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.

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.

New FDOR Ruling May Mean Sales Tax Relief for Real Estate Held in Separate Entities

Tuesday, November 8th, 2011

The Florida Department of Revenue treats inter-company and other related party use of real estate as a taxable rental for sales tax purposes. This is true even when there is no written lease involved.  This has long been a significant downside of holding real estate in a separate entity which for liability purposes is desirable. A recent ruling issued by the Department may provide relief to such situations. The ruling addressed a lease which contained the following terms:

• No reversionary interest to the owner/lessor;
• Transfer of title by deed to the lessee at the end of the lease term;
• The monthly rent was equal to the monthly payments of principal and interest;
• The lessee had the option of early payoff to accelerate transfer by deed; and
• The lessee bore the risk and benefits of changes in the property value.

The Department ruled that the lease was in substance an installment sale and not a taxable lease for sales tax purposes. Persons with intercompany or other related party use of real property can now consider the option of putting such a lease in place. This will permit the limited liability benefits of owning real estate in a separate entity without creating the downside of a taxable lease for sales tax purposes.

For additional details and stipulations, please click here or contact me at 561.620.1718 or dwagner@kaufmanrossin.com.

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.

Linen Suppliers May Be Eligible for Sales Tax Refund

Thursday, October 13th, 2011

Companies which are in the linen services business, such as those supplying linens to hospitals, nursing homes and resort hotels, may be entitled to a refund of sales tax paid on utilities used in their laundering facilities, according to a recent ruling by the Florida Department of Revenue.

Finding and recovering sales tax refunds can be challenging. We can assist in determining eligibility for this opportunity and help recover the refundable sales tax. If you would like more information or assistance, please contact me at 561.620.1718 or dwagner@kaufmanrossin.com.

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.

2011 Real Estate Tax Appeal Deadlines

Thursday, August 25th, 2011

Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Broward counties have all recently issued their annual Truth in Millage (“TRIM”) notices.  Property owners wishing to appeal the assessed valuations and tax liabilities reflected on their 2011 TRIM notices have a very limited time to do so.

If you feel that your assessment may be too high, the deadlines to appeal your property taxes are approaching. After the following deadlines, appeals for 2011 will not be permitted: 

• September 16, 2011 – Palm Beach
• September 19, 2011 – Broward
• September 19, 2011 – Miami-Dade

The steps to appeal your property assessment can be challenging. If you need assistance with this process, please contact a Kaufman, Rossin professional or contact the following resources directly who specialize in these tax appeals:

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

Michelle Cohen – LeaseGuard, Inc.
561.998.2800 Ext. 1 or info@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.

Taxpayers aren’t always receiving timely and quality responses from IRS

Thursday, August 11th, 2011

Most taxpayers aren’t getting timely responses to written inquiries to the IRS, and not all responses are completely accurate says a recent report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA). 

The IRS received about 20 million letters, forms and other written correspondence from taxpayers in 2010. The TIGTA found that most final responses from the IRS were accurate; however, the interim responses were not clear as to what taxpayers should do.

The report examined random correspondence cases and found that only 19 percent of the cases received timely and accurate responses. The report also showed that the IRS is not following its own policy guidelines and has not implemented any measures or processes to monitor and evaluate the correspondence to make sure taxpayers are receiving timely responses. The IRS’s goal is to respond within 30 days. The IRS disagreed with the outcome measures the TIGTA stated in the report.

 Click here to read the full report by the TIGTA. 

What does this mean for you? Taxpayers should exercise patience when dealing with the IRS.

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Scott F. Berger, CPA is a tax 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.

Ready to shop? Florida sales tax holiday is August 12th – 14th!

Wednesday, August 3rd, 2011

If you’re on a budget, or you simply love a great deal then mark you calendar -  Florida’s sales tax holiday is Friday, August 12th through Sunday, August 14th.

So what can you buy that is exempt from sales tax? Quite a bit actually!

• Clothing, wallets and certain bags (handbags, backpacks, fanny packs and diaper bags) having a sales price of $75 or less each.
• Footwear having a sales price of $75 or less.
• School supplies having a sales price of $15 or less per item.

I plan on taking advantage of this tax break – I’m making my list now of what I need (work shirts, gym shoes, and maybe even a few new ties)! Feel free to share what you’re excited to purchase and your favorite store.

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Wolfgang H. Pinther is the marketing supervisor at Kaufman, Rossin’s Miami office.  Kaufman, Rossin & Co. is one of the top CPA firms in the country. Wolf can be reached at wpinther@kaufmanrossin.com.  Connect to Wolf on LinkedIn and follow him on Twitter.

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.

Does the State of Florida owe you money?

Saturday, March 28th, 2009

In the State of Florida, one thing’s for sure: the tax code is complicated.   I should know – I used to work for the Department of Revenue.  In fact, many businesses are unaware of overpayments they’ve made!   

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