Gary Bode, CPA: if your current Wilmington NC CPA isn't tax positioning you for 2011 while preparing your 2010 income tax return, please call us at (910) 399-2705.
IRS Tax Forms are delayed this year because Congress re-instituted three major tax provisions on December 17th, catching the IRS with its systems and tax forms down.
UPDATE: The IRS sent out an E Mail blast on 1/19/11 that stating Feb 14th is now the expected date all folks can E-File a federal tax return. It still down played how many taxpayers this affects, in my opinion. The IRS has an amazingly complex IT system. They were sand bagged by Congress who were oblivious to the obvious fact that the IRS needs time to update systems and Dec 17th is just too late. It delays refunds too, during a recession no less. It also hurts taxpayers who have the legal right to position themselves to pay the least amount of tax.
Since the snafu includes the State and Local Taxes component of Schedule A, the tax form for itemized deductions, it will take until mid to late February before millions of taxpayers can E File their Form 1040. Generally folks who file earlier in the season expect tax refunds. The other two re-instated provisions were Educator Expenses, an adjustment to Gross ncome, and the Higher Education Credit.
On the back end, Emancipation Day, a Washington DC holiday, falls on Saturday, April 16. This means, by DC convention, it is celebrated Friday April 15. When a tax deadline falls on a holiday Friday, the IRS extends it to the following Monday. April 18th in this case. So tax season is extended for a weekend this year.
“The real problem is the delay in finalized tax provisions for business income tax returns, which hampered proactive tax positioning.”
Gary Bode, Wilmington NC CPA and tax accountant
We tax position every client and fine tune that position during the 4th quarter. The degree of uncertainty, especially if you had a C Corporation or LLC filing Form 1120, made optimizing the distribution/salary ratio for shareholder-employees difficult.
We’re a Wilmington NC CPA Firm that specializes in individual and business income tax preparation. Your taxes can be more than just an IRS tax refund request, they can be managerially useful. Certainly, they can help position you to pay the least legal amount of tax next year. If you’d like a free initial consult with a Wilmington NC tax accountant practicing in a proactive CPA firm, please consider calling us at (910) 399-2705.
Please read any of our tax related posts on the left to get a feel for our expertise, proactive attitude and commitment to customer service. Of course, we offer other services besides income tax preparation too. Like QuickBooks training, small business accounting, tax audit representation, payroll service processing etc. But what we’re most proud of is helping build managerial tools, like the Fortune 500 companies use, from your small business accounting, aggregated bookkeeping data and company statistics. We understand our success depends on yours. We want to help provide your company a real competitive edge in the Wilmington NC market and surrounding tri county area.
We view small business federal tax return preparation as just a component of our service. But we understand limiting your current tax liability to the least possible amount is our job. Simultaneously we look at both current tax regs and emerging trends, via Private Letter Rulings and tax court cases, to position you for the future.
No CPA firm in Wilmington NC, or anywhere, can guarantee a federal tax refund. Actually for some clients, a larger IRS tax refund means we let them pay too much estimated taxes in the first place. On federal tax return preparation, we generally do a 4th Quarter IRS Form 1040 extrapolation and then adjust the the estimated tax payment due January 15th. Often there is associated small business accounting with these clients too. Sometimes focusing in on federal tax liability early is an advantage of timely QuickBooks bookkeeping; an example of how accurate and timely accounting data leads to better estimates and therefore better potential strategic business planning.
