Gabrielle M. Luoma, CPA, PLLC

Please join us for our 2012 open house on Saturday, January 14th from 11am to 2pm at our office to kick off this tax season!  Our office is located in Northwest Tucson, on the Northwest corner of Ina and Mona Lisa right by the Foothills Mall.  Our address is 7225 N. Mona Lisa Road, Suite 210.  For more information about how to get to our office, do not hesitate to call!

Refreshments will be provided as well as a chance to win a giftcard to the Cheesecake Factory or 4 tickets to the Casino Del Sol All Star Game on January 16th!

If you are not already a client, this is the perfect opportunity to come meet Gabby and her staff and pick up a 2011 income tax organizer to help organize your information and make the tax season as pain and stress free as possible.  If you are not familiar with Gabrielle M. Luoma, CPA, PLLC please check out the “About Us” page and see why hundreds of people a year are switching their businesses and individual accounting, tax, and consulting needs over to to Gabby and her team.

Part 1: 2010-2011

American healthcare is poised for some pretty radical changes over the next several years – changes that are relevant to everyone from the youngest child to the oldest retiree. If you’re a small business owner or an employee of a small business, you’re probably wondering whether the new laws and regulations will impact you. Read on to learn about potential changes to your insurance and healthcare premiums.

Changes Starting in 2010

The upcoming healthcare changes will be phased in over the next few years. Although the bulk of the new regulations are slated for 2011, 2013, and 2014, there are two significant changes taking place in 2010.

During the period of 2010-2013, as the new regulations are gradually introduced, qualified small business owners are eligible for a tax credit of 35% on their contributions to health insurance premiums for their employees. Known as the Small Business Health Care Tax Credit, this perk is available only to small business with fewer than 25 employees and average wages of less than $50,000 annually.

In addition, parents will now be permitted to include adult children (up to age 26) on the coverage offered by tax-qualified, employer-provided health plans.

Changes starting in 2011

From 2011-2015, small business employers will be eligible to receive federal funding if they provide their staff with wellness programs.

Small businesses will also be permitted to form collectives or alliances in order to purchase employee health insurance policies at better rates. The online programs that will make this possible, known as SHOP or Small Business Health Options Programs, will receive state-level funding from federal sources.

You can also expect to see some more specific changes to permissible medical expenses. The definition of qualified medical expenses will be altered to exclude over-the-counter medications. This affects all Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and Archer Medical Savings Accounts (MSAs), as well as reimbursements through Health Flexible Spending Arrangements (Health FSAs) and Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRAs). The annual limit on allowable medical expenses from flexible spending accounts will be capped at $2,500.

Finally, a “cafeteria plan,” which allows employees to pick and choose benefits as needed, will be introduced for small business staff and the self-employed beginning in 2011.

We’ll explore some more details on the upcoming healthcare changes in our next post.

Savvy business owners use a Certified Public Accountant to help with their taxes, knowing that training and experience can help to dramatically boost tax savings. But a good CPA is more than just a tax advisor—he or she is a business expert who can help with a range of financial and business development concerns. If you’re interested in learning more about the types of assistance a CPA can offer, consider these tips:

• Budgets and Business Planning: Whether you’ve just launched a new business or own an existing corporation, seeking the advice of an experienced CPA can be very helpful in establishing realistic budgets and benchmarks for your business. A strategic plan can make the difference between success and failure in today’s marketplace; a CPA can help you set business goals, establish checkpoints to measure progress, and take measures to encourage growth within your company.
• Assistance with Bonding: Bonding and taxes have different objectives, and a CPA can help you navigate the two areas to achieve the consistency that is favored by bonding agents, increasing your chances of a money-saving tax return.
• Profit and Cost Assessment: In order to understand and improve upon your current business structure, it’s necessary to monitor your systems and consider the costs and benefits of various types of work. A CPA can be helpful in analyzing the profits and costs of various contracts, products, and services you offer, and can give advice on which of these services are most lucrative and which are costing more labor and overhead than they’re worth. This kind of assessment can help you streamline your work to focus on your most productive areas.
• Internal Controls: These can encompass anything from elaborate checks and balances to discourage fraud, to a simple streamlining of your company’s paperwork to make you more efficient. A CPA with experience in your industry can advise you on the best internal controls for your business.
• Technology and Software Support: Your CPA can be an important resource in advising you on any changes you need to make to the technology or software you need to run your business. He or she can suggest software that can improve your financial outlook, and may be able to tell you about compatible technology in other areas.

A CPA is an invaluable team member for any business. Tap into their diverse range of skills to support your company’s growth, stability, and success.

As we approach the end of another calendar year, it can be tempting to clear out all those backlogged tax files and start fresh for 2010. But don’t start feeding all those old records to the shredder just yet—first, consider the following.

As a general rule, CPAs recommend hanging onto the past three years’ worth of tax records. That’s equivalent to the federal government’s statute of limitations for questioning or auditing your tax information. There are a few exceptions—some states have up to four years to examine your return, and the statute can be extended or removed in cases of fraud, significant income omission, or tax evasion. But taxpayers who have filed in a timely manner and paid any outstanding taxes by the due date can confidently purge any records three years after the date the return was filed.

It’s important to note that the three-year rule only applies to supporting documents and information related to your tax return. Other records, specifically those that detail capital assets, should be kept until the end of the statute period following their liquidation. Below are some examples:

• Tax returns: Although supporting documentation can usually be purged after the three-year mark, it’s wise to keep the actual returns themselves. These can prove invaluable in securing a loan or applying for insurance.
• Income and expenses: Hang onto any and all documents that verify your income for at least three years after you file. These include W-2s, 1099s, bank statements, and brokerage statements. Records of business-related expenses should also be kept.
• IRA contributions: Retain records of non-deductible contributions until the money is withdrawn, to avoid getting taxed twice on those funds.
• Stock information: Keep all records of stock ownership for at least four years after the sale of your shares. In the event of an audit, you’ll need these to verify any profit or loss resulting from the sale.
• Stock and mutual fund statements: Any stock dividends that are reinvested will reduce the amount of capital gain, thus lowering your taxable income. These statements should also be kept for at least four years after the sale, to provide a record of reinvested dividends.
• Home purchase and renovation receipts: If you’ve purchased a home or made significant improvements to a property you own, hang onto these records for at least four years after the sale of the property.

When in doubt as to whether to get rid of tax records, it’s best to give your CPA a call. He or she can help you determine the importance of the document and whether you’ll need to reference it down the road.