Tax

I hope you made it through tax season with flying colors. Now that April 15th is behind you, what do you need to do next? Here are a couple of things to keep in mind and an important tip from one of our Bookkeepers.

• The CA Board of Equalization (BOE) assigns a filing frequency (quarterly prepay, quarterly, monthly, fiscal yearly, yearly) based on your reported sales tax or your anticipated taxable sales at the time of registration. Find your filing frequency for your due dates on the BOE website by clicking here.

If you reside outside of the state of C.A. you can find the BOE website for your state.

• 1st quarter sales tax reports are due by 4/30/14 for those who are on the Quarterly Prepay Reporting or Quarterly Reporting.

• What did we learn from tax season:

• Make sure to get W-9’s for your new vendors. It is also a best practice to request updated W-9 forms from your vendors each year, especially if any of their information has changed.
• Don’t wait until the last minute to gather your paperwork and prepare your taxes. When you do, you add undue stress to you, your Bookkeeper and Accountant, plus risk the chance of paying penalties.

New C.A. Sales and Use Tax Rates Effective April 1, 2014. In addition to the table shown here, you can find this and much more valuable information at the BOE website. www.boe.ca.gov.
Click to enlarge image.

As we enter a new year, one topic that should be on the forefront of our minds is tax season. I know it’s not the most exciting thing to talk about right after ringing in the New Year, but it’s a necessity. We’ve seen too many people wait until the last minute to gather their paperwork and work with our Bookkeeper to prepare everything for their Accountant.

When you wait until the last minute, you add undue stress to you, your Bookkeeper and Accountant plus risk the chance of paying penalties. And remember, you are not the only customer that your Bookkeeper and Accountant are working with so they will need ample time to work with each client.

Intuit, the makers of Turbo Tax, has prepared a Tax Preparation Checklist. You may download and print it by clicking HERE. A checklist is an excellent way for you to mark what is applicable and stay on track. This way you don’t miss a step and you will have the necessary information available. Even if you are not the most organized person you should start a file for your taxes and use a checklist.

For a list of key dates, click HERE to read Intuit’s Turbo Tax online guide. Just as they say, “Knowing when and what you have to file can save you a lot of headaches at tax time. To avoid paying penalties, mark your calendar with the following key dates.” Intuit TuboTax

A good Bookkeeper understands how to make proper journal entries and record the day-to-day financial activities of your business. Without good books, your tax professional can’t properly do their job. This will result in more time and money spent.

At EM$, our Bookkeeping services are tailored to fit each client’s needs, whether it’s on a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly basis. If you handle your own bookkeeping, you may retain our services as part of your overall tax preparation and planning.

Also, it’s extremely helpful to use a software application such as QuickBooks Financial to manage your daily transactions and manage your books. With features such as expense tracking, income tracking, and tax preparation, along with customer, vendor and employee management, you will manage and organize data easily and save time every day. Plus there are industry-specific editions.

Links to follow for additional helpful information:
https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/all-articles-and-videos/

IRS website: http://www.irs.gov/

On Wed. of this week, QuickBooks customers who are on unsupported versions of the software received a critical notice from Intuit regarding a 1099 printing issue. They notified customers on QuickBooks Pro/Premier/Mac/ES 2007-2010 that there is a 1099 printing issue due to an IRS change; customers need to upgrade to QB 2014 if they want to continue to print 1099s and will get a 20% discount off the upgrade.

Here is an update regarding the critical notice that began going out to QuickBooks customers on Wednesday.  The communication prompted a few customer questions and we wanted to clarify the following information:   
• The IRS changes to the Tax Year 2013 1099-MISC tax form did not include adding any boxes.
• However, the IRS changes did include changing the format, size and/or position of a number of boxes.
• It is this reformatting of the boxes by the IRS that will cause the alignment issues when customers on unsupported versions of QuickBooks print their 1099-MISC forms.
• ONLY customers on QuickBooks 2010 or prior are impacted by these IRS changes and need to consider upgrading or handwriting the forms.
• Customers on QuickBooks 2011-2014 are NOT impacted by these IRS changes. They will be able to print their 1099s correctly from QuickBooks.

As previously mentioned, impacted customers have two options:
• OPTION 1: Complete the 1099-MISC forms by hand and submit them to the IRS. The IRS will accept handwritten forms. Customers can go to http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1099gi.pdf, section G for IRS guidelines and details on filing by hand.

• OPTION 2: Upgrade to QuickBooks 2014. Upgrading to QuickBooks 2014 will help save customers time by allowing them to print 1099s directly from QuickBooks, with no alignment issues. Their QuickBooks data will print directly from QuickBooks 2014 onto the correct section of their 1099 forms.
For customers choosing to upgrade to QuickBooks 2014, we are offering 20% off Pro, Premier, and Mac 2014, as well as 20% off QBES 14.0 (5/10/30 users licenses only).

Contact us at English Management Solutions, Inc. today for pricing and more information on the latest version of QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions, V2014. Speak to our Advanced QuickBooks ProAdvisor Consultant who is a nationwide expert. You can have peace of mind that you will receive accurate answers to all of your valuable questions.

We hope you are getting through tax season with flying colors. Since we received an email with new Board of Equalization (BOE) Updates - April 2013, we thought our readers would find it helpful. This includes information on Sales and Use Taxes along wtih filing deadlines since those are quickly approaching.

A great place to start is the CA Board of Equalization (BOE) at http://www.boe.ca.gov/. Below you will find an excerpt on Use Tax Basics, filing due dates, and links to news releases and other BOE information. There is a plethora of information online.

Use Tax Basics: California's sales tax generally applies to the sale of merchandise, including vehicles, in the state. California's use tax applies to the use, storage, or other consumption of those same kinds of items in the state. Generally, if sales tax would apply when you buy physical merchandise in California, use tax applies when you make a similar purchase without tax from a business located outside the state. For example, you would owe use tax when:

• You purchase something from a mail order catalog, the Internet, an online auction, television shopping network, etc. located outside California and you don't pay tax to that retailer.
• You withdraw taxable merchandise from your business's resale inventory and use it for your personal or business use.
• You purchase vehicles, vessels, mobile homes, and aircraft from sellers who do not hold seller's permits.
  Excerpt taken from the CA State Board of Equalization http://www.boe.ca.gov/taxprograms/usetax/

Sales and Use Taxes Filing Due Dates

April 15, 2013

·    Yearly Returns for Qualified Purchasers and Consumer Use Tax Accounts

April 30, 2013

·    March tax return (for accounts on a monthly reporting basis)

·    First quarter tax return (for accounts on a quarterly or quarterly prepayment reporting basis)

News Releases

·      Free Costa Mesa Tax Seminar for Nonprofit Organizations

·      BOE Reminds Taxpayers it’s Easy to Pay Use Tax

·      Free Income Tax Return Preparation at VITA Locations in Ventura County

·      BOE Working with CAL FIRE on Fire Prevention Fee Billing Schedule

·      BOE Notifying California Retailers of Upcoming Visits

·      Relief Available for Tax and Feepayers Affected by San Mateo County Rainstorm

Special Notices

·      Notice for Mobile Sellers of Cigarette and Tobacco Products

Latest Industry Resources

·      California Lumber Products Assessment Information (Updated January 23, 2013)

Other BOE Items

·     We have made it easy to pay use tax

·     California Use Tax Information

Today is July 1st and we want to remind everyone that the CA Sales Tax was lowered today by 1%. Please see our previous post California Sales Tax Is Changing July 1st-Update in QuickBooks POS for step-by-step instructions on how to properly make this change in QuickBooks Point of Sale (POS). And don't hesitate to contact us with any questions.

Toll Free: 877-467-0451
P: 858-467-0400
info@englishmgmt.com

As of July 1st the state sales tax is being reduced by 1%.  Here is our suggestion for how to handle the change.  Since we don’t know if the state will change it back, my suggestion is to create a new tax location. LEARN MORE

In California, the sales tax is going up by 1 percent on April 1st.  To change your sales tax in POS V6 and above, go to the Edit menu, choose preference and then company.  In your company preferences, select the sales tax section and then click on the edit button on the relevant sales tax.  Click through till you get to the rate and change it.  Since you can't schedule the change, you will need to do this after you close the 31st.