Our email system is back up and appears to be stable again. Thank you for your patience.
DAPCPA Email System Is Temporarily Down10/8/2013
The exchange server at our office is down. Temporarily, please use info.dapcpa@gmail.com if you need to get something to our staff. Or, if your communication does not contain private material, you can message me on our DAPCPA Facebook page. Caution: the gmail account is only checked when our email system is down. I am very sorry for the inconvenience and we will be back up and running as quickly as possible.
Seeking Referrals10/5/2013
With the addition of two enormously talented accountants in the Winter Park office, we find ourselves with some additional capacity. This presents an opportunity for a limited number of new clients.
Virtually all of our current clients have come from referrals. AND we have a 99% client retention rate annually. If you refer someone to us, we will give them an exceptional experience. Not only that, we will help them to be more successful. In other words, we will do our best to make YOU look like a genius for referring them to us. Thank you for looking at your business clients and relationships and considering whether they would be a good fit for our firm. Email me at info@dapcpa.org if you have any thoughts. Friday Wrap-Up10/4/2013
It is 7:12PM here in Winter Park, Colorado and it is snowing outside the window of my office. I am truly blessed to be able to do what I do and to be a part of the success of so many businesses. Have a great weekend everybody! As reported by Forbes magazine, the US Supreme Court will decide whether severance pay is taxable for purposes of Social Security, Medicare and other employment taxes.
The circuit courts have been split for years on this issue, which has led to uncertainty on the part of employers as to whether they should be withholding and paying the employment taxes. At issue is the treatment of severance pay. Employers regularly withhold on pay that is in return for services performed. The question is whether severance pay is a result of services performed by the employee. In CSX Corp v. United States, the Federal Circuit said that payment of severance in a downsizing effort was subject to employment taxes. In United States v. Quality Stores, the Sixth Circuit found that severance pay was not wages for employment tax purposes. After the announcement, the IRS suspended administrative refund claims to employers of $127 million from about 800 employers in the Sixth Circuit. email me at info@dapcpa.org if you have any questions. In a startling headline, the Wall Street Journal is reporting today that the United States will overtake Russia this year and become the largest producer of oil and natural gas combined in the world. The turnaround is being fueled by new technologies, such as fracking, that are able to retrieve resources from areas unheard-of a decade ago. In actual numbers from July, the US produced the equivalent of 22 million barrels per day of combined oil, natural gas and other fuels (According to the US energy Information Association and the International Energy Association), while the Russians forecast 21.8 million barrels. This continues the trend of positive news for states like South Dakota, Wyoming and Colorado, where the production, along with continuing strong demand for the fuels, has provided a boon to their economies. IRS Initiates Shutdown Plan10/1/2013
Excerpt from the AICPA Tax Advisor
"The IRS on Tuesday initiated its contingency plan for the federal government shutdown Oct. 1. The 61-page plan covers preparation for a shutdown, implementation, and reactivation of functions, but it anticipates a government shutdown of no more than five days. A longer shutdown would require a reassessment by the IRS deputy commissioner for operations support. With the Oct. 15 deadline for individual returns on extension approaching, most tax return processing would continue during the shutdown. Certain IRS activities would continue during a government shutdown, including activities funded with appropriations that do not expire at the end of the government’s fiscal year, functions that are authorized by statute to occur in advance of appropriations, and certain other activities that are required by duties imposed on the IRS. The IRS gives as an example of the latter category the design and printing of next year’s tax forms and the completing and testing of next filing season’s programs. Nonexcepted functions, which would shut down, include IRS headquarters and administrative functions, audits and examinations, processing of paper returns that do not include remittances, legal counsel, and taxpayer services. The IRS expects 90% of its employees (almost 86,000) to be furloughed during a government shutdown." In what the Wall Street Journal calls "The highest-profile tech stumble to date in the effort to open electronic marketplaces", the Obama administration announced this week that the insurance exchanges for small businesses will NOT be ready on October 1st.
The administration added that there will still be time to sign up before January 1st, 2014, but the admission of the delay is still an embarrassing concession. The Wall Street Journal is also reporting that inside sources are still skeptical about the January 1st date. Beanie Babies EvadeTax!9/24/2013
But their creator doesn't. Reuters news service is reporting that the billionaire creator of Beanie Babies, Ty Warner, will pay more than $53 million in penalties after pleading guilty to tax evasion on Wednesday. Wow. On Wednesday, the commissioners for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission voted 3-2 to propose a rule that requires U.S. public companies to disclose the ratio between the pay of their CEOs and their median employees. This was a mandated by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, P.L. 111-203.
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