Depending on the kind of retirement accounts you use, you might still have time to contribute more money before filing taxes for 2012. That could lower your tax burden, helping you save money now while giving you more money to spend during retirement. Before you try to contribute more money to your accounts, though, you [...]
Archive for the ‘ Payroll ’ Category
DOL on the Prowl
If you’ve never had the pleasure of dealing with the Department of Labor, you are lucky. Consider the following true story. When a Relationship Goes from Bad to Worse Disgruntled employees. We’ve all had them; hell, I’ve been one a couple of times myself. It becomes troublesome when they leave and have an ax to grind. There [...]
Time to look in the old education mirror – it’s Pogo time.
Please welcome our guest blogger, Dr. Johnathan Willner, Professor of Economics, Oklahoma City University Snow White is nice little fairy tale, fit for the current dilemma in US Education. Many Americans look in the mirror and decide that each of us is the fairest of them all. We are wonderful and perfect people who [...]
Why Outsourcing Payroll Makes Sense
I know that most would think it self promotion, but I truly believe that I would say the same thing if I were in a different industry. Processing your own company’s payroll COSTS you money. I don’t mean in the way some sales people use the phrase, but actually hard dollars you can put in [...]
News Flash! Internet Doesn’t Work as Promised!
As I sit here in the middle of another unpredictable Oklahoma weather cycle, I begin to let my mind wander. After reading a story in the newspaper about one of our competitors having to survive the last snow storm, I’m wondering why small business owners are so resistant to change. I’m not belittling small business owners, they [...]
Pigs Get Fat and Hogs Get Slaughtered
Sometimes for the fun of it I read Tax Court cases. In a recent case, the IRS prevailed against a taxpayer who was trying to game the system and avoid payroll taxes by taking out little salary and a lot of dividends. Just the Facts Ma’am Funny thing is this taxpayer was a CPA in [...]
Taxpayer Lacks Substance
I’ve been accused of that a couple of times, but in this case I’m talking about economicsubstance. Recently a taxpayer lost their battle with the IRS, with the Tax Court citing that the transactions of their business entities lacked economic substance, and were only done to pay the couple’s personal living expenses. Believe it or not, the IRS [...]
FREE Money!
That one always grabs your attention. As year end approaches, I want to remind you of two credits for employers. Although we’ve discussed them before, I’m not convinced that everyone is aware of them. HIRE Act The first credit is new this year, and applies to new employees hired after February 3, 2010 but before the [...]
Oklahoman Beats the IRS!
In a recent Tax Court case, a salon owner in Ardmore, OK prevailed against the IRS in classification of her salon technicians and massage therapists. The IRS had tried to establish that these individuals were in fact employees and the salon therefore was liable for all of the unpaid payroll taxes. Factors that the Court [...]
IRS Criminal Investigations at an All Time High
As if taxes going higher in 2011 wasn’t bad enough, the IRS recently released information from their CID (Criminal Investigation Division) that showed 10 year highs in their enforcement of tax crimes. In 2009, tax investigations increased by over 13% with the number of individuals actually sentenced up over 10%. Remember, these are CRIMINAL investigations, not [...]