November 18, 2014
Are You Ready for April 2015? Are Your Clients?
New legislation has brought greater certainty to year-end planning but also created new challenges.
November 14, 2014
Last Chance for Retroactive Portability of Estate Tax Exemption
The portability provision can literally save a family millions of federal estate tax dollars if a timely election is made. For some clients who missed the boat, there’s still a little time left to sail off happily into the sunset, thanks to a special IRS
November 5, 2014
3 Serious Mistakes to Avoid When Offering Tax Advice to Clients
When advising clients about important financial decisions, tax advisors have a tremendous responsibility to think about all aspects of transaction in the context of a client’s specific situation.
November 5, 2014
Checking Off Your Client’s Year-End Payroll To-Do List
Year-end planning and preparation for your clients is crucial. With holidays and deadlines fast approaching, payroll practitioners want to work with their clients to ensure they meet all year-end deadline
October 20, 2014
2014 Tax Planning Report Highlights Opportunities and Challenges for Tax Professionals
Thomson Reuters has released a new special report on year-end tax planning for 2014 for individuals and businesses. The report highlights the unique opportunities and challenges faced by taxpayers in today’s uncertain legislative environment. It describes the moves to make by year-end to achieve maximum overall tax savings for 2014 and later tax years. It...…
October 16, 2014
How to Max Out On Itemized Income Tax Deductions in 2014
[This is part of a special series about year-end tax planning and preparation.] In the usual case, the tried-and-true tax strategy at the end of the year is to pull deductions into the current year and push income into the following year. And, for the most part, it still makes sense. But now there’s a few...…
October 15, 2014
‘Tis the Season… For Income Tax Planning
While most Americans are thinking about football season, the MLB baseball playoffs, the coming NBA season, hockey or the upcoming holidays, savvy financial professionals are advising taxpayers to think about their taxes.
October 10, 2014
2014 Review of Professional Tax Planning Systems
By Bill Kennedy, CPA, CA The Affordable Care Act changes had the biggest impact on tax software across the country this year, as developers scrambled to incorporate the new Net Investment regulations into their packages, particularly for high net worth individuals. All of the packages reviewed have been updated for the impact of this legislation....…
October 10, 2014
2014 Review of Intuit Lacerte Tax Planner
Basic System Functions: 5 Stars Firms using the Lacerte tax preparation software will find the tax planner interface to be very similar and easy to navigate. The main window of the program has a menu bar at the top followed by a toolbar with icons. To navigate through the program, there are worksheet tabs below...…
October 10, 2014
2014 Review of Thomson Reuters Planner CS
The CS Professional Suite from Thomson Reuters offers an integrated set of tax, accounting, and practice management applications. Planner CS tightly integrates with the suite to provide tax projections for a virtually unlimited number of years and scenarios. Basic System Functions: 4.75 Stars Planner CS opens into a customizable welcome screen with a list of...…
October 10, 2014
2014 Review of Drake Tax Planner
While most other tax software systems offer tax planning as a separate module, Drake has included Tax Planner as a free add-on to its main tax system, Drake Tax. Basic System Functions: 4 Stars Drake Tax is designed for individuals as well as small and medium sized businesses. As such, it may not meet all...…
October 10, 2014
2014 Review of CCH ProSystem fx Planning
The ProSystem fx Suite from CCH offers integrated applications for tax and accounting firms. While CCH also has cloud-based solutions known as CCH Axcess, for now Planning is only a network or locally installed program which can import tax data from either ProSystem fx Tax or CCH Axcess Tax. However, plans can be created manually...…