Accounting Today

Inside Views

• Internet Sales Tax Bill Would Tax Digital Goods

  May 14, 2013

  The Marketplace Fairness Act, which the Senate passed last week, would require e-commerce vendors to collect sales taxes not only on physical items, but also on digital goods such as ebooks and music downloads.

• IRS Commits Fraudulent Transfer

  May 14, 2013

  Usually when we hear a discussion about fraudulent transfers, it is in the context of a client who has just been sued and now wants to protect his or her assets.

• IRS Extends Time to Adopt Safe Harbor for Electric Transmission Property Expenses

  May 13, 2013

  The U.S. government is expected to publish final tangible property regulations later this year.

• Divorced Parents with Children Face Complex Tax Choices

  May 9, 2013

  There is sometimes a disconnect in the handling of dependency exemptions and related tax credits between what courts advise a taxpayer to do and what the Tax Code actually permits.

• Taxing Times for the Restaurant Industry

  May 8, 2013

  As a CPA and attorney at law, this office has certainly seen its share of food service industry examinations, both at the federal and state levels.

• Improve Your Firm’s Marketing and Business Development

  May 6, 2013

  A recent survey of CPA firms identified marketing and business development as among the most important management issues facing these establishments.

• Bloomberg BNA’s Survey of State Tax Departments Clarifies State Nexus Policies

  May 3, 2013

  It’s become an annual rite of spring, at least for me—the release of Bloomberg BNA’s survey of state tax departments.

• Windfall Income Tax Planning

  May 2, 2013

  You receive a call from a very excited client: your lawyer client settled a large case. Or your client won a large judgment. Or your client won the lottery. Now your client is about to receive a very large check: $1,000,000. $5,000,000. More? That’s the good news.

• Reinstate Trust in Month-End Close Numbers

  May 1, 2013

  Although the month-end reconciliation process requires significant resources and staff time to provide a correct picture of a company’s figures, current processes at a majority of companies typically contain severe flaws that create distrust even in the finance departments.

• Implications of the KPMG Insider Trading Case for Companies and Auditors

  April 30, 2013

  The announcement of civil and criminal insider trading charges earlier this month against Scott London, a former senior audit partner at KPMG, grabbed business headlines and took the public accounting profession by surprise.

• Fair to Meddling: Taxing Online Sales

  April 26, 2013

  It’s been kicking around in one form or another for the better part of a decade, but it looks as though it finally has some momentum.

• IRS Penalties for Listed Transactions under 6707A

  April 25, 2013

  The IRS is taking a “formalistic approach” in interpreting its own Section 6011 regulations on disclosing reportable transactions, but not following its own rules on which tax years to assess the Section 6707A penalty.

• Brushing up Shakespeare’s Taxes

  April 24, 2013

  Recent research into William Shakespeare by literary scholars indicates that he may have been a great dramatist, but he was truly the Bad Bard when it came to paying his taxes.

• Three Technology Trends CPAs Should Know About

  April 22, 2013

  CPA technology thought-leader James Bourke identifies three trends that every accounting firm needs to pay attention to.

• Valuing Your Firm in Today’s M&A Market

  April 22, 2013

  Tax season 2013 is over and the M&A frenzy will pick back up again where it left off. So, what is your practice worth?

• Look Before You Leap from an S to a C Corporation

  April 19, 2013

  It might be tempting for small business owners, and their advisors, to contemplate the higher tax rates on individuals spawned by the American Tax Relief Act, and conclude that switching their S corporation to a C corporation makes sense.

• Integrated Reporting Makes Its Debut

  April 17, 2013

  The promise of integrated reporting that combines financial reporting with a host of other factors, including sustainability, governance and community involvement, finally appears to be on the horizon.

• IRS Win Contains Taxpayer Victory on Reasonable Compensation

  April 16, 2013

  Since the Tax Reform Act of 1986 few closely held businesses have been structured as C corporations.

• Hiring or Outsourcing Your Accounting Firm’s Marketing

  April 15, 2013

  You’ve got enough work to keep a marketer busy full-time and you can afford to hire one, but what’s the best option: hire somebody in-house or work with an outside firm?

• Get Clients to Stay in Touch After Tax Day

  April 11, 2013

  As tax season winds down, it may be hard to think about work beyond the imminent and deserved time off, but there are points you can raise with clients to keep them coming to you for the rest of the year, too.