If you are an employer, it’s time to have your employees fill out and sign a new W-4 for 2010.  You can download the new form by going to the IRS website at http://www.irs.gov/ and click on the link in the upper left of their menu.

It is important that each employee submit a new W-4 each year, so please ask yours to take  one or two minutes to do this in January.

Happy New Year!

Categories: General News
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We are writing to let you know about a Sales Tax Report issue related to the December 1, 2009 Release 9 (R9) of QuickBooks 2009. If you downloaded R9 earlier this month, the Sales Tax Liability and Sales Tax Revenue reports are not displaying the correct data in some cases. Only customers who have already downloaded and installed R9 may be afffected. This issue affects QuickBooks Simple Start, Pro, Premier and Enterprise Solutions.

If you are using Release 8 or earlier, this issue will not affect you and you may therefore continue to rely on the Sales Tax Liability and Sales Tax Revenue reports for any sales tax filings with tax authorities. (Not sure which version you have? Open QuickBooks, hit F2, and look at the information in the upper left of the screen entitled “Product”). Click here for more detailed instructions.

What You Should Do If You Are On R9

If you are currently using R9 and have not filed your tax information with tax authorities, you should update your QuickBooks software before you file. The new update (Release 10) is scheduled to be available on Wednesday, December 16. Only after updating to R10 should you rely on the Sales Tax Liability and Sales Tax Revenue Reports for your upcoming sales tax filings with tax authorities.

If you are currently using R9 and used the Sales Tax Liability and Sales Tax Revenue reports to submit tax information with tax authorities, your submission may be incorrect. As a result, you may need to resubmit your sales tax information after downloading R10 if you meet certain criteria. Specifically, this issue applies to you only if you meet the following conditions: within QuickBooks the sum total of items in your Items List multiplied by the nubmer of vendors in your Vendor List equals more than 10,000. For more information on how to determine whether you need to resubmit your sales tax information, click here. If you think you have already submitted inaccurate information to tax authorities and need help with your resubmission, you may contact us at quickbooks@intuit.com.

How to Update to R10

Updating QuickBooks with R10 will correct your sales tax information in the Sales Tax Liability and Sales Tax Revenue reports. You can apply this R10 update in two ways:

• You can download this update here on Wednesday, December 16, 2009
  -or-
• QuickBooks will prompt you (if you have “Automatic Update” turned on) to apply this update automatically on Thursday, December 17, 2009

Categories: Tax News and Tips
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For everyone using QuickBooks 2009, especially the QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions 9.0 edition, has recent releases that have generated some challenges and problems that need addressing.

This was a major update tnat included many fine changes, including an important update to the underlying QuickBooks database.

Their support team has created a new update guide to help users with the most likely pitfalls in applying R9. You can find the update guide here:

http://support.quickbooks.intuit.com/support/pages/knowledgebasearticle/898625

Or for those who have a hard time with longer URLs, go to: www.quickbooks.com/R9 That is a link that will redirect the user to a different location. Some clients may be more comfortable with the full link given above.
NOTES:

1. The release affects Windows desktop versions of QuickBooks 2009 and QuickBooks Enterprise 9.0. It further affects backwards compatibility with earlier releases of the same software products.
2. QuickBooks 2009 R9 will move the underpinnings of the QuickBooks database from Sybase SA10 patch 3712 to patch 3960. Intuit has tested the patch in multiple scenarios and found that with the patch, QuickBooks 2009 shows significant improvements in many areas of data handling, including those areas which are associated with rare instances of data corruption, especially among heavy users.
3. Backwards compatibility in the QuickBooks 2009 R9 Accountant’s Copy includes previous releases of QuickBooks 2009 and QuickBooks 2008.

Categories: General News
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A weakness in WordPress blogs made it possible for someone to add code classified as malware to our blog yesterday. We were alerted about the the problem and have taken steps to remove the code. We’ve requested that the site be rescanned to verify that the problem is no longer present, but it’s possible that some web browsers will continue to report our site as potentially dangerous for some time.

Looking at the code that was inserted, our site itself never contained anything dangerous – it was merely a link to a site that might have contained dangerous code.

In the end, this just goes to show that you’ll never know when being able to program a find-and-replace routine in PERL will come in handy…

Categories: Full Potential News
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Olympia, Wash., Oct. 5, 2009 — Washington state laws governing how businesses purchase goods and services for resale are changing in a big way next year.

Beginning Jan. 1, 2010, only businesses with a Department of Revenue-issued reseller permit can purchase items for resale without paying sales tax.

The legislatively mandated switch from the current resale certificate program is projected to recover up to $100 million annually in state and local sales tax revenue that is now lost when businesses buy items for their own use but don’t pay sales tax when due.

Examples of misuse of the self-issued resale certificates include a dentist buying a big screen TV for office or home use, a nonprofit corporation purchasing office equipment for its own use, and a janitorial firm buying cleaning supplies used in its business. Sales tax is due on all of these purchases because the materials aren’t being resold.

The Department estimates that 30 percent of registered businesses in this state qualify for and will receive the new reseller permit. Businesses that do not report retail or wholesale sales generally will not be eligible for permits. Farmers will continue to be eligible to purchase certain materials such as feed and seed tax-free.

The Department has been working closely with industry to develop the new process since the law passed during the 2009 legislative session, Revenue Director Cindi Holmstrom said.

“I want to thank the business community for helping us implement this new law,” she said. “It’s in everyone’s best interest to ensure that sales tax is paid when due, and not paid when not due.”

Holmstrom said more than 155,000 businesses were mailed permits automatically this month. Another 330,000 were advised that they would not be sent a permit but could apply for one if they could demonstrate a legitimate business need. These include contractors, many of whom can qualify for permits depending on the nature of their work.

About 326,000 registered non-reporters, who don’t file tax returns and don’t collect sales tax, will not qualify for permits.

After Dec. 31, 2009, businesses that do not have a reseller permit will need to pay sales tax on products they purchase to resell, but can claim a deduction for sales tax paid at source on their state excise tax returns or seek a refund if they do resell them.

Businesses that have been issued permits must present copies to those businesses from which they buy items for resale. The sellers must keep the permits on file for five years and only make tax-free sales to businesses with permits.

More information on reseller permits is available at http://dor.wa.gov/resellerpermit.

Categories: Tax News and Tips
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Join us for an evening of social networking in this lovely venue. Winestyles offers wine by the glass, wine tasting and an assortment of appetizers, with indoor and outdoor seating so we can enjoy the warm weather while it is still with us. They also serve an assortment of non-alcoholic beverages and imported beer.  A portion of all proceeds will support the Mill Creek Citizen Patrol.

For more information or to RSVP, please go to Biznik.

Not a Biznik member?  Sign up here!

Categories: Full Potential News
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We received this information from the IRS concerning emails that are currently being sent out.  Please be cautious as always about opening any email from anyone you don’t know, and understand that the IRS NEVER sends unsolicited emails!

The subject of the message falsely informs recipients that they have under-reported their incomes, resulting in fraud. The body of the email contains a link inviting users to review their tax statement on the IRS website. If they click on the link, victims are directed to a mock website that contains additional links. If they then click on one of those, a trojan is downloaded. The best thing you can do is delete the email. The IRS does not send unsolicited emails.

Categories: Tax News and Tips
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For those of you who don’t follow updates to employment compliance forms, you might have missed the big news. The 2/02/09 revision of the Homeland Security Department’s form I-9 was set to expire 6/30/09 and be replaced. When an udpated form wasn’t made available by the expiration date, they permitted the February version to continue to be used.

Well, at long last, the revised I-9 is available.

If your employees filled out the 2/02/09 version of the form, no action is required from you at this point.

If your employees last filled out a version prior to the 2/02/09 edition, you should have them complete the new edition. Take the time to re-verify their documentation to ensure that they still meet the eligibility requirements to work in the United States.

Any new employees should use the 8/07/09 revision.

Categories: Tax News and Tips
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While reading a recent AICPA newsletter I came across an article that so beautifully addressed exactly how we at Full Potential try to work with our clients that I asked the writer for permission to post his article here.  While the article was written to CPA firms about CPA firms, the principles are sound and apply well to almost any business providing crucial services to other business owners.

Thank you Rick, for allowing us to post your article here!  —–

Recently I read some alarming facts about how CPAs are viewed by their clients. A recent study of small business owners revealed that 40% of them think that their CPA provides little or no help in making their businesses successful. I also read that 68% of clients who leave their accounting firm do so because they believe their CPA doesn’t care about their business.  These are scary statistics given that the most significant challenge facing CPA firms of all sizes is client retention, according to the AICPA’s 2009 CPA Firm Top Issues Survey.

Reports like these make me wonder if the CPA profession has become complacent in assuming that we will always be the clients’ trusted advisors. There’s a disconnect somewhere. If national surveys show year after year that clients look to us for the quality of our financial advice, why do so many business owners not view their CPAs as a strategic partner in their success?

It may boil down to a simple, but important factor in the relationship — communication.

As a CPA and business advisor, my number one duty is developing relationships with my clients that extend beyond the compliance work.  This is especially important with small businesses, as they often rely on us as a total business solutions provider.

Small businesses are a driving force in our economy. They account for more than 50% of jobs in the private sector, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration. What’s more, they are a significant client base for many CPA firms.

With the weight of the economy bearing down on them, CPAs have a responsibility not only to help keep them afloat, but also to help businesses  prosper.

Today, people are looking for ways to stretch their dollars further, and that includes fees for professional service firms. Just doing the work isn’t good enough anymore. Being a proactive partner with your clients — knowing what their hardships are and delivering solutions — strengthens the relationship and opens doors for your firm to provide additional service in other areas.

How do you provide value added service that gets you recognized as a strategic partner?

• Start by listening. Visit your client and discuss how their business is faring. Find out their pain points.  Identifying solutions for them before they approach you shows you care about their business.
• Connect them to the right people.  If you have expertise in your firm that can help them address a challenge, great. If not, recommend an outside contact that is best suited for the task. Your clients will remember this and view you as a true advocate for their success.
• Offer solutions they didn’t know they need. Helping your clients with strategy each year makes good business sense. But as Harvard Business Review writer Jeff Stibel says, “Planning is important; plans aren’t.”In the current economy, businesses need to react faster because change has become the only predictable constant. Small businesses have a leg up in this area because they don’t suffer from as much bureaucratic lag as larger businesses do. They often are more flexible and adept at taking advantage of opportunities that you identify.
• Be their eyes and ears in the outside world. Monitor legislation that could benefit clients. Pick up the phone or send a quick e-mail to spark conversations even if you aren’t working on an assignment.  The more value you add, the more likely you are to be called to the table for future projects. If you are not reaching out to your clients at least once a month with some communication, someone else will.

Unfortunately, some business owners don’t see the value a CPA brings to their overall business. This can lead to our services being viewed as a price-driven commodity.

It’s time to deactivate auto-pilot and move your client relationships to a higher level.

Show them you are an integral part of their team and you will remain the trusted business advisor they call for advice in good times and in bad.

Rick Kavenagh, CPA is Director, Business Services for Brockman, Coats Gedelian & Co. 1735 Merriman Road, Akron, OH 44313
Phone: (330) 864-6661
Fax: (330) 864-6918

Categories: Business Tips
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