you may love accountants. They save you money, they help you avoid an audit, they help you make sense of that shoe box full of receipts… Whatever the reason may be, we want to know (in 140 characters or less)!

In just two days, I will be traveling to Austin, Texas for my second annual South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive conference – the largest social media, tech, web, and start-up event in the world. Besides engaging in six speaker sessions from 9:30am till 6:00pm for five days straight, meeting hundreds of new people, and attending countless events, I’ll be encouraging complete strangers to tweet why they love accountants with the #ILoveAccountants hashtag!

Why?

1. SXSW is a social media hub. So why not conduct a fun Twitter campaign?

2. Although SXSW attracts the most social media-friendly people in the world, it’s still a rarity to see professional services, especially accountants, in the mix of it all. We want to make a CPA presence in Austin!

3. I’ll be wearing a different, brightly-colored shirt each day with the caption, “ASK ME WHY,” on the front and “#ILoveAccountants” on the back – it’s bound to be a conversation starter!

4. We really want to know your answer.

So why do you love accountants? Tweet us at @KaufmanRossin with #ILoveAccountants!

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Aubrey Swanson is the social media coordinator at Kaufman, Rossin’s Miami office. Kaufman, Rossin & Co.is one of the top CPA firms in the country. She can be reached at aswanson@kaufmanrossin.com. Connect with Aubrey on Linkedin. Follow Aubrey on Twitter.