News from The Blau Company, Ltd

The Blau Company, Ltd. Newsletter December 2010

Greetings!

Happy New Year!! We hope that everyone had a wonderful and safe holiday season and we look forward to hearing your stories. As you all know the beginning of the year means tax time! To set up your appointment please contact Kirstin via phone (480) 946-7732 or email kirstin@blauco.com.

Listed below we have provided scheduled times for each accountant, keep in mind Aaron will be in our Gilbert location every Thursday. Also, please have multiple dates and times in mind, in case your first choice is unavailable.

Please keep a look out for your tax organizer, if not receieved by the end of January please contact our office.

Alan: Monday - Saturday: 10:30am, 11:45am, 1pm, 2:15pm, 3:45pm, & 5pm.

Aaron: Monday: 10:45am, 12:30pm, 1:15pm, 2:30pm, 3:15pm, 4:30pm, & 5:15pm.

Tuesday - Saturday: 10am, 10:45am, 12:30pm, 1:15pm, 2:30pm, 3:15pm,

4:30pm, & 5:15pm.

Aaron will be taking appointments on in the Gilbert office on Thursdays; these appointments will still be scheduled by calling our Tempe office.

Monica: Monday: 11am, 12pm, 2pm, 3pm, 4pm, 5pm, & 6pm.

Tuesday - Saturday: 10am, 11am, 12pm, 2pm, 3pm, 4pm, 5pm, & 6pm.

Thomas: Monday: 9am, 11am, 1pm, 2pm, 3pm, 4pm, & 5pm.

Tuesday - Friday: 9am, 10am, 11am, 1pm, 2pm, 3pm, 4pm, & 5pm.

Saturday: 9am, 10am, 11am, 1pm, 2pm, & 3pm.

If your situation has not changed significantly from last year, we encourage you to drop off your information as soon as you have it together. We will follow up with you telephonically to discuss any missing information as well as the result. We encourage our clients who drop off their tax returns to meet with us at their leisure throughout the year.

For all our business clients, now is the time to give us all your bookkeeping information. Please make sure we have all your bank and credit card statements, and copies of checks.

Sincerely,

Kirstin Smith - Client Coordinator

Important Dates for October & November

Jan. 15     4th Quarter Estimate Due
Jan. 17     Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Jan. 31     4th Quarter Payroll & 1099's Due
Feb. 2     Groundhog Day

Feb. 12     Lincoln's Birthday

Feb. 14     Valentine's Day
Feb. 15     President's Day
Feb. 22     Washington's Birthday

Tax Filing Deadline Extended

In a pronouncement hated by tax preparers everywhere, the IRS has announced that 2010 Individual and Partnership income tax returns will be due on Monday, April 18, 2011.

It is standard practice to adjust the filing deadline when April 15th falls on a weekend or holiday. This year, April 15 falls on "Emancipation Day," a holiday celebrated in the District of Columbia. This is the second time in the past few years the filing season has been extended. The last time was for the 2006 filing season, adjusting the due date to April 17, 2007.

Accordingly, we have adjusted our appointment cut-off date to April 11, 2011. We will not accept appointments after this date.

2010 Tax Relief Act delays start of filing season for some

Many taxpayers planning to file their 2010 tax returns early have been advised by IRS to cool their heels and wait until mid- to late-February, 2011. The culprit is Congress's late passage of the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 (the 2010 Tax Relief Act, P.L. 111-312). IRS said it needs time to reprogram its computers to reflect the 2010 Tax Relief Act's changes.

Taxpayers affected by the hold-up are those claiming:

Itemized deductions on Schedule A. What's holding things up is the choice to deduct state and local general sales and use taxes instead of state and local income taxes. This election was extended for 2010 and 2011 (along with the deductions in (2) and (3), below) by the 2010 Tax Relief Act. Because of late Congressional action to enact tax law changes, IRS says anyone who itemizes and files a Schedule A will be affected.
The above-the line deduction for higher education tuition and fees. This deduction of up to $4,000 of tuition and fees paid to a post-secondary institution is claimed on Form to arrive at adjusted gross income (AGI) and is claimed on Form 8917 (Tuition and Fees Deduction). However, IRS noted that there would be no delays for taxpayers claiming other education credits, including the American Opportunity Tax Credit and Lifetime Learning Credit.
The above-the-line deduction for kindergarten through grade 12 educators with out-of-pocket classroom expenses of up to $250.

Though these deductions will delay you from filing your tax return as soon as possible, there is no reason to delay your tax appointment. We will hold your return and file it as soon as the IRS gives notice that the returns will be accepted.

E-Filing Mandate

The Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act of 2009 requires paid preparers who complete more than 100 income tax returns (10 returns in 2011) to electronically file those returns.

Therefore, unless specifically requested, all client returns will be automatically slated for e-filing. Wavers are available for specific reasons, and you will be given the opportunity to fill one out during the check-in process.

For those who haven't e-filed (2/3rds of our clients already do), here is the process:

We prepare your tax return and send you drafts via a secure file sharing system
You review the tax returns, sign and return a signature document, and pay for your return
We submit the tax return to the IRS on your behalf, using industry leading, and secure, software.

For those clients that do not use, or are not comfortable, with sending and receiving documents via e-mail, you can pick up and sign the signature documents, just as you would if you were signing your normal tax returns.

If you have any questions concerning the new requirement, please contact our office.

QuickBooks Payroll Update

Intuit has released the 2011 payroll update, which includes the federal withholding tables for 2011. These tables have been affected by the Tax Relief Act of 2010 signed by President Obama on December 17, 2010.

To ensure your compliance with the new laws, Intiut recommends the following:

Check to see if you have Automatic Updates turned on.
-- Choose Help > Update QuickBooks.
-- On the Options tab, you will see either Yes or No selected for Automatic Update.
If Yes is selected, you should receive all Payroll Updates automatically when they are released the next time you are connected to the internet.

You can verify that you received Payroll Update 21102 from within QuickBooks. Go to Employees > Get Payroll Updates > Update. You should see a message that says, "You are using tax table version 21102."
If No is selected for Automatic Update, you need to download the update manually. Click here for instructions.

Disk delivery customers: The next disk delivery is scheduled for late January or early February 2011 and will include these updates. The IRS is instructing employers that these changes must be implemented by January 31, 2011. We strongly recommend that you download and install the payroll update manually if you have internet access.

If you have any questions, please contact Denise Fisk.

1204 East Baseline Road, Suite 104 Tempe, Arizona 85283 Tel (480) 946-7732 Fax (480) 345-0033

690 E. Warner Road, Ste 105 Gilbert, AZ 85296 Tel (480) 788-7732 Fax (480) 355-6308