February 10

Employees – who work for tips. If you received $20 or more in tips during January, report them to your employer. You can use Form 4070.

Employers – Social Security, Medicare, and withheld income tax. File Form 941 for the fourth quarter of 2016. This due date applies only if you deposited the tax for the quarter in full and on time.

Farm Employers – File Form 943 to report Social Security and Medicare taxes and withheld income tax for 2016. This due date applies only if you deposited the tax for the year in full and on time.

Certain Small Employers – File Form 944 to report Social Security and Medicare taxes and withheld income tax for 2016. This tax due date applies only if you deposited the tax for the year in full and on time.

Employers – Nonpayroll taxes. File Form 945 to report income tax withheld for 2016 on all nonpayroll items. This due date applies only if you deposited the tax for the year in full and on time.

Employers – Federal unemployment tax. File Form 940 for 2016. This due date applies only if you deposited the tax for the year in full and on time.

February 15

Employers – Social Security, Medicare, and withheld income tax. If the monthly deposit rule applies, deposit the tax for payments in January.

Employers – Nonpayroll withholding. If the monthly deposit rule applies, deposit the tax for payments in January.

Individuals – If you claimed exemption from income tax withholding last year on the Form W-4 you gave your employer, you must file a new Form W-4 by this date to continue your exemption for another year.

All businesses. Give annual information statements to recipients of certain payments you made during 2016. You can use the appropriate version of Form 1099 or other information return.

February 16

Employers – Begin withholding income tax from the pay of any employee who claimed exemption from withholding in 2016, but did not give you a new Form W-4 to continue the exemption this year.

February 28

Businesses – File information returns (Form 1099) for certain payments you made during 2016. These payments are described under January 31. There are different forms for different types of payments. Use a separate Form 1096 to summarize and transmit the forms for each type of payment. See the 2016 Instructions for Forms 1099, 1098, 5498, and W-2G for information on what payments are covered, how much the payment must be before a return is required, what form to use, and extensions of time to file.

If you file Forms 1097, 1098, 1099, 3921, 3922, or W-2G electronically (except Form 1099-MISC reporting nonemployee compensation), your due date for filing them with the IRS will be extended to March 31. The due date for giving the recipient these forms is still January 31.

Payers of Gambling Winnings – File Form 1096, Annual Summary and Transmittal of U.S. Information Returns, along with Copy A of all the Forms W-2G you issued for 2016. If you file Forms W-2G electronically (not by magnetic tape), your due date for filing them with the IRS will be extended to March 31. The due date for giving the recipient these forms remains January 31.

Large Food and Beverage Establishment Employers – with employees who work for tips. File Form 8027, Employer’s Annual Information Return of Tip Income and Allocated Tips. Use Form 8027-T, Transmittal of Employer’s Annual Information Return of Tip Income and Allocated Tips, to summarize and transmit Forms 8027 if you have more than one establishment. If you file Forms 8027 electronically (not by magnetic tape), your due date for filing them with the IRS will be extended to March 31.

Health Coverage Reporting – If you’re an Applicable Large Employer, file paper Forms 1094-­C, Transmittal of Employer–Provided Health Insurance Offer and Coverage Information Returns, and 1095-­C with the IRS. For all other providers of minimum essential coverage, file paper Forms 1094-­B, Transmittal of Health Coverage Information Returns, and 1095-­B with the IRS. If you’re filing any of these forms with the IRS electronically, your due date for filing them will be extended to March 31.

March 1

Farmers and Fishermen – Farmers and fishermen. File your 2016 income tax return (Form 1040) and pay any tax due. However, you have until April 18 to file if you paid your 2016 estimated tax by January 17, 2017.

• By Leon Clinton
• February 1, 2017

For the past year, you’ve been faithfully creating new records, entering transactions, and recording payments. You’ve run basic reports. You’ve done your collection duties. You may have even paid employees and submitted payroll taxes.

Now that another year has come and gone, if you haven’t done so, it’s time to wrap and review those work tasks that should have been completed by December 31. First up is your annual QuickBooks wrap-up.

Create and send year-end statements.

Figure 1: As your customers wrap up 2016, too, it’s good to send statements to past-due accounts.

In an ideal world, all of the invoices that were due in December would be paid off by the end of the year. We all know that that’s not usually the reality. Two reports can help you here: the A/R Aging Summary and Open Invoices.

If you didn’t give everyone a chance to clear their accounts before December 31 by sending statements, do so now. Click Statements on the Home page (or Customers | Create Statements) to open the window pictured above.

You have multiple options here that are fairly self-explanatory. The screen above is set up to create statements for all customers who have an open balance as of the date you select, but not for inactive customers or those with a zero balance or no account activity.

That way, no one who’s paid in full to date will receive a statement. Of course, if you didn’t want statements created for anyone who’s less than 30 days past due, you’d click in the box in front of Include only transactions over and enter a “30” in the following field.

Tip: You can also find out who is overdue by clicking on the Customers tab in the left vertical pane to open the Customer Information screen. Click on the down arrow to the right of the field just below Customers & Jobs. QuickBooks provides several filters for your list.

Reduce your inventory.

Figure 2: Want to discount all or selected items in your inventory by the same percentage or amount? Open the Customers menu and click Change Item Prices.

If you only sell a few products, you probably already know what didn’t sell well in 2016. If your stable of products is larger, you can run QuickBooks reports like Inventory Stock Status by Item and Sales by Item Detail to identify your slow-sellers and discount them now. You may need to filter your reports to see the right data. Please call to discuss customization options if you’re unsure of how to do this.

Clean up your contact lists.

If you don’t maintain your customer and vendor lists, you’ll eventually start wasting time scrolling through them when you enter transactions. So this would be a good time to designate those contacts that you’ve not dealt with in 2016 as Inactive (you can delete their records entirely, but we advise against that). Simply open a Customer record, for example, and click the small pencil icon in the upper right to edit it. Click on the box in front of Customer is inactive.

Send holiday greetings to customers and vendors.

If you didn’t get around to doing this last month, then consider sending a greeting in January (Best Wishes for a Successful 2017!) when your customers’ and vendors’ lives have slowed down a bit. You’re less likely to get lost in the crowd. If your lists are short enough, personalize these cards as much as possible. At least sign them by hand if you can.

Tip: You can print customer labels for your cards directly from QuickBooks. Open the File menu and then click Print Forms | Labels.

Run advanced reports.

Finally, if you’re not already using a QuickBooks professional to create and analyze advanced financial reports (found in the Accountant & Taxes submenu of Reports) monthly or quarterly, then you should be. They’re important, and they give you insight into your business financials that you can’t get on your own. Please call if you need assistance with this task.

Thank you for being a client in 2016 and best wishes for a successful 2017!

• By Leon Clinton
• January 30, 2017

Everyone wants to save money on their taxes, and older Americans are no exception. If you’re age 50 or older, here are seven tax tips that could help you do just that.

1. Standard Deduction for Seniors. If you and/or your spouse are 65 years old or older and you do not itemize your deductions, you can take advantage of a higher standard deduction amount. There is an additional increase in the standard deduction if either you or your spouse is blind.

2. Credit for the Elderly or Disabled. If you and/or your spouse are either 65 years or older–or under age 65 years old and are permanently and totally disabled–you may be able to take the Credit for Elderly or Disabled. The Credit is based on your age, filing status, and income and you must file using Form 1040 or Form 1040A to receive the Credit for the Elderly or Disabled. You cannot get the Credit for the Elderly or Disabled if you file using Form 1040EZ.

You may only take the credit if you meet the following requirements:

In 2016 your income on Form 1040 line 38 must be less than $17,500 ($20,000 if married filing jointly and only one spouse qualifies), $25,000 (married filing jointly and both qualify), or $12,500 (married filing separately and lived apart from your spouse for the entire year).

and

The non-taxable part of your Social Security or other nontaxable pensions, annuities or disability income is less than $5,000 (single, head of household, or qualifying widow/er with dependent child); $5,000 (married filing jointly and only one spouse qualifies); $7,500 (married filing jointly and both qualify); or $3,750 (married filing separately and lived apart from your spouse the entire year).

3. Medical and Dental Expenses Deduction. Starting in 2013, the amount of allowable medical expenses taxpayers must exceed before claiming medical expense deductions is 10 percent of adjusted gross income (AGI).

However, for tax years 2013 to 2016, the AGI threshold is still 7.5 percent of your AGI if you or your spouse is age 65 or older. You can only claim your medical and dental expenses if you itemize deductions on your federal tax return. You can’t claim these expenses if you take the standard deduction. You can include only the expenses you paid in 2016. If you paid by check, the day you mailed or delivered the check is usually considered the date of payment.

4. Retirement account limits increase. Once you reach age 50, you are eligible to contribute (and defer paying tax on) up to $24,000 in 2017 (same as 2016). The amount includes the additional $6,000 “catch up” contribution for employees aged 50 and over who participate in 401(k), 403(b), most 457 plans, and the federal government’s Thrift Savings Plan.

5. Early Withdrawal penalty eliminated. If you withdraw money from an IRA account before age 59 1/2 you generally must pay a 10 percent penalty (there are exceptions–call for details); however, once you reach age 59 1/2, there is no longer a penalty for early withdrawal. Furthermore, if you leave or are terminated from your job at age 55 or older (age 50 for public safety employees), you may withdraw money from a 401(k) without penalty–but you still have to pay tax on the additional income. To complicate matters, money withdrawn from an IRA is not exempt from the penalty.

6. Social Security Benefits. Americans can sign up for social security benefits as early as age 62–or wait to receive full benefits at age 66 or 67 (depending on your full retirement age). For some older Americans however, social security benefits may be taxable. How much of your income is taxed depends on the amount of your benefits plus any other income you receive. Generally, the more income you have coming in, the more likely it is that a portion of your social security benefits will be taxed. Therefore, when preparing your return, it is advisable to be especially careful when calculating the taxable amount of your Social Security.

7. Higher Income Tax Filing Threshold. Taxpayers who are 65 and older are allowed an income of $1,550 more ($1,250 married filing jointly) in 2016 before they need to file an income tax return. In other words, older taxpayers age 65 and older with income of $11,850 ($23,100 married filing jointly) or less may not need to file a tax return.

Don’t hesitate to call the office if you have any questions about these and other tax deductions and credits available for older Americans.

• By Leon Clinton
• January 27, 2017