Month: February 2018

Quickbooks

Are You Using QuickBooks’ Reminders?

How do you know when it’s time to pay a bill or follow up on overdue customer payments or print payroll checks? If you are still using a paper calendar and sticky notes and file folders, there is a good chance you are missing some important deadlines on occasion. Manual methods are often not effective (or accurate) enough when you are dealing with your business finances and you could experience the following scenarios:

  • Credit problems.
  • Overextended customers.
  • Unhappy vendors and employees.

If you are missing the mark frequently, you won’t be able to get a true picture of your financial status, and your cash flow will suffer.

Use QuickBooks’ built-in reminders to avoid this unnecessary drama; here is how they work.

Totally Customizable

To start setting up Reminders, open the Edit menu and select Preferences. Click Reminders in the left vertical pane. With the My Preferences tab highlighted, click in the box in front of Show Reminders List when opening a Company file to create a checkmark. Then click on the Company Preferences tab to open this window:


Figure 1: When you’re setting up your Preferences for QuickBooks’ Reminders, you can customize each type in multiple ways.

As you can see in the above image, QuickBooks lets you create reminders for a wide variety of actions. For each, you can indicate whether the Reminders window will display a summary or a list, or whether that particular activity will not be included. For those that are time-sensitive, like Checks to Print, you will also be able to specify how much warning you will get and how many days in advance each item will appear in the Reminders list.

My Preferences vs Company Preferences

If you haven’t worked much with QuickBooks’ Preferences, you may not understand the difference between the two tabs that appear in each window. Only the QuickBooks Administrator can make changes on the Company Preferences page since these affect company-wide settings. All users, though, can change any options that appear in the My Preferences window.

Here is an example of a Preference (General) where all employees can indicate how they want QuickBooks to work for them specifically:


Figure 2: Open the Edit menu and select Preferences, then Generalto open this window. Everyone who uses QuickBooks can set up their Preferences here, but only the administrator can modify Company Preferences.

Using Reminders

If you indicated in My Preferences that you want the Reminderswindow to open every time you open your company file in QuickBooks, it should appear on top of your desktop. If you didn’t, or if you need to see it after you’ve closed it, open the Company menu and select Reminders. A link should also be available in the toolbar.

Using the Reminders tool is like using any other interactive to-do list.


Figure 3: QuickBooks’ Reminders window displays the tasks you need to do today and in the near future. You can click the arrows to the left of each boldfaced category to expand or collapse the list.

The left pane of the window displays tasks that must be done today, while the right shows upcoming tasks. Small arrows to the left of each task category expand and collapse each section when you click on them. Double-click a task (not the category label), and the relevant form or other document opens. When you’ve completed the chore, it will disappear from the list.

There are two icons in the upper right of the window (not pictured here). Click the plus (+) sign, and the Add To Do window opens. You can create six types of to-do items here: call, fax, e-mail, meeting, appointment, and task. Each can be assigned to a customer, vendor, or employee, or earmarked as a lead. You can designate a priority (low, medium, high) and a status (active, inactive, done) to each. You can also assign a time and date due, and enter descriptive details. Each to-do then appears in the appropriate place in QuickBooks.

The other icon, a small gear, opens your Preferences for Reminders.

The mechanics of setting up your Reminders window are not difficult. What can be a challenge is watching your cash flow as all these transactions occur. If you are struggling with that, please call and ask to meet with a QuickBooks expert who will help you develop a plan for keeping your cash flow positive while meeting your financial obligations.

Tax

Owing Back Taxes could Affect Passport Renewal

Starting in February 2018, individuals with “seriously delinquent tax debts” will be subject to a new set of provisions courtesy of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, signed into law in December 2015.

The FAST Act requires the IRS to notify the State Department of taxpayers the IRS has certified as owing a seriously delinquent tax debt and also requires the State Department to deny their passport application or deny renewal of their passport. In certain instances, the State Department may revoke their passport.

Taxpayers affected by this law are those with a seriously delinquent tax debt, generally, an individual who owes the IRS more than $51,000 in back taxes, penalties and interest for which the IRS has filed a Notice of Federal Tax Lien and the period to challenge it has expired, or the IRS has issued a levy.

Taxpayers can avoid having the IRS notify the State Department of their seriously delinquent tax debt by doing the following:

  • Paying the tax debt in full
  • Paying the tax debt timely under an approved installment agreement,
  • Paying the tax debt timely under an accepted offer in compromise,
  • Paying the tax debt timely under the terms of a settlement agreement with the
  • Department of Justice,
  • Having requested or have a pending collection due process appeal with a levy, or
  • Having collection suspended because a taxpayer has made an innocent spouse election or requested innocent spouse relief.

However, a taxpayer’s passport won’t be at risk under this program if an individual:

  • Is in bankruptcy
  • Is identified by the IRS as a victim of tax-related identity theft
  • Has an account that the IRS has determined is currently not collectible due to hardship
  • Is located within a federally declared disaster area
  • Has a request pending with the IRS for an installment agreement
  • Has a pending offer in compromise with the IRS
  • Has an IRS accepted adjustment that will satisfy the debt in full

For taxpayers serving in a combat zone, and who also owe a seriously delinquent tax debt, the IRS postpones notifying the State Department and the individual’s passport is not subject to denial during this time.

Taxpayers who are behind on their tax obligations should come forward and pay what they owe or enter into a payment plan with the IRS and may qualify for one of several relief programs, including the following:

  • Taxpayers can request a payment agreement with the IRS by filing Form 9465, Installment Agreement Request. Taxpayers can download this form from IRS.gov and mail it along with a tax return, bill or notice. Some taxpayers may be eligible to use the online payment agreement to set up a monthly payment agreement for up to 72 months.
  • Financially distressed taxpayers may qualify for an offer in compromise, an agreement between a taxpayer and the IRS that settles the taxpayer’s tax liabilities for less than the full amount owed. The IRS looks at the taxpayer’s income and assets to determine the taxpayer’s ability to pay.

If you owe back taxes and are worried your passport could be revoked because of unpaid taxes, please contact the office.

Tax

Employers: Beware of the Form W-2 Scam

The Form W-2 scam has emerged as one of the most dangerous phishing emails in the tax community. During the last two tax seasons, cybercriminals tricked payroll personnel or people with access to payroll information into disclosing sensitive information for entire workforces.

Last year, more than 200 employers were victimized, resulting in hundreds of thousands of employees with compromised identities. The scam affected all types of employers, from small and large businesses to public schools and universities, hospitals, tribal governments, and charities.

What is a Form W-2?

Employers engaged in a trade or business who pay remuneration for services performed by an employee must file a Form W-2 for each employee from whom:

  • Income, social security, or Medicare tax was withheld.
  • Income tax would have been withheld if the employee had claimed no more than one withholding allowance or had not claimed exemption from withholding on Form W-4, Employee’s Withholding Allowance Certificate.

Additionally, employers must issue W-2s to any employee (including an employee who is related to the employer) who had the following:

  • Non-cash payments of $600 or more for the year
  • Non-cash payments of any amount if any income, social security, or Medicare tax was withheld

The Form W-2 contains the employee’s name, address, Social Security number, income, and withholdings. Criminals use that information to file fraudulent tax returns, or they post it for sale on the DarkNet.

How the Form W-2 Phishing Scam Works

Cybercriminals do their homework, identifying chief operating officers, school executives or others in positions of authority. Using a technique known as business email compromise (BEC) or business email spoofing (BES), fraudsters posing as executives send emails to payroll personnel requesting copies of Forms W-2 for all employees.

In many cases, the email starts off as a friendly exchange before the fraudster asks for all Form W-2 information. In several reported cases, after the fraudsters acquired the workforce information, they immediately followed that up with a request for a wire transfer.

What to do

Employers should be aware that cyber criminals’ scams constantly evolve. Finance and payroll personnel should be alert to any unusual requests for employee data.

If your businesses or organization falls victim to the scam or receives a suspect email but does not fall victim to the scam send the full email headers to phishing@irs.gov and use “W2 Scam” in the subject line.

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