We have heard many CPAs and other accounting practitioners mention potential Errors & Omissions (E&O) insurance claims from their clients if tax credits have been overlooked. We talked with Cherie Tolbert, Vice President with Crow Friedman Group, LLC (click here). Cherie's firm specializes in providing risk management services and insurance products to CPAs and other professionals. They are experts in this area -- here is an overview of what she had to say:

To reduce the risk of E&O claims for tax credits, Crow Friedman Group recommends the following:

1. Your firm should familiarize itself with the various federal and state credits available and how to properly calculate each available credit.
2. As part of its income tax return preparation process, (using an "organizer" or other written communications) your firm should obtain client representations regarding their eligibility for the various federal and state income tax credits.
3. Your firm should consider identifying and carefully reviewing prior tax returns it prepared that have a strong probability of containing unclaimed/improperly calculated credits. The firm should inform the client if the review uncovers any such unclaimed/improperly calculated credits.

One final note, even if the firm feels they might have missed the credits for the client, they should consider bringing this up with the client. Continuing not to discuss possible eligible credits can only perpetuate a potential problem.

A reminder -- the GCI is NOT a legislative mandate like it was for last year's Tax Reform study, but recently Chris Clark, CEO Georgia Chamber of Commerce, said during his speech - "the goal of GCI is to create a jobs agenda for legislation. We will push this through the General Assembly in 2012."  

 

We had a lot of questions about our recent article on HIPAA and Business Associates (called a BA). One of the key determining factors is "access to protected health information." This information may include patient health information or health information of the employees of the healthcare provider.

We talked with Paige Joyner, President of Compliance +, LLC, a consulting firm that provides customized compliance and training solutions for HIPAA and other regulatory programs (click here). She provided the following information:

The CPA firm may be considered a BA of the healthcare provider (called a Covered Entity) if the firm receives any patient data or employee health information and then does something with it on the Covered Entity's behalf.    

Many Covered Entities are requiring their CPA firms to sign a BA agreement in order to continue the business relationship (that is, sign if you want to continue working with them, regardless of your situation). Signing the agreement is only half the battle. All Business Associates must have HIPAA policies and procedures in place and be able to verify their compliance if asked.

An interesting AICPA article provides more insight regarding CPAs, BAs and the new HIPAA regulations (click here).

Alpharesults has assembled a team with the specialized knowledge and approach required to obtain Georgia income tax credits.  We are not a public accounting firm.  Rather, our services complement those of public accounting firms and do not create conflicted loyalties, because our professionals do not perform attestation work or other external audit functions.  

We focus on small to medium-sized businesses and work exclusively in Georgia with a wide variety of in-state and out-of-state accounting firms.  For more information on our services, follow this link.