the frill is gone: taxpayers more frugal with refunds.

welcome to the new normal — frugal is the new black.

fifty-four percent of those receiving refunds intend to pay off credit card, utility, housing and other bills, according to an associated press-gfk poll. that compares with 35 percent who said the same thing a year ago. only 5 percent, about the same as a year ago, plan a shopping spree.

although 38 percent plan to spend at least part of it, the spending will be on basic needs: 17 percent on food and clothing. it was 7 percent a year ago.

by the way, 8 percent of those who owe taxes said they were very likely or somewhat likely to use a credit card to pay their tax bill.

more:

  • 31 percent of those receiving refunds said they will use at least part of the money to pay credit card bills, compared with 17 percent a year ago.
  • 19 percent said they will use their refunds to pay utility bills, compared with 10 percent a year ago.
  • 17 percent said they will use their refunds for rent or mortgage payments, compared with 7 percent a year ago.
  • 11 percent of those receiving refunds said they would use them to go on vacation, a slight increase from a year ago.
  • 5 percent said they planned to use their refund for a down payment on a car, also a slight increase.
  • 4 percent said they would use their refunds to buy stocks or bonds, about the same as a year ago.

see the full ap story here.

free download: get the 11-page pdf of the complete results from the ap gfk poll.

meet joe blakk: rapper and tax accountant [video]

noted new orleans rapper runs thriving 17-person tax practice — with local flavor.

“i started doing taxes a long time ago, as soon as i got my first job,” says new orleans rapper joe blakk, joe blakk income tax service.

blakk had his first regional hit with the song “it ain’t where ya from” in 1993, during his senior year of college. by the time he debuted as a rapper, though, he already had nearly a decade of experience preparing taxes — a sideline he pursued throughout high school and college the way some kids might have had a paper route.

today, during each tax season, he employs 17 people — including the bounce rap pioneers cheeky blakk, dolemite and t.t. tucker, as well as rebirth brass band bass drummer keith frazier — at the three local offices of joe blakk income tax service.

when he started, “i wasn’t even charging, it was just about let’s get it done, let’s do it right. let’s start filing taxes, repair our credit, own our own homes, and leave something for our children when we’re gone.”

more tax season is high note for new orleans musician joe blakk’s second career

economic fallout: local sales taxes hit new records

tax software developer vertex reports that 554 u.s. cities changed their sales tax rates in 2008.

of those, 200 were newly imposed city tax rates and 307 were straight increases to existing city tax rates. other changes in sales, transit and use taxes, combined with new and pending changes for 2009, indicate that state and local governments are scrutinizing tax rates in light of the current economic turmoil.

via webcpa.

help wanted: new york scrambles for peer reviewers to handle new mandate

new madoff-fueled rule to affect 1,200 small cpa firms.

the new accountancy statute takes effect in 2012. but new york is already looking for cpas to handle the new requirement, according to richard stolz, posting at webcpa.

the number of cpa firms in new york subject to a once-every-three-year peer review would nearly double, from approximately 1,800 to about 3,000. but new york only has about 100 qualified peer reviewers who conduct approximately 600 reviews annually.

new york joins 45 other states in mandating peer review. with california coming along, that would leave only colorado, delaware, florida and hawaii as holdouts. to be sure, the aicpa has long mandated peer review for membership.

and, by the way, madoff’s so-called auditor would still be exempt from peer review: the one-person friehling firm is too small.

obama team’s tax problems: so who’s perfect?

and what are the lessons for cpas?

nellen

“these problems raise the question as to whether return preparers are asking the right questions and seeking sufficient documentation,” according to prof. annette nellen in this week’s aicpa tax insider.

nellen groups the tax errors into five main categories:

  1. overlooked income, such as due to a missing 1099 or income not reported on a form w-2 or 1099.
  2. missing documentation, such as for charitable contributions or entertainment expenses.
  3. lack of preciseness in the law, such as how to allocate tax preparation fees between schedule a and schedule c or e.
  4. insufficient research, such as misclassifying overnight camp expenses as qualifying for the dependent care credit or not reporting income donated to charity.
  5. insufficient attention to other taxes, such as employment taxes on household help.

she wonders:

talk in the press and on blogs questioned whether the tax problems were just a sign of tax law complexity. arguably, some errors, such as overlooking a form 1099, are not due to the complexity of the law, but perhaps to complexity of one’s work situation. some errors, such as inadequate documentation for charitable contributions or thinking that both overnight and day camp qualify for the dependent care credit, are due to complexity. however, additional research, time and attention might have caught these errors prior to filing. but, how much time is needed to generate an error-free return and is such a goal achievable?

and she offers suggestions for avoiding errors:

  • checklists: a checklist for verifying various elements of taxable income, credits and other taxes can help catch errors as well as missed opportunities for deductions and credits. the aicpa tax section provides its members with extensive checklists.
  • frequent reminders to clients: proper computation of federal and state income tax liability and any other taxes a client may owe, such as employment taxes on household help, requires attention throughout the year, not only when gathering tax records after year end. frequent reminders to clients about what type of documentation is needed to claim charitable contributions, business expenses, dependent care credits, energy credits, and more, will serve both to help clients understand the tax law and have appropriate documentation.
  • have a technique to help find “unusual” items: how is a preparer to know that a client is provided a car and driver if it doesn’t show up on a w-2 or 1099? one possibility is to provide clients with brief scenarios of “typical” transactions and ask if they have anything that doesn’t fit that fact pattern.

for example:
— employment: typically, employees are paid a cash salary and fringe benefits such as health care. if you received anything else from your employer, please let us know.
— income: most individuals receive income in the form of wages, interest and dividends. if you received any other types of payments, such as from consulting, speeches, odd jobs, online sales, auctions, or gambling, please let us know.

  • engagement letters: these should include the reminder from ssts no. 3 that clients are responsible for the contents of their return.
  • office education: it is important that all return preparers in an office be familiar with the guidance noted earlier and be aware of the office procedures for when documentation should be reviewed and how to identify and handle situations that just don’t look right.

so, how many of your clients could stand a congressional review?

full article here.

how to close “the knowing-doing gap?” just do it. do it now.

the problem is not a lack of theories, tools, or programs. the problem is execution.

in research for his recent book, execution revolution, author gary harpst discovered:

  • an astounding 90% of well-formulated strategies fail due to poor execution!
  • only 5% of employees understand their corporate strategy! unbelievable!
  • only 3% of executives think their company is very successful at executing strategies, while 62% think they’re only moderately successful, or worse.

in short, read all you want on the subject of programs such as baldrige, lean and tqm. you’ll find the subject matter interesting, and you’ll enjoy learning about the many successes of those who have successfully executed such programs.

read about knowledge management, data mining tools and scorecards for performance measurement and management. you’ll learn a great deal.

investigate new models of training and employee development as well as personal and executive coaching. in the end, you will have read, researched, investigated and probably learned much. now you know what to do. however, you have invested a great deal of time, energy and effort to no avail at this point. true success and roi emerges only when you successfully execute what you’ve learned. the “knowing-doing gap” must be closed at every level of the organization in order to enjoy true success.

— per harry k. jones, at achievemax, with hat tip to skip reardon via twitter @sreardon.

eight factors for cpas to consider in bankruptcy

what cpas can expect in workouts and lending today?

if ever an economic period was destined for america’s history books, it’s this one, according to jerry mozian, a turnaround specialist.

mozian

“after a long run of living above our means, the concept of credit is being fundamentally revisited,” he says.

“when the dust settles, our nation will emerge a more value-oriented society – one that better understands leverage and restraint,” mozian says. “future generations can avoid the mistakes we’ve made by learning how we overcame them.”

for cpas, that means understanding a little bit more about liquidity, insolvency, bankruptcy and workouts.

according to mozian, before filing bankruptcy, cpas should: read more →

goldman chief blames the banksters

blankfein says mark-to-market rule not to blame.

lloyd blankfein, chairman and chief executive of goldman sachs group inc., delivered a speech tuesday to the council of institutional investors’ spring meeting in washington. the whole speech is worth a read, but accountants will zero in on this passage:

financial institutions didn’t account for asset values accurately enough. i’ve heard some argue that fair value accounting — which assigns current values to financial assets and liabilities — is one of the major reasons for exacerbating the credit crisis. i see it differently. if more institutions had properly valued their positions and commitments at the outset, they would have been in a much better position to reduce their exposures.

full text here.

commercial real estate in today’s economy? what cpas need to know

while the housing crash has grabbed  headlines for almost two years, commercial real estate has been holding up well.

can that continue? not indefinitely, according to dallas-based appraiser jack p. friedman, cpa, abv, cff.

what can cpas do?

friedman

cpas may be better able to assist their clients by learning more about rental real estate. cpas can provide pro formas with “what if” scenarios to assist owners to decide on offering rent reductions, lease renewal terms and refinancing assistance. cpas can also apply their skills to understanding real estate finance, appraisal, investment, rental market competition and property marketing issues.

you can help their clients avert the loss of property through forward-looking financial methodologies, instead of focusing on historical performance.

from the latest cpa insider newsletter, read the full article.

aicpa, intacct deal could bring cloud computing down to earth for cpas

venture gives intacct access to millions of small and mid-sized businesses through cpa channel.

cloud computing, software-as-a-service, or web-based software — whatever you call it — has long been evolving as the next step beyond cd platters, downloads and endless versioning. with the aicpa deal, intacct (a dramatic business story in it’s own right) may get the push it needs to challenge intuit, sage or microsoft among small and medium-sized businesses.

but more than that, the aicpa’s imprimatur on a saas model could well accelerate adoption of the delivery method, overcoming a common stumbling block — the reluctance of cpas to be pioneers. with the aicpa behind them, cpas need no longer feel like trail-blazers in adopting and recommending cloud computing.

here’s the full news release: read more →

cpa mentoring: you can munch, but it’s more than lunch

eight structured steps that cpa firms can use to develop and nurture talent.

unfortunately, even the best-intentioned mentoring initiatives can easily fizzle in the early stages, before delivering value to the participants and the organization at large, according to molly sargent of norwalk, conn.-based professional impressions consulting.

sargent

molly has trained and coached thousands of financial professionals and client-facing executives in professional image, presentation skills, business etiquette and sales effectiveness. since 1985, she has helped major accounting firms and fortune 500 companies, including aetna, american express, at&t, citibank, goldman sachs, jpmorgan, key bank, mastercard, pricewaterhousecoopers and prudential achieve breakthrough results.

with so much to gain, how can your firm initiate mentoring in a way that is successful and sustainable?

read more →

countdown to april 15: white-knuckled clients and a reeling economy

as we go into the final stretch, most tax professionals are reporting that this busy season has been as good as or better than last year’s.

by rick telberg

but any achievement is tempered by the continuing concerns of white-knuckled clients and a reeling economy.

in brewer, maine, cpa thomas hicks is most worried this year about simply getting paid. “we have seen an approximately 33-percent increase in moderately sophisticated returns such as 1120 and 1120s, and a 50-percent increase in 1040s.” it seems the new returns are coming from clients leaving larger firms for the fees he can offer.

“looking at the results of their operations for the year, i’m very concerned about the ability of these clients to pay our fees,” hicks says. “since we are a relatively small firm, we can insist on payment in advance – a retainer – and at the very least payment on delivery. but we’ve been getting some static from our long-standing clients.”

how do cpas stay positive?

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he has tried personally explaining to each of them that the general economic conditions do not allow his firm to extend credit.  “because we want to ‘be there’ for them,” he tells them, “we need to keep our staff salaries and expenses paid, to be ready when they do need us again.”

read more →

is the irs giving a free pass to finance institutions?

financial service firms — banks, investment advisors, insurance companies, etc. — account for three-quarters of the tax returns filed by all large corporations.

so why, then, is the irs allocating only 15% of its corporate revenue agents to the sector? especially considering that when audits are performed, the irs reaps outsized gains?

the apparently lopsided distribution of revenue agents to the financial services group is described in a trac report based on documents and data obtained under the freedom of information act. the report is available at http://trac.syr.edu/tracirs/newfindings/v14/