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WFY Sponsors Veterans Legal Institute’s American Patriots Ball

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On Saturday, September 22nd, some of Wright Ford Young & Co.’s Partners attended Veterans Legal Institute’s The American Patriots Ball, an event honoring and celebrating veteran empowerment.  Veterans Legal Institute is an organization that provides pro bono legal assistance to homeless, at risk, disabled and low income current and former service members.

The Ball included hundreds of community and business leaders that gathered on Saturday which featured dancing, dining, and a live auction.

Not only did WFY sponsor the event, they also commended the following honorees and organizations: Philip V. Brozenick for Veteran of the Year, Rochelle Karr for Veteran Advocate of the Year, OC Women2Women for Community Partner of the Year, and Veterans Legal Institute.

To find out more about The American Patriots Ball and Veterans Legal Institute, go to https://www.vetslegal.com/

Landmark SCOTUS Decision on Sales Tax Collection Requirements

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The U.S. Supreme Court recently issued a ruling that could have a dramatic impact on American retailers, and not only those who primarily operate on the Internet.  In what has been called the Wayfair sales tax case, the court on June 21, 2 018 said that states can impose sales taxes on businesses even if they do not have a physical presence in the state.

The ruling effectively overturns Quill Corp. v. North Dakota, which was a Supreme Court decision handed down in 1992.  In that case, the court said that the Commerce Clause in the U.S. Constitution forbids states from imposing sales tax on companies without a physical presence.  The court said that states could only impose sales tax on a company if it had an actual location in the state, or if it had another bright-line physical presence, such as in-state employees, inventory, or sales representative in the state.

South Dakota, in the Wayfair sales tax case, bypassed interstate commerce restrictions in a law that it enacted back in 2016, called S. B. 106. Justice Anthony Kennedy, who wrote the majority decision for the court in this case, said that the South Dakota law was constitutional because of the following reasons:

  • The law allows out-of-state companies to be exempt from sales taxes if they only do limited business in the state. That is, if they have less than $100,000 in sales revenue and less than 200 transactions in a calendar year;
  • The law does not try to collect sales tax retroactively; and
  • South Dakota abides by the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement, which reduces compliance and administrative costs associated with collecting sales tax.

Essentially, the court allowed South Dakota to collect sales taxes from Internet retailers because its law did not place a significant burden on interstate commerce.  Currently, 31 states have laws that impose sales taxes based on economic, as opposed to physical presence nexus standards. While it is possible that not all these laws pass the standard set by Wayfair, the court has now given them guidance toward making their laws constitutional.  Furthermore, it can be expected that other states will impose similar laws in the future.

On the federal level, there are two bills currently making their way through congress that will let states impose sales taxes on out-of-state entities.  Both the Marketplace Fairness Act (MFA) and the Remote Transactions Parity Act (RTPA) allow states to collect sales taxes if they keep the process of paying the taxes simple.

Because of the court’s decision, it is important for retailers selling into multiple states to understand in which states it has sales tax obligations, which will require it to both register and file taxes in these states.  Fortunately, if your business operates in multiple states, you do not have to figure all this out by yourself.

If you have questions regarding your sales tax filing requirements, please call 949-910-2727 or email info@cpa-wfy.com.

© Copyright 2018. All rights reserved. 

California Competes Tax Credit

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The California Competes Tax Credit is an income tax credit for businesses wanting to stay and grow in California. The purpose is to attract and retain employers in California industries with high economic multipliers and that provide their employees good wages and benefits. Any business can apply.

The credit applies to any type of business expecting to increase headcount and/or make a capital investment in California.  Businesses compete for these tax credits by asking for a percentage return on investment.

California plans to grant $230 Million in Cal Competes tax credits to California businesses over three separate application rounds in 2018.  Typically, a business can get up to 20% ROI.

If you think your company may qualify for this tax credit and would like to learn more about how to take advantage of this cost savings opportunity, please contact us today at srobinson@cpa-wfy.com or call 949-910-2727.

© Copyright 2018. All rights reserved. 

WFY Expands Firm with Three New Hires

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Wright Ford Young & Co. continues to grow the firm with three new hires: Andrew Abeyta, Cameron Lee, and Jennifer Nguyen.  All three are the newest additions to WFY’s Tax Department.  WFY is pleased to welcome these new hires to the WFY team.

Andrew Abeyta

In the beginning of July, Wright Ford Young & Co. welcomed Andrew Abeyta as Tax Staff. He graduated from Cal State Fullerton in 2016 and jumped into public accounting straight after that. Andrew’s previous experience in accounting includes working at another CPA firm after college. In his spare time, he’s passionate about photography and teaches 5th & 6th grade Sunday school at his church.

Cameron Lee

This month, Wright Ford Young & Co. had the pleasure of adding Cameron Lee as one of the newest Tax Staff. Before coming to WFY, Cameron graduated from Cal State Fullerton with his Bachelor’s degree in accounting, worked as an intern at another tax firm and worked in finance as a loan officer. Outside of the office, he enjoys volunteering and playing in a city basketball league.

Jennifer Nguyen

In mid-July, Jennifer Nguyen joined the Wright Ford Young & Co. team as a Tax Intern. She’s currently a senior at Cal State Fullerton and plans to graduate this fall with a degree in Business Administration with an emphasis on Accounting. Jennifer’s previous tax experience includes working as a Tax Administrative Assistant at a family office for 2 years. In her spare time, she likes volunteering and fostering cats from OC Animal Care in Tustin.

IRS To Issue More ACA Penalties

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The IRS began issuing Affordable Care Act penalty assessments in its Letter 226J tax notice in November 2017. These notices are being sent to employers who the IRS identified through its recently developed Affordable Care Act Compliance Validation System “ACV” System, as having failed to comply with the ACA’s employer mandate.  So far, the IRS has issued more than 30,000 of these notices containing employer shared responsibility payments (ESRPs) assessments of more than $4.4 billion.

Under the ACA, organizations with 50 or more full-time employees and full-time equivalent employees, are required to offer minimum essential coverage to at least 95% of their full-time workforce (and their dependents) whereby such coverage meets minimum value and is affordable for the employee or be subject to IRS 4980H penalties. These organizations are referred to by the IRS as applicable large employers (ALEs).

According to the latest report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA), the IRS identified 318,296 organizations that qualified as ALEs for 2015. Of that amount, TIGTA reports that 49,259 are at risk for compliance action by the IRS. Employers who have not yet received a Letter 226J penalty notice for 2015 should not breathe a sigh of relief yet.  There are still more Letter 226J penalty notices to be issued for 2015.

The TIGTA report also indicated that the IRS now has the data to begin the analysis to calculate the potential ESRPs for tax year 2016 to be issued to those ALEs determined not to be in compliance with the ACA.  TIGTA reports that the IRS has spent over $2.8 million to improve the process for identifying, calculating, and processing ALEs who are not in compliance with the ESRP.

As the IRS improves its ACA enforcement process, employers need to assess their potential risk of receiving IRS penalties for not complying with the ACA.  We find many vendors are not providing clients with copies of their filed 1094-C, 1095C, and Receipt IDs provided by the IRS for the 2015-2017 tax years.  Consider undertaking a spot audit of your IRS information filings for 2015, 2016 and 2017. We are providing this service at no cost to your business by working with First Capitol Consulting.

To see how this program can benefit your company, please contact us at info@cpa-wfy.com or 949-910-2727

WFY Continues to Grow Firm with New Hires

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Wright Ford Young continues to grow the firm with four new hires: Marisa Alvarado, Nicholas Valdez, Collin Sidler, and Cameron Bauer.  Marisa and Nicholas are the newest additions to WFY’s Estates & Trusts Department while Collin and Cameron are the newest additions to the Audit Department.  WFY is pleased to welcome these new hires to the WFY team.

Marisa Alvarado

Wright For Young & Co. welcomed Marisa Alvarado as its Estates & Trusts Tax Partner in June. Marisa has over 30 years of experience in public accounting with the last 20 years in High Net Worth Advanced Estate Planning. She has worked as management at a few of the leading accounting firms including RSM LLP and KPMG LLP. Her specialties consist of tax planning for high net worth clients as well as successful strategies in tax, estate, gift, and succession planning.

Nicholas Valdez

This month, Nicholas Valdez joined Wright Ford Young & Co. as a Family Office Accountant. For the past twelve years, he’s been a family office bookkeeper for high net worth clients. While pursuing his degree in business administration with an emphasis on accounting at Cal Stat University Fullerton, Nicholas worked as a Manager in Golf Services at Shady Canyon Golf Club in Irvine.

Collin Sidler

Collin Sidler joined the Wright Ford Young & Co. team as Audit Staff in May. After achieving his Bachelor’s degree in accounting at Cal State Fullerton, his first job out of college was an Audit Staff at Deloitte. Collin is also a co-founder of a small internet-based start-up company.

Cameron Bauer

This month, we had the pleasure of adding Cameron Bauer to Wright Ford Young & Co. Cameron is a member of the Audit Staff and will be working in Wright Ford Young’s audit department.   He recently graduated from Biola University Crowell School of Business where he played golf for 4 years.

Avoid Scammers: How the IRS Does and Does Not Contact Taxpayers

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In order to help taxpayers avoid scams in which criminals impersonate IRS employees, IRS has issued a Fact Sheet in which it sets out the ways that it does and does not contact taxpayers.  The IRS has been publishing this sheet for years to help taxpayers protect themselves from scammers and the warning signs.

Below are the legitimate ways the IRS employees will contact taxpayers:

IRS initiates most contacts with taxpayers through regular mail delivered by the U.S. Postal Service. However, there are special circumstances in which IRS will call or come to a home or business. Even then, taxpayers will generally first receive a letter or sometimes more than one letter, often called notices, from IRS in the mail.

Reasons the IRS will call or come to a home or business:

  • When a taxpayer has an overdue tax bill,
  • To secure a delinquent tax return or a delinquent employment tax payment, or
  • To tour a business, for example, as part of an audit or during criminal investigations.

Note: All IRS representatives will always provide their official credentials, called a pocket commission and a HSPD-12 card. The HSPD-12 card is a government-wide standard form of reliable identification for federal employees and contractors. Taxpayers have the right to see these credentials. IRS employees can provide an additional method to verify their identification. Upon request, they’re able to provide a toll-free employee verification telephone number.

Below are the legitimate ways the IRS employees will not contact taxpayers:

  • Demand that people use a specific payment method, such as a prepaid debit card, gift card or wire transfer. IRS will not ask for debit or credit card numbers over the phone. People who owe taxes should make payments to the U.S. Treasury or review IRS.gov/payments for IRS online options.
  • Demand immediate tax payment. Normal correspondence begins with a letter in the mail and taxpayers can appeal or question what they owe. All taxpayers are advised to know their rights as a taxpayer.
  • Threaten to bring in local police, immigration officers or other law enforcement agencies to arrest people for not paying. IRS also cannot revoke a license or immigration status. Threats like these are common tactics scam artists use to trick victims into believing their schemes.

Collection employees won’t demand immediate payment to a source other than “U.S. Treasury”.

IRS employees conducting criminal investigations are federal law enforcement agents and will never demand money.

Scammers may, but IRS will not, ask taxpayers about refunds or filing status or ask them to confirm personal information, order transcripts, or verify personal identification numbers.

IRS does not use email, text messages, or social media to discuss tax debts or refunds with taxpayers.

If you have questions about any contact with the IRS, do not hesitate to contact a Wright Ford Young tax specialist.

What Is an Offer in Compromise with the IRS?

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An offer in compromise can make you happy: “Oh boy, the IRS said yes, and my tax debts are over!” Or it can frustrate you. Let’s go over how to navigate the IRS settlement guidelines and see what an OIC entails.

Here’s the good news:

  • An OIC can be a fresh start from your IRS debt.
  • You no longer have to worry that the IRS will seize your wages or bank accounts.
  • Your credit score will no longer show any tax liens against you — the IRS releases them all.
  • IRS collections are put on hold and the compromise is investigated. And then — peace, ah, peace — from IRS certified-mail letters and visits from IRS revenue officers.
  • You put the debt behind you and you can go back to saving for retirement.

But here’s some of the bad news:

  • The IRS will dig deeply into your finances.
  • You have to tell the IRS where you work and bank and you must list your assets, including your house, cars, valuables and retirement accounts.
  • The IRS will look at your paystubs, tax returns, bank statements, business profit and loss statements and proof of payment of monthly bills.
  • After acceptance of the OIC, the IRS will put you on a five-year probation, requiring full compliance in filing and paying taxes. Not playing ball with all IRS expectations will default the settlement.

But wait! It gets even more dicey:

  • An OIC is not a quick fix — it can take the IRS a minimum of nine to 12 months to investigate, and another six months if an appeal is needed. The IRS allows five to 24 months to pay the settlement.
  • If you want to pay credit card, mortgage or car loan monthly bills, think again. The IRS may effectively take over your budgeting.
  • If the IRS determines it can collect what you owe, it will reject your offer, but you can appeal.
  • The settlement amount is not based on fairness, but on collectability.
  • It may not work at all! The IRS recently rejected 60 percent of the offers it received: 41,000 rejections out of a pool of 68,000 submissions!

Let’s see where that leaves us:

  • An OIC can be a wonderful way to rid yourself of the IRS bugging you.
  • You need to consider it from all angles to make sure it’s the right move for you.

A compromise is not the only way to clear the IRS out of your life. The agency can agree that you owe debt, but not force you to repay it — the IRS terms it currently uncollectible and puts you in its bad debt category and leaves you alone. The IRS has 10 years to collect the taxes. You could let the time frame expire rather than compromising. Bankruptcy may be able to eliminate taxes too. See what’s in your best interest.

The point is that you have options, and you should talk to a professional if you’re having tax problems.

© Copyright 2018. All rights reserved. 

Earn Money from California’s Training Subsidy Program

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It’s Free Money, and We Can Help You Get Your Share

Do you provide formal training for your employees? Exciting news: The government wants to chip in. Yes, really. In fact, for the past 35 years the State of California has provided over $1.5 billion in training subsidies to California businesses. Smaller companies can receive up to $50,000 per year and larger companies can receive up to $375,000 per year. Never heard of this program? You’re not alone.

The funding comes from a tax that every for-profit company in the state pays, the Employment Training Tax. This tax generates over $100 million a year that is then given back to companies that successfully apply for the funds.

This is not a tax credit. It’s “free money,” given in the form of a check. The money goes to help companies cover the cost of providing training for their employees so they can more efficiently and profitably do their jobs. Almost any type of training is covered, and there are very few restrictions on who can do the training. Typically most recipient companies simply have their own in-house personnel lead the training sessions.

Examples of eligible training include:

  • Business Skills, such as Leadership, Team Building, Communication, Sales, Marketing or Customer Relations
  • Computer Skills, such as Accounting Software, ERP, MRP, CRM, Scheduling, MS Office and other software needed to run a business
  • Manufacturing Skills, which includes almost anything necessary to produce the product or service

Virtually any for-profit company with a physical location in California can take advantage of this program. And once the state cuts the check they have no hold on how the money is used.

Of course, being that this is a government program there is a lot of paperwork involved, and the learning curve for getting this paperwork figured out is fairly steep. Luckily, we’ve already cracked the code. Because of our experience we can handle over 90% of the work required to receive the funds, thus freeing you to do what you do best—run your company.

To see how this program can benefit your company please contact Jeff Myers at JMYERS@CPA-WFY.com or call 949-910-0122

© Copyright 2018. All rights reserved.