IRS Announces Tax Guidance for Same-Sex Marriages

Brian Wynne, CPA

The IRS has ruled that all legally married same-sex couples will be treated as married for federal tax purposes, regardless of where they currently reside. The ruling is the first official guidance from the IRS since theSupreme Court ruled on June 26 that section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act was unconstitutional.

Details of IRS Ruling
Going forward, all same-sex married couples must file their 2013 tax returns using either the “married filing jointly” or “married filing separately” […]

September 9, 2013 Accounting, Tax Read more...

SMALL BUSINESS TAX LESSONS FROM THE IRS LETTERS

Kelly Lopez, CPA

In its latest effort to boost compliance, the IRS has sent letters to approximately 20,000 small business owners requesting additional information regarding potentially underreported income. Essentially, the IRS is checking to make sure that you have reported and paid tax on all cash transactions. The IRS letters are ominously titled “Notification of Possible Income Underreporting.”

While there have been some comments that these letters imply assessments of additional tax or penalties, the IRS states that these letters do […]

August 29, 2013 Accounting, Family Owned Businesses, Tax Read more...

STUDENT LOAN INTEREST REFRESH AND DEDUCTING STUDENT LOAN INTEREST

Scott Reddersen

Millions of students returning to college campuses this month received a back-to-school gift from Congress with an interest rate reduction for federal student aid. After rates on new Direct Subsidized Loans had doubled from 3.40% to 6.80% as of July 1st, the Senate and House approved a new system which ties current and future rates to the 10-Year Treasury note. In the short-term, that effectively lowers rates from 6.80% to 3.86% for undergraduate students and from 6.80% to […]

August 26, 2013 Accounting, Tax, Wealth Management Read more...

Benefit Plan Policies: Records Retention and Destruction

Larry Beebe, CPA

In this series, we are reviewing the written plan policies needed to help your benefit plan stay compliant and operate most effectively. For a full list of the necessary policies and why your plan should implement them, click here.

Record retention policies have their foundation in the Enron scandal and its resulting fallout. When the investigation of Enron was made public, the company’s CPA firm, Arthur Andersen, shredded large amounts of relevant documents and e-mails. While there were […]

August 25, 2013 Accounting, Benefit Plan Accounting Read more...

Business Fraud: How to Recover Your Money and Prosecute the Fraudster

Joel Susco, CPA

Organizations with fewer than 100 employees are the most common victims of business fraud, with a significant estimated median loss of $147,000 in a 2012 report. One of the primary reasons an organization will hire a forensic accountant or Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) is to uncover details and proof of business fraud, in order to prosecute the fraudster(s) and then recover as much of the missing funds as possible. It is not, however, as simple as discovering […]

August 19, 2013 Accounting, Forensic Accounting Read more...

Litigation Support: Utilizing Financial Analysis to Find the Story Behind the Numbers

Mark A. Buckberg, CPA, CFE, CFF, Principal

Finding fraud and substantiating a legal case often involve retracing a complex web of transactions and accounts. There are many sources of financial data that can be analyzed to uncover embezzlement, corruption, and financial statement fraud in white collar crime cases, and also substantiate claims of asset misappropriation in divorce cases.

Early involvement of a forensic accountant can be crucial to gathering the financial information necessary to reveal critical evidence. For effective discovery, your […]

August 12, 2013 Accounting, Audit, Forensic Accounting Read more...

Estate Tax, Inheritance Tax, and Their Roles in Family Business Succession

Posting by Geoffrey D. Brown, CPA

Whether called an estate tax, an inheritance tax, or the earthier “death tax,” the taxes imposed upon the estate left behind after a family business owner passes can be a most unwelcome, untimely, and unplanned for surprise. As we so often advise family businesses, ignoring the mortality of the owner by not planning how the business will carry on after his or her exit – be it voluntarily through retirement, or perhaps by an […]

August 7, 2013 Family Owned Businesses, Tax Read more...

DOL Announces Temporary Reset of Disclosure Date

Caroline Kettering, CPA

In response to requests from plan administrators and financial service advisors, the Department of Labor (DOL) has announced a one-time reset of the annual due date for providing the investment alternatives comparative chart portion of the participant-level fee disclosure regulation.  Here’s what this means for your plan:

One-Time Opportunity to Reset the Due Date
The timing reset applies specifically to the investment alternatives comparative chart, which contains details on historical returns and fee information for each of your plan’s […]

July 31, 2013 Accounting, Benefit Plan Accounting Read more...

Family Business Communication Insights: Honest Conversations for Effective Transitions

Posting by Geoffrey D. Brown, CPA

Last week, I had the pleasure of moderating a webinar with David Gage, Ph.D. of BMC Associates where we discussed communication and its role in family business transitions.  Ineffective communication can plague any company, but it can be a particularly difficult issue for family businesses dealing with emotionally-charged relationships and decisions around succession and estate planning.

David is a mediator and clinical psychologist who works with family businesses across the country to help them resolve conflicts.  […]

July 30, 2013 Family Owned Businesses Read more...

Dealing with Cousins, Aunts, Uncles and Leadership Diffusion in the Third Generation and Beyond

Posting by Geoffrey D. Brown, CPA

The impetus for creating a family business may be as simple as a parent wanting to provide his or her child with a business that will be there to provide work and financial security for life.  Those family businesses that even make it to the second generation, as we often discuss here at the Greater Washington DC Family Business Alliance, are relatively few.   Further complicating this growth is the fact that families are not […]

July 16, 2013 Family Owned Businesses, Human Resources Read more...