September, 2012
Corp Returns, Partnerships, LLCs Due 9-15, Personal Returns Due 10-15
If you have an entity on extension, time is running out.
If I receive your tax information after 9/5/12, I can’t guarantee I’ll get your return done in time.
Please send me your information right away.
If you have a personal return on extension, the next deadline is fast approaching.
If you plan on not filing for last year, or if someone else has attended to you, please let me know so I can cross you off my list (but the deadlines still apply!)
No CA Estimated Payments Due 9-15 (But Federal Ones Are Due)
Since California had the bright idea that they could pull in more money by having payments due in odd amounts earlier in the fiscal year (which ends June 30 for CA) and skipping the September payment, there may be no California payment due (but you may still owe a federal estimated payment September 17th).
Entities who have estimated payments for CA will have an amount due December 17th, 2012. Individuals who have CA estimated payments are due January 15, 2013 (but you may pay early).
What are these estimated payments? The systems is supposed to be a “pay as you go” plan, so you make the income tax payments as you are earning the money. Most people have sufficient withholdings on their paychecks, but if you own an entity, rental property, or are a successful day trader, no tax is being withheld on this income, so you are allowed to make payments on your own. So thoughtful!
If you’re making a ton more money in 2012, let me know so we can adjust your payment amount up. Also, if you’re making a lot less, let me know this as well, so we can adjust your payment down.
If you have a corporation and you’re making money, you probably have to make payments for the corp AND yourself!
I am writing an article in the monthly newsletter for the East Bay Association of Enrolled Agents while I am serving as the president. To access this newsletter, please follow the link:
http://www.ebaea.org/archive-bulletin.php and select the latest month – September’s newsletter includes material on “What Do You Care If No One Has Heard of EAs?” – written for an audience of Enrolled Agents, and meant slightly ironically, as I’m also a member of the Public Information and Awareness committee for CSEA, but it seems like a question to be asked.
Little Box of Inc: Incorporations Made Easy published on Kindle
The book with tips about how the S Corporation works is now published to Amazon’s Kindle, updated with additional information about S Corporations, and can be found by searching for Andrew S Rogers as author, and click on “Kindle.” Here’s the blurb:
Considering incorporating as an S Corporation? This booklet will help you understand how the S Corporation works, what you need to do to become incorporated and what you need to do once you have a corporation to stay out of trouble. The structure and the requirements are reviewed, as well as helpful tips to use your corporation to reduce your tax liability and retain your status as an S Corporation. I’ve worked with S Corporations for many years, and as a tax preparer, I can choose the kind of entity I have for my business: I choose the S Corporation myself, and I’ve convinced many of my fellow tax preparers to incorporate as well. I’ve divided the information into clear, easy-to-understand topics, and cross-referenced sections when it might be helpful.
After you’ve read this material, you can view on-line videos via YouTube.com for free to access more advanced information about S Corporations. You may also be interested in my “Choice of Entity” class – see below.
Household Workers Payroll Tax 2012 published on Kindle
If you have someone providing child or elder care in your home in California and you’re paying them more than $750/quarter or $1,800/year, you need this book! Clear instructions with examples to help you calculate wages properly and stay out of trouble. Don’t expose your parents or yourself to the risk of a worker injury or filing an unemployment claim; pay them right! Updated for 2012 and includes both federal and California rules. I also have an occasional Household Payroll Newsletter—Contact me at Andy@TaxBuddha.com if you’d like to be on the list. Below is a link to the Kindle book on Household workers:
http://www.amazon.com/Household-Workers-Payroll-2012-ebook/dp/B0070QYG20/ref=sr_1_6?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1328291688&sr=1-6
Want to be the first person in your tax bracket to sport the fabulous Tax
Buddha Messenger Bag? I’ve now got a “shop” on Café Press
at www.cafepress.com/TaxBuddha in
case you’d like to order your own
Tax Buddha logo items. The messenger bag came out particularly well, not
quite “saffron,” but easy to find in an airport.
The Eightfold Path to Pay Less Tax and Avoid an Audit
Eight basic things business owners want to know printed in a booklet in “executive summary” form. This is ten years of working with the IRS Tax Code distilled down so it doesn’t take YOU ten years.
Just another way we’re trying to simplify your life. And the purchase is tax deductible!
You can order from Amazon.com. Here’s the link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Eightfold-Path-Less-Avoid-Audit/dp/0615233422/ref=sr_1_22?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1226611038&sr=1-22
The booklet also contains sections on how returns are selected for audit,
when to seek professional help, and how long to keep your tax records.
EBAEA—Audit and Representation Group
We have an Audit and Rep Group meeting the second Wednesday each month starting in September again, but I’m teaching in October and November. At Audit and Rep, we’ll try to take a case and review it, and discuss other audit and representation issues. We meet in Lafayette at Millie’s Café at 9:30 am for two hours at 1018 Oak Hill Road, A, just off highway 24. Click on the link for the current bulletin for more information: http://www.ebaea.org/Bulletin/current.pdf
The Speakers Development Group is on hiatus until further notice.
Classes—Official IRS Education Provider, New On Line Catalog, Basic Payroll, Tax Update for Professionals, Schedule C
Here’s a link to the seminars page on my website: www.taxbuddha.com/seminars.html
Here’s a new link to my On Line catalog of classes, not quite finished: https://student.gototraining.com/67ts9/catalog/777367154206641920
I’m an official Education Provider. You can find my name (Tax Buddha) listed at the IRS website: https://ssl.kinsail.com/partners/irs/publicListing.asp
where you’ll see I’m qualified to provide federal tax update and federal tax classes for EA’s and RTRP’s. (I just knew I should have used the name AAAAA Tax Buddha!)
Basic Payroll
In conjunction with the IRS and EDD, I’m going to be doing some Basic
Payroll seminars coming up in the near future.
Basic Payroll Seminar runs 9 am 3 pm with an hour for lunch
The next seminars will be:
San Francisco at the SBA office 455 Market Street, 6th floor
(I take BART to Embarcadero or Montgomery Street)
Tuesday, October 2, 9:00 am – 3:00 pm
Friday, November 2, 9:00 am – 3:00 pm
Oakland at 1515 Clay Street, 2nd Floor, Room 11, in the Eliju Harris Building
Wednesday, October 10, 9:00 am – 3:00 pm
Register by going to http://www.edd.ca.gov/Payroll_Tax_Seminars/ and find your favorite location.
These seminars have proven to be very popular for business owners and bookkeepers, plus they’re free.
Tax Update for Professionals
Through the NATP, I will be participating in presenting two-day workshops in Florida October 22–27 and Kansas/Missouri November 12–17. See www.NATPtax.com for details and enrollment information.
How to Prepare your Own Schedule C
Get ready for next year and filing your own Schedule C for last year. Review what the IRS wants to know from you and how to report it for your business. This is a class for business owners who need a basic understanding of their 1040 Schedule C tax forms. We’ll also talk about what to do with the numbers once you have them. We can’t guarantee you won’t get audited, but this class will make it less likely.
I will be at the US SBA office in San Francisco at 455 Market Street, 6th Floor.
Tuesday, December 18, 6:00 pm – 8:30 pm.
Our northern California physical office is shared commercial space in Alameda,
but
we’ve
been meeting people at Starbucks on Mt. Diablo Blvd in Lafayette near the
mailing
address.
Phone numbers are:
Phone (510) 332-0401
Fax (925) 478-2726
Our mailing address:
3527 Mt. Diablo Blvd #366
Lafayette CA 94549
“You too can be enlightened about tax” — Tax Buddha