Dear Valued Client,
The month of June was a busy month at CHP. Brain Romine participated in a three day government contracting seminar as an accounting expert. Fred Hollida, Tony Price and Brian Romine also attended an investment seminar in Detroit, Michigan representing CHP Consulting (the investment entity of CoxHollidaPrice).
This month's newsletter edition provides you with important tax updates and strategies that can save you money. If you have questions regarding any of the articles discussed, please contact our office 304-263-0891.
Now is the best time for a mid-year tax consultation. Our office can help you with all your tax planning needs.
CoxHollidaPrice LLP
CHP Welcomes New Staff Member
CoxHollidaPrice is excited to announce that Dana Fogle joined their team in June as a staff accountant. She graduated from the University of MD with a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration. In her spare time she enjoys gardening, cooking, and her pets. Dana is actively involved in community activities including: Friends in Action of the Eastern Panhandle, Berkeley County Humane Society, and Relay for Life. She is originally from Frederick, MD and currently resides in Falling Waters with her husband Hans.
Save The Date For Romine
As winners of the CHP Puttin for Panhandle Home Health, Brian Romine and his team will be going to New York to play in the National Putt Putt tournament. Stay tuned for the BIG DAY!
Best of the Best
Don't forget to vote for your favorite CPA in the Journal's The Best of the Best!
Tax Treats From CHP
This months tax treat comes from Sharon. It's her famous crock pot hamburger dip!
Crock Pot Hamburger Dip
1 lb. hamburger, cooked and drained
2 cans of Rotel tomatoes (drain some but not all of the juice)
Large block of velveeta cheese
Add cooked hamburger and rotel tomatoes to crock pot let cook on high for 1/2 hour
Cut up velveeta cheese in sections and add to crock pot cook for 1 hour on high, stirring ocassionally, turn crock pot on low, cook for half hour...
Serve with tortilla chips or crackers...
The State of the Estate Tax Reform
Many clients have been asking about the status of the estate tax. Regrettably, there is nothing new to report on this issue for federal purposes.
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Tax Exempts Can Benefit from Health Insurance Credit
A part of the recently enacted health care legislation is the new Small Business Health Insurance Tax Credit for eligible small employers (ESEs) that provide non-elective health insurance to their employees. A qualified small business is one that has 25 or fewer equivalent full-time employees with average annual full-time wages of $50,000 or less. Generally, the credit will be at its maximum for employers with 10 equivalent full-time employees making average full-time wages of $25,000.
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Reasonable Compensation is Becoming a Hot Issue
Corporate officers will sometimes attempt to disguise what should be payment for services as distributions of cash, dividends, and loans as a means of avoiding payroll taxes on the income.
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2010 is the Last Year for the Lean Burn Vehicle Credit
2010 is the final year during which taxpayers can purchase an advanced lean burn technology vehicle and claim a tax credit for the purchase.
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Hiring Family Members in a Family Business
In today’s tough job market, students seeking summer employment, young adults looking for full-time employment, and college graduates looking to begin their careers are finding it difficult to land a job.
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Big Break for Adoptive Parents
As part of the Health Care Legislation passed earlier this year, the credit for expenses of adopting a child was increased and made refundable. Prior to this change, the credit was non-refundable and could only be used to reduce the adoptive parent’s tax to zero, with any unused portion of the credit carried over for up to five years and used against future years’ tax.
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Having a Bad Year? You May Qualify for the Earned Income Credit.
Many individuals find themselves earning less during these troubled economic times than in years past. As a result, they may qualify for a credit that they previously were not entitled to because of income limitations.
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Misclassifying Workers Can Be Costly!
With the current economy, and not always knowing what lies ahead, most business owners and executives tend to be financially conservative and preserve the cash of the business.
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More Details – Health Insurance Coverage for a Child under Age 27
The Department of Health Services and the Treasury Department have recently released additional guidance and details related to the health insurance coverage for a child under the age of 27. Before the passage of the Affordable Care Act into law, many health plans and issuers could remove adult children from their parents' policies because of their age, whether or not they were a student, or where they lived. Under this new law, plans and issuers that offer dependent coverage will be required to make the coverage available until an adult child reaches the age of 26.
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Three New Information Reporting Tools Being Added By the IRS
The IRS has long used information reporting as a tool to enforce compliance with the tax laws. This is done in a variety of ways. Information reporting provides the IRS with the ability to perform vast numbers of compliance checks using their computer system.
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Declare Your Independence From Security Worries: Use QuickBooks’ Protection Tools
If there’s one application that you don’t want compromised by a security breach, it’s the one that contains all of your financial information. Recognizing that, Intuit has built a number of security features into QuickBooks that are designed safeguard your debits and credits.
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Exemption for a Child
Generally, the custodial parent is the one that is entitled to deduct the exemption for a child unless the custodial parent releases the exemption. The release (IRS provides form 8332 for this purpose) must be a written declaration, and it must be unconditional (no strings attached, such as requiring the non-custodial parent to meet support payment obligations). If both parents were to claim the children as dependents, the IRS’s computer matching program is designed to flag both of the parent's returns, and send each a notice requiring substantiation for the claim. The IRS would assess additional tax, as well as penalties and interest, if the facts do not support the parent as the one entitled to the exemption.
