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Dear Valued Client,
Welcome to the 2011 tax filing season! We have printed tax organizers and have plans to mail them next week. Last year we tried emailing organizers but found that many clients change emails frequently, and do not have the capability to print. As a result, we will be mailing all organizers again this year. Our lines start ringing in early January with people looking for their organizers so we know how valuable a tool these organizers are to clients. As a reminder, 1099 forms are due to recipients by January 31st. Please be advised that you must file a form 1099 MISC if you paid $600 or more in fees, commissions, or other forms of compensation to an individual or independent contractor, who is NOT your employee, for services performed in your trade or business. The penalty for not completing these forms has doubled this year. Be sure to contact us if you need us to complete these forms for you. An important business deduction that clients tend to forget is the amount of miles driven for business. A business can elect to deduct either the amount of miles or the actual expenses for a vehicle. The standard business mileage rate for 2011 is .51 cents per mile for the period from January – June and .555 cents per mile for the period from July – December. This is an incredibly important deduction for many business owners. Also, there will be penalties on the Massachusetts tax return for individuals without health insurance. Be sure to provide us with the form 1099-HC indicating that you have health insurance. If you receive coverage through either social security or MA Health, be sure to let us know so that you don’t receive a penalty for not having health coverage. Once again, we will be scheduling appointments in the Orleans office on Tuesdays during the filing season. We encourage you to mail your completed tax organizers along with all of your tax information to our Westport office. This allows us the opportunity to work on your taxes and compile a list of questions or missing information that we can then obtain from you via appointment, email, phone or fax. Also, please be sure to make a list of any questions you might have for us so that we can answer all of your questions after thoroughly reviewing your information. Additionally, we are pleased to announce that we have formed an alliance with BizChecks Payroll. BizChecks is the local alternative to the huge, impersonal and expensive national payroll companies. Additionally, their attention to detail and accuracy as well as their reasonable fee structure is designed to meet the needs of many of our small business clients. If you are currently working with a large payroll company, I suggest you consider changing to BizChecks. Be sure to let them know that you are a Taxing Matters client so that we can obtain access to year-ending payroll reports needed for your tax preparation. Please call Patty Dunigan at 866-932-9700. You can find them on the web at: www.bizcheckspayroll.com. I am looking forward to working with you in the upcoming tax season. Happy New Year! Sincerely, It’s Tax Time! Are You Ready?If you’re like most taxpayers, you find yourself with an ominous stack of “homework” around TAX TIME! Unfortunately, the job of pulling together the records for your tax appointment is never easy, but the effort usually pays off when it comes to the extra tax money you save! When you arrive at your appointment fully prepared, you’ll have more time to:Read the article »
Are You Required to File 1099s?If you use independent contractors to perform services for your business and you pay them $600 or more for the year, you are required to issue them a Form 1099 after the end of the year to avoid facing the loss of the deduction for their labor and expenses and to avoid a monetary penalty. The 1099s for 2011 must be provided to the independent contractor no later than January 31, 2012.Read the article »
2012 Standard Mileage Rates AnnouncedThe Internal Revenue Service has issued the 2012 optional standard mileage rates used to calculate the deductible costs of operating an automobile for business, charitable, medical, or moving purposes.Read the article »
New Credits for Hiring VeteransCongress recently passed legislation that extends and expands the Work Opportunity Credit (WOTC) for hiring unemployed veterans. This effectively gave a one-year lease on life to the WOTC, but only with respect to qualified veterans who begin work for the employer before January 1, 2013. For all other classifications, the credit ended at the close of 2011.Read the article »
The Taxing Matters newsletter is available via e-mail on a free subscription basis. You can subscribe or unsubscribe at any time. For more information about - Taxing Matters, go to www.taxingmatters.com. This message was sent using ClientWhys Persyst. View our permission marketing policy. Circular 230 Disclosure, United States Treasury regulations effective June 21, 2005 require us to notify you that to the extent of this communication, or any of its attachments, contains or constitutes advice regarding any U.S. Federal tax issue, such advice is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, by any person for the purpose of avoiding any penalties that can be imposed by the Internal Revenue Service.
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