Archives for cpa

WFY Hosts MGI North America West Coast Area Meeting

On January 4th, Wright Ford Young & Co. hosted the MGI North America West Coast Area Meeting at our offices in Irvine, CA. Joe Tarasco, Regional Director, and Nancy Damato, Director of Marketing, starting the meeting off by talking about key points such as MGI North America new member recruiting initiatives and activities, marketing assessment calls/web meetings with MGI North America members, a guide about foreign companies doing business in United States, and upcoming conferences. The meeting continued with discussions concentrating on MGI firm collaboration and practice management updates along with topics including business development, technical and niche areas, succession
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Categories: Industry News and Newsletter and Updates.

When Does a Resident Become a Nonresident?

According to a recent SFGate poll, 53% of Bay Area residents interviewed want to leave California.(1) We have been hearing similar comments from seminar attendees across the state, and we know many of you have clients who are attempting to “move out of California.” Keep in mind, one of the FTB’s longest running, and most active, audit programs is the residency audit program. The FTB looks closely at a taxpayer who moves from California, and often they are high income taxpayers who have large amounts of income after they change their residency to another state. However, lower income taxpayers can
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Categories: Newsletter and Updates.

New Partnership Audit Rules for 2018 Tax Filing Year

For the 2018 tax filing year, there are new Internal Revenue Service (IRS) partnership audit rules [also adopted by the California Franchise Tax Board (FTB)] in which the partnership, not its members, will now be responsible for tax adjustments under audit. There is a very narrowly defined opt-out provision that many partnerships do not qualify for.  Please consider amending the partnership operating agreement to designate a “partnership representative” to represent the company in disputes with the IRS or the FTB.  Also, you should consider including language regarding the responsibility of tax audit adjustments pursuant to the three allowable methods: “amend”,
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Categories: Newsletter and Updates.

Estate & Trust Department Welcomes Three New Hires

As tax season starts, WFY welcomes three new hires to our Estate & Trust department: Lisa Marking, Heena Shah, and Ann Doan.  We are pleased to welcome these new hires to the WFY team. Lisa Marking Lisa Marking joined Wright Ford Young & Co.’s Estate & Trust department as an Estate & Trust manager.  She went to Pepperdine University to receive her undergraduate degree as well as her law degree.  Lisa also attended University of Southern California to receive her Master’s degree in Taxation.  During her free time, Lisa likes to travel and attending music concerts. Heena Shah This month,
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Categories: Newsletter and Updates.

Rental Real Estate Owners-Guidance Related to the 20% Pass-through Deduction

On January 18, 2019, the IRS issued a notice providing “safe harbor” conditions under which rental real estate activities will be treated as a trade or business for purposes of the IRC Section 199A deduction. To qualify for the safe harbor: Separate Books and records must be maintained for each rental real estate enterprise. At least 250 hours of rental services must be performed by the taxpayer and/or workers for the taxpayer during the tax year for each rental real estate enterprise.  To clarify, a real estate enterprise may be one rental or multiple rentals.  Commercial and residential rentals cannot
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Categories: Industry News and Newsletter and Updates.

New International Tax Laws Now in Effect Under TCJA

Under the new tax changes for The Tax Cuts and Job Act (TJCA) there were several new provisions that impact US companies performing business internationally.  Below are few selected key provisions. Under the Foreign Derived Intangible Income, or FDII, a deduction is created for certain foreign income earned by U.S. companies. This only applies to U.S. C-corporations with either a U.S. or foreign parent with an incentive to use U.S. workers.  In result, this creates a preferential rate of 13.125% on qualifying foreign income, or QFI.  QFI includes income derived from sale of property to foreign sources and, also, includes
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Categories: Industry News and Newsletter and Updates.

WFY Grows Tax Department Before 2018 Tax Season

WFY grows their firm with eight new hires: Michael Montgomery, Jennifer Nguyen, Karla Young, Alice Wang, Jeff Hwang, Linh Trinh, and Farheen Kolsy.  All these new hires are joining WFY’s tax department as tax staff or tax interns.  WFY is pleased to welcome these new hires to the WFY team. Michael Montgomery Joining the WFY tax staff is Michael Montgomery. Michael graduated from CSU Fullerton in 2015 and has a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, with a concentration on Accounting.  With his experience in accounting, he has mainly worked in offices that specialize in small businesses and individuals.  During the
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Categories: Newsletter and Updates.

New IRS Partnership Audit Rules Prompt New Look at Operating Agreement

The IRS introduced a new set of partnership auditing rules which take effect in the financial year 2018 and are meant to make it easier for the agency to uncover and collect underpaid taxes from partnership entities.  The previous audit system was challenging for the IRS because it was difficult to pin down who owed the tax under a complex partnership structure. Small partnerships with less than 100 members can opt out if no partner is a pass-through entity. The IRS will begin reviewing tax filings in line with the new procedure in 2019, so audits could start as soon
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Categories: Industry News and Newsletter and Updates.

Making Large Gifts Now Won’t Harm Estates After 2025

On November 20th, the IRS announced individuals taking advantage of the increased gift and estate tax exclusion amounts in effect from 2018 to 2025 will not be adversely impacted after 2025 when the exclusion amount is scheduled to drop to levels before 2018. The Treasury Department and the IRS issued proposed regulations which implement changes made by the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA).  As a result, individuals planning to make large gifts between 2018 and 2025 can do so without concern that they will lose the tax benefit of the higher exclusion level once it decreases after 2025.
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Categories: Industry News and Newsletter and Updates.

Tax Saving Moves to Improve Your Tax Situation

Since 2018 is coming to a close now is the time to take action to proactively reduce your tax liability before the new year.  Included are a few strategies that may help with your tax situation: Harvest stock losses while substantially preserving one’s investment position. This can be accomplished by selling the shares and buying other shares in the same company or another company in the same industry to replace them, or by selling the original shares, then buying back the same securities at least 31 days later. Apply a bunching strategy to deductible contributions and/or payments of medical expenses. Beginning
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Categories: Industry News and Newsletter and Updates.