Money, taxes and insurance · 10 guides
Certified Public Accountant: problems and fixes, explained by Joe
Joe Hockaday is the only certified public accountant member of BNI Preston Center. These guides are written for a Dallas–Fort Worth reader who has the problem right now: what is happening, what to check, when to call, and what it costs.
- You moved to Texas for no state income tax: what changes and what still catches people Texas has no state income tax, and that is real. But the move year usually means one more return in the state you left, and property tax becomes the number to watch. The quick version for new TexansThe state you left still gets a returnIncome that can follow you from your old stateYour federal return changes a little too
- Which tax records to keep, for how long, and how to make them hold up if asked The usual answer is three years, but the records that matter most, like property and business asset records, need to be kept much longer. Here is what to keep, for how long, and how to keep it. Three years is the start, not the whole answerThe IRS retention periods in one placeProperty records are the ones people throw away too soonWhat a deduction really needs behind it
- What a CPA charges to prepare your return, and the details that move the price There is no single price for a CPA-prepared return. The fee follows the work the return actually requires, and several of the biggest drivers are in your hands before you ever walk in. The short answer on what a return costsForms and schedules: the backbone of the feeYour records matter as much as your returnLife events that turn a simple year into a complicated one
- Signs your tax return has outgrown the software, and what you can still do yourself Tax software is good at the returns it was built for. The trouble starts when life adds a business, a rental or a move and the software keeps asking the same simple questions. The moment the software stops being enoughWhere software does a good jobSeven signals that the return has changed categoryCount the forms in your folder
- Putting your children on payroll: when it legitimately lowers the family's taxes Paying your children for real work in the family business is one of the most effective legitimate tax strategies for the self-employed. It is also one of the easiest to get wrong. Legal, effective and full of conditionsWhere the savings actually come fromThe IRS rules depend on how your business is set upOne family's numbers, from our own case study
- Paid on a 1099 with no withholding: how quarterly estimated taxes actually work When nobody withholds tax from your pay, the IRS still expects to be paid during the year. Here is how estimated payments work, how to size them, and how to avoid an underpayment penalty. Yes, in most cases, and here is the ruleWhy the IRS wants its money during the yearThe four due dates, and why they are unevenThe safe harbors that keep you out of penalty
- Handing your taxes to a CPA: what to send, what happens next and how long it takes Most delays in tax season are not caused by the preparer or the IRS. They come from a missing form, a late K-1 or a question nobody asked early enough. Here is how to avoid them. What to send and how long it really takesThe core checklist for every householdRecords for deductions, credits and big eventsAdditional items for business owners and landlords
- Extension or file now: what an extension buys you and what it does not An extension is one of the most useful and most misunderstood tools in the tax calendar. It buys time to file correctly, but the bill is still due in April. The trade-off in plain termsWhat an extension does, and the part it does not coverTwo penalties that work very differentlySituations where extending is the smarter choice
- Before someone signs your tax return: the questions and red flags that matter Anyone with a preparer tax identification number can be paid to file your return. A few direct questions tell you whether the person across the desk will still be there, and still be able to help, if the IRS writes back. Ask these before you hand over a single documentCredentials: who is actually allowed to do whatThe questions, in the order I would ask themRed flags the IRS itself warns about
- Your books are a year behind and tax season is coming: how a small business catches up Falling behind on the books is the most common problem a growing business has, and the most fixable. Here is what catching up actually involves, what you can do this week, and why the cleanup is where tax savings begin. The business is doing fine, and the books are a messWhy books fall behind, and why it costs more than it looksWhat you can do this week before you hand it to anyoneWhen behind becomes urgent