You maybe need to file a Washington state capital gains tax return with your 2022 federal tax return.

Specifically, if you realized long-term capital gains in 2022 of more than $250,000 and you’re a Washington resident. you need to file a Washington state capital gains tax return.

And if you’re not a resident but you realized long-term capital gains inside Washington state anyway, you need to file the return.

Unfortunately, the whole process is tricky. And messy. So let’s go over the details. And quickly. You don’t have much time.

When You Need to File

 The statute and the Washington State Department of Revenue says you only need to file the income tax return if you have to pay the new capital gains tax.

Thus, if you can wriggle out from under the tax by using one of the exemptions or deductions? (See this blog post at our CPA firm website for more information: Washington State Capital Gains Tax Planning.) Even though your long-term capital gains cross that $250,000 threshold? You can skip this goat rodeo.

Note that this approach differs from the way federal and most other state’s income tax laws work. Usually if your gross income is high enough, you file. Even if in end you don’t owe tax due to deductions or credits.

Confusingly, this approach also differs from the way Washington state handles state estate tax returns and other excise tax returns like the business and occupation tax. (Washington state requires estates to file a state estate tax return if the gross estate exceeds the $2,193,000 threshold.)

Getting Ready to File Washington State Capital Gains Tax Return

Reflecting the state’s inexperience with administering an income tax, Washington State requires taxpayers to use their poorly designed, cumbersome SAW system for filing capital gains tax returns.

In a nutshell, the process works like this if a taxpayer will delegate the return preparation to a tax accountant:

1. A taxpayer creates a SAW account (Details here: https://dor.wa.gov/manage-business/my-dor-help/set#saw.)
2. The taxpayer registers a capital gains account for her or his SAW account (Details here: Capital Gains – My DOR help | Washington Department of Revenue )
3. The taxpayer adds the tax accountant as a user to the SAW account. The Department of Revenue suggests you add your tax accountant as an “Account Manager” user. That won’t work well for any situation where your accounting firm employs more than one accountant. You want to add your tax accountant as an “Administrator.” (Details here: Information on electronic filing for tax preparers | Washington Department of Revenue )
4. Engage your tax accountant to prepare the tax return.
5. When the tax return is complete, sign on to your SAW account, access your capital gains account, review the tax return and then, if it’s correct and complete, you then both file the tax return and pay the capital gains tax.

ABCs of Preparing Capital Gains Tax Return

You can tell the Washington State Department of Revenue doesn’t really understand how the federal income tax return works. And that’ll probably create all sorts of confusion as they process the capital gains tax returns.

In a nutshell, though, you enter the long-term capital gains information that shows up on the summary Schedule D form in the federal 1040 return. Then—and I kid you not—you enter each capital gains transaction that Washington state taxes.

If you invest using a rebalancing strategy (like Betterment), you or your accountant may have hundreds or even thousands of transactions to enter. By hand. The system doesn’t provide a way (yet?) to import transactions.

And then this friction point: The Department of Revenue’s instructions say you enter the detail that shows up on the Form 8949. But as any experienced tax accountant and many taxpayers know, most capital gain transactions don’t actually appear on the 8949 form. I can’t imagine that misunderstanding on the part of the Department of Revenue will produce good results for taxpayers.

What I think you ought to do is use the IRS instructions for preparing the 8949 and then complete the Washington state capital gains tax return as best you can.

If You Have Trouble with the Website

If you have trouble with the website or the process? Don’t call your tax accountant. Sorry. She or he can’t solve the problem.

Rather, call the Washington State Department of Revenue. Here’s the telephone number: 360-705-6655.

Another suggestion? If you do have trouble with the process? Like you can’t easily use the SAW system? Or the capital gains webpages don’t work well? Call or write your state legislators. (Contact information here: Washington State Legislature Member Information. ) Seriously. These men and women probably aren’t ever going to experience the system they decided you need to now use. Any feedback you can give them will encourage them to work to improve the process.

Extending the Due Date of the Return

One final suggestion: The state says if you extend your federal income tax return you automatically extend your Washington state capital gains tax return too. You probably want to do that.

Here’s why: The Supreme Court decided on March 25, 2023 you would need to file this tax return by April 18, 2023. But that late notice doesn’t give you or your accountant time to learn the law. Or if you’ve got a lot of transactions, time to manually enter the data.

But this caution: You need to have really good proof you extended. Probably you want to have your tax accountant electronically extend the federal tax return. If you don’t use a tax accountant, you should probably make an extension payment for your return to get extension documentation you can show state. (You can use this IRS web page to make an extension payment: Make an IRS Payment.)

 

The post Filing Washington State Capital Gains Tax Returns appeared first on Evergreen Small Business.

via Evergreen Small Business https://ift.tt/Xsueijz

Getting a brand on social media is one of the most important things a new business owner should consider when establishing their brand. It can help build hype for their launch and increase their chances of being heard about by potential customers. However, it can also be time-consuming and prevent entrepreneurs from fully engaging with their social media strategies.

There are a variety of free marketing strategies that you can utilize on social media to boost your online brand and attract more potential customers. These tips won’t take up much of your day, but they can help build a strong online presence.

Make a Commitment

One of the first steps new entrepreneurs and businesses should take when establishing their brand is to commit to social media. Maintaining a strong online presence can be very challenging, especially when it comes to growing an audience.

It can take a couple of months to get used to social media. In addition to having a consistent stream of content, it’s essential to figure out what your audience is looking for and how you can connect with them.

Increase Brand Awareness

A well-designed and executed marketing strategy can help boost the visibility of your business. Creating engaging and relevant content can help increase your reach and attract more potential customers. The more people see your brand, the more likely they will purchase.

Monitor & Utilize Trends

One of the most important factors that new business owners should consider when developing their marketing strategy is keeping up with the latest industry trends. For instance, if you’re planning on launching a fashion business, it’s important to know what’s happening in the industry to capitalize on the opportunities it will provide.

It’s also essential to monitor and analyze the latest industry trends to ensure that you’re on top of the competition. Having the necessary insight can help you make informed decisions and improve the efficiency of your business.

Create Continuous Content

After identifying your ideal social media platform, you must start creating content. This is the most critical aspect of any marketing strategy, as it can help boost your brand’s visibility and attract more potential customers. Unfortunately, many startups fail to create compelling content because they don’t have a strategy.

Posting content on social media can take a lot of time, but it’s not necessary to suck up hours every week. Instead, focus on documenting what you’re doing on a daily basis.

The post Social Media Tips for Entrepreneurs first appeared on Cuyler Pagano | Business & Entreprenuership.

via Cuyler Pagano | Business & Entreprenuership https://ift.tt/Ry7ZhWg

The term “sequence of returns risk” refers to the risk that your retirement nest egg may not last if you get a bad patch of returns at the start of retirement.

That reality doesn’t really have anything to do with this blog’s usual subjects: tax laws, accounting, and small business.

But in a recent post about why entrepreneurs often ought to consider working longer, I commented that working longer lets someone avoid sequence of returns risk. Some people challenged that a bit. And asked some questions.

So I wanted to elaborate. But let’s start at the beginning.

An Example of Sequence of Returns Risk

Many people know that history suggests you can usually draw four percent from your nest egg and then adjust the withdrawal amount annually for inflation.

Someone who starts retirement with $1,000,000 can draw $40,000 the first year.

In the second and all subsequent years, they can bump up the previous year’s draw amount for inflation.

If inflation runs five percent in year one, in year two the person can draw $42,000. Because $42,000 is five percent more than $40,000.

Almost always, that four percent draw rate works. In fact, only five cohorts of retirees would have failed when using a four-percent draw for a thirty-year retirement since roughly when the U.S. Civil War ended. People starting in 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968 and 1969.

And those five failing cohorts? They fail because of a bad patch of returns (and inflation) as the person’s retirement starts.

Avoiding Sequence of Returns Risk

No one can know ahead of time whether they start retirement at the wrong time. Sequence of returns risk will be apparent only when you or I look in the rearview mirror.

But this maybe useful observation: Work a few years longer? Maybe three or four or five years longer… so you move the start of retirement farther into the future?

Well, do that and you inoculate your retirement portfolio against sequence of returns risk.

Fact-checking the Math

You can check my math on this. And should. Here’s how.

Visit the cFIREsim retirement planner and click Run Simulation button. cFIREsim will calculate roughly 120 retirement planning scenarios where someone with a $1,000,000 plans to retire for three decades starting immediately and where the person plans on a $40,000 draw to start.

Five scenarios, or roughly four percent, fail. All because of a bad sequence of ugly returns and terrible inflation in the late 1960s and through the 1970s.

Then, add five years to the retirement start date and click the Run Simulation button again. cFIREsim will again calculate roughly 120 scenarios for someone with a $1,000,000 who plans to draw $40,000 to start and annally adjust for inflation. But with a tweak. This time, the person calculates scenarios where retirement starts in five years, not today, and then runs for twenty-five years.

When you run this second “work longer” scenario? No historical scenarios fail (at least using cFIREsim’s default asset allocation of 75 percent stocks and 25 percent bonds.) Because the person dodges the sequence of returns risk.

Why Working Longer Works

And why does working longer work? A couple of reasons basically.

First, when retirement portfolios fail because of a bad sequence of returns at the start, failure occurs at the tail end of the retirement. Shortening the length of retirement in effect cuts off the tail where failures potentially occur. That’s the first big reason working longer works.

A second thing that helps when you work longer? The extra compounding of investment returns on a larger portfolio. That compounding nicely bumps up the size of a retirement nest egg. Working five more years, for example, on average bumps the starting retirement nest egg size by maybe 30 to 40 percent percent? And then a related point: If you or I work longer, we can probably add a bit more to the nest egg.

Note: Using the cFIREsim default portfolio settings and delaying retirement for just three years zeroes out one’s sequence of returns risk. Historically, then, you don’t actually need to work five years longer. Just three. And that’s assuming you don’t add to your retirement nest egg.

Final Comments

A couple-three final comments to wrap up this short essay.

First, most people don’t retire with a $1,000,000. Or anything near that amount. I used $1,000,000 here because it makes the math easy. And because that’s the number cFIREsim uses as its default.

Second, if you have a job you hate? This plan doesn’t work. You know that. I know that. This idea to work longer is a plan for people who like work and all it entails. Or maybe an idea for people who like work most days.

A final third point: This idea of working longer isn’t the only way dial down your sequence of returns risk. Other tricks and techniques exist. For more information, check out our series on developing a “Plan B for retirement.”

 

The post Working Longer Avoids Sequence of Returns Risk appeared first on Evergreen Small Business.

via Evergreen Small Business https://ift.tt/LEzaty9

The concept of burnout is a break from what people are expected to do. It can be described as a feeling of depersonalization or emotional exhaustion. It can lead to physical and emotional withdrawal from work, which can negatively affect healthcare quality. It is also more common among physicians.

The best way to beat burnout is by finding a way to prevent it. This can become quite challenging for a professional, as working environments tend to increase the risk of burnout. Here are some tips to avoid professional burnout.

What Is Burnout?

Burnout refers to an individual’s feelings of exhaustion, emotional disconnection, and physical or social exhaustion caused by stress. It can be triggered by chronic stress, which can affect one’s mental health. Research on the subject tends to focus on burnout within the occupational sector.

Signs of Burnout

Although burnout symptoms do not appear the same for everyone, they can still be common. For instance, in the early stages of burnout, individuals might feel increased physical exhaustion or irritability. In later stages, they might experience various behavioral, emotional, and physical signs of burnout.

Identify Problems

Work stress usually accumulates over time. Being able to identify the areas of your life that are contributing to your stress can help you manage it. Although it may seem obvious, knowing which parts of your job are causing you the most stress can help you adapt to the situation.

Learn How to Deal with Stress

To effectively combat burnout, we must try to manage both the stressor and the stress. Doing so will allow us to focus on tackling the stress itself. For instance, if you just experienced an argument with an abrasive colleague, you must try to reduce or manage your stress before considering doing anything about the situation.

Stress Management Tools

There are a variety of tools and techniques that can help people manage their stress. Some of these include yoga, meditation, and relaxation techniques. In addition to these, other activities can also help people reduce their stress.

A survey conducted in the US revealed that almost half of the respondents didn’t do enough to manage their stress. Doing nothing to address the issue is a fast track to burnout. The goal is to find the best stress management tools to help you.

The post How to Avoid Professional Burnout first appeared on Cuyler Pagano | Business & Entreprenuership.

via Cuyler Pagano | Business & Entreprenuership https://ift.tt/sY4Tdmn

Audit anxiety is something nearly every taxpayer has in common.  But, have you ever considered how IRS audits actually work?

The IRS processes millions of tax returns each year that are never subject to additional examination or audit. Obviously, it is in your best interest to report things accurately and hope to stay off the IRS’s radar. Unfortunately, that isn’t always possible. Being selected for an audit does not inherently imply guilt or deception, and can happen to anyone that files a tax return.

I thought this would be a good topic of discussion as we go into the 2023 tax year. The IRS announced they are hiring 5,000 new agents in 2023, so this is especially relevant. Therefore, I will discuss how audits work, how returns are selected for audit, different types of audits, and ways to keep yourself protected if you are audited.

First, let’s go over some interesting statistics found in the 2021 IRS Service Data Book.

Statistics

The chances of being audited are pretty low. The IRS had 78,661 full time employees in 2021, and IRS employees dedicated to enforcement are only around 45%. Contrast this with the 167,915,264 individual 1040 tax returns filed in 2021. Consequently, the IRS has an estimated one IRS enforcement agent for every 4,800 individual 1040 returns filed, an extremely low ratio of agents to returns.

These enforcement agents don’t just look at 1040’s, either. Let’s add the 12,209,623 business entity returns filed in 2021 to our numerator. That equals roughly one IRS enforcement agent for every 5,200 returns. I won’t bother factoring estate, excise, payroll, tax exempt, and trust tax returns into the calculation, you get the idea.

Return Selection 

Most tax returns go through an automated, electronic system called the “Discriminant Function,” or “DIF” for short. The IRS calculates the DIF score by weighting and adding together return characteristics. The higher the DIF score, the higher the potential for audit. Every 1040 return gets a DIF score. Additionally, S Corp and C Corp returns with assets less than $10,000,000 get DIF scores. The IRS uses other techniques to select returns for audits as well.

The IRS matches information in their files to information reported on your tax return. For example, a taxpayer receives a 1099-INT after cashing in a savings bond. If the taxpayer fails to report the interest or reports a different amount than what the 1099-INT shows, chances are this return will get selected for an audit.

Confidential informants can tip off the IRS, resulting in return selection. So can related party transactions with a taxpayer already under examination.

Certain schedules are high risk and can trigger scrutiny from the IRS. Form 8283 Non-cash Contributions, Form 8275 Disclosure statement, and Form 8082 Notice of Inconsistent Treatment are a few examples that can trigger a closer look at your return.

Per the 2021 IRS Data Book, here are some current trends the IRS is looking closely into:

• Too many round numbers and deductions that offset large income items
• FBAR reporting issues related to perceived under-reporting of foreign income
• Virtual currency
• Passive vs. non-passive flow through income
• Real estate professional positions on rental real estate
• Worker classification – employee vs. contractor
• Matching source documents to returns, as mentioned above

But not all audits are equal. The intensity varies. So lets discuss the different types and cover some details of how IRS audits work.

Correspondence Examination/Audit

Correspondence audits are the most common, and there is a good chance you may have already had one. Have you ever received an IRS notice for your tax return? Maybe you failed to make estimated tax payments and received a notice asking you to pay interest. That is a correspondence audit, and usually not a big deal.

The IRS conducts these audits entirely through the mail. The IRS will make an adjustment or correction to a return, indicate the change, and calculate additional tax or refund due. Then, the taxpayer can either pay the additional tax or collect their additional refund if they agree with the adjustment.

Taxpayers can request more information or disagree with the change or correction and propose their own. The taxpayer should support their position with additional supporting documentation in their IRS response letter.

Sometimes taxpayers avoid these letters and take no action; not a recommended strategy. The IRS will send a second notice of deficiency letter, often referred to as a 30 day letter, requesting payment, when no action is taken by the taxpayer.

If no response is sent within 30 days, the IRS issues a Statutory Notice of Deficiency, and if the taxpayer still disagrees, they can file an appeal with the tax court.

Office Examination/Audit

A Tax Compliance Officer (TCO) conducts this type of audit in person at an IRS office to resolve issues too complex to resolve by mail. Typical issues include large itemized deductions, travel expenses, and misclassified income from rents and royalties.

The TCO will send the taxpayer a letter requesting an appointment and the type of documentation they need to bring to substantiate data reported on the tax return.

At the appointment, the TCO will collect oral testimony and physical documentation and will make one of three determinations; 1.) No change 2.) Deficiency 3.) Over-assessment.

Finally, lets discuss the third type of audit, the Field Audit.

Field Examination/Audit

A TCO conducts this type of audit at the location where the original books, records, and source documents are maintained, generally the taxpayer’s home or place of business. As you can probably guess, they are the least common type of audit. 21% of 2021 audits were field audits, per the 2021 IRS Service Data Book.

Spending the day in an office with an IRS agent is nobody’s idea of fun, however, these audits can produce more favorable results for the taxpayer than the other audit types.

Markedly, here are a few tips if you find yourself in a field audit:

• Be polite and friendly
• Know your taxpayer rights
• Avoid offering more information than needed
• Be honest
• Have your records organized and easily accessible
• Never leave the examiner alone
• Negotiate your positions

Appeals

A taxpayer can appeal if no agreement is reached. You must submit a formal written protest if the total amount owed exceeds $25,000, or the appeal is for a partnership, S Corp, or tax exempt organization.

There is no IRS form for a written appeal, but, it needs to include the following information:

• Statement the taxpayer wants to appeal the examiner’s findings to the appeals office
• Taxpayer’s name, address, and phone number
• A copy of the letter showing the proposed changes
• Tax periods involved
• Schedule of adjustments the taxpayer disagrees with
• Statement of fact supporting the taxpayer’s position
• Statement outlining the law the taxpayer relies on
• Declaration under penalties of perjury attesting the statement of facts as true and accurate

Protection

Now lets discuss some different expenses and how to ensure they are substantiated.

Trade or Business Expenses

Before taking a deduction, you want to ensure your activity rises to the level of a trade or business.  26 U.S. Code § 162 allows a deduction for all ordinary and necessary expenses paid or incurred during the taxable year in carrying on a trade or business.  A taxpayer must continuously and regularly be involved in the activity for the primary purpose of making a profit.

The regulations provide a list of relevant factors when considering if the activity rises to the level of a trade or business, including:

• Expertise of the taxpayer
• Time and effort expended on the activity
• History of income and losses with respect to the activity
• Whether elements of personal pleasure or recreation are involved in the activity
• Manner in which the taxpayer carried on the activity

Example

Lets explore this a bit more and use myself as an example.  I like fixing up cars, which inevitably ends up with me having more money in them than I can sell them for.  I also have a job as a CPA and know this car hobby is not a money making endeavor.  There is no profit motive, no history of success, and is done purely for personal pleasure.  It surely does not rise to the level of a trade or business, therefore I cannot report the activity on my 1040 tax return and claim a loss that offsets my CPA income.

The scenario is probably different if I am working on other people’s cars for money on the side.  I would need to report the income, and I would certainly have expenses (tools, supplies, etc.) that are legitimate business deductions.

In summary, be careful not to take losses and deductions on an activity the IRS would classify as a hobby and not a business.

Travel Expenses

You need to substantiate business expenses, clearly, but this is especially true with travel expenses. Travel expenses aren’t as straight forward as say, a rent payment to the landlord of a retail store, so extra diligence must be used when deducting travel.

To qualify for a deduction, travel expenses must be:

• Reasonable and necessary
• Incurred while traveling “away from home”
• Directly related to the conduct of the taxpayer’s trade or business

Three factors are used to determine a taxpayer’s “tax home:”

1. Whether there existed a business connection to the location of the home
2. Were duplicate living expenses incurred while traveling and while maintaining the tax home?
3. Whether personal connections exist to the tax home

Commuting to the office is not a qualified travel expense. And if your place of employment is somewhere other than your residence, and you decide not to move your residence to your work location, living and travel expenses getting to your job are not deductible either.

Mixed purpose travel gets murky too. It must be primarily related to the taxpayer’s trade or business to be deductible, with time spent on business being the most relevant factor. If you have business seminars in Hawaii for four days, and you stay for two additional vacation days, that probably counts. Reverse the business and personal time, that probably doesn’t count.  And there must be a bona-fide business purpose for a spouse’s travel expenses to be deductible.

Charitable Contributions

If you generally have enough deductions to itemize, chances are you have probably taken a charitable contribution deduction.  And you want to have very good records to substantiation the contribution.

For cash contributions of $250 or less, you need to have one of the following:

• Canceled check
• Bank or credit card statement
• Receipt from the organization
• Paystub if contributed through a payroll deduction

Cash contributions greater than $250 should, ideally, be substantiated with a receipt from the organization detailing the dollar amount, date, and whether any goods or services were provided to the donor.

Worker Classification Audits

The last topic I want to discuss is worker classification audits. Employers have a financial incentive to misclassify employees as independent contractors because costs and record keeping is lower.  Workers have an incentive to be classified as independent contractors because they can deduct expenses not available to employees.

The IRS uses a three-factor test to determine if a person is an employee or a contractor:

1. Behavior Control – Does the employer provide training to the worker? The more training provided, the more control the employer exerts over the worker.
2. Financial Control – Key factors include the workers investment in the services they provide, other services they make available to the market, and the opportunity for their own profit with respect to their services.
3. Relationship of Parties – Relationship factors include the extent to which either party can terminate the relationship, the party’s contractual relationship, and the employer providing, or not providing, benefits typically provided to an employee.

Misclassification of a worker as an independent contractor can have large consequences to the employer.  The employer may end up liable for payroll taxes on all open tax years, federal income tax that should have been withheld from the workers paychecks, and any state income taxes that should have been paid on the worker.  Consequently, only one or two worker misclassifications could lead to thousands of dollars of tax owed.

Final Thoughts

The goal of this blogpost was to (hopefully) relieve some anxiety by covering how IRS audits work and what you can expect if you ever find yourself in an audit situation. You should not feel bad if it happens to you. But, you want to be smart and methodical on how your respond to and deal with the IRS.

Good record keeping, honesty, and a little bit of knowledge will go along way on keeping yourself protected.

We have some additional posts on IRS audit prevention tips, real estate professional audit troubles, and surviving short term rental audits that contain great information if you want even more detail.

The post How IRS Audits Work appeared first on Evergreen Small Business.

via Evergreen Small Business https://ift.tt/th0e4Eb

You wondered at the time whether it was a scam, right? And now you regularly see news reports about ERC scams. Employee retention credit scams, that is.

And so two questions. Did you get scammed? And if so, what should you do at this point? Fortunately, you can probably answer this question pretty easily.

Did You Get Conned or Scammed?

You or your business qualifies for an employee retention credit in one of three ways:

First way: You’re a small business and you started another, new business sometime after February 15, 2020 and before the end of 2021. (That’s easy, right? You know if you did this.)

Second way: Quarterly revenues, as compared to 2019, collapsed. To qualify for 2020, the collapse needs to exceed 50 percent. To qualify for 2021, the collapse needs to exceed 20 percent. (Your accounting system lets you make these determinations with roughly three or four clicks of a mouse.)

And then the third way you qualify: If a government order triggered either a full or partial suspension in your business. And this method? Where the nonsense seems to occur. The place where ERC scams show up.

Fortunately, you can easily determine your eligibility for an ERC based on a government order. You just need to pull out the actual government order that either fully closed your business for some period of time. Or you need to pull out the actual government order that partially closed your business for a period of time—and then show that the partial closure reduced the hours of service or revenues by at least 10 percent.

And now here’s the cold reality. Too often? We see situations where no government order actually exists. I kid you not. And when that’s case? Yeah, sorry. No easy way to say this. But I think you’ve very possibly gotten caught in an ERC scam.

Note: Here’s an example of an actual government order from Washington state: Proclamation by the governor: Stay Health Stay Home.

Real-life Example of ERC Scams

You see all sorts of sloppy thinking regarding government orders.

For example, in one case, a business owner prominent in his industry circulated an email that talked about a government order hitting a major supplier of his firm and similar firms. We understand numerous employers filed millions of dollars of ERC refund claims based on this email.

But when we checked? No government order existed. In fact the supplier, helpfully, said so on their website. Explicitly.

Note: A clarification: A government order “counts” for purposes of employee retention credits if it affects your business… or vendors you get supplies from… or vendors of vendors you get supplies from. A government order that affects your customers does not matter for purposes of your ERC eligibility however. (It might negatively impact your revenues of course–which is another way to qualify.)

Double-check You Got Caught in ERC Scam

So your first step is obvious, right? Find or see if the ERC consultant worked from a real government order. Get a copy. Read the copy and make sure it either closed your operation down. Or it closed down the operation of a vendor in your supply chain and the impact was more than nominal.

And if you can find this document? Count yourself lucky. Because many of your small-business-owning brothers and sisters appear to have claimed employee retention credits when no government order existed. You however should be fine. Not so for people who don’t have a government order.

Take These Steps If You Actually Were Scammed

If you did claim ERC refunds you were not entitled to? You need to take several steps to dial down the damage.

First, if the federal quarterly payroll tax returns—which is where an employer claims employee retention credits—have not yet been filed? I think you stop that process. This may mean instructing the “consultant” preparing the amended returns to stop. You probably want to tell them explicitly that you now believe no government order exists if that is case.

Second, if the federal quarterly payroll tax returns have been filed? But you haven’t received a refund? I think you contact the IRS to report anything that rises to the level of fraud using this number: 800-366-4484. (This number and suggestion comes from the Internal Revenue Service page that warns employers about third-party “consultants” promoting ERC refunds.)

And then I think you consider filing a 3949-A Information Referral to name the individual and the firm amending your 941s. You should be able to get the information you need from the W-9 you collected from them and one of the amended 941 payroll returns they filed.

Third, if the IRS has already processed ERC refunds and you now know your firm was not eligible? You want to amend any tax returns that reflect the erroneous ERC refunds.

For example, you want to amend the 941 quarterly payroll tax returns again and then repay the tax refund. That will get you square with the Internal Revenue Service and stop the compounding of penalties and interest.

Another example: If you amended your 2020 and 2021 income tax returns to report the refunds as income (which is required), you want to amend your income tax returns and remove that income. This will reduce your income tax liability for 2020 and 2021 and get you a refund while you still can.

Other Resources

We’ve got a bunch of blog posts about how employee retention credits work here. If you’re concerned you didn’t know enough or still don’t know enough about employee retention credits, check these out to provide yourself with the information you’ll need to get out of this mess.

If you’re a tax practitioner who now needs to do a deep dive into the law, pick up a copy of Maximizing Employee Retention Credits from Amazon.com.

 

The post If You Got Conned in ERC Scam appeared first on Evergreen Small Business.

via Evergreen Small Business https://ift.tt/2hbIZHV

Many factors go into becoming an entrepreneur, such as education and experience. I’ve often wondered if people can become great entrepreneurs without experiencing the hard lessons that come with running a business.

Some of the most valuable lessons in an entrepreneurial journey can be learned from these books.

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t

In this book, Jim Collins talks about transforming a good company into a great one. He explains the various factors that go into making a great company happen, and he also provides practical advice on how to improve your company’s performance.

Most entrepreneurs have a hard time thinking about how they would move their businesses into a multi-million dollar organization or what choices they would make once they finally reach that level. This book takes an in-depth look at how successful organizations have grown.

Behold the Dreamers

The uplifting novel Behold the Dreamers is a timeless plea for courage that draws on the experiences of a young Cameroonian woman during the 2008 financial crisis. It shows a different side of the immigrant experience and provides a glimpse into what it’s like to be an immigrant in the US. The story is relevant as various equality movements have changed what it means to be an immigrant.

The Psychology of Selling

One of the most critical factors that any entrepreneur must consider when starting a successful business is the ability to sell their product. The proper sales technique is also essential to ensure their potential customers are satisfied.

Brian Tracy’s book provides valuable strategies and information on how to make more money by focusing on one thing in particular: the person. This is very important for entrepreneurs as they often forget the basics regarding selling. Brian goes over the major points in this book to get results.

The Lean Startup

After you have identified the perfect business idea, you’re ready to take the next step and validate it. In The Lean Startup, Eric Ries teaches you how to do this without investing much money or time. He also provides a step-by-step process that will help you avoid getting carried away by the endless possibilities of running a business.

The post Books All Entrepreneurs Must Read first appeared on Cuyler Pagano | Business & Entreprenuership.

via Cuyler Pagano | Business & Entreprenuership https://ift.tt/ZqlLp5B