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UHY LLP Michigan Practice
FEBRUARY 2017
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ARCHIVE
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SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS AT RISK IN NEW QUICKBOOKS PHISHING SCAM By Amrit Dhillon, CPA
The Better Business Bureau has learned that scammers are now targeting small business owners with phishing emails using QuickBooks software as bait. Emails are being sent with the subject line "QuickBooks Support: Change Request". The message is "confirming" that the business name was changed with Intuit, QuickBooks' manufacturer, even though no such request was made. The email contains a link to cancel the name change request. The link will download malware onto the user's device to obtain passwords or sensitive information, which could lead to identity theft. Similar scams are also utilizing personal tax software or banks as bait. Here are some helpful ways to identify phishing emails:
- Check the reply email address; the address should have a company domain
- Check the destination of the link; hovering over a link without clicking on it will show the web address of where you will be directed
- Consider how the company normally contacts you; be suspicious if they usually reach you through mail and you receive an email
- Be cautious of generic emails; scammers will include little information to capture a larger group
- Don't believe what you see; scammer can easily copy logos to make emails look legitimate
- Have a process in the office; educate employees on how to identify and handle suspicious emails
UHY Advisors can help assess your risk and develop the training and awareness program you need to avoid falling victim these scams. Contact your professional in Detroit 313 964 1040, Farmington Hills 248 355 0280 or Sterling Heights 586 254 8141.
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UHY ADVISORS APPOINTS SIX NEW MANAGING DIRECTORS, TWO FROM MICHIGAN PRACTICE
UHY Advisors announces the appointment of six new managing directors: Cynthia Hannafey, Stacey Massa, Pamela May, Keith Moore, Marian Shaw and Paul Truber. May and Moore are both from the Michigan practice. Click here to see the full press release. |
PROPOSED DEPENDENCY RULE CHANGESBy Michelle Moore, CPA The IRS has proposed several rule changes that could bode well for taxpayers. The biggest proposed change would affect the earned income tax credit that has been in effect since 1994.The current rule states that if a dependent meets the "qualifying child" test for more than one taxpayer, only one taxpayer can claim the earned income tax credit. This makes the other taxpayer ineligible for the reduced earned income tax credit for childless tax payers. With the proposed changes both taxpayers are eligible to claim the earned income tax credit; one can claim the full portion of the credit and the other can claim the reduced credit for childless taxpayers if certain requirements are met. The IRS has also proposed updates to the dependency rules in order to align them more with the modifications made by the Working Families Tax Relief Act of 2004 (WFTRA). The most notable of the changes involves the adoption of a child. The regulation proposes that the word "taxpayer" should be replaced with "person", this way any child legally adopted by a person is treated as a child by blood for all relationship tests. This would prevent a situation where only the "taxpayer" that is claiming the dependency exemption for the adopted child is recognized as the person who adopted the child. The proposed regulations would also affect the head of household status to reflect the changes made by WFTRA. The proposed regulation removes the requirement of "maintaining a household" in order to claim the dependent care credit, opening it up for more taxpayers to be eligible for this credit. These proposed regulations can be applied to any open tax years, even though they will not be officially in effect until after the final regulations are published in the Federal Register. For more information regarding the proposed dependency regulation changes, please contact your professional at UHY LLP in Detroit 313 964 1040, Farmington Hills 248 355 1040 or Sterling Heights 586 254 1040, or visit us on the web at www.uhy-us.com.
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UHY TENURE RECOGNITIONS Please join us in celebrating several employees who have reached career milestones this past quarter: Mark Kaminski, 35 years Carol Hoffman, 15 years Alissa Jurek, 10 years Jennifer Kime, 10 years Amber Sutter, 10 years Denise Amadio, 5 years Ali Baydoun, 5 years Preston Bencsik, 5 years Fattmah Ettaher, 5 years Kim Gilliam, 5 years
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FASB ISSUES ASU 2017-01: CLARIFYING THE DEFINITION OF A BUSINESS
By Jeremy Bamford
The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) released Accounting Standards Update (ASU) 2017-01 in order to have more consistent application of accounting principles relating to business and asset acquisitions and disposals. The ASU aims to achieve this by clarifying the definition of a business with the objective of adding guidance to assist entities with evaluating whether transactions should be accounted for as acquisitions (or disposals) of assets or businesses. There are far reaching consequences to the update as it impacts a number of areas of accounting such as acquisitions, disposals, goodwill and consolidation.
A key difference in the clarification of the definition of business in the ASU is changing the definitions of the three components of a business which form an integrated set of activities: inputs, processes and outputs. Some of the changes include modifying the definitions of inputs and processes from possessing 'the ability to create outputs' to 'the ability to contribute to the creation of outputs'. The definition of output has also been expanded to include 'goods and services to customers, investment income (such as dividends or interest) or other revenues.'
In addition to modifying the definition of a business, the ASU provides guidelines on when an integrated set of activities and assets would be considered a business. The accounting treatment can vary depending on whether the assets acquired are recognized and measured as a single identifiable asset or a group of similar identifiable assets. There is also a framework within the ASU for when an integrated set of activities does not include outputs.
The ASU amendments will apply to public business entities for annual periods beginning after Dec.15, 2017, including interim periods within those periods. For all other entities, the ASU amendments will apply to annual periods beginning after Dec.15, 2018 and interim periods within annual periods beginning after Dec.15, 2019. Early application of the ASU amendments is allowed in certain instances where a transaction occurs before the effective date of the ASU if the transaction has not yet been reported in financial statements that have been either issued or made available for issuance.
For more information, contact your professional at UHY LLP in Detroit 313 964 1040, Farmington Hills 248 354 1040 or Sterling Heights 586 254 1040, or visit us on the web at www.uhy-us.com.
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EVENTS CALENDAR
2/7 AUTOMOTIVE UPDATE
Save the date for the 2017 Automotive Update on Tuesday, February 7 from 7:30-10AM at UHY's training center in Sterling Heights. Discussions include legislative update, automotive outlook and M&A. This complimentary seminar is brought to you by Michigan Manufacturers Association (MMA), Sterling Heights Regional Chamber of Commerce (SHRCCI), UHY LLP and LMC Automotive. Click here to register.
2/16 UHY CARES TENTH ANNUAL D.M.G.C. TEXAS HOLD 'EM TOURNAMENT
We hope you can once again join us for a fun night of cards and networking for a great cause! This year's charity poker tournament will be held on Thursday, February 16 at The Iroquois Club. Registration is at 6. Game starts promptly at 7. $100 buy-in and $50 re-buy. Contact Jessica Labut to save your spot! Cash, check or credit card contributions accepted in advance or at the door. Sponsorship opportunities available. UHY Cares in cooperation with UHY LLP, the D.M.G.C. and the McCarty family hope to see you there!
3/9 UHY LLP Nonprofit Cybersecurity Workshop
The "human firewall" is now more important than ever for effective cybersecurity. Technology is no longer enough. Phishing, vishing and email compromise are billion dollar threats to businesses of all sizes. Learn how to strengthen your organization's human firewall and why cybersecurity is important for nonprofits at the UofM Detroit Center on Thursday, March 19 from 8:30-10:30AM. Two hours of A&A CPE (qualifies for Yellow Book credit) is available. Pre-registration for this complimentary breakfast program is required. To RSVP contact Jessica Labut.
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Our firm provides the information in this newsletter as tax information and general business or economic information or analysis for educational purposes, and none of the information contained herein is intended to serve as a solicitation of any service or product. This information does not constitute the provision of legal advice, tax advice, accounting services, investment advice, or professional consulting of any kind. The information provided herein should not be used as a substitute for consultation with professional tax, accounting, legal, or other competent advisors. Before making any decision or taking any action, you should consult a professional advisor who has been provided with all pertinent facts relevant to your particular situation. Tax articles in this newsletter are not intended to be used, and cannot be used by any taxpayer, for the purpose of avoiding accuracy-related penalties that may be imposed on the taxpayer. The information is provided "as is," with no assurance or guarantee of completeness, accuracy, or timeliness of the information, and without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including but not limited to warranties of performance, merchantability, and fitness for a particular purpose.
UHY Advisors, Inc. provides tax and business consulting services through wholly owned subsidiary entities that operate under the name of "UHY Advisors." UHY Advisors, Inc. and its subsidiary entities are not licensed CPA firms. UHY LLP is a licensed independent CPA firm that performs attest services in an alternative practice structure with UHY Advisors, Inc. and its subsidiary entities. UHY Advisors, Inc. and UHY LLP are U.S. members of Urbach Hacker Young International Limited, a UK company, and form part of the international UHY network of legally independent accounting and consulting firms. "UHY" is the brand name for the UHY international network. Any services described herein are provided by UHY Advisors and/or UHY LLP (as the case may be) and not by UHY or any other member firm of UHY. Neither UHY nor any member of UHY has any liability for services provided by other members.
Published by UHY LLP News. Copyright � 2017 UHY LLP. All rights reserved. |
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