Thursday, February 24, 2011

Form 1099 Repealed Update

Well Congress has been working hard debating on how they will repeal the Form 1099 reporting requirements that were enacted last year, but the details currently are rather confusing for small business owners and landlords.

Just to give you an update on what's going on, there are two bills in the House and one in the Senate that are attempting to address the repeal of the Form 1099 reporting requirements and here is a brief overview of each:

Listen!

For more details regarding the Form 1099 laws that were passed last year and how they currently affect small business owners and landlords be sure to watch the video on our website.

The Tech Accountant

Sunday, February 20, 2011

4 Ways Cloud Computing Can Improve Your Small Biz

Recently I had the pleasure of reading a survey by Gartner Inc. regarding the future of cloud computing for large scale businesses. According to the survey, by 2015 around 50% of the Global 1000 businesses will use cloud computing for many of their revenue generating processes. That got me to thinking, “How can the small biz owner benefit from the cloud?”I came up with four ways that I think the cloud can improve a small biz’s operations. Here are four reasons that I could think of that make cloud computing a viable option for a small biz owner:


1. Cloud computing make a small business more agile because the owner can utilize IT resources in a faster more efficient manner. Gone are the days of setup and implementation of on premise software. A small biz owner can sign up for a cloud service and be up and running that same day.

2. Cloud computing allows small biz owners scaled economies providing them better use of the resources that they pay for. Small biz owners can have better control over their resources because the features that they pay for are the only ones that they need. In the current small biz environment, many software resources are being underutilized or not used at all.

3. Cloud computing makes small biz owners more productive. With anywhere anytime access, cloud resources allow small biz owners the ability to work from anywhere and be “open” virtually anytime.

4. Cloud computing will improve a small biz owner’s bottom line. With cloud computing being at the forefront of the new way of doing business, there will be a great deal of entrants into the market all competing for the small biz dollar. Vendors will also add more benefits to their cloud offerings expanding the growth of cloud computing making the current model of operations a thing of the past.

These are just a few reasons that I came up with that make operating your small biz in the cloud an option that a small biz owner may want to investigate. Feel free to post your opinions regarding cloud computing and small biz. Would love to hear your thoughts.

The Tech Accountant

Friday, February 18, 2011

10 Crazy Tax Deductions

Here's a little humor from an article that I came across yesterday while going through my e-mails for the day. I would hope that it brings a little light to your Friday during this busy, stressful tax season with all the electronic filing delays.

Here is the usual disclaimer of not trying any of these tax deductions at home. Enjoy

10 Crazy Tax Deductions

The Tech Accountant

Saturday, February 12, 2011

3 Steps to Digitize your Documents

I am always looking for better ways to accomplish everyday tasks for small biz owners and individuals. One problem that many face is how to keep, and organize important documents so that they are readily available when needed. Thanks to technology, we can now digitize our documents and keep them in the clouds thus making our desk space clean and clear of clutter. Here are three steps to take the documents from your desk to the clouds:


1. Start using or purchase a scanner – Scanners have come a long way since the days of the basic flat bed (although one of those would still work). Scanners have better image quality, are faster, and come with more features than the early years. Scanning your documents allows you to keep a digital image of the documents and save it for later use. Depending on your needs, there are multi-purpose machines, or scan only machines for those who will have larger paper workloads.

2. Save documents to the cloud – By saving your documents in the cloud, you have another level of protection in the case that your hard drive is stolen, corrupted or destroyed due to a disaster. Again depending on your needs, there are quite a few vendors that offer low-cost or even free cloud storage services.

3. Use Smartphone apps – If you are a small business owner or individual that is away from your office a great deal, Smartphone apps are one of the best ways to track your expense receipts and make digital copies of important documents. With these apps your can save digital copies of your receipts and convert them to PDF’s for later use. Check your app store for these apps.

These are just a few ways to digitize your important documents. Be sure to do a needs assessment before digitizing your documents and taking them into the clouds to ensure that your current and future needs will be meet with the technology that you choose.


The Tech Accountant

Saturday, February 05, 2011

Give a credit, Take some credit

Can you remember back to a time when many were excited to utilize the first time home-buyer credit to save money on their taxes?


Well the party is over for many since the 2 year grace period for repayment of qualified home purchases has ended. Many taxpayers are now wondering how they will pay for the credit that is now being taken back.

The short answer is it depends on when the house was purchased and if the taxpayer is still living in the home or not. The IRS will be sending three different notices to taxpayers depending on what your home status is:

• CPO3a – will be sent to taxpayers who purchased a qualified home in 2008 and who begin repaying the credit with your 2010 tax return.

• CPO3b – will be sent to taxpayers who purchased homes in 2009 and early 2010 reminding them of the repayment rule and the ramifications if they sell the home or change the use.

• CPO3c – will be sent to taxpayers whose principal residence is not currently the residence that they claimed the credit for.

Be sure to keep a close eye out for the IRS notices in your mailbox.

The Tech Accountant

Wednesday, February 02, 2011

You Can't File Your Tax Return Yet

After notifying taxpayers recently that many tax forms would not be ready for filing until February 14th, the IRS added some more forms to the list and these have an indefinite date for filing. Here are 6 tax forms that the IRS said will be delayed until a later date for filing.

Listen!

Hopefully the IRS will give a specific date when these forms can be file in the near future.

The Tech Accountant