The Tax Resolver

“We’re the Folks That…”

noreply@blogger.com (W. Scully, CPA, P.C.) — Mon, 30 Aug 2021 13:30:00 +0000

For years now, when I converse with small business owners, I’ve heard the common complaint, “we can’t make any money, and we’re busier than ever!”

Even though I’m not a business coach, when we dig into that comment, I often find that all that “busy-ness” is unfocused... Simply burning up resources for the sake of having them, and that’s a terrible way to run a small business. When we take a deeper dive in how that time and energy is being used, the truth really comes to light: a business that doesn’t really know what its core business is.

Let me give you an example from my own industry. For many reasons, tax professionals seem to fall into this trap and it goes something like this: A highly skilled CPA opens up his or her practice and tries to serve everyone who comes in the door.

Pretty soon, they’re preparing returns for wage earners, they’re auditing the books for local businesses (big and small), they’re providing some financial services to retirees. Very quickly, their days are filled with “busy-ness” and by the time they can leave the office each day, they’ve put in more time than they ever did when they worked in the corporate world.

The worst part, though, is they aren’t making the money they made in the corporate world!

For our CPA in this example, if he or she really thinks about why they’re so busy and still not making a lot of money, they’ll often look for problems in the billing, or how they’ve calculated hours, or what have you. In reality, the problem is they’ve never taken the time to know their ideal client.

If that same CPA will “pick a lane” and stick with it – let’s say that lane is tax preparation for individuals – they can focus everything in their business on that specific process.

· How they attract and market to their ideal client

· Where they spend their advertising dollars and energy

· Determining what other services their ideal client might need

· Building strong referral networks for any services outside of their core focus

By doing this, and knowing EXACTLY who it is your business serves, you can maximize every component of your company to suit that client. More importantly, your ideal customer is more inclined to do business with you, because you’ve built a brand that focuses on who they are, what they want, and how they feel.

In the end, any successful business should be able to clearly state “We’re the guys who…” and fill in that blank about the ideal client and the results that business gives those clients.

IMPORTANT: Our firm specializes in tax resolution. We serve clients virtually so don't hesitate to reach out. If you want an expert tax resolution specialist who knows how to navigate the IRS maze, reach out to our firm, so we can schedule a confidential consultation to explain options to permanently resolve your tax problem. Click here to make an appointment! Or, call Toll-free 1-855-254-1892.

Teaching Your Kids to be Millionaires

noreply@blogger.com (W. Scully, CPA, P.C.) — Fri, 27 Aug 2021 13:30:00 +0000

As we’ve gone through this month discussing financial literacy for kids, I’ve been amazed at the responses. We’ve had a lot of people share their own “wins” with their kids and family, and I really appreciate it.

The best one came from Chris G. last week.

His youngest son is, like many twelve year olds, fascinated with YouTube, TikTok, and video games, and is always telling his dad about this or that person who is a “millionaire” on social media.

Now – and I know Chris won’t mind me saying this – he knows a little bit about social media and marketing, and he also recognizes that most of those “influencers” don’t have it quite as good as it seems. He decided to teach his boy a basic lesson, and I’m including a bit of his email here…

“Basically, I’d gotten tired of Junior’s constant worship of all these fake folks on social media discussing how much money they made – and, to me at least, wasted. The bigger point I wanted to make was that it doesn’t take much to make a million dollars IF you break it down into manageable chunks.

So I broke it down for him in his own language…

‘If you want to be a millionaire, you need to sell one million dollar product to one person. Or you can sell ten people a one hundred-thousand dollar product. Or one hundred thousand people a ten dollar product.

After that, I looked at my son and asked him, do you know enough about something – maybe a video game – to charge ten dollars to teach someone how to do that?’

He nodded his head quickly and he practically began spewing out all sorts of facts about Minecraft, Titanfall 2, and a seemingly never-ending list of all types of games and hacks and finally, after a few minutes, I put my hand up and simply smiled.

‘Then you have the knowledge to become a millionaire. The rest is just learning how to make a system that allows you to teach people those lessons easily.’”

As we’ve talked this month about how to share and teach financial literacy to our kids, I’d have to say the far bigger purpose for me was to inspire and help you to show your kids they can learn about and manage their money without the mistakes we so often made.

I don’t know if I accomplished that, but I hope it’s helped to open some conversations within your won family about how we can all approach money a little differently and – when we get right down to it – we all the chance to make as much as we want.

Have a great week-

The Bad Habits You’re Giving Your Kids

noreply@blogger.com (W. Scully, CPA, P.C.) — Mon, 23 Aug 2021 13:00:00 +0000

This week, I want to talk to you about bad habits. We’ve all got them, and more importantly, we are all-too-often guilty of giving them to our kids.

I’m not talking about smoking, or eating too many Cheeto’s, I’m talking about money.

How many times do we talk about money with our kids? Or, more importantly, when we do, how many times is that talk negative?

We’ve all heard some of the sayings before, “Money doesn’t grow on trees!” or “Do you think we’re made of money?” or my favorite, “You’ve got to work hard to get ahead.”

What’s amazing to me is that we repeat these so often, and wonder why our kids struggle to spend money responsibly, when we’ve never taught them how to do it!

Seriously, have you ever spent time with your child explaining a budget? Or how to comparison shop for a better price?

The truth is, we own the responsibility to ourselves and our kids to make sure they are not only aware of the value of money, but also, of how to make it (and save it) effectively. How can you do that?

Well, money, in the end, is really only an allegory for responsibility, and from a strictly developmental point of view, the brains of kids – up to nearly age 25 – aren’t fully developed. In other words, they can’t “think” like we can as grownups.

Does that mean they can’t learn? Not at all. In fact, the very nature of money, spending, and saving means kids can learn to use money responsibly – and that means teaching and sharing. Let me give you some examples…

· Do your kids understand the basis for taxes – not just income, but also things like sales tax, ad valorem, and so on? Having those types of conversations can begin early in a child’s life and can help them to understand the role that government plays in a society and how those tax monies are used (for good or bad…)

· How about income? It might be awkward to share big checks or bonuses with your kids, and it might not even be a great idea, but teaching them that people who exceed the expectations of clients and customers can make more money can help inspire your kids to try to achieve more, too.

· What about offering them the opportunity to earn money? Earlier this month, for example, I shared the idea of showing your kids what you actually do in your business, but start when they’re young, too. Ask them to think about things and tasks that need to be done around the home, and ask them what they would accept as a payment for doing those each week. Even a small child can do things like clear the table, or feed pets and care for them. Why not give them the chance to do so? It’s FAR better than an allowance, and creates a sense of accomplishment.

· Help them to establish a family budget. It might not need to have “all” the facts about your income, but you could set the example of “We have $1,000 each month to buy our groceries and gas, so you’ll help me to plan out meals, shop for our food, and find the best gas prices in town when we need to fill up.”

One thing is for certain, though, you owe it to your kids to have these types of conversations. The more they know and understand about money, the better off they’ll be – and the better prepared they’ll be, too. In the end, you’re helping to better educate your kids to feel more empowered about money.

I’m always happy to help, so don’t hesitate to reach out.

All the best-

Value shopping for kids

noreply@blogger.com (W. Scully, CPA, P.C.) — Fri, 20 Aug 2021 13:30:00 +0000

This month, we’ve been exploring how parents can teach financial literacy to even the youngest of children, and one of the best ways is one of the simplest: cost comparisons in the store.

Most grocery stores today have, on the shelf tag, a “Price per pound” (or ounce, or some other unit of measure) and this offers savvy parents a great chance to show kids how basic economics work. Basically, the more you buy, the lower the price OR, the less packaging, the lower the price.

Take your ubiquitous 2 liter soda. A dollar or two, depending on the flavor. But, take that same two liters and put it into cans or bottles, and the price doubles or triples.

Put those cans or bottles in a six pack and it costs more per ounce than the same can or bottle in a twelve or twenty four pack.

Sure, the lesson seems very basic, but think about your teenager, buying his Mountain Dew one twenty ounce bottle at a time at the convenience store. He doesn’t think about the costs, but then wonders why he’s broke all the time.

I have a close friend who is a self-proclaimed “computer geek” who’s son is following in his friend’s footsteps.

Like many teenagers, this kid loves to play video games, and he lobbied his dad over and over again for a new computer powerful enough to run today’s games.

Now, as an aside, the father knew that such a computer was on the market and carried a hefty price tag. He also knew, due to his career in the technology industry, the components to build such a computer from scratch would be a fraction of the cost.

He simply broke it down to his son – he would pay him to learn how to build a computer. $15 an hour, and the kid had to study up online. He could study enough to build it and earn the money to buy the components, or he could spend three times as much time studying to earn enough to by the top-of-the-line model he wanted.

The kid earned enough to buy the components and assemble them into a working computer with his father, and in so doing, he also learned how to use his knowledge. Then the father helped him to build a system that was far more powerful than the “gaming” models sold online. Not only was it a fun father-son project, the young man learned the intricacies of how computers really work and learned the skills to make a better buying decision.

Isn’t that the very definition of parenting?

Have a great day-

Take Your Kid To Work Day

noreply@blogger.com (W. Scully, CPA, P.C.) — Mon, 16 Aug 2021 13:00:00 +0000

As a business owner, can I ask you if your kids understand what you do? Now, that answer is different for every owner and at every age. Your five year old might only understand you have a construction company, or that you build houses, while you twelve year old might recognize you own a marketing company, but do they really “get” it?

Here’s why: They don’t know what “work” is – they might see their friends’ parents as a nurse, or a truck driver, but those jobs seem easy for a kid to categorize. Not so with a business owner. To them, an entrepreneur or a manager for a company really look the same.

…And helping to share what the differences are between an owner and an employee can make all the difference in how your kids view their own options for work as they get older.

Psychologically, most kids (and a lot of adults) focus on the tangible. Santa Claus either came or he didn’t, the money is either here or it isn’t, and you either produced a product at work or you didn’t. They can’t “see” a system of automated payments, for example, or a lead generation system you built on Facebook.

But they can learn that those things exist, and more importantly, that people get paid to create those types of things.

So, take some time to share with your children the things you do for work and how you go about doing the “work” of your business. Sure, it might be easy to see some things – you might own a machine shop or a restaurant, creating a tangible result every day. On the other hand, they may not recognize that someone has to place the order, or to write the schedule, or to handle the closing, and that someone is you.

It’s not only a great way to spend time with your kids, but also a fantastic way to expose them to the world of opportunity that is “out there” in the real world for work, careers, and yes, entrepreneurship.

Even better? Take the time to share with them other pieces of your own business “puzzle,” like how you got started, the “team” you have that supports you – an attorney, a CPA, even contractors you work with – a marketing agency, or your VA overseas, and so on. The idea is simple, of course; to show your kids that we can all work together, with a variety of skills and talents, to create something for others.

The real joy in this is, when those same kids are beginning to think about what type of fields they might wish to go into or to study, is they realize how many more options there are in the world of business. I’ll bet you can remember your first “real” job, and a certain degree of disappointment you had as you learned how many people dislike the work they go to do every day.

You changed that in your own life, and you can change it in your kids’ lives.

Have a great day-

Kids and Taxes

noreply@blogger.com (W. Scully, CPA, P.C.) — Fri, 13 Aug 2021 13:00:00 +0000

I hope you’re having a great day, and we’re continuing on this month with our “Financial Literacy for Kids” theme.

Today, I want to talk about taxes.

Now, I’m not talking about preparing a return, although for older kids, it’s certainly something to consider. I’m talking about all the other taxes that dominate our lives – sales taxes, property taxes, ad valorem, and so on.

Even the smallest child can comprehend the cost of a drink at the store isn’t what they actually end up paying for that drink, and this gives you the chance to explain sales tax. The same holds true when you go to get the tags on a vehicle renewed, or when you make any purchase at a big box retailer.

Even online payments – in many instances today – require the payment of some type of tax.

As kids get older, of course, they can begin to understand bigger concepts like income tax – and this brings up a valuable point:

You don’t need to hide your income from your kids. Yes, it may “feel” funny, but leveling with them about income, and how you then have to budget your money for the week or the month, allows them to learn.

Now, the fact is, we all know that kids run their mouths, so you might not want your business shared with the world. That’s perfectly understandable, but teaching them about things like income tax and Social Security is best done with a paycheck stub.

I can tell you from experience, there aren’t many adults who seem to be comfortable figuring out a W-4 form and their withholding, from their employer (where they’ll have to determine their number of dependents), so this is an ideal opportunity – since your kid won’t know how – to teach them. Legally, that employer is not allowed to answer questions about filling out that form, either, so your son or daughter may find themselves in a pinch, like one client’s son did – of having claimed he was not subject to any withholding (on the old Form W-4) and having to pay a significant amount of taxes the next Spring.

There are a lot of resources available online to help you with these types of financial literacy conversations, and, when my schedule allows, we’re always happy to try and help, too.

When you take the time to educate your kids on matters of taxes and money, you’re really giving them an advantage many parents aren’t doing. Not only are you creating smarter young people, you’re helping them to understand the real value of money.

Not enough young people are learning that right now.

All the best-

Hiring Your Kids?

noreply@blogger.com (W. Scully, CPA, P.C.) — Mon, 09 Aug 2021 13:00:00 +0000

One of the best things about owning your own business is the wide variety of opportunities that open up to you.

Deductions, write-offs, and, of course, the chance to truly control your own destiny.

Entrepreneurs have it good, period.

But what about our kids?

Well, buried in the Tax Code are a lot of awfully nice tools you can use to help inspire and teach your kids. More importantly, owning your company can give you options to share your wealth with your family … sometimes even tax free.

Now, what follows is true, but it’s NOT a “rubber stamp” sort of deal. As with most everything in the United States Tax Code, there are specific ways and documentation that needs to be in place in order to do what I’m sharing with you.

So, for starters, you can hire your kids into your company. Even better, up to a certain point, they aren’t taxed. This is a LOT better deal than giving them an allowance each week, and as the owner of the business, you can determine the work they’ll be doing. Obviously, you must adhere to child labor laws, but they can certainly handle chores and other things to earn the money.

Another extremely useful thing you can do for children is to open up an LLC with them while they’re still young. Why? Well, for starters, as they grow and their interests become more refined, that LLC can make investments into the things the child is interested in. Some years ago, I met a wealthy woman who had done just this for her son, who later became interested in aviation. She had been investing money into “his” LLC since he was a young boy, and as a teenager, she took the LLC into the aviation business.

When Brandon went to college (for aviation maintenance), “his” company offered tuition reimbursement for all employees.

The company, because of its structure, also received a tax credit for this continuing education, and Brandon didn’t have to pay a dime for school.

After he graduated, he also was the leader – at least on paper – of a small business that had over twenty years of business credit to its name.

Not a bad way to get started in the business world.

…But wait! There’s more! Another key piece of the pie for teaching and sharing a business within your family is not only hiring your child, but establishing a Roth IRA for them. Now, the rules for that are a little different, but imagine the jump you could give a child if they were paid year after year AND those monies went straight into a retirement account … before they were even old enough to legally work!

Think of how much could actually accrue in an account over 50-60 years if wisely invested?

It’s life changing. Period.

All of these are strategies you can put into place within your own family, and I’m happy to sit down and discuss those types of options with you. It’s not just legal, it’s literally one of the smartest things you can do for your family as a business owner.

All the best-

Talking to the Kids…

noreply@blogger.com (W. Scully, CPA, P.C.) — Fri, 06 Aug 2021 13:00:00 +0000

This month, a lot of kids are actually going to school, versus the virtual schooling that so many have gone through in the last two years. Something that I’ve always thought schools missed, though, was teaching kids financial literacy.

In other words, how to handle and manage money.

The simple fact is, parents are the final line of defense against our kids’ not knowing how to manage and make money in the world.

Don’t believe me? Go open a new bank account with your teenager, and then watch your mailbox. LOADS of junk mail for “free” credit cards and loans – all sent directly to your child.

And let me tell you, “free money” sounds awfully good to most people.

This month, I’m planning on teaching a few points in my emails about how you can help your kid learn more about money and manage it more effectively.

Let me go ahead and kick the hornet’s nest right now: If you give your kids an allowance each week, stop it. Stop it today.

Why? Simple – you’re teaching them to take a handout.

Pay them to do chores in the house.

Mow the grass. Weed eat. Wash dishes, clean the kitchen or the entire house. Wash the cars. Cook dinner.

DON’T pay them for taking care of “their” things. Junior should clean his room because it’s his room. He should clean up after himself because he made the mess.

For those of you with older kids – college aged or so – one of the smartest things I’ve ever seen in the world of parenting was one of the hardest and was recently shared with me from an old friend on the East Coast.

This man’s grandfather began charging weekly rent to his son when he turned 18. At the time (the late fifties), $25 a week for room and board wasn’t a great deal, either, but the young man was working full time and paid it. When the son finally moved out the next year, his father presented him with the “rent” money as a small gift to get his new life started.

To me, that was one of the greatest parenting acts I’ve ever heard of.

…But to get back to the core of my message today? Kill the allowance and teach your kids the value of hard work and responsibility. Let them learn how to earn, and you can even turn this into a fun experience by sitting down the whole family, listing out all the tasks to be done, and having all the siblings agree on their specific responsibilities. Arrive at what those tasks are worth to them, and don’t forget to pay them. (Chances are, you’ll be reminded if you miss a payment.)

It can be a very smart way to help ease the workload on you and your spouse and teach even young kids the value of work.

College Prep?

noreply@blogger.com (W. Scully, CPA, P.C.) — Mon, 02 Aug 2021 13:00:00 +0000

It’s that time of year again, where students are going back to school (this time, for “real”) and another group of young people is beginning their senior year of high school.

Now, maybe you’ve got a new senior or that’s still years away, but the truth is, college doesn’t HAVE to be the next step.

In fact, college today might be an incredibly ineffective step on your kid’s path.

…But how do you help them figure out if college is the correct choice or simply the easiest one?

Well, your role, as a parent, starts long before theirs does. How are you going to pay for that education? Even if you aren’t able (or willing) to pay for school, there are a lot of savings plans out there that can still be used for paying for higher education.

· A 529 College Savings Plan

· An Education Savings Account

· A whole life insurance policy

· Any variety of money market accounts

· An LLC set up in your child’s name

· …and many more

Make no mistake, paying for college feels like it has to be hard – and it is if a family can’t provide any type of support in the eighteen or so years before a kid goes to school – but there are ways to handle it with some forethought.

That’s not what this email is about, though.

It’s about asking the simple question: “Does a college education make sense for a young person interested in a given field of endeavor?”

Of course, to a young person, who thinks of college as an excuse to party with little or no accountability for four or five years, college is a “must have” with a low interest rate. They usually fail to think about the fact that the bill for that “education” is likely going to be six figures.

In reality, unless a young person is committed to the white collar world or the medical field, they might be better off with a two-year degree earned from a community college. In fact, I’ve said it more than a few times over the years, if you want to virtually guarantee your child will be a six-figure earner, help them to get involved in the skilled trades – plumbing, nursing, welding, construction, and many others. Statistically, they’ll have far more control over their lives, far higher income, and those skills are ALWAYS going to be in demand.

They might not get too far with a sociology degree, but they can find a job anywhere if they’re a nurse.

Here’s the even better part – when they don’t have to spend all that “college savings” money on a college degree, you may have the option of helping them get started on their own with a nice nest egg you’ve set aside over the years.

A college education is a great thing, but being able to help your child create a better scenario for themselves later in life is far more important. Take the time to not only discuss higher education and careers with your kids, but also, don’t hesitate to schedule time to talk to me or the team about how to set up these types of accounts and funds.

I can’t wait to hear from you-

What To Do With Your House

noreply@blogger.com (W. Scully, CPA, P.C.) — Fri, 30 Jul 2021 13:00:00 +0000

It’s hard to believe the difference a year can make. This time last year, the world was practically locked down, and now? Economies are opening, people are getting back to work and production of nearly everything is running as quickly as companies are staffed to produce things.

The exact same thing is happening in the housing market.

Incredibly low inventories, record-high supply costs, and a large labor shortage have all created an optimal environment for homeowners looking to sell their homes.

Of course, the money they could make as a result of selling their home would likely be offset by the cost of building or buying a new home, but for a select group of homeowners, selling now could be extremely lucrative.

Are you one of those homeowners?

There are some things to think of if you might be considering selling in the next two months…

First of all, where are you going to live? For those who have already bought or built their retirement home, today’s market almost couldn’t be more perfect. In theory, they’ve already purchased property, or an existing home in a softer market, so selling now is a great chance to maximize their profitability.

It’s worth noting for anyone selling and potentially planning on living in an apartment or condominium that, due to COVID, evictions were virtually halted, so the available supply is still extremely short and rents have continued to climb in many parts of the country.

Just how much have construction costs climbed? Lumber is up nearly 30% from this February! Appliances – even the least expensive models – are also in short supply, so big retailers are not discounting them for summer sales, or offering financing packages like they usually do. Even though many Americans have more cash on hand than they traditionally do, they’ve also proven to be more cautious in the last few months as the pandemic has slowed and the economy has reopened.

So should you sell or hold?

Well, the short answer is this: if you will have to have the equity from your current home to buy or build next home, it might be wise to wait it out. The increased value of your current home is going to be negated in the purchase of a new home, so you won’t “lose” money, but nobody likes to break even. For first time homebuyers, my advice would have to be to wait until the supply catches up – we’re going to see a small “bubble” in prices that will reset in the next year and, frankly, if you can wait to buy then, lower costs and a better supply are going to make a big difference in both the purchase price and the monthly payments.

On the other hand, if you’re moving from a “hot” market – California, Atlanta, Arizona, and so on – to a more rural market or a flyover state, then your options for rentals are not only limited, but the money you can make now from selling in these markets will more than offset the slight increase in more rural markets around the country.

Whatever you do, though, it will be the “right” thing – the key is to spend the time understanding ALL the costs associated with buying or selling now and if that opens you up to other taxation problems or how buying now can yield you additional credits and deductions.

I can’t answer that in a blog, but I can absolutely answer that in a personal conversation, so if you’re tired of guessing, let’s schedule a call to discuss the best strategy for your home purchase or sale in this market.

Rethinking The Customer

noreply@blogger.com (W. Scully, CPA, P.C.) — Mon, 26 Jul 2021 13:00:00 +0000

A lot of folks probably looked at the title of this post and cringed - “Rethinking the Customer? They’re not the problem!”

I get it, it seems like the wrong thing to do … but it’s not.

The entire process your business follows, after all, is about the customer, right? They already exist and they understand, at least intuitively, that your business has set out to solve a specific problem they need solved.

Your own Dream, Vision, Purpose, and Mission all work together to create your business – and they serve your customers.

But does your actual business model serve your customers in the best way possible?

I think a lot of us can agree, if we’re completely honest, that most of us opened our doors before our customer systems were properly built. Of course, once you’ve gotten that first customer, you’re caught up in serving them, and slapping together systems and processes to hopefully take care of your clients.

…But what would happen if you could rethink who your client was? Or how you attracted them? Or how you handled fulfillment?

Take a few minutes and think about how your business finds, attracts, and fulfills its roles for your customers. Seriously!

How it looks to the customer.

How it acts to the customer.

How it functions best to the customer.

But just as the Coronavirus Pandemic changed how we viewed the world, what insights does this give you, in light of your Ideal Client?

Have they changed?

Have their expectations changed?

Has their trust in the type of business model NewCo is using changed?

Al of these are questions and speak to the very core of entrepreneurship: Your dream, vision, purpose, and mission doesn’t change, but the way your business fulfills those to your customers does.

In fact, let’s go back to the Coronavirus Pandemic…

Suddenly, all over the world, business models that had been built on the status quo had no choice but to shut down.

Deliveries weren’t being made unless things were “essential.”

People in every country were forced to evaluate how their daily lives and routines were putting them at risk.

Let’s call it what it was – people were terrified.

Maybe your business was based solely on face-to-face interaction – you KNOW how it suffered in that kind of a climate! Or delivering a physical product built overseas and dependent upon the existing shipping infrastructure?

Did your business – at least as you did it in 2019 – survive?

Are there things you can do – even today – to ensure that your business can survive anything? Yes there are, because the goal of any entrepreneur is not just to survive, but to thrive!

As I’ve shared this idea with business owners over the last few months, I’ve heard this a lot of times, too…”The COVID 19 pandemic was a once-in-a-lifetime event! We’re fine now!”

Really?

Think about 9/11.

Think about the real estate meltdown in 2007-2008.

The Dot.Com bust in the late 1990s.

The recession that began in 1987.

“Life-changing” events happen all the time, whether regionally, nationally, or globally, and your job, as an entrepreneur, is about creating such an incredible business model that it does survive those “once in a lifetime” events that, obviously, happen every ten or so years…

So, let’s talk about how you rethink your customer. Instead of looking inwards, though, and picking apart your specific model and ideal client, look outward. Look at three companies in similar industries to yours and research how they acted – and reacted – in the COVID-19 pandemic.

I’ll be happy to give out bonus points if you can do the same for the recession of 2007-2008, but since technology has changed a great deal since then, it may be difficult to draw effective conclusions. Remember, too, in some cases, the so-called Great Recession actually created some of the most powerful companies today in a host of different industries.

Uber. Groupon. Netflix. Smashburger.

The truth is, you can build and design your company to survive anything when it is built properly.

Is It Time To Buy?

noreply@blogger.com (W. Scully, CPA, P.C.) — Fri, 28 May 2021 14:00:00 +0000

One of the most rewarding things I see, as a tax professional, is when clients and friends come to me for advice about “tax things.”

I’m happy to share my knowledge, and open up my Rolodex for referrals about many, many things – how to structure your start up, determining a plan for retirement, understanding the assets you own and the assets you are planning to invest in, and of course, home ownership.

Now, obviously, I look at all of these from a tax standpoint. Granite countertops or an “S-corp” doesn’t mean anything more to me than their actual definition, but this week, I wanted to share a few things I’ve seen regarding the new home market in America right now.

It’s HOT! Inventory levels are low, prices are climbing, and the real reason for it is simple – there’s simply too much demand. People are ready to buy and they aren’t willing to wait. Seriously, have you see the price of lumber lately?

That’s really the challenge right this minute – builders and remodelers can’t get the supplies they need, and what they can lay their hands on? It’s at a premium. The result is going to be high short-term prices and – at least potentially, a drop in home value when supply production gets back to normal.

So what should you do? Honestly? If you’ve been thinking about selling your home – and you have a plan for where you’re going to live – then now might be a great time to do it. If you’re in the market for a home, especially a new one, be prepared to overpay, or to at least pay a premium.

Now, the real world we all live in dictates this: you have to have a place to live, regardless of where that actually is. If you have to move, well, you have to move. For those who are renting and contemplating a home purchase, I’d have to simply say this: Don’t overthink it - Buy it!

Why?

There are just too many upsides to owning your own home. Not only do you get the ability to write down the mortgage interest (read that, “nearly everything you pay for the first few years…”), you’ll also be creating equity.

That down payment? Right there, you’ve got equity in your home. Sure, prices might fall in the short term, but if you just bought your home, why are your thinking about selling it? It’s kind of a false alarm from that point of view.

The bigger point in all this is that if you decided to wait and rent one more year, you’re simply losing money, not some false value based on comparable home prices in the neighborhood you purchased in. If you’re spending $1,200/month on rent, that’s nearly $15,000 you’ll spend and never see again this year. Why not put that money into the purchase of a home?

I recognize that buying a home can be nerve-wracking, but the truth of the matter is that no one ever got wealthy paying rent. Even if you’re worried about the caliber of home you can buy, or the buying “budget” you might have, my team and I can help lift the veil on that, and really, all aspects of home ownership.

NOTHING is more satisfying than the feeling of owning your own home, and if you’re thinking about it now, even as crazy as the markets are, I encourage you to reach out and let’s look at the real costs of buying and what your budget really is – not what some silly app on your phone says it should be.

I look forward to hearing from you!

Is The President’s Tax Plan Going To Impact You?

noreply@blogger.com (W. Scully, CPA, P.C.) — Sat, 15 May 2021 00:58:00 +0000

You might or might not have noticed that President Biden began discussing a long-term tax plan in April, and there are a lot of unknowns in it. The challenge, of course, is that even though much of his proposed plan targets high-income or high-net worth individuals, the threshold that keeps showing up - $400,000 – is concerning.

In short, the plan places far higher tax burdens on the wealthy, in terms of capital gains taxes and the Medicare surtax (created from the Affordable Care Act).

Long term, this could place capital gains taxes at over 40%.

What’s that mean?

Well, nobody really knows.

On the other hand, the problem is this: it’s obvious that capital gains and the “wealthy” are being viewed as targets for taxation, and, depending on your retirement strategy, that could cause you to encounter far higher taxes when you retire as a result.

For example, if you have a 401(k) and plan on supplementing that with short and long-term investments in retirement. Suddenly, you’ll not only have to pay taxes on your 401(k) withdrawals, but you could potentially pay nearly twice the capital gains taxes on your investments. (Currently, short-term capital gains – less than a year – are taxed as income.)

The real challenge right now is the short-term reactions on the markets every time this conversation arises: The day this story started, the NASDAQ, Dow Jones, and even crypto markets all took a dramatic downturn.

Ultimately, they all recovered, but it showed that many traders’ reactions whenever this conversation begins is to sell off immediately – never mind it would potentially be years before such a tax was actively imposed.

My point in all this is simple: when it comes to retirement savings, don’t make ANY assumptions. You have to stay vigilant on how politicians are planning on spending your money and what the tax landscape could look like when you actually retire. At the same time, you also need to actively explore all your options – both new and established.

Does that mean crypto? A Roth IRA? A so-called “Golden” IRA? Precious metals?

It might mean all of them, but if you’ve already got a plan for retirement, then you need to be reviewing that plan and its suitability at least once every quarter. More importantly, you need to be focused on what it affecting that plan every day.

What you focus on expands, and if your plan is to retire rich, then knowing the dirty little secrets of taxation BEFORE they affect you is critical.

Now, none of this is written to scare you, it’s really just to inform you. If you are worried about what options you now have – or might have – then give me and the team a call to discuss where you money is and how it might be able to work a little harder.

Removing the Obstacles in Your Business

noreply@blogger.com (W. Scully, CPA, P.C.) — Mon, 10 May 2021 22:00:00 +0000

No matter how “busy” you are in your company, I’ll bet a lot of the time you spend is solving problems. Challenges really are a part of any business, and while you can systemize many things, you can’t always create a process for everything. When a problem arises in a grey area, how will you handle it?

The answer is deceptively complex, but it really does come back to the overall structure you choose for your business. Remember, too, “structure” is not always organization charts and rules.

It’s also rewards, values, and even unconscious assumptions that can influence behavior. Let me give you an example…

You might adopt a formal policy for your teams that states that customer satisfaction is the primary goal. On the other hand, you only pay a commission to your sales team for closed sales.

Will it be any surprise that your sales team figures this messaging out BUT directs their activities and energies towards the reward and not necessarily the stated objective?

In this case, the real result desired is implied in the result that you reward, not the result you’re claiming. Obviously, then, it’s important to be able to fully understand how your company really works…

Of course, this not only defines your management hierarchy, but also how your business might be able to overcome obstacles faster.

For example, in the last twenty years, we’ve seen how manufacturing has shifted from a very bureaucratic, top-heavy management and decision-making structure to a much more “team-managed” style in many cases.

While some people have heralded this as the “democratization of the workplace,” the reality is, that’s just an “unintended result.” By letting manufacturing teams manage themselves, companies can remain competitive in fast-moving industries requiring quick order fulfillment.

Now, obviously this example may not make sense for your business, but here’s the point: the structure you build into your business has to be built around what makes sense for YOU, not just the way your industry has always worked.

Beyond that actual management and operating system, there is another key component that is not necessarily designed, but created, and that’s the culture. These standards, rules, and accepted practices all act on and shape the culture of any company. What, exactly, do I mean by culture? Essentially, the behavior and actions that a company takes in its day-to-day-operations.

Some of this “culture” is quite explicitly stated – we see it in Vision statements and policies. A great deal of it, though, becomes part of the story and myth of the business. This unseen culture can run alongside of the stated goals and will either support it or undermine it.

A classic example of this parallel culture in demonstrated when companies who proclaim the importance of their employees and constantly share their human resource beliefs turn right around and lay off scores of workers with no notice.

Their real truth is revealed in their actions, not their words, and this makes a very vivid lesson for their remaining employees.

Companies such as this miss a very real opportunity – they could recognize this “unstated” culture they have created and bring it into alignment with their stated values and objectives … and not fear “losing face” with their people and their customers. A truly high-performance company would use this scenario to find a better way to integrate their vision and their actions.

In the end, your beliefs about what is true for your business shape the flow of energy and activity within it. The challenge you face is to understand and recognize these unconscious assumptions you are making and ensure they aren’t laying a foundation for failure.

Remember, because these are unstated, they are often self-fulfilling.

If you think people cannot manage themselves, you likely won’t take the time to build a system that allows your people to effectively manage themselves.

If you think your Ideal Customer will only purchase your products or services in one way, you’ll be unlikely to develop and test any other methods.

That might seem obvious, but until I said it, you either believed it and didn’t question it or you didn’t believe it and didn’t question it.

Either way, you’re missing a key part of the whole entrepreneurial process – you must learn to question EVERYTHING!

That’s really the point I’m trying to make – to coax you to open your eyes to things you personally – and subconsciously - believe to be true and then, to address them in your business structure or culture that you’re building.

Make this a great week!

Why Wait?

noreply@blogger.com (W. Scully, CPA, P.C.) — Fri, 07 May 2021 18:55:00 +0000

It’s time to take some kind of action.

You’ve been cooped up from COVID, you’ve had to deal with downsizing, layoffs, “essential workers” (or the lack thereof), and, quite frankly, like a LOT of us, I’ll bet you’re sick of it.

So no matter how this last year affected you, what are you waiting on?

You’ll only get a certain number of trips around the sun, so why keep going in a job or career you don’t like? Why keep working for a company that doesn’t value your contributions? For that matter, why keep living in a state or a town you don’t really like?

I don’t have that answer, and even if I’m an expert in the realm of taxes, I’m no philosopher, but over the last few months – “tax season,” if you will – I’ve noticed, again and again, this feeling of discontent from many people.

Entrepreneurs, managers, skilled and essential workers, and even young people.

Now, it wasn’t what I’d call “anger,” it was more of a sort of discontent.

After I’d noticed it, I couldn’t really shake it and the more I tried not to look for it, the more I couldn’t help but see it in the men and women I encountered.

Here’s the thing: simply being uncomfortable isn’t enough for most people to change, but I’m asking you – right now – if you’re not happy, take action starting today to become happy.

Who else can do this for you?

Nobody.

Not the government.

Not your boss.

Not your company.

Not your family, or your spouse, or your buddies.

Just the person you see in the mirror every morning.

How are you going to do that?

That’s the real question, isn’t it? For a lot of my clients, of course, it’s about money. While my team and I can usually help anyone keep more money in their pocket, if you don’t like how you’re earning that money, or where you’re earning that money, then money isn’t nearly as fun as it could be.

I want to make money fun again.

How can we do that, together? Well, maybe it’s giving you a better strategy for saving it, or lowering the amount of taxes you pay, or even helping to guide you in determining what is the best way to organize your retirement accounts.

My team and I might not even have all the answers, but I guarantee we know the right people to give you those answers.

Right now, though? I want you to really think about what you’re tired of, and start thinking about how you can get those roadblocks out of your way. We’ve all been through too much in the last year to be satisfied with unhappiness.

If you’re ready to make changes in your financial wellbeing, then give me and the team a call. Why wait?

Doing What You Love

noreply@blogger.com (W. Scully, CPA, P.C.) — Fri, 30 Apr 2021 22:10:00 +0000

I want to ask you to think about something you might not have considered in a long time:

Do you like the work you do?

Before you answer, re-read that line – “do you like the work you do…” – because it means far more than “the job you have…”

Think about it, and then answer the question.

So, do you?

For a lot of folks, the answer is “no.” They might like the people they work with, they might like the industry they’re in, but in terms of the actual work they must do every day? They don’t like it.

So why do it?

Why intentionally set yourself up to dislike something for months or years when you can take action and place yourself into a better spot?

For some people, the answer is money.

For others, the school system their children are in.

For still others, there simply isn’t any work they’d truly like to do and they might never actually be able to be happy in their career.

No matter what, though, you have a choice. You don’t need to continue down the path you’re on, and – if you’re like a LOT of Americans – “money” keeps you stuck in an industry or career you dislike, there’s plenty of ways to change that, even in the weird world we’re living in today, where jobs can be hard to come by and breaking into a new industry seems impossible.

Let’s start with the basics, first budget.

The truth is, we often set ourselves up to get stuck on the wrong path. Many Americans live far beyond their means, and once they have reached a certain income level, they can feel stuck in a job or career due to all the bills they’ve got to pay each month.

Now, that might not be easy to acknowledge, but if you feel “stuck” because you’ve got to make two car payments, then the easy thing to do is … trade them in or pay them off!

Why stress yourself out in a career that you hate just so you can keep up with the Jones’?

In my experience, the easiest thing for a higher-income earner can do to move into an alternate industry is to realign their budget to reflect a much smaller “nut” to cover each month. Think about it – if your current financial situation “forces” you to clear over $7,000 each month and you’re unwilling to sacrifice some things in order to change your situation, simple statistics tell us that you’ll be looking at far fewer job openings.

I’m NOT telling you to go back to square one and pretend you just got out of school but being open about your budget while changing careers can allow you to make more changes.

Not only will lowering the amount of debt you’re servicing each month give you more flexibility in relation to changing careers, it’s also very liberating.

The truth is, living on the hairy edge of your financial means can be a bad thing. In fact, when you get right down to it, stress about your finances might be the root of the stress you feel at work. For example, when you set up a budget and recognize you can live on far less than you make, you allow yourself to not bring financial worry into the workplace. You aren’t always looking for overtime, or scrambling to hit a bonus.

In short, your ability to enjoy the work for what it is, not simply viewing it as a means to an end. So if you find yourself constantly stressed from work and thinking of a career change, maybe take a moment and reflect on your actual budget. Of course, there might be some aspects of budgeting and taxation that my team and I can help in, and while we aren’t career counselors, we can definitely help you get to the bottom of all the money you aren’t making.

Feel free to give us a call and set up an appointment to see how giving yourself a raise might change everything in your job.

Where Are You Losing Your Day?

noreply@blogger.com (W. Scully, CPA, P.C.) — Fri, 30 Apr 2021 22:06:00 +0000

One of the most common themes in small business owners is “busy.” I speak to men and women who own companies all the time and inevitably, they are all “busy, busy, busy!”

…But is that really true?

Here’s an exercise I read about many years ago that has really helped me focus on how I use my time. It might seem simple, but like many things that are “simple,” the results can be incredibly complex – but they can give you valuable insight into how you spend your days and your time.

It’s incredibly easy to set up – you only need a clean sheet or three of paper and your phone. Set the timer on your phone to go off every 15-20 minutes, then document what you were doing when the timer goes off.

NO CHEATING!

If you were on Facebook, write it down. If you were getting another cup of coffee, write it down. On a phone call with your significant other? You guessed it – write it down!

Do this for at least a few days, and then, document the tasks. If, for example, you were doing a sales call, then that would be a tactical job.

Writing employee schedules would be a managerial task.

Working on your business growth plan for 2022 would be a task that an entrepreneur would be expected to be doing.

…And those are the only three categories! Tactical, Managerial, or Entrepreneurial.

I’ll bet you’ll find that the tactical tasks of your day-to-day take up nearly 70 percent of your time, while managerial accounts for another 20%. I’d be shocked if you spend more than 10% of your time doing things that support your entrepreneurial growth.

At the same time, you’ll also find you’re doing a LOT of other things besides those – going to Starbucks, playing on Facebook, watching videos of kittens. Those? Well, those need to go away. You wouldn’t allow an employee to waste time like that, why would you tolerate it from yourself?

Here’s the really critical thing this exercise will reveal: why you’re so “busy.”

You’re probably wasting time! Imagine if you actually put in the time to grow your company!

I’m not going to beat you up, but when I’ve suggested this exercise to people and they’ve actually done it and been honest with themselves, ultimately, they’ve come to realize why they can get so little accomplished in their days or weeks.

So the next step is to create some rules…

· Use the phone ONLY for interacting with clients or prospects

· No social media unless it is for posting an advertisement (and this really should be handled by a VA, anyway…)

· Check emails twice a day – real emergencies are communicated by phone

· Get to work (and leave work) at the same time every day

· Quit “working” on weekends – they end up bringing bad habits into the office on weekdays

· Set specific times each week for each category of work (entrepreneurial, managerial, and tactical)

· Don’t make exceptions unless there’s money to be made by changing your schedule

Now, these all seem easy, and maybe even simple, but the sheer numbers of business owners whom I see not doing them is amazing … yet, when you add up all the time you might have mismanaged during the week, you find whole DAYS of time that wasn’t accounted for – it was simply wasted.

Go ahead, reclaim efficiency and do this little exercise. Then, when you’re done, use the things you’ve learned to change how you work and to make the most of the time you have in the office.

I’ll bet it’s going to end up not only saving you time, it’s going to make you money – and that’s one great reason to do it!

Will These Kids EVER Go Back To School?

noreply@blogger.com (W. Scully, CPA, P.C.) — Mon, 26 Apr 2021 14:00:00 +0000

One of the biggest challenges we’ve seen in the last year of COVID-based lockdowns has been with kids and virtual classrooms.

Dual income parents who were furloughed or working from home suddenly had to take on roles they weren’t really prepared for – namely, teaching or helping kids with both sketchy online learning technology, poor connectivity, and trying to dredge up things like sixth-grade math and English grammar rules.

Now that vaccinations are climbing and the long-term threat of a pandemic are slowly easing off, many parents are wondering what the future holds for in-person instruction for their kids. All manner of opinions exist on this, from the lack of socialization and its effect on young, developing brains to obvious need to protect older teachers and school administrators from infection.

New research from an Ohio study of in-student school systems last fall now suggests that masked students who were exposed to a COVID-positive student – even at less than six feet – were no more likely to come down with COVID. One thing for certain, a lot of parents are worried about what will happen for one reason, and a lot of school officials and teachers are worried about the overall safety of in-person instruction for a completely different reason.

It’s going to be a challenge, either way, and schools that were already pressed for space trying to arrange classrooms to facilitate the six-foot social distance in seating arrangements are sure to be looking for guidance from the CDC as well as vaccine producers and research.

The problem, of course, is that as more and more Americans are getting back to work, they’re being forced to choose a job over their family. Is it safe to send kids back into the classroom? Is it safe to leave them home for virtual schools?

These are questions that state and local governments are going to have to answer – and businesses large and small will be accountable for – in the very near future. Ultimately, it’s going to be frustrating for a lot of people, and no matter what decisions are made, some people and children are going to fall between the cracks.

The best advice? Pay close attention to what your local school system is planning, become active in any meetings – the PTA, for example, and don’t be scared to tune in to Zoom meetings of your local Board of Education. In the end, it’s likely that Uncle Sam is going to have to step in and fund some things – be it an overhaul or an underwriting of a myriad of network communications companies to ensure “last mile” connectivity, some universal expectations of virtual classrooms, or some such. The downside is that if the Federal government gets involved, untangling the mess could take years and literally not positively impact the very generation of schoolchildren that are at the heart of these challenges.

One other key thing you can do can literally be done right now: ensure your employer is aware of your situation. Even if your boss “knows” you have kids in school, arrange a meeting with them to discuss the challenges you are having now with “virtual” school and any worries you have for the future.

That can go a long way towards setting you and your kids up for success if and when the option for in-person classes is available in your hometown.

Why Are You Doing This?

noreply@blogger.com (W. Scully, CPA, P.C.) — Sun, 25 Apr 2021 20:39:00 +0000

As a business owner and entrepreneur, can I ask you a personal question?

Why are you doing this?

What led you to open your own business, to go out on a limb and either buy into a franchise, stick in the family business, or leave the corporate world to hand out your own shingle?

Now, you and I both know you have the answer you tell everybody, but what’s the real answer? In my experience, a lot of small business owners can’t answer that, so I want to share an exercise that just might help you get down to the truth behind your business – and reinspire you this year.

Ask “Why?”

No, that’s not a mistake. With a clean sheet of paper, write “why?” at the top and write down the first thing that comes to your mind as an answer for why you own your own business.

Take a look at that answer… maybe it’s “Because I like the freedom to set my own schedule.”

Now ask “why” again.

Why is your schedule so important to you? (Or money, or family, or location – your answers are going to take you in a lot of different directions.)

Whatever you do, keep asking “why” and keep documenting it.

I’ll bet, after about seven or eight times, you’ll actually be getting close to the reason you opened your business. More importantly, you’ll have gained a lot of insight into what is really important to you as a business owner.

Now ask yourself if the business model you’ve built really supports your answer – and in my experience, it probably doesn’t. In fact, your business model, as it exists today, probably is just a loosely modified version of what you did when you worked for someone else.

Is it any wonder that “busy-ness” stresses you out? On the other hand, when you get truly clear on what it is you wanted in the first place, you gain an incredible amount of freedom to create – or recreate – the business model you wanted in the first place, before being “busy” made it hard to imagine how you wanted to shape and structure your company in the first place.

At the same time, when you finally do get this clarity, how do you reinvent a company that’s already in business?

Truthfully?

You might not be able to.

You might simply have to build the one you wanted outside of the old business and gradually make the shift to that enterprise. Don’t worry – that’s actually not as hard as you might think.

Let’s say you built a traditional marketing business, but you realize now that you really only want to deal in digital marketing. Since those two are pretty close in many ways, you can now begin to shift your company focus from those “regular” models to an agenda focused only on digital assets. Look at the products and services you offer and begin to pare down those which don’t serve the new model. Yes, at some point, you’ll eventually have to close them out, but sometimes, cutting these ties is the only way necessary to move forward, even if some of your customers will inevitably have to go elsewhere.

In the end, your choice is simple: keep doing what you don’t like or create the job and business you really wanted in the first place.

It’s not going to be easy, in many cases, but you deserve to enjoy the work you do as an owner. When you get done with this exercise, maybe you’ll even be looking to create a new entity, and don’t worry – my team and I are there for you every step of this path.

The Nasty Surprise – Unemployment IS Taxable…

noreply@blogger.com (W. Scully, CPA, P.C.) — Sat, 17 Apr 2021 23:25:00 +0000

To tell the truth, I should have penned this email months ago, but time and tax season simply got away from me and the team. Today, I want to talk about two nasty surprises a lot of Americans got this tax season – unemployment benefits are taxable and so is cancelled debt.

What millions of first-time unemployment filers found out was that the extra $600 coming to them from the Federal government was also taxable. To say that caught them off-guard is a huge understatement. In more than a few cases, those benefits were taxable at the state level, too.

Where those folks went wrong was in not having taxes withheld from their weekly benefits. Unemployment recipients can have up to 10% withheld, but if you didn’t, you can actually pay taxes on this income quarterly, much like a business owner.

So what if you got caught short and have to pay the IRS?

First of all, don’t panic. Due to recent legislation, the first $10,200 of unemployment compensation last year is now tax-free. If you already filed, you’ll soon be getting a refund from the IRS.

Next, even if you exceed the $10,200 and now owe, it’s not the end of the world. Millions of Americans have to set up a payment plan with the IRS, and a situation like this is no different. You’ll find the IRS is very open about setting these payments up and they can either be drafted automatically or you can send in a check each month until the bill is paid off.

It’s not a lot of fun, but at least it’s easy to fix!

Now, “cancelled debt” sounds like a financial windfall, and for a lot of folks last year, it was. The downside is this: the company that cancelled that debt reported it to the IRS, and they, in turn, viewed it as “income” for tax purposes.

Not all cancelled debt is taxable – there are almost always exceptions, like certain student loans, debts discharged in bankruptcy, qualified farm indebtedness and a few other types of debt – but for the most part, if a credit card company or bank cancelled a debt, you’ll see a Form 1099-C and need to make sure you view and report it as income.

The real thing to remember, when it comes to taxes and tax liabilities, is “there is no free lunch.” If a person, company, or institution gives it to you, you’re likely to pay taxes on it. So while it might seem hard to believe that something like unemployment benefits or cancelled debt – both of which are going to help people with limited means and even more limited funds – the Tax Man is still going to ask for and get his payments.

If you’re struggling to figure out how to pay a tax bill due to simply not knowing what Uncle Sam views as “income,” then feel free to reach out to me and my team. It’s likely we can help you navigate setting up a payment plan with the IRS.

Being Successful

noreply@blogger.com (W. Scully, CPA, P.C.) — Mon, 12 Apr 2021 14:00:00 +0000

Being a business owner is a truly complicated proposition.

Not only are dreaming up a new idea, but you’re also building it, refining it, and testing it – all at once, usually while you’re taking care of customers.

The biggest challenge, then, isn’t so much “what to do” – it’s answering the question of “what next?” Do you decide that six figures is enough? Do you open new units? Expand? Franchise?

The questions are endless and the obligations are, too.

On the other hand, let me ask you a question: Have you ever defined “success” in your business?

Have you ever flatly stated what your goals are that, once reached, will allow you to say, “I’m successful, and here’s why…”

In many cases, real entrepreneurs never do that. Not because they don’t know, or they’ve never thought about it, but because they’ve become so overwhelmed by the day to day operations and simply “doin’ it” they fail to recognize milestones and growth for the celebrations they should be.

Imagine the month your gross monthly income surpasses last year’s total gross income?

Or the day you finally decide to give yourself a real salary?

Or your first raise?

The thing is, as a business owner, you often don’t allow yourself to celebrate success … or, if you do, you don’t celebrate it enough.

What I’m talking about here is acknowledging the little victories and making time to live “in the moment.” You very well may sell your company one day to Google or Starbucks or Walmart, but NEVER lose sight of the smaller steps and actions you’re taking that set bigger successes up down the road.

Celebrating success is really about understanding the metrics of your business, anyway, so you’re not simply partying for no reason. If, for example, you have validated that you do ten sales a day on average, then when you and your team move the needle and the average to eleven, or twelve, or twenty – take the time to celebrate it!

With that in mind, here are some things to consider – and metrics you might need to be tracking – for success in your small business…

· Increased profitability from one quarter to the next

· Higher clickthrough rates on marketing

· Decreased turnover (or a revised training process)

· Hiring your first operations manager (comptroller/bookkeeper/marketing director/and so on…)

· Documented and increased customer satisfaction

· A month with no customer complaints

· And so on and so on…

The idea here is to quit thinking like a manager or a skilled worker and begin to think about all the daily challenges that arise as a business owner. Too many times, I see entrepreneurs who are so lost in a daily struggle to simply make it through the week (or the day!) they forget business ownership isn’t just about survival, it’s about growth and scaling. No one opens their own business to simply be “busy,” they open a business to “be successful” – and then forget to do that!

This week, I want you to really dig into the reasons you opened the doors in the first place and begin to look for these sorts of key indicators you’re going in the right direction. Yes, when you start looking for success, you might not find it – in fact, you might be a bit overwhelmed at some of the challenges you didn’t realize you had within your four walls.

Remember, you’re NOT in this alone – there are literally experts everywhere – be they legal specialists, training gurus, or financial and tax experts. Quit trying to be everything and allow yourself to find the help you need.

I’m here for you – and ready to celebrate with you. Reach out to me and the team if we can help you find and create more success worth celebrating!

Why They Want To Audit You

noreply@blogger.com (W. Scully, CPA, P.C.) — Sat, 10 Apr 2021 17:11:00 +0000

It is ABSOLUTELY no fun to see that envelope from the IRS in your mail, and when you open it to find they have decided to audit your return, it’s even less fun!

So what causes some taxpayers to be audited while others never seem to have any contact with the IRS? As with many things these days, computers and their programming look at data that lies “outside” of an average, and then, flags a return based on that data. Let’s look at a few of the most common ones and how they impact W-2 employees…

· The biggest one, by far, is failing to report ALL taxable income. Many times, of course, this is a simple mistake on the part of the taxpayer – maybe they forgot a bonus, or some small dividend, or even a part-time job or contract they only had for a month or two. Nevertheless, the tax law is simple: ALL income is taxable and ALL income is reported to the IRS both from the taxpayer and the entity that pays the taxpayer. Somewhere in the bowels of the IRS, those two numbers are matched up and when they don’t match, guess what? It either flags the return for an audit or the IRS simply sends you a bill for the untaxed income.

· Taking an early payout from a 401(k) has always been a red flag for the IRS, but with so many Americans having to break into retirement savings in the last year, the simple mistakes that are usually made – not claiming the money, not paying taxes or penalties on the funds, and so on – are a real challenge for a lot of people. The IRS’s own studies have shown that as many as 40% of people who take a payout from their 401(k) fail to properly document the income and pay the taxes, so they are on firm ground when they look to review the returns of anyone who has taken money from their retirement account.

· Ironically, even depositing large amounts of currency can trigger an audit. The IRS has long required banks, car dealers, and even pawn shops to report any large cash transactions (over $10,000), but that rule also extends to individuals making “suspicious” transactions “near” that amount. Let’s say you deposit $9,500 cash one day in the bank and the next day, deposit $5,200. They’re still going to flag you and the IRS may begin to scrutinize your return to look for inconsistencies. Is it fair? Not really, but nobody ever said that 70,000 pages of tax law was right…

The key thing to remember is this: an audit isn’t saying you did something wrong, it’s saying that something in your return simply doesn’t match up. The good news is this: the odds of being audited are incredibly low if your income is less than $200,000/year. Even if you’re a millionaire, the odds still aren’t that high, either.

The truth is, in many cases, taxpayers with inconsistencies are usually simply sent a bill and expected to pay – and most times, that’s the exact advice I give – “it’s not worth fighting the IRS for this, just write the check and be happy.”

On the other hand, if you find you’re going to go through a full audit, the smartest thing to do is to reach out to me and the team ASAP and begin to collect the information we need to fight – and win – against the IRS.

IMPORTANT: Our firm specializes in tax resolution. We serve clients virtually so don't hesitate to reach out. If you want an expert tax resolution specialist who knows how to navigate the IRS maze, reach out to our firm, so we can schedule a confidential consultation to explain options to permanently resolve your tax problem Make an appointment here! Or, call Toll-free 1-855-254-1892.

Owe Back Taxes

noreply@blogger.com (W. Scully, CPA, P.C.) — Sat, 10 Apr 2021 16:45:00 +0000

Why You’re Getting Audited

noreply@blogger.com (W. Scully, CPA, P.C.) — Tue, 06 Apr 2021 15:26:00 +0000

True confession: every time a client calls or emails me with those faithful words “I’m being audited!” I cringe a little. Not because I’m afraid of the IRS, or even because I worry about the return they filed, but simply because.

It’s like seeing a police car behind you suddenly turn on their lights, even though you know you’ve done nothing wrong!

Yet every year, about 1 in 250 Americans get that audit letter. Why? Well, the IRS has never published a specific list of infractions that cause an audit, but they have given us hints over the years about some of the things that cause red flags to be waved about your return.

Let’s look at a few…

· Making “too much” is also another flag for an audit. The IRS is really in a can’t-win situation here, because if they audited all returns equally, they would get a huge backlash for “picking on” the poor AND, honestly, the amount they’d likely recover from a low-income audit isn’t really worth the time to investigate. That’s not saying that poor folks can cheat on their taxes, it’s simply a fact of life that lower-income returns aren’t on the radar as individuals. The IRS is likely to look for common threads among certain groups of flagged returns, though – do they all come from the same preparer or company? Once your income is over $200,000, though, the numbers of audits per capita rise significantly.

· Schedule C write offs – especially for big-ticket items like travel and meals – always seems to invite scrutiny. ANYONE who owns a business and claims Schedule C deductions knows that there is a lot of “gold” in those deductions, and the IRS does, too. If those deductions fall outside of a certain percentage, expect your return to be flagged and potentially, be audited.

Those represent some of the most obvious ones, but there are countless other ways your return gets flagged and the return auditing process begins. The good news – or at least, what should be good news – is that any CPA worthy of the name is going to assist you if they are the ones who signed the return you filed.

In other words – you shouldn’t have to go into an audit alone.

If you’ve been notified the IRS is going to be auditing you, the first thing to remember is this: don’t panic. Reach out to your preparer, let them know what’s going on, and then? Begin to gather the documentation you’ll need to verify your return. The good news is you should already have that.

…And while I never want to second-guess another tax professional, if you’ve got questions, me and the team are always here to help!

IMPORTANT: Our firm specializes in tax resolution. We serve clients virtually so don't hesitate to reach out. If you want an expert tax resolution specialist who knows how to navigate the IRS maze, reach out to our firm, so we can schedule a confidential consultation to explain options to permanently resolve your tax problem Make an appointment here! Or, call Toll-free 1-855-254-1892.

There’s Money Everywhere!

noreply@blogger.com (W. Scully, CPA, P.C.) — Fri, 02 Apr 2021 19:11:00 +0000

Now that Tax Season is almost (kinda) over, I wanted to report on some of the neatest things I noted as we prepared returns for clients this year. Honestly, the way sharp folks found to make money in the unprecedented world of social distancing and a pandemic is nothing short of amazing, and I wanted to share them, especially if you’ve been a little stuck regarding income, career, and full-time work.

Even if you never taught school a day in your life, I’ve known many people using tutoring to make ends meet. It might be daycare-level teaching, or college level, but the simple fact is this: students need help because the schools aren’t giving it to them. I’ve seen rates from $15/hour all the way to $80/hour this last year, depending on many factors, but there’s more work than ever as the institution of school has fundamentally changed. The best part? Technology allows you to do this virtually, so there is little added expense for commuting.

I was surprised at how many people did so well selling other items. Now, some did this by hauling off unwanted items, some did it by cleaning their own house and attic. Either way, it’s put money in their hands and made things better for the people who were tidying up their homes and yards. Maybe you’re looking at this in terms of scrap metal, or junk removal, or simply cleaning out other people’s houses and garages. The end result is delighted people. Period.

Another unique – and surprising – thing we noticed this year was home rentals. Second, homes which might usually have been AirBNB rentals were being rented for longer periods and often directly by the owner with no middleman handling the exchange. It seems weird, but I think the real reason is simple: whole families were home and/or working remotely, so they opted to take a longer vacation in places they considered safer.

Of all the fun gigs I realized, though, my favorite is still dog walking. I’ve mentioned this before, but I once met a woman who earned over $100,000 annually walking other people’s pets. With so much emphasis placed on social distancing and keeping those at risk out of harm’s way, folks who are looking to get exercise and get some extra money can turn a tidy profit with Fido in tow.

These are some easy ways to create more income, so put on your thinking cap and get busy!

We’ll chat soon!

IMPORTANT: Our firm specializes in tax resolution. We serve clients virtually so don't hesitate to reach out. If you want an expert tax resolution specialist who knows how to navigate the IRS maze, reach out to our firm, so we can schedule a confidential consultation to explain options to permanently resolve your tax problem Make an appointment here! Or, call Toll-free 1-855-254-1892.