QuickBooks-Blog.com

QuickBooks 2010 Seminar materials, Free Download

2009-11-27T08:53:18-05:00

You can now get a free Intuit QuickBooks 2010 seminar material (2010 What’s New in QuickBooks). This is a free download of South Florida QuickBooks Meetup files. The South Florida QuickBooks Meetup, the oldest QuickBooks Meetup, has long been the largest QuickBooks Meetup. One reason for this is the Free QuickBooks Help we give at every meeting, by answering all your QuickBooks questions. This comes from two nationally known Advanced QuickBooks ProAdvisors, who Intuit repeatedly paid to server on customer advisory councils. One of us is often among the largest QuickBooks Enterprise sellers / installers. The other made the Intuit (QuickBooks) CEO write, “You’re fantastic Mike, absolutely fantastic!”

Your free download of this Free Quickbooks 2010 Seminar Material has a long PowerPoint and the contents of the QuickBooks CD. QuickBooks employees gave away this free QuickBooks 2010 seminar material in about 20 locations. Only in Florida did local South Florida QuickBooks Meetup organizers again give Free QuickBooks Help, by giving the free annual seminar. We gave it twice, to about twice the QuickBooks users we had last year. We then gave more Free QuickBooks Help, with two free Q&A meetings at other locations.

We are now the only ones that have this free QuickBooks 2010 seminar material available, as a free download, for to 230+ members and all QuickBooks users. You need not register to get it. However, free monthly QuickBooks insider tips and news like this, plus answers to your QuickBooks questions, give you good reasons to register regardless of where you are (we even have Indian members). On the other hand, if you are in southeast Florida, please vote in our Poll to help decide when, where and if we have December meetings.

Florida Unemployment Tax Insanity #3

2009-11-23T13:01:03-05:00

Florida Unemployment Tax Insanity is the Department of Revenue (DOR) consistently losing tax returns and other mail, sending erroneous tax notices, filing improper liens, overcharging employers and not doing its duty under Florida and federal law. Employers will soon pay much more for this abuse.

I blogged, Twitted and sent letters to Governor Crist and his DOR about this Florida Unemployment Tax Insanity, but have yet to get a reply. This may be because Governor Christ is too busy campaigning or the insanity was worse than I thought.

Outrageous Tax Increases During Bad Times

The low Florida unemployment tax is now $8.40 (0.12% on $7,000 of wages/employee/ year). It will soon rise to $100.30 (1.18% on $8,500 of wages, Florida unemployment tax on businesses to skyrocket). The maximum unemployment tax will increase from $378 (5.4% of $7,000) to $459 (5.4% of $8,500). That means that a rotten employer, with many unemployment claims, will pay 21% more. However, good employers, who keep employees and minimize claims, will soon have an 1194% increase in unemployment tax. This will cause more layoffs, where we already have 11.2% unemployment and 46% of southeast Florida homes are worth less than mortgages (compared to 10.2% and 21% nationally). The DOR compounds this by penalizing those who pay sales tax by check, saying checks came without returns! Does this make sense?

Gross Mismanagement

I have been a CPA in three states, in small and large CPA firms, for many years. The DOR is consistently the worst government agency I ever saw by far. It takes about two months to process paper tax returns, but it loses many entirely, partly because it ignores return address changes. It recently lost seven sets of my returns, as proven by certified mail receipts. It even lost a receipted local office delivery and faxes to a senior DOR manager (after he confirmed receipt on the phone). The DOR adds late filing penalties, liens and more penalties or not responding promptly. How do you respond if you know DOR lost your original return and loses most responses? DOR even adds E-file penalties on employers with less than 10 employees, who need not file electronically under Florida law.

Florida Unemployment Tax Insanity

The worst DOR outrage is deliberate disregard of low rates earned by low unemployment claims. DOR knows its history of erroneous and delayed processing. However, if it does not see prompt filing and responses to often erroneous notices, it charges the highest possible rate. That can increase your $8.40/year/employee tax to $378 or $459, or 45 to 55 times as much. Basically, DOR profis from its own malfeasance, which should be against the law. In fact, I believe it violate Article 14 of the U.S. Constititution (due process and equal protection), as well as federal unemployment benefit revenue sharing rules.

Explosive Issue

When I first looked at this Google had around 7,000 links to Florida Unemployment Tax Insanity. Google now has 63,000 links, while Yahoo has 383,000. Click on these underlined links to see the latest numbers on this 2010 campaign issue. Then contact your state legislators and their opponents.

The Solution

The new health care bill adds 17 new taxes, with much new paperwork. As a CPA with a long history of successful tax cut efforts, I can help you avoid many of them, Florida Unemployment Tax Insanity, Wage and Hour Laws, the Family Leave Act and many other federal and state laws. Some of these apply to small companies. You can start doing this by using letting me help you convert employees to independent contractors, corporate contractors and outsourcing, in ways that Internal Revenue, Florida and other states accept. I will detail this tomorrow.

Economic Stimulus Payments & Economic Stimulus Waste

2009-11-17T09:00:00-05:00

INFORMATION REGARDING THE STIMULUS CHECKS:

Sometime this year, we taxpayers may again receive an Economic Stimulus payment. This is a very exciting new program. I will explain it using the Q and A format.

Q. What is an Economic Stimulus payment?

A. It is money that the federal government will send to taxpayers.

Q. Where will the government get this money?

A. From taxpayers.

Q. So the government is giving me back my own money?

A. Only a smidgen.

Q. What is the purpose of this payment?

A. The plan is that you will use the money to purchase a high-definition TV , thus stimulating the economy.

Q. But isn't that stimulating the economy of China ? A. Shut up.

Here is some helpful advice on how to best help the US economy by spending Your stimulus check wisely:

* If you spend the stimulus money at Wal-Mart, the money will go to China .

* If you spend it on gasoline, your money will go to the Arabs.

* If you purchase a computer, it will go to India .

* If you purchase fruit and vegetables, it will go to Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala.

* If you buy a car, chances are it will go to Japan.

* If you purchase useless stuff, it will go to Taiwan.

* If you pay your credit cards off, or buy stock, it will go to Management bonuses and they will hide it offshore.

Instead, keep the money in America by:

* spending it at yard sales, or
* going to ball games, or
* spending it on prostitutes, or
* beer or
* tattoos.

(These are the only American businesses still operating in the U.S.)

I'm going to go to a ball game with a tattooed prostitute, who I met at a Yard sale, and we're going to drink beer all day!

Cut Taxes, Independent Contractors, Corporate Contractors, Outsourcing

2009-11-14T10:07:15-05:00

Many new health care taxes and federal and state laws stifle businesses. You can fight by converting employees to corporate contractors, independent contractors and outsourcing. We help you in ways that make government agencies unlikely to bother you and represent you in the very rare cases where they do. You do not file protest tax returns or no returns. For example, on 11/21/09 employers of 15+ need a Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act poster, as if you had time or money for genetic test discrimination. More important are Wage and Hour Laws (time and one-half), payroll record keeping, unemployment tax increases of up to 2,600% (see Florida below), the Family Leave (paid vacation) Act and others. Combined posters avoid 6+ posters and up to $17,000 in fines. Our local and remote services do the rest.

My eight-year Secrets of Outsourcing gave me a national magazine cover and more time to cut taxes. It helps if your tax-cut-CPA led many tax cut petition efforts and lawsuits. There was a good personal appearances before the Florida Supreme Court and a Colorado District Court (we won big in the U.S. Supreme Court). There was a crazy run for a county-wide Port Commission and an unlucky win (gave back salary and never let lobbyists buy lunch). QuickBooks 2010, automates try, try and try again tax-cut CPA efforts. I am good at QuickBooks help, as three-time QuickBooks "Ask the Expert" (QuickBooks Errors and Speeding Up QuickBooks Performance). It helps if an Intuit (QuickBooks) CEO writes "You're fantastic Mike, absolutely fantastic!" and may calls for 30 minutes (missed a football championship). I forgive him, as he got a QuickBooks update for ONE friend in five days, a week before Christmas. Did you ever hug an accountant? I get more than a hug a month. For free samples, sign up with the free South Florida QuickBooks Meetup (the largest anywhere, regardless of where you are) or contact me almost 24/7. [end commercial]

Big Tax Squeeze, Tax-Cut CPA

2009-11-11T04:13:41-05:00

Recent news shows we are heading for a big tax squeeze. The International Monetary Fund expects the big tax squeeze means 10 years of increasing government spending cuts and tax increases, so you need a Tax-Cut-CPA.

Many governments have long been increasing spending far faster than taxes. The Great Recession badly increased the big tax squeeze. The National Conference of State Legislatures says the total state budget gap is $145 billion for the year ending June 2010. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities says it is $178 billion, twice the $80 billion of the worst 2002 - 2005 recession gap. We cannot sustain the record $1.42 trillion annual U.S. defict. At 10% of Gross Domestic Product(GDP), it is the most since 1945.

The Office of Management and Budget now projects a big tax squeeze, with a $9 trillion 10-year deficit based on 2010 budget proposals The big tax squeze relates to many politicians hiding deficits with accounting gimicks, like the official $117 trillion in off-budget Social Security and Medicare deficits, plus the $12 trillion U.S. national debt. This is $424,000 for each U.S. resident, so we are almost all bankrupt.

The big tax squeeze means that expanding Medicaid, with current healthcare plans, means education cuts, which is exactly what you do not want at times of rapidly increasing global competition. In a few decades the cost of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid will explode, causing our true national debt to jump from 55 to 300 percent of GDP

[This and the next paragraph are time and money saving commercials.] Many new health care taxes and federal and state laws stifle businesses. You can fight by converting employees to corporate contractors, independent contractors and outsourcing. We help you in ways that make government agencies unlikely to bother you and represent you in very rare cases where they do. You do not file protest tax returns or no returns. For example, on 11/21/09 employers of 15+ need a Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act poster, as if you had time or money for genetic test discrimination. More important are Wage and Hour Laws (time and one-half), payroll record keeping, unemployment tax increases of up to 2,600% (see Florida below), the Family Leave (paid vacation) Act and others. Combined posters avoid 6+ posters and up to $17,000 in fines. Our local and remote services do the rest.

President Obama said stimulus spending created or saved 640,329 jobs. A precise number, for a fuzzy concept, raises doubts, especially since unemployment is 10.2%. Estimates of the cost per job actually created range from $71,000 to $323,000, far more than related wages, for a big negative $timulu$.

Florida Unemployment Tax Insanity increases taxes up to 2,600%, for employers with the best employee retention. On 9/30/09, an incredible 46% of single-family homes, in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area, were worth less the than mortgages on them, This was only 21% nationally, so something is rotten in my tropical paradise. There is little doubt that this and the current Great Recession relate mainly to bi-partisan efforts, encouraging mortgages for unqualified buyers and continuing government dependence.

The big tax squeeze is only part of the Misery Index we had under Carter, when combined interest and inflation rates were around 20%. Even the very Liberal Huffington Post now has a Real Misery Index, which adds unemployment. It rose from 10.9% to 29.9% from June 2007 to June 2009, so even they may soon get smart. Finally, there is the so-called rise in home prices. Home prices are still dropping like a rock relative to gold (the real money) prices.

Once again, each time we find a problem that cries our for a government solution, if examined carefully, we find government caused the problem. Now use a Tax-Cut-CPA like me to minimize your big tax squeeze, so we can work together to restore government sanity.

Michelle Obama Stimulus Package

2009-11-08T10:04:04-05:00

Do you know what you pay for the Michelle Obama Stimulus Package? We do not pay the First Lady and she has no official duties. However, despite the Great Recession, the Michelle Obama Stimulus Package is more than 7 times the Hillary Clinton one and 22 times what all other first ladies had. Here is the Personal Staff of first ladies:

Mamie Eisenhower: 1 (paid from President's salary)
Jackie Kennedy: 1

Rosalynn Carter: 1

Barbara Bush: 1

Hillary Clinton: 3

Laura Bush: 1

Michelle Obama: 22, as follows:

1. $172,200 - Sher, Susan (Chief Of Staff)

2. $140,000 - Frye, Jocelyn C. (Dep. Asst. to the Pres., Dir. of Policy and Projects For The First Lady)

3. $113,000 - Rogers, Desiree G. (Spcl. Asst. to the Pres., White House Social Secy. for Mrs. Obama)

4. $102,000 - Johnston, Camille Y... (Spcl. Asst. to the Pres., Dir. of Communications for First Lady)

5. $100,000 - Winter, Melissa E. (Spcl. Asst. to the Pres., Dep. Chief Of Staff to the First Lady)

6. $90,000 - Medina , David S. (Deputy Chief Of Staff to the First Lady)

7. $84,000 - Lel yveld, Catherine M. (Director and Press Secretary to the First Lady)

8. $75,000 - Starkey, Frances M. (Director of Scheduling and Advance for the First Lady)

9. $70,000 - Sanders, Trooper (Deputy Director of Policy and Projects for the First Lady)

10. $65,000 - Burnough, Erinn J. (Deputy Director and Deputy Social Secretary)

11. $64,000 - Reinstein, Joseph B... (Deputy Director and Deputy Social Secretary

12. $62,000 - Goodman, Jennifer R... (Dep. Dir. of Scheduling, Events Coordinator For The First Lady)

13. $60,000 - Fitts, Alan O. (Deputy Director of Advance and Trip Director for the First Lady)

14. $57,500 - Lewis, Dana M. (Special Assistant and Personal Aide to the First Lady)

15. $52,500 - Mustaphi, Semonti M... (Assoc. Dir. and Deputy Press Secretary To The First Lady)

16. $50,000 - Jarvis, Kristen E. (Spcl. Asst. for Scheduling, Traveling Aide To The First Lady)

17. $45,000 - Lechtenberg, Tyler A. (Assoc. Director of Correspondence For The First Lady)

18. $43,000 - Tubman, Samanth a (Deputy Associate Director, Social Office)

19. $40,000 - Boswell, Joseph J. (Exec. Assistant to the Chief Of Staff to the First Lady)

20. $36,000 - Armbruster, Sally M... (Staff Assistant to the Social Secretary)

21. $35,000 - Bookey, Natalie (Staff Assistant, First Lady)

22. $35,000 - Jackson, Deilia A. (Dep. Assoc. Dir. of Correspondence for the First Lady)

TOTAL $1,591,200 IN ANNUAL SALARIES

After you scream at this, realize that the fringe benefits for these Obama servants match those of national security employees (50%? + travel costs, as many travel with her, including Air Force one trips by makeup artist Ingrid Grimes-Miles and "First Hairstylist" Johnny Wright not listed above). No President ever had such an army of staffers for their First Lady. Why is Michelle Obama's Stimulus Package staff more than seven times the staff of Hillary Clinton and 22 times the staff of other First Ladies, at OUR expense?

LAST CHANCE: Reduce Debt, Reduce Health Care Costs

2009-11-04T09:00:00-05:00

It once was important to simply reduce your own debt. However, we now face the end game in an incredibly massive U.S. government Ponzi Scheme. The bi-partisan Trustees for Social Security and Medicare say they are $117 TRILLION in debt. That is, a life insurance company, in their position, would need $117 million MORE capital to avoid bankruptcy. Add the so-called national (bonded) debt and we are $129 trillion in debt. This is around 8 times as large as the gross U.S. economy. Divide by a 300 million U.S. population, and you get $430,000 for each of us, or $1.7 million for a family of four. Last year alone the INCREASE was $5 trillion, or $67,000 for a family of four.

Please understand, this is not a partisan issue. By far the most reliable indicator of how much Congressmen vote to spend does not relate to Republican or Democrat. It clearly has long related to how long they are in office. Few Presidents or Congressman spent much time raging at this U.S. Government Ponzi Scheme. Most act in ways that would make the U.S. government charge them with criminal acts, if they did this as officers of corporations.

In a few days we will decide if we have a 1990 PAGE Health Care bill, with many new taxes. The independent Congressional Budget Office says it will add $1.7 trillion in expenses over 10 years and much more after that. This is almost double what bill supporters claim, but supporters and the CBO usually underestimate costs. For example, United Kingdom healthcare serves “only 60 million” people, but it is the third largest employer in the world. The only larger employers are the Indian railroads and the Chinese army, who each serve more than a billion people. This is one time when no one should try to be #3. Can you imagine the cost of moving into this group? Besides, are you really so foolish that you trust cost estimates from the types of leaders who effectively massively bankrupted us so quickly? After all, there are the people whose own auditors and executives say they massively overpay for almost everything. They pay $7,800 to RENT an oxyger concentrator that costs $600 to buy.

In 2007 we spent 17% of gross domestic product on health care. The CBO says this may rise to 25% in 2025 if present trends continue, but says it expects changes in laws to cut costs. Instead, the present heath care bill substantially increases costs to try to insure everyone. The United Kingdom did this, so you now wait a year for an operation (or die). Massachusetts did this, but $2,500 no-insurance penalties only cut a 15% uninsured rate to 3%. Tax-achusetts now spends more than 50% of its budget on healthcare.

$1.7 trillion is a drop in the bucket compared to these numbers. However, you must then consider the complexity and rates of some of these new taxes, plus the related paperwork and accounting costs. Most insurance companies also say they will have to increase premiums from 50% to 200%, forcing massive more layoffs. It means far more will pay (or be unable to pay) big penalties to stay uninsured than now lack insurance. Besides, do you trust and health care promises from the types of leaders who so massively bankrupted us in such a short time?

Yes, CPAs and small businesses should focus on reducing debt. However, the debt we must all focus on RIGHT NOW involves stopping this insanity. This is a LAST CHANCE to Reduce Debt and Reduce Health Care Costs It may be too late after FRIDAY 11/6/09. We must survive this rush vote to begin to understand a bill whose taxes start soon, but (in the ultimate hypocristy) exempts Congress and delays benefits until after the 2012 election.

Then we can look at what almost happened to try to understand the biggest medical and financial disaster ever: government financed health care.

Why QuickBooks users waste a billion dollars a year on so-called QuickBooks ProAdvisors

2009-11-04T00:43:53-05:00

What is a so-called QuickBooks ProAdvisors (QPA)? This is a completely misleading title, because they are clearly not QuickBooks PROFESSIONAL Advisors.

An Intuit Survey (last year) said: (self-designated) QuickBooks consultants (QC) bill $43/hour. Uncertified QuickBooks ProAdvisors (QPA), who need know nothing about QuickBooks or ever use it - $59/hour. My 5th grade grandson can qualify if he pays Intuit $449/year. Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisors (CQPA) $60/hour. This year the spread between QC and CQPA is $21/hour, but there is likely still only around a $1 spread between the uncertified QPA and the CQPA. To me this means that QuickBooks users do not know QPA and CQPA differences. This makes many QuickBooks users waste an extra $16 - $20/ QPA hour, because Intuit acts as a diploma mill. 42,000 QPAs, times $16 to $20/hour times 1,500 hours = $1 billion to $1.25 billion a year. That is why QuickBooks users waste a billion dollars a year on these so-called QuickBooks Professional Advisors.

This badly damages Certified QuickBooks Professional Advisors, who only average an extra $1/hour more. It takes around 16 hours (CPA Continuing Education Credit), times an estimated $63/hour (QCPA billing rate), or around $1,000 to become a CQPA. This is obviously too costly for the extra $1,500 in annual earnings, as there are 42,000 uncertified QPAs compared to 15,000 CQPAs.

Do not say you charge more, as many do, including me. These are the official Intuit averages. Then consider that Intuit told my 2002 Advisory Council that nearly all complaints against QPAs and CQPAs were against uncertified QPAs. Next, tell me why Intuit should let such complaint-prone uncertified QPAs take advantage of obviously uninformed QuickBooks users.

I am not asking for Intuit to stop educating, supporting or giving discounts to these uncertified and unproven QPAs. However, why should these QCs have this grossly misleading QPA title before proving they are QuickBooks PROFESSIONAL Advisors? Why is Intuit wasting a billion a year for QuickBooks users, while badly damaging Certified QuickBooks Advisors?

Ask the Expert: QuickBooks Errors, QuickBooks 2010, Speeding Up QuickBooks Performance

2009-11-02T08:23:18-05:00

Intuit has again (for the third time) honored me by making it its QuickBooks Ask the Expert for this week. The official topic is QuickBooks 2010, QuickBooks Errors and Speeding Up QuickBooks Performance. However, I will, as usual, quickly answer all QuickBooks questions.

Intuit long ago copied my Speed Up QuickBooks and QuickBooks Shortcuts web articles to its QuickBooks Community Library. Please also meet me at some of our free South Florida QuickBooks Meetup (the oldest and largest such group) or see my increasingly popular http://QuickBooks-Blog.com/.

Florida Unemployment Tax Insanity (2)

2009-10-30T09:01:00-04:00

I previously wrote about Florida Unemployment Tax Insanity. This Florida Unemployment Tax Insanity letter, to Florida Governor Crist, is four pages with narrow margins. The total Florida Unemployment Tax Insanity package. to our Department of Revenue, was about 50 pages. So if you want to help appeal, repeal or litigate the Florida Unemployment Tax Insanity, or have a Tax Cut CPA, to really fight these and other outrageous taxes for you, please let me know.

MICHAEL BLOCK CPA

14 E Oakland Park Blvd

Fort Lauderdale, FL 33334

(954) 566-7540, FAX 566-7541

October 26, 2009

The Honorable Governor

Mr. Charlie Crist

PL-05, The Capitol

Tallahassee, FL 32399-0001

Re: Florida Unemployment Tax Insanity

2,600% tax increases, unconstitutional penalties and interest.

I wrote to you about Florida Unemployment Tax Insanity on April 9 (attached A).

Many years ago, in only six weeks, you created a lifetime supporter by turning a Senate Committee 13-2 vote (for a useless container tax) into a 14-1 rejection. You may not recall our Trojan horse, but you courteously accepted petitions and closely listened to long arguments from supporters and me. That tax made small stores, with local suppliers, not competitive with large ones (due to paperwork and suppliers claiming unverifiable out-of-state recycling). The approach that got you a #1 Cato Institute rating also should make you recoil from 2,600% tax increases.

James Evers (Evers), Department of Revenue (DOR), Director, General Tax Administration, sent me a good response on June 2 (attached B), but could solve nothing. Other good employees helped. My Florida Unemployment Tax Insanity blog article (http://ow.ly/vgNc) appeared on September 6. A web search then had around 7,000 links to these words. Yahoo now has 278,000 such links, with my posts first (except for a malware site).

The key Florida Unemployment Tax Insanity relates to outrageous penalties, hiding as 2,600% tax increases. In almost 50 years in public accounting, with occasional clients in most states, there was only one way to calculate unemployment tax rates. Add a base rate to an experience rate for each employer. Experience rates reflect unemployment tax collected on an employer account, versus unemployment benefits paid on it. Recent combined Florida rates have been 0.2% to 5.4%. Low rates are important during hard economic times. Responsible employers get them by keeping employees, so unemployment benefits are low. The new insanity damages the best employers, by raising all rates to 5.4%. It has little or no effect on the worst employees, who hire and fire indiscriminately, as rates are already at or close to 5.4%.

Here is how DOR hides these 2,600% tax increases. Near the end of each year, employers get standard notices advising them of their new combined Unemployment rate for the next year. Few employers question accountants about this. For example, we often say there is no use arguing this mechanical computation, when the only change can be to the already final unemployment benefits.

Now, however, it takes one unpaid bill, or one unresolved missing return notice, on one unknown date, to change experience rates. All rates affected become 5.4% for a full year. For the many employers, who otherwise had 0.2% rates, the 5.4% rate is a 2,600% increase. It applies to the first $7,000 or wages, so the tax goes from $14 to $378 per employee.

DOR balance due or missing return notices seem wrong or waived more than 90% of the time. Any litigation will ask the court to take judicial notice of prior extraordinary DOR incompetence. We had to file SEVEN sets of duplicate returns (for around SEVEN clients) for one 2007 quarter alone. Most originals and duplicates went certified mail (return receipt, combined). I also personally gave a set with an experienced Coral Springs DOR agent. Nothing helped. The agent said she was leaving soon due to terrible Unemployment system problems. A letter to the Governor and a call from a senior Tallahassee DOR supervisor let us fax a set. He agreed to accept all returns as timely filed, waiving all penalties and interest and refunding penalty payments made. Fortunately, he gave me his name and number, as two months later all clients got new penalty notices for this SAME quarter!

Multiply this disaster by what happens with DOR almost every quarter and you will know why these small payroll clients can only pay me a tiny fraction of the value of the time we spend. It is Florida Unemployment Tax Insanity for me to spend $7,000+ more unpaid time on this letter and a few related notices alone, but that is what it took. Therefore, it is patently outrageous for Florida to use its notoriously ineffective return processing system as a basis for hidden taxes and penalties of up to 2,600%.

Under the fourteenth amendment to the U.S. Constitution, no State shall deprive one of property without due process, or deny equal protection of law. Valid notices do not hide big penalties as 2,600% tax increases. Therefore, concealing the reason for the increase makes such notices legally invalid. There can be no defense or tolling of a statute of limitations in such cases. This also violates federal equal protection. It does not matter if it applies to those with 0.2% rates, 5.2% rates, or anything between. Increasing all rates to a 5.4% rate means one offense gives some 5.2% rate increases and others no rate increase, with many between these amounts. Zero to 2,600% tax increases are not equal protection for the same offense. It also does not matter if notices are outstanding for two days or 11 months. It only matters if they are outstanding on one date. This too is not equal protection. A federal Civil Rights Act class action suit, with an emergency temporary restraining order, should make Florida pay legal fees and costs.

The 2,600% increase probably violates one other federal law. The federal government partly funds Florida unemployment benefits. It is likely that that formula depends on the tax Florida charges. It is unlikely it contemplates 2,600% increases based on paperwork. This may cost Florida far more than these outrageous hidden tax / penalty increases. It may cost substantial federal funds.

DOR compounds these outrageous hidden penalty taxes with more newly enacted penalties. How can a system generating massive erroneous paperwork get better by adding more?

Evers mentions having local personnel process returns and payments. That will be good, as locally filed returns and payments are now in limbo for months. Final bills also rarely match local agreements. Did my prior letter help stop the ridiculous local use of automatic dialers? They left messages telling us to call, with no client name, tax period or unemployment number. Local agents did not know the company, even if called at once. Then they add penalties and file liens, since one “calls back.” Please stop this.

The electronic filing and payment Evers mentions is good, but NOT for those with less than ten employees. Despite this, DOR notices improperly say DOR did not get EFT (Electronic Funds Transfer) payments or E-file. Many notices also impose penalties for not filing or paying electronically on a company with nine employees. Half of all returns are still paper, so such EFT notices are insanity.

Evers checked E-filing status for companies on my schedule attached (updated C), but did not detail Florida E-file numbers and other changes on a schedule previously sent and now updated. We urgently need this for current returns. We also sent Minutes for all companies (D). They make me a Vice President. It is insanity for DOR employees to say one must be in the Secretary of State Sunbiz database to be an officer. Secretary of State instructions say, at https://efile.sunbiz.orgsbs_ar_instr.html “Step 10: You may list up to six (6) principals (i.e., officers, directors, managers, managing members, etc.) on our computer database… At least 1 principal must be provided (FS Sec 607).”

Evers and other DOR employees also did not change company addresses, after two years of Forms UCT6 and correspondence with only my address. This probably resulted in many missing return notices. Form DR1does not require a new DR1 to report address changes. We need not use corresponding Internal Revenue Forms 8822 to change addresses if we file returns with a new address. As a result, all DOR notices were invalid because it did not send them to this last known address. Accordingly, no notice tolled a statute of limitations on appeals, so we can still contest all assessments and notices. Likewise, DOR cannot legally file or enforce liens. DOR should promptly change all company addresses to my address.

Attached are the private details of recent pending Unemployment tax notices (attached E). I trust some good DOR employee will correct DOR records for these notices.

Governor (most respectfully and affectionately), YOUR DOR SYSTEM creates Florida Unemployment Tax Insanity. No one I spoke to even knew about the 2,600% tax increase. It shocks and outrages all who understand. A Census Bureau table tells me you can cut DOR paperwork, delays and costs, on 300,000 returns and notices a year, by letting those who only pay once per year not file quarters without payroll. You can do this without legislation or Internal Revenue approval.

Even my non-payroll clients will get copies of this letter and related material. We will do everything possible to insure many clients and non-clients consider this when voting and making political contributions. My websites, blogs and Twitter posts have around 50,000+ page views a month. Close friends have many millions more page views. Even without this readership, millions of my tax limit petitions once helped me change Florida law and our Constitution. They let me personally successfully argue a petition before the Florida Supreme Court and win election to the Port Everglades Commission (gave my salary back and never let a lobbyist buy me lunch).

This means that a Constitutional petition and lawsuit will soon add publicity if this letter, plus visits to the Senators and Representatives below, does not help.

Sincerely yours,

Michael Block

cc: James Evers, Florida Department of Revenue, Tallahassee
Paul Stewart, Florida Department of Revenue, Coral Springs, 954-346-2822
Sen. Chris Smith, #29, 954-267-2116
Sen. Jeremy Ring (tax / finance committee), 954-917-1394
Rep Perry Thurston, #93,
Rep. Ellyn Bogdanoff (tax / finance committee) 954-762-3759