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angels game

WFY Attends Anaheim Angels Game

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On Saturday, August 17th, Wright Ford Young & Co. attended the Anaheim Angels vs. Chicago White Sox game at the Angel Stadium in Anaheim.

Our audit, tax, and all other departments came together to celebrate one of our core values: we have fun!  About 150 friends, family, and employees of WFY attended the exciting game during a perfect day for baseball. Everyone enjoyed the game with popcorn, hot dogs, nachos, and other delicious baseball game treats.

The game started off slow with a tied game by the end of the 2nd inning, but the White Sox took a 4-1 lead by the end of the 3rd inning. The 7th inning came and the Angels scored three runs to get them to a 6-5 lead.  At the top of the 9th inning, the White Sox couldn’t lock down any more runs which ended with an Anaheim Angels victory.

A special thanks to our Partners Kahni Bizub and Jeff Myers for putting this special event together for WFY.

If you’d like to check out upcoming Anaheim Angels games, you can check them out here.

legacy luncheon

E&T Partner Marisa Alvarado Panels OCCF’s 2019 Legacy Luncheon

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On June 12th, our Estates & Trusts Senior Tax Partner, Marisa Alvarado, and some of WFY’s other Estates & Trusts staff attended Orange County Community Foundation’s 2019 Legacy Luncheon at the Pacific Club with many other philanthropists and professional advisors.

The luncheon consisted of learning about other women in philanthropy and acquiring tips to make the most of their charitable planning.  More than 100 people gathered for the event to listen to a panel discussion about charitable planning which Marisa Alvarado was a panelist.

OCCF is a foundation that works with individuals, families and businesses to match charitable interests to community needs and provide grants and resources to nonprofits and monitor local issues. The foundation has also granted more than $560 million to dreamers and doers motivated by their passion for a wide range of causes and issues.

To learn more about the Legacy Luncheon and OCCF, go to OCFF’s website.

 

tax season CPA discussion

The Problems Faced Between You and Your Current CPA This Past Tax Season

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Once the corporate, individual and foundation tax reporting season is complete, there’s always an opportunity to evaluate and reassess the taxpayer’s level of satisfaction with their CPA relationship. Lack of communication, unwanted tax return extensions, incorrectly prepared Schedule K-1’s, and inability to accurately apply the qualified TCJA reform benefits  are just a few of the many frustrations that may have been experienced this past tax season.

Situations can arise in a taxpayer-CPA relationship which makes a taxpayer to question whether or not their current accounting firm is the right fit for them.  Small to mid sized closely held companies and family business owners may feel as though they have outgrown their small practice CPA or might feel under served by their larger accounting firm.  Some of the common situations where Wright Ford Young is referred into a new client relationship have been:

  • Delayed responses from their current CPA or lack of follow up communication that caused their tax returns to be unnecessarily extended.
  • Excessive turnover of accounting firm staff that caused the need for re-training and more work to be completed by company employees.
  • Need for new growth capital, loan or line of credit that requires a company’s financial statements to be audited, reviewed or compiled for the first time.
  • When a company’s employee benefit plan exceeds 100 participants for the first time, thus requiring a qualified ERISA auditor to audit the plan (i.e. 401(k)).
  • When a business owner considers a liquidity event, yet doesn’t want to fully exit the business, the consideration of structuring a tax-friendly ESOP is warranted.
  • The need for a family business owner to take advantage of the new tax strategies relating to personal estate and trust planning.
  • Anytime a company financial leader or family business owner no longer sees a true correlation between the accounting fee they pay and the value of service they receive.

If you are a small to mid-sized company or family business owner who is dissatisfied with your current accounting firm, please contact Wright Ford Young to schedule a no-obligation conversation with one of our audit, tax, or estates and trusts planning specialists.

Spend some time getting to know us and you’ll see how you can achieve compliance without feeling like a number in a “check the box” environment.

Learn how a proactive year-round tax strategy can serve as a valuable improvement vehicle to your profitability, not just a tax time expense.

Understand why estate planning is critical to maximizing your wealth preservation while you are still able to fully enjoy life with your family, not after.

See how our partners and staff are hands-on and better equipped to respond to individual requests from all our clients and not shielded with layers of staff, and realize a true correlation between the fee you pay and the value of service you actually receive.

hires

Estates & Trusts Departments Welcomes Three New Hires

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As tax season starts, WFY welcomes three new hires to our Estates & Trusts 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 Estates and Trusts department as an Estates & Trusts 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, Wright Ford Young & Co. team had the pleasure of Heena Shah joining the Estates & Trusts Department as an Estates & Trusts supervisor.  She comes from a background of 14 years of tax experience specifically in tax compliance and tax planning for high net worth individuals, trusts, and small businesses.  Heena earned her bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from California State University, Dominguez Hills, and is an enrolled agent and a certified financial planner.  On her time off, she enjoys working out, cooking, and traveling.

Ann Doan

At the end of January, Wright Ford Young & Co. welcomed Ann Doan to the Estates and Trusts Department as Estates & Trusts staff.  Ann has a Juris Doctorate degree from Whittier Law School and a Masters of Law in Taxation from Chapman University.  Her experience with taxation includes representing taxpayers in matters before the IRS and California Board of Equalization as well as working in bankruptcy and creditors’ rights litigation. Out of the office, Ann loves to travel internationally and go to vegan food festivals.

If you think you’d be a great addition to WFY, please go to our Careers page and submit your résumé.

Making Large Gifts Now Won’t Harm Estates After 2025

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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.

In general, gift and estate taxes are calculated, using a unified rate schedule, on taxable transfers of money, property and other assets. Any tax due is determined after applying a credit – formerly known as the unified credit – based on an applicable exclusion amount.

The applicable exclusion amount is the sum of the basic exclusion amount (BEA) established in the statute, and other elements (if applicable) described in the proposed regulations. The credit is first used during life to offset gift tax and any remaining credit is available to reduce or eliminate estate tax.

The TCJA temporarily increased the BEA from $5 million to $10 million for tax years 2018 through 2025, with both dollar amounts adjusted for inflation. For 2018, the inflation-adjusted BEA is $11.18 million. In 2026, the BEA will revert to the 2017 level of $5 million as adjusted for inflation.

To address concerns that an estate tax could apply to gifts exempt from gift tax by the increased BEA, the proposed regulations provide a special rule that allows the estate to compute its estate tax credit using the higher of the BEA applicable to gifts made during life or the BEA applicable on the date of death.

To discuss more about your gift and estate tax situation, contact WFY’s Estates and Trusts Partners, Marisa Alvarado and Kevin Wiest, at info@cpa-wfy.com or (949) 910-2727.

© Copyright 2018. All rights reserved.

hiring

WFY is Hiring

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Wright Ford Young & Co. is seeking qualified candidates to join our growing team! We are hiring hard-working, dedicated people who are willing to learn and flourish in their careers.  Full-time positions are available for the following departments:

Tax Department

  • Staff
  • Preparer

Estates & Trusts Department

  • Senior
  • Supervisor
  • Manager

Audit Department

  • Staff

If interested in any of the positions above, please go to our Careers page or directly contact the following:

Tax Department: Richard Huffman, rhuffman@cpa-wfy.com

Estates & Trusts Department: Marisa Alvarado, malvarado@cpa-wfy.com

Audit Department: Jeff Myers, jmyers@cpa-wfy.com

 

 

updates

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.