Bookkeepers Now

12/23/2021

Do you have a bookkeeping team that helps you increase profits and find tax advantages? You could! 954-563-1269

11/11/2021

The newest trend in cybercrime is the use of cybercriminal-controlled call centers to trick you into providing your bank or credit card information. Cybercriminals try to use real people in fake call centers to convince you that a scam is legitimate.

A recent call center scam starts with an email that appears to be an invoice for a very large purchase. It is not clear what company this invoice is from or what was purchased, but the payment amount is listed six times. The email also starts and ends with a line directing you to call their number if you did not authorize the transaction. If you call the number provided, a representative happily offers to refund you. But first, they’ll need your bank or credit card information. Unfortunately, the representative is actually a cybercriminal who plans to use your payment information for their own devious purposes.

Follow these tips to stay safe from this social engineering attack:
🚩The invoice in this attack is specifically designed to cause alarm and frustration. Cybercriminals target your emotions in hopes of tricking you into acting impulsively. Always think before you click.
🚩A valid phone number doesn’t mean that an email is legitimate. Cybercriminals are real people who can lie over the phone, just as they lie in phishing emails.
🚩Instead of calling the provided number, reach out to your bank or credit card company to verify the details of the transaction. If by chance there has been unauthorized usage, your bank or credit card company can help correct the issue.

Stop, Look, and Think. Don't be fooled.

11/09/2021

U.S. Attorney Andrew Birge announced today that Christopher Allan Boden, a/k/a "Captain," of Grand Rapids, and 4 of his associates have pled guilty to various financial crimes. Boden pled guilty to operating an unlicensed money transmitting business, money laundering, and structuring deposits to evade financial institution reporting requirements.

The defendants tried to use cryptocurrency to get around U.S. financial reporting rules and tried to avoid regulations that govern money transfers and bank reporting. "Cryptocurrency is not a license or invitation to commit crime," said U.S. Attorney Birge. "Federal law regulates those who deal in cryptocurrency as it does those who deal in government-issued currency.” He also stated “We will root out and prosecute crypto criminals wherever we find them.”

According to the plea agreements and other public records the defendants operated an unlicensed money transmitting business, and purchased bitcoin from registered exchanges, then laundered it, and then converted it to currency and "structured" deposits of the cash proceeds so as to avoid detection of their operation (and in order to purchase more bitcoin).

The defendants sold more than $740,000 in bitcoin. Defendant’s customers included drug dealers, and he held himself out to be a money launderer, explaining to prospective customers that "people buy from him because he sold "clean" bitcoin, not "dirty" bitcoin that could be traced.
These offenses carry a maximum of up to twenty years in prison. The defendants also are subject to financial penalties.

The Court scheduled the sentencing hearings for February of 2022.

https://www.irs.gov/compliance/criminal-investigation/bitcoin-money-transmitters-and-launderers-plead-guilty

06/23/2021

Find details about the advance Child Tax Credit payments, including how to get them or stop getting them.

11/16/2020

Need help getting your accounting up to date we are only a phone call or zoom meeting away? 800-382-1040

09/04/2020

In the fast-moving world of taxes and COVID-19 and presidential executive orders and memos, the IRS recently provided additional information to the payroll community through a teleconference about the "Deferral of Employee Social Security Taxes" that was scheduled to begin September 1. Here is some information taken from that teleconference that employers will find helpful in sorting out how to deal with the deferral.
https://rmsaccounting.com/questions-regarding-employee-payroll-tax-postponement/

09/03/2020

We thought we would share this from our sister site.

𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗮𝘅 𝗯𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗳𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝗵𝗼𝗺𝗲:

1. The home sale exclusion. If you sell a home you've owned and used as your principal residence for at least two of the five years prior to the sale, you can exclude from tax up to $250,000 of gain for single filers and $500,000 for joint filers.

2. A deduction for mortgage interest. Generally, if you itemize deductions, you can write off mortgage interest paid during the year, subject to certain limits.

3. Property tax deduction. This tax break has been somewhat watered down by the TCJA. Previously, itemizers could generally deduct the full amount of their property taxes. However, for 2018 through 2025, the TCJA limits the deduction for state and local tax (SALT) payments, including property taxes, to $10,000 a year.

4. Rental deductions. Maybe you're renting out a home, like a vacation home or even your main home, if you're not using it. In this case, you're entitled to deduct a generous depreciation allowance, plus a proportionate amount of other rental expenses, such as insurance, repairs, property taxes, mortgage interest, etc. These deductions can help offset tax on the rental income.

5. Home office deductions. A self-employed individual who uses a room in their home for business reasons, such as administrative work. In this case, the individual may be in line for home office deductions. (This deduction is not available to those that are employees and receive wage income.)

6. Mortgage insurance deduction. This last tax break for homeowners was reinstated by tax extender legislation — the Taxpayer Certainty and Disaster Tax Relief Act — which was signed in late 2019. Under the extender law, you can deduct mortgage insurance premiums paid in 2020, subject to a phase-out based your adjusted gross income (AGI). The phase-out begins at $100,000 of AGI and ends at $110,000 of AGI.

Not all deductions work for all taxpayers and it’s important to understand limitations and other requirements associated with each of the tax benefits shown, but it you don’t know about a benefit it’s hard to ask questions about it and whether it’s a good fit for your situation.

If you need help with these deductions or tax questions of any time the tax professionals at RMS Accounting are happy to assist you, just give us a call at 800-382-1040.

07/10/2020

06/18/2020

Tax Filing & Payment Deadline
Remember that the tax deadline for many returns was extended to 7/15/2020 along with the due date for payments of taxes due. If your return was filed electronically, had taxes due and electronic payment information the payment will come out of your account on 7/15/2020.