FREE Quickbook Pro 2009 - Monday, 12/22/08

I've learned of a possible one-day promotion at Staples on Monday, December 22nd, where you can obtain Quickbooks Pro 2009 for free. Here is how it possibly works:

• The regular price at Staples is $199.99.
• The customer will receive $40 in instant savings.
• The customer at the store will receive a $159.99 mail-in rebate form.
• When the customer mails in the rebate form they will receive, some weeks later, a rebate for $159.99.
• Once the customer obtains the rebate, their base costs are zero: $199.99 - $40.00 - $159.99 = $0.
• The buyer may still be responsible for sales tax at the time of purchase; sales tax is not free.

There are numerous other blogs reporting this offer:

http://techspheres.wordpress.com/2008/12/19/free-quickbooks-pro-monday-only/

http://blog.bftcpa.com/2008/12/free-quickbooks-pro-at-staples-on-monday-12222008.html

http://www.foltzwerk.com/2008/12/19/monday-only-free-quickbooks-at-staples/

Now, I say possibly as I have searched Staples and Intuit websites and haven't found anything to substantiate the offer. I've read some posts from other Quickbooks Pro Advisors who have stated that they have called Staples stores in their area and it appears some stores have just learned of the promotion today (Sunday).

If it turns out to be a legitimate promotion, it is a great deal.

IRS Lien Relief for Refi's and Sales

Taxpayers looking to refinance or sell their home, but have federal tax lien filed against them now have an option for lien relief. Per the IRS article - "If taxpayers are looking to refinance or sell a home and there is a federal tax lien filed, there are options. Taxpayers or their representatives, such as their lenders, may request that the IRS make a tax lien secondary to the lien by the lending institution that is refinancing or restructuring a loan. Taxpayers or their representatives may request that the IRS discharge its claim if the home is being sold for less than the amount of the mortgage lien under certain circumstances." To read the entire article, here is link:

http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=201343,00.html

Recordkeeping - How long do I need to keep...

One of the most frequently asked questions I get is how long to keep certain tax documents. My answer is generally, it depends. Federal law requires you to maintain copies of your tax returns and supporting documents for three years. This is called the "three-year law" and leads many people to believe they're safe provided they retain their documents for this period of time. However, if the IRS believes you have significantly underreported your income (by 25 percent or more), or believes there may be indication of fraud, it may go back six years in an audit. To be safe, here is a Record Retention Guide link that can help you determine what to keep and what to throw. One caution - don't just throw old records in the trash. With identity threat being a serious threat in today's world, invest in a shredder.

Tax Savings Checklist

With 2008 is winding down, you only have a couple of weeks left to make moves to trim your 2008 tax bill. We've provided a checklist of possible tax savings strategies on our Warrior Accounting website.

2009 Standard Mileage Rates

The IRS announced the following 2009 standard mileage rates to calculate the deductible costs of operating a car, van, pickup, or panel truck for business, charitable, medical or moving purposes.

• 55 cents per mile for business miles driven
• 24 cents per mile for medical or moving purposes
• 14 cents per mile in service of charitable organizations

Taxpayers have the option of calculating the actual costs of using a vehicle rather than using the standard mileage rates. Be aware that the standard mileage rate cannot be used for a vehicle after using a depreciation method under the Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System (MACRS) or after claiming a Section 179 deduction.

Frugality - get used to it

I read a great article in Yahoo news titled "The New Frugality: Americans return to thriftiness" by Dan Sewell. The article states that a recent WSL Strategic Retail survey detected a "savings is cool" culture is developing with more than half of the people polled agreeing in taking pride in the ways they've found to save money. With the economy still headed in a downward direction, we better get used to being frugal. The buy now, pay later era is pretty much over. We need to learn to live within their means. Fortunately, my wife I saw signs of the downturn months ago and got our budget in order. We've quickly learned to say no to impulse buying and now plan a good portion of our purchases. One example is that I've created a grocery price book that has helped us reduce our monthly grocery costs while actually increasing the stockpile of our pantry and freezer. Another example is that we were in need of a dresser for my son's bedroom. My wife kept a daily watch on Craiglist for a couple of weeks and found a great deal.

Warrior Accounting's New Website

The Warrior Accounting website has gone through a complete overhaul.

Here are some of the new features we think you'll like:

FREE REPORTS
We have many free reports on our site. The reports are easy to read and are broken down into these 12 categories.

Personal Tax Saving Strategies
Avoiding Tax Troubles
Saving For College
Retirement Planning
Wealth Accumulation Strategies
Estate Planning
Business Tax Saving Strategies
Starting A Business
Running Your Business
Growing Your Business
Securing Business Loans
Selling / Exiting Your Business
Take a look for yourself by clicking on this link:
http://www.warrioracs.com/reports.html


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you achieve your financial goals. To subscribe, please click on this link: http://www.warrioracs.com/newsletter.shtml


INTERACTIVE FINANCIAL CALCULATORS
You can run "what if" scenarios with our interactive financial calculators. For example you can...

Estimate your annual income tax refund or liability.
Analyze the effectiveness of direct marketing campaigns.
Find out how much Life Insurance you need.
Balance your checkbook.
Find the best repayment options to pay off your credit card balance.
Determine how much you need to save each month to pay for your children's college education.
Find out how big of a mortgage you can afford.
And many more.
Try our interactive financial calculators by clicking on this link: http://www.warrioracs.com/calculators.html


SECURE FILE TRANSFER
Are you a current client and need a previous years tax return in a hurry? No problem! We can post it on a secure section of our web site and give you a password so only you can access the file. Then you can print your return right from the site.


TAX FORMS
You no long have to take that trip to the post office or the IRS. You can quickly print the latest tax forms including W4's and I9's.

Home Foreclosure - What Will It Do to Your Tax Bill?

The following link is a very good article I came across on PRNewswire.com that explains what a home foreclosure could do to your tax bill.

Home Foreclosure - What Will It Do to Your Tax Bill?

Missing Your Refund Or Stimulus Payment?

I read in my weekly NATP newsletter that the IRS has $266 million in undelivered refunds and stimulus payments. If you are one who is missing a federal refund or stimulus payment, you may want to make sure you mailing address is current with the IRS. If you have moved since you filed your last tax return, you can file Form 8822, Address Change Request.

Small Business Bailout?

I believe that small business is, and always has been, the backbone of the US economy. Don't believe that? Look at this Fact Sheet prepared by the National Federation of Independent Business.

Now we small business owners have to get through this mess that some our our big business leaders have created. The mindset of many of these big business leaders is just mindboggling. The way I see it greed and stupidity of some big business leaders have tore apart our economy. Here are a couple of examples:

• Leham Brothers were giving out millions in bonuses 4 days before they went under.

• Less than a week after the federal government committed $85 billion to bail out AIG, the company paid more than $440,000 for the a retreat for executives, including nearly $200,000 for rooms, $150,000 for meals and $23,000 in spa charges.

I've seen a few articles titled - Whose going to bailout small business? I don't think that requires an answer as small business owners know the answer. Obviously, we small business owners are on our own.

Since we are on our own, I want to pass along a great small business resource I read about in the AccountantsWorld Daily Headline News. Buzgate.org focuses on helping individuals to learn about, connect with, and utilize the resources they require to succeed in small business. As a non-commercial, educationally focused gateway, buzgate.org provides a reliable, trusted network where users can build knowledge and establish productive business-to-business relationships.

Bargain Books

I generally try and use the public library for books I want to simply read, but don't want to keep. Everyone so often I will come across a book that I want for my personal library. If you are looking for a resource to buy books for your personal library, try searching BookCloseout.com . They offer over 5 million remainder books at discount prices. The books are generally 50% or more off the original list price.  I have also found good bargain books on Amazon.com and Ebay.

Entity Review - S and C Corporations

C Corporations and S Corporations are the two main types of corporations. There are several differences between S and C Corporations but the main two differences relate to shareholders and taxes.

S Corporations are generally used by small businesses, offer limited personal liability, and limited to 100 shareholders. C Corporations do not have a shareholder limit and is the preferred entity if a business owner has aspirations of going public (selling publicly traded shares on the stock market).

Regarding taxes, S Corporations do not pay corporate taxes. The profits and losses of the corporation pass through to the individual shareholder's personal income tax returns. Unlike sole proprietorships and general partnerships, profits that pass through to the individual shareholders are not subject to self-employment tax (social security and medicare tax). Self-employment tax cannot be completely avoided since the IRS states that shareholders that provide services on behalf of the S Corporation should be paid a reasonable wage that is subject to social security and medicare tax.

A C Corporation is a taxpaying entity with the profits being subject to double taxation. Double taxation occurs as profits from a C Corporation are subject to income taxes at the corporate level and again at the individual shareholder level when profits are distributed as taxable dividends.

Entity Review - LLC (Limited Liability Company)

LLC's (Limited Liability Company) have become very popular as they generally protect their owners from personal liability and can be less complicated when compared to a corporate entity. As an LLC is a legal entity (there is not a specific tax return for an LLC entity), member(s) can make an election on how they want to be taxed. If a tax election is not made, a single member LLC will be taxed as a sole proprietor and a multi-member LLC will be taxed as a partnership.

Please note that LLC laws are state specific with each state having different requirements. Please review your state laws prior to setting up.

Entity Review - Sole Proprietorship

Sole Proprietorships are the most simple and least complicated form of business entity. You don't need to do much to be a sole proprietor - just "hang out a sign" that you are in business. I would generally only recommend a sole proprietorship if you aren't making a lot of money, have no employees, and your business liability risk is low. If you do decide to be a sole proprietor, get some business insurance.

A risk with being a sole proprietorship is unlimited liability. What this generally means is that if your business is sued, your personal assets are wide open if a lawsuit is brought against your business. This makes your business entity decision very important as it seems that many people like to file lawsuits when they are wronged.

Pick up the phone

John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing (highly recommended, by the way) wrote a great article recently regarding technology and meetings. With gas prices and time being so valuable, small business owners need to start thinking outside the box with respect to meetings.

Although face-to-face meetings are sometimes warranted, it is my experience that many meetings could generally be held over the phone. Think about it - let's say you have a 1/2 hour meeting schedule across town to discuss a new idea. If it is a 15 minute drive to the meeting you might leave a 1/2 before the meeting so you're not late, hold your 1/2 meeting, then drive back to your office. For that 1/2 meeting, you just burned 1 1/4 hours, not to mention the gas burned to get there and back from the meeting. You have to ask yourself - was it that critical to meet face-to-face? There is plenty of inexpensive technology resources available, such as Zoho Meeting and FreeConference.com, if additional resources are needed for a meeting.

First-Time Homebuyer Tax Credit

A first-time homebuyers tax credit was included in the recent Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008. Here is the catch - if you elect to take the credit, you have to repay the tax credit over a 15-year period. So, if you take the maximum tax credit of $7,500 on your 2008 federal income tax return, you would need to begin repaying the credit on your 2010 return - $500 per year for 15 years. Basically, the tax credit is a 15-year interest-free loan.