Deducting Foreign Business Travel

As the world shrinks, business owners may find themselves traveling to foreign destinations. Often, such trips are vital, leading to personal visits with suppliers and potential customers. Ideally, you’ll be able to deduct all your travel costs, but that may not be the case if you venture beyond the 50 states and Washington, D.C.

The seven-day rule

If you travel outside the U.S. for a week or less, your trip will be considered entirely for business, even if you combine business and non-business activities. Then, you can deduct all of your travel costs. A week, for this purpose, is seven consecutive days, not counting the day you leave the U.S.

            

Example 1: Denise Edwards has a clothing import business in Chicago. She travels to San Francisco on Tuesday, then flies to Hong Kong on Wednesday. After spending Thursday and Friday in business discussions, Denise spends Saturday through Tuesday sightseeing. She flies back to San Francisco on Wednesday and returns to Chicago on Thursday.

            

Here, Denise was not outside the U.S. for more than a week. (The day she departed from San Francisco does not count as a day outside the   U. S.) Therefore, she can deduct all of her travel costs. She also can deduct the cost of her stay in Hong Kong for the days she worked there but not her costs for her sightseeing days.

More than one week

Business trips longer than one week trigger another set of rules. As long as 75% or more of the trip’s total days are business days, you can deduct all your travel costs. Days traveling to and from your destination count as business days, for the purpose of reaching the 75% mark. Again, your costs for non-business days are not tax deductible.

            

If your trip is primarily for business, but you fail both the one week and the 75% tests for the travel, calculating your deduction becomes more complicated. 
You can only deduct the business portion of your cost of getting to and from your destination and must allocate your travel time on a day-to-day basis between business days and non-business days.

            

Example 2: Henry Jackson owns a restaurant supply business in Boston. He flies to Berlin on March 7 for a conference and spends time there on business until March 17. That day, Henry flies to Brussels to see friends and tour the local museums. On March 24, he returns to Boston from Brussels.

            

As the IRS looks at Henry’s itinerary, it appears that Henry could have returned to Boston on March 17, after completing his business. Thus, 11 days of the trip (March 7–17) count as business days while the other seven days (March 18–24) are non-business days.

            

With this reasoning, 7 out of 18 days of the trip were non-business days, so ⁷/₁₈ of what it would have cost him to travel round-trip between Boston and Brussels is not tax deductible.

Assume Henry’s total airfare costs were $2,000, whereas roun-dtrip airfare between Boston and Brussels would have been $1,500. Henry must subtract ⁷/₁₈ of this round-trip fare ($1,500 x ⁷/₁₈ = $583) from his actual travel expenses. 
Because Henry spent $2,000, subtracting $583 gives him a $1,417 deduction for his airfare. He can deduct his costs while in Berlin on business but not his costs while in Brussels for other purposes.

As you can see, calculating foreign business travel deductions can be complex. If you will be outside the United States for business, our office can help you set up a schedule for optimal tax benefits. 

Tougher Rules on Reverse Mortgages

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) has imposed more stringent requirements on reverse mortgages, making them increasingly difficult to obtain. For qualified borrowers, though, continued low rates and the spread of so-called “purchase loans” can make it worthwhile to consider this type of debt.

Income instead of outflow

As the name suggests, a reverse mortgage is the opposite of a traditional home loan. With a reverse mortgage, you get cash instead of making payments to the lender. You can get a lump sum, a line of credit, or regular monthly income. The amount you borrow will be secured by your home, so reverse mortgages are for homeowners with little or no debt on their home. Most reverse mortgages are Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HECMs), which are offered by private lenders and insured by the FHA; borrowers must be at least age 62.

            
The amount you’ll receive will be determined by current interest rates, your age, and your home equity. Interest rates are relatively low now (around 5% for a fixed-rate loan and under 3% for a loan with a variable rate that adjusts monthly), but you’ll pay an added 1.25% of the balance for mortgage insurance. The older you are and the greater your home equity, the more you’ll be able to borrow on a reverse mortgage.

            
Many reverse mortgage calculators can be found online. Near mid-year 2014, the calculator at reversemortgage.org was asked what a married couple in Indianapolis, both aged 68, could borrow against a $320,000 debt-free home. 

• A fixed-rate loan would permit an upfront payout of over $97,000, whereas a variable-rate loan would provide $971 in monthly cash flow. 
• If that couple were both age 78, the numbers would be about $106,000 upfront and $1,236 a month, respectively. In any case, no tax would be due on the borrowed funds. 

With a HECM, an owner occupant doesn’t have to make any debt repayment while still living in the home. No matter how large the loan balance becomes, the outstanding loan balance won’t be due until the borrower dies, sells the home, or is no longer using the home as a primary residence. 
Naturally, the loan balance will keep mounting: that $97,000 or $106,000 loan against a $320,000 house will approximately double in 11 years, at today’s fixed interest rates.

Higher hurdles

A reverse mortgage borrower still owns the home, which means continuing to have ownership responsibility.

 Example 1: 
Frank and Robin Grant receive a reverse mortgage that will pay them $1,000 a month. They still own their home, so they still must pay homeowners insurance premiums, local property taxes, and association dues.

             
 Under new FHA rules, reverse mortgage applicants must undergo a financial assessment in order to qualify for a loan. Lenders have to check to see that borrowers can afford to pay the required taxes and insurance bills, based on their assets and cash flow. Borrowers with questionable resources may be asked to put money into escrow or may have their application rejected.

Borrowing to buy

Reverse mortgages are aimed at seniors who wish to stay in their home as they grow older. In effect, they can use their home equity for added cash in retirement so they won’t have to move into an unfamiliar place, perhaps one that’s away from friends and family.

That’s not the case for all seniors. Some want to buy a different home that’s easier to maintain or move to a less expensive region.

 Example 2: 

Helen Parker is a widow living in a large house. She wants to buy a place in a seniors’ community, but she lacks the income to qualify for a traditional mortgage, and she is having a difficult time selling the house where she now lives.

            
Fortunately, Helen has enough assets to qualify for a reverse mortgage purchase loan, which will enable her to buy into the seniors’ community now. Helen still plans to sell her old home, but she can move right away and not have to make payments on the reverse mortgage purchase loan.

            
Reverse mortgages can be complicated, and they require various fees, but they may offer a practical way to tap home equity in specific circumstances. 

Delayed Deduction

[] Because reverse mortgages are considered loan advances and not income, the amount you receive is not taxable.

[] Any interest accrued on a reverse mortgage is not deductible until the interest is actually paid, which is usually when the loan is paid off in full. Such a payment might be made by the borrower, by an heir, or by the borrower’s estate.

[] For the party repaying the loan, the deduction may be limited because a reverse mortgage loan generally is subject to the limit on home equity debt. That limit caps deductions to the interest on $100,000 of debt.

Equipment Expensing & Bonus Depreciation

As of this this writing, the status of equipment expensing for 2014 is unclear. The same is true for bonus depreciation. The ongoing uncertainty on these issues may have an impact on your year-end plans to acquire business equipment.

           

Section 179 of the tax code allows certain types of equipment to be expensed: the purchase price is fully tax deductible when the item is placed in service, rather than deducted over a multi-year depreciation schedule. New and used equipment qualify for this tax benefit, with some exceptions (such as real estate).

            

In recent years, Congress has consistently expanded the reach of Section 179. By 2013, up to $500,000 of purchases of equipment eligible for the deduction could be expensed; a business could buy up to $2 million worth of eligible equipment that year before losing any of this benefit.

           

Example 1:
In 2013, DEF Corp. bought $2,085,000 of business equipment eligible for the Section 179 expense deduction and elected to not take bonus depreciation on the equipment. This was $85,000 over the Section 179 limit, so DEF could deduct only $415,000 (the $500,000 ceiling minus $85,000) as an expense in 2013 under Section 179. DEF must recover the other $1,670,000 of the costs of its 2013 purchases through depreciation methods.

            

The $500,000 and $2 million limits for Section 179 expired after 2013. Under current law, the 2014 limit for expensing is $25,000 worth of purchases (plus an inflation adjustment) with a phaseout beginning at $200,000 worth of purchases.

            

Similarly, bonus depreciation was available for new equipment until expiration after 2013. This provision allowed a 50% depreciation deduction on purchases of new equipment, before using an extended schedule to depreciate the balance. Currently, bonus depreciation is not permitted in 2014.

Dealing with doubts

Both houses of Congress have indicated interest in restoring an expanded Section 179 deduction as well as bonus depreciation for 2014. However, any updates probably won’t be announced until late in the year. If that’s the case, how should business owners and self-employed individuals proceed?

           

Start by acquiring any equipment that your company truly needs for current and future profitability. If your business needs the item now, buy it now, and deduct the cost as the tax law permits.

           

If the timing isn’t urgent, consider limiting purchases to those that will bring 2014 acquisitions up to $25,000, which will be the Section 179 ceiling if no extension is passed. Contact our office in late November or early December for an update on relevant legislation.

            

Keep in mind that equipment must be placed in service by the end of 2014 to qualify for depreciation deductions (if reinstated) or expensing this year, so merely paying for equipment in 2014 does not entitle you to a deduction. However, this also means that you can get the 2014 tax benefits for equipment placed in service in 2014 even if you defer payment for the equipment until 2015.

Is It Time to Tack?

I recently read an interesting article about "tacking."  I guess it will be helpful to define this term for those of you who aren't familiar with sailboats.

Tack (n.) : The act of changing from one position or direction to another

First off, I'm not familiar with sailboats either.  I have never actually been on a sailboat.  I can imagine that it might be difficult to turn any ship or boat when there is severe wind or an immediate need to change course. I'm not a sailor, but even I know you would run the risk of capsizing.  

Tacking, as defined by multiple websites, is also known as "coming about."  The process involves turning the bow of a sailboat up through the wind to change course.  However, the danger you face is in not having enough speed to carry the boat through the turn.  If you turn too sharply, you'll lose speed and stall.  I also read that a turn of the rudder by 33 degrees will provide a smooth and controlled turn without much loss of speed.

Why in the world am I telling you this?

Godwin & Associates, CPA is in the process of changing its business model.  If you've looked at our website lately (www.godwincpa.com) you've no doubt noticed the changes.  We are focused entirely on businesses and the owners of those businesses.  No longer do we accept individual tax clients who are not also working with us on business issues.  This was a HUGE change from our old business model, and certainly a massive change from what most CPA firms do.  But we decided that we didn't want to be "most CPA firms."  We wanted to make a difference in our clients' lives, and you can't accomplish that by preparing a 1040.  We can't change your world with something that a here-today, gone-tomorrow tax preparation office in a strip mall can do for you.  We can't add value to your life with a well-done Schedule A. But if you own a business, we can change your life.  That's strong stuff.

To make a change like that takes intentional and purposeful work....hard work....and a vision that is unaffected by fear or queasiness.  Believe me, there was a lot of fear and heartburn when the thought first crossed my mind.  But the benefits far outweighed the potential risks.  So, with the wind at our backs, we decided to change course.  With some fantastic business coaching from a CPA friend of mine, we have begun our 33 degree turn, hoping that we can maintain speed and not stall.  When the turn is complete, I'll let you know how it went.

I have such a great career, and as I have mentioned on many occasions, I work with some fantastic entrepreneurs who share their stories with me.  Just today, I had breakfast with two owners of a company that started almost a year ago.  One of the owners remarked that the work he's doing now is nothing like what he thought he'd be doing when he drafted his business plan, but he absolutely loves it.  He hasn't given up on the other work, but the income-producing work just didn't fall into that category.  It will later, but not today.  In a start-up, sometimes the tacking is done more out of necessity than just desire to change things up.  You need income; you change course from looking at type A work because type B work just walked in the door; you dive into type B work and then take type A work as it arrives.  Done.

Existing businesses that change course have it a little tougher because breaking habits is hard.  Tie your income to that habit and you have some serious decisions to make.  We were fortunate enough to be able to consciously decide to change our business model.  Is there anything about your current business model that needs adjustment?  Is it time for you to tack? 

Jason Fried of 37 Signals, Basecamp & Rework fame spoke about this at the GROWCO conference in Nashville, TN in May.  We liked what he had to say.  If you have 6 1/2 minutes, you might to! Check it out:

http://www.inc.com/jason-fried/inc-live-why-you-should-power-pivot-your-mission.html

Keeping Wealth in Your Family's Future

According to a new study by Merrill Lynch’s Private Banking and Investment Group, family wealth fails to outlive the generation following the one that created that wealth in more than two out of three instances; 90% of the time, “assets are exhausted before the end of the third generation.” 

This report focuses on investors with more than $5 million, but the principles apply just as well to those with $500,000 or even $50,000 to invest. If you are concerned about the financial security of your children and grandchildren, you should set a good example and discuss money matters regularly with your descendants.

Savvy spending

One reason that family wealth may not last very long is simple: people spend too much. 

In the Merrill Lynch study, more than half of the respondents either expressed confidence that a 6% distribution rate could sustain an investment portfolio indefinitely or did not have any idea of how much could be withdrawn prudently. 
To put this in perspective, research indicates that a sustainable distribution rate might be as low as 2% of portfolio value a year.

           
 Obviously, the less you spend the more that can pass to a surviving spouse and to your descendants. Spending moderately will signal to your loved ones that this is how one builds and maintains net worth. In addition, you can make sure that your heirs know that your spending habits are designed to minimize the chance of depleting the family’s coffers.

Continuing the conversation

Indeed, perhaps the most important thing you can do to preserve wealth in your family is to regularly talk to your children about finances. Remember to keep the discussions age appropriate. With very young children, you might talk about how money is earned by working, how some money goes to taxes to pay for schools and other services, and how what’s left might be either saved or spent. Avoid getting into too much detail with youngsters, who probably will be overwhelmed and, therefore, intimidated rather than educated.

           
 Once your children are ready for college, you can have practical conversations about their choice of study and eventual career path. A student who knows a substantial inheritance lies in the future, or who can play a possible role in a thriving family business, might be inclined to consider a course of study that relates to a personal passion; another student, one who understands that his or her lifestyle will depend on his or her earnings, could go in another direction.

            
Similar conversations might take place when children are about to become parents or are shopping for a home. The more they know about your finances, and about their own prospects for an inheritance, the greater the likelihood they’ll make informed decisions.

            
On the flip side, holding these ongoing conversations with your children can educate you, too. You might discover a need for gifts or loans that you hadn’t known about. Conversely, you might realize that your children are uninterested in financial matters and may make poor decisions if they inherit money outright. If so, you may have the opportunity to build safeguards into your estate plan, such as giving or leaving money to a trust for a child’s benefit.

Hitting the highlights

Of course, some parents will not want to reveal all the details of their financial affairs to their children. In truth, that’s not really necessary. You might give your children an overview, with enough information to impart what you are willing and able to provide during your life and a general idea of what they might inherit someday. In addition, you can tell your children where to find key documents and also provide contact information for your professional advisors.

           
 Once you bring your advisors into the inheritance conversation, keep in mind that some studies show that both parents and children may be more comfortable discussing their circumstances with a financial professional (CPA, attorney, financial planner) than with each other. If that’s the case in your situation, you might ask a professional with whom you work to suggest and even host a meeting of the generations. Our office would be pleased to help you get the conversation started.

Ask us for our Personal Cash Flow spreadsheet to help keep track of your expenses!

"Reasonbable Compensation" for S Corp Owners

For regular C corporations, “reasonable compensation” can be a troublesome tax issue. The IRS doesn't want shareholder executives to inflate their deductible salaries while minimizing the corporation’s nondeductible dividend payouts.

            
For S corporation owners, the opposite is true. If owner employees take what the IRS considers “unreasonably low” compensation, the IRS may recast the earnings to reflect higher payroll taxes, along with interest and penalties.

One pocket to pick

Eligible corporations that elect S status avoid corporate income taxes. Instead, all income flows through to the shareholders’ personal tax returns.

            
Example 1: 
Ivan Nelson owns a plumbing supply firm structured as an S corporation. Ivan’s salary is $250,000 a year while the company’s profits are $400,000. The $650,000 total is reported on Ivan’s personal tax return.

            
In 2014, Ivan pays 12.4% as the employer and employee shares of Social Security tax on $117,000 of earnings. He also pays 2.9% Medicare tax on his $250,000 of salary. As a result of recent tax legislation, Ivan—who is not married—owes an additional 0.9% Medicare tax on $50,000, the amount over the $200,000 earnings threshold (the threshold is $250,000 on a joint tax return). Altogether, Ivan pays well over $20,000 in these payroll taxes.

Going low

Often, S corporation owners have a great deal of leeway in determining their salary and any bonus. Holding down these earnings may reduce payroll taxes.

 Example 2: 
Jenny Maxwell owns an electrical supply firm across the street from Ivan’s business. Jenny’s company also is an S corporation. She reports the same $650,000 of income from the business but Jenny classes only $75,000 as salary and $575,000 as profits from the business. Thus, she pays thousands of dollars less than Ivan pays for Social Security and Medicare taxes.

Proving your payout

As mentioned, the IRS might target S corporation owners suspected of lowballing earned income. Therefore, all S corporation shareholders should take steps to justify the reasonableness of their compensation.

If you own an S corporation, consider spelling out your salary level in your corporate minutes. Where possible, give examples and quote industry statistics that show your compensation is in line with the amounts paid to executives at similar firms. Other explanations also might help.

            

• Depending on the situation, you might say that business is slow, in the current economy, so the minutes will report that you are keeping your salary low to provide working capital for the company. 
• If your business is young, the minutes could explain that you’re holding fixed costs down, so the company can grow, but you expect to earn more in the future. 
• In still another scenario, you might say that you are nearing retirement and making an effort to rely more on valued employees, so a modest level of earnings reflects the actual work you’re now contributing.

As illustrated above, holding down S corporation compensation can result in sizable payroll tax savings. (Our office can help you establish a reasonable, tax-efficient plan for your salary and bonus.)

Calculating coverage

Beyond compensation, health insurance also may affect the payroll tax paid by an S corporation owner. Special rules apply to anyone owning more than 2% of the company’s stock.

            
If the company has a health plan and pays some or all of the costs for coverage of such a so-called “2% shareholder,” the payments will be reported to the IRS as taxable income. However, that amount will not be subject to payroll taxes, including those for Medicare and Social Security. 
The company can take a deduction for these payments, effectively reducing corporate profits passed through as taxable income for the shareholder.

            
In addition, the S corporation shareholder may be able to deduct the premiums paid by the company—this deduction can be taken on page 1 of his or her personal tax return, which may provide other tax benefits. However, such an “above-the-line” deduction cannot be taken in any month when the shareholder or spouse is eligible to participate in another employer-sponsored health plan. Also, this deduction can’t exceed the amount of the shareholder’s earned income for the year.

            
This can be a complicated issue, especially if your state law prevents a corporation from buying group health insurance for a single employee. If you own an S corporation, our office can help you decide the best way to hold down payroll tax as well as income tax from your health plan.

             

5 Ways to Use Us More Effectively

We meet with new entrepreneurs on a regular basis, and I had the pleasure of speaking with three new business owners recently who had never worked with a CPA before.  

One of the owners said, "What do you do? I mean, I know you do taxes and stuff, but what else do you do?" 

After our meeting ended, I began to wonder how our clients view us through the lens of their daily challenges as business owners. When a financial decision is about to be made, does our client think, "You know, I should run this by Jonathan to see what he thinks?"
I wasn't sure.

We are knowledge workers, and our most valuable asset is the knowledge and experience that we draw upon and share as part of our small business engagements.  When clients engage us to work with them, depending on how involved we are, that knowledge is theirs when they need it....via email, phone or face-to-face.  No by-the-hour billing; no invoices with 7 lines on them showing you what we did last month.  A flat fee and BAM!  Our knowledge is theirs.  In that situation, why in the world would you not call?

Here are five scenarios in which we feel our clients could better utilize our talents to their advantage:

1.  I'm About to Spend a Lot of Money:

If the decision involves spending a large amount of money, you should probably discuss it with us before you commit to it.  I'm not saying that we need to be involved in the smaller decisions, like where you buy your paper clips and how much you spend on them, but I wouldn't decide to change my investment strategy or invest a large sum of money in the market without speaking to my financial planner first.  Why would you, as a small business owner and the one responsible for the financial health of your business, decide to commit a large sum of money to these things without running it by us first?

A new employee

A new piece of equipment

A new rental property or commercial building

A new business opportunity

Emptying your IRA to buy a new house or investment property....

I have a client to whom we provide outsourced CFO services.  He won't take on a new customer without first calling me and allowing me to run a margin analysis, to make sure he's obtaining the margins that his company needs to produce profit and grow.  So, with each new proposal, he contacts me and we run the numbers.  He knows that if he takes on a new customer, he has costs involved:  a new employee, technology costs, maybe travel expenses.  We have built a model for determining whether each new customer is profitable, so he knows with certainty what's going to happen when he makes a decision.

2. I'm About to Receive Money:

I'm not talking about revenue you receive in the normal course of business.  I'm talking about something extraordinary....a life insurance settlement, a loan from your mother, or (heaven forbid) an early distribution from a retirement account.  These are not run-of-the-mill occurrences.  I have been in meetings that went something like this:

"So, is there anything out of the ordinary that I need to know about?"

"Not really....no, wait.  I did take $50,000 out of my IRA in September to help me fund the business and didn't have any withholding taken out."

"OK, how old are you again?"

"I'm 49."

"OK, are you prepared to pay the $16,000 in federal and SC taxes that come along with that?"

Silence.

Lesson to be learned here:  if you are about to receive money that you don't normally receive, it helps to contact your CPA and ask questions regarding how your financial picture will be impacted.

3.  I've Formed an LLC.  Hooray!

I hear this statement about once every, um, 36 seconds.  While the states have made it SO EASY to set up an LLC, there is hardly any guidance that the average person can find that addresses the tax issues surrounding such a decision.  This is how the conversation usually goes:

"So, you said in your email that you have set up an LLC?"

"Yes, I did.  I knew it was something I needed to do."

"Who told you that?"

"LegalZoom."

"OK, how is your LLC taxed?"

"Um, as an LLC."

"You know that an LLC can be taxed four different ways, right?"

"No, I guess LegalZoom didn't tell me that."

And we're off!  I love tax planning, so I don't have any problem whatsoever having this conversation with a client.  It never fails that they leave the office knowing way more than when they came in, because LLC's are the most used and least understood entity choice around.  But, before you form one, you really should come in and discuss it with us.  Fixing a mistake down the road because you weren't informed can cost you more in time and heartache, I promise you.

4.  I'm Worried About My Business' Cash Flow: (Why don't I have any money?)

My biggest point of frustration with my career is that people consider a CPA to be the bean-counter or the tax guy.  I only like to eat beans, and while I like the world of tax, I don't live and die with each scintillating tax return I prepare.

When we decided to price our business engagements differently about four years ago, I make purposeful statements like "It doesn't have to involve taxes for you to call me" or "Anything to do with your business' cash flow is important, and we need to talk about it."  Here is a snippet from a recent meeting:

"So, how are things going?"

"Well, cash has been tight lately and I've been really stressed out about it."

"Really?  When did you notice the slowdown in your cash flow?"

"About six months ago."

" Six months! Why didn't you call me?"

"I don't know.  It didn't really have anything to do with taxes, so I didn't want to bother you. I just figured things would right themselves."

Bother me?  What is it you think you pay for?

When you work with Godwin & Associates, you never have to worry about "bothering" us.  If you were a bother, we wouldn't be working with you.  Life is too short.  So, assuming you're not a bother, we have an open knowledge policy.  If there is a concern about your business' cash flow, we need to know about it.  Because guess what?  We've all been there. I might know of a way to help that you haven't yet thought of.

A man is walking down the street and falls into a hole.

He sits there for hours, calling out to people for help.

A priest walks by and throws in a prayer written on a sticky note.

A doctor walks by and throws down a prescription.

A friend walks by, then jumps in the hole with the man.

The man asks "What are you doing?  Now we're both stuck in here."

The friend says "Yes, but I've been in here before and I know the way out."

5.  I'm Frustrated and I Don't Know What To Do: (Nothing is happening.)

Sometimes I'm a cheerleader; sometimes I'm a counselor; sometimes I serve as a sounding board; sometimes I am the good angel to your bad angel.  

I'm always a truth-teller, however.  I won't sugarcoat the truth no matter how much you want me to, and I'm going to ask the hard questions.

Sometimes, a sole proprietor or the sole owner of a corporation just needs someone to talk with. Things happen that throw us off our game.  The biggest problem with being a solo owner is the risk of isolation, and making too many decisions in a vacuum.

If you always have your head down, doing work and just getting by, it's easy to just make decisions on the go and not consider the far-reaching effect of what you're about to do. You've been trained to look down and keep moving, but decisions have consequences that serve as dominos for your life.

I've had meetings where a sole owner comes by, and just sits there....silent....for a few minutes.  The consternation is obvious, but they've been sitting by themselves for so long they don't know how to tell me what's wrong.  I consider myself a good listener, so I just wait until the right time and start asking questions to coax the issue out of my client.  As painful as it might have seemed in the beginning, some wonderful things come out of those meetings.  Insight....a new way to think about the problem....a laugh or two....and the comfort of knowing that as a small business owner myself and fellow entrepreneur, I am right there with you.

 Our goal is to help you prosper, so when the phone rings or the email pops up and you need us, we want to help.  To help your business grow, to help your employees continue to make money so they can support their families, and to help you provide the wonderful service or product to our community and the world.  If we don't do our job, other people (not just you) suffer.  

So, the next time you wonder whether or not the question of the day is something we can help you with, drop us a line.

How can we help you today?

Why you aren't using your accountant