I just read about how some CPA’s are receiving phishing emails claiming to be from the AICPA. The emails claim that your license could be terminated. Don’t fall for it. Read the post here at Daniel Berch’s blog
From Guest writer Emily Jones – emily.jones025@gmail.com
Before we weigh and consider the substantial benefit a person is expected to glean from 401k retirement plan. But before retirement if you are planning to eliminate your debts instead of a debt consolidation loan you can take out loan against your 401k plan.
Here is a brief explanation, what this 401k plan is all about.
The 401k plan is now commonly termed as tax deferred, defined contribution plan. It has been derived from the section of Internal Revenue Code. According to the plan, an employer may chalk out a retirement plan for his employees by opening an account in which the employee may voluntarily contribute certain portion of his salary on a pre-tax basis. The ultimate objective of securing the money into that account is to get the benefit of Federal tax deduction on the accumulated sum. The program gets a red flag when we find that an employer too can contribute additional fund in his employee’s account and link it to a profit sharing agreement. Thus also gives benefit to an employer in terms of tax exemption.
The Benefits of 401k plan- First I will mention the flexibility and control that an employee enjoys upon his retirement funds. If you are a young employee and have the guts to take risk, you can opt for higher return investment. But if you are on the verge of retirement a more secure mutual fund investment would be ideal for you.
Then off course I will appreciate the huge tax deferral benefit that any ‘participant’ immediately takes notice of. The plan literally creates a tax heaven for employees and employers as the money rests there tax free for long period of time. Until you decide to withdraw your savings on retirement, it remains there as your non taxable earnings.
Rollover is allowed in this plan, meaning you can directly transfer your account to any other qualified account. Generally you may need to do it in case of emergency or you need to take house loans or student loans. Now you may fear that the borrowing of money from that account would be costly due to interest rate. But you should feel happy to find that the final return you get from your investment is so lump sum that it compensates your rate of interest all together.
With tax season well under way you may be asking how I have time to post something on the blog today. Or you may not even care. Either way I have been so productive I did find five minutes somewhere to do this. I haven’t even strated napping yet. I found these items in the news today and thought I’d share them.
My co-worker Jenn informed me of this new study that I am all for. It is about how an afternoon nap will make us more productive. I know that our office has been pushing for us to be more productive. This is a step towards that. We just need to convert a couple of offices to accomplish this.
That is what this article written by Jim Mctague is about. Congress has done nothing about the AMT patch and we are already in December. Nothing has been done about the expiring Bush Cuts either. How are the middle class tax payers supposed to tax plan when we don’t even know the rules? It seems as though the 111th Congress is more worried about packing their bags and getting out of Dodge than getting AMT and the tax situation fixed for the American People.
With the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Reform Act in March there is some opportunity for a small business to save some money if they offer health care to their employees. This article written by Jim Calnan gives some insight to the new Act and how it could impact a small business and save them money.
I know I sent out a post about cool Iphone Apps before, but I came along this one that I thought was a cool tool to have. Check it out
The IRS has issued a problem alert regarding a fraudulent scheme targeting Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS) users. EFTPS is a free tax payment system operated by the Treasury Department that allows the payment of federal taxes electronically through the Internet or by telephone. As described by the agency, the scheme uses an e-mail stating that a taxpayer’s payment was rejected and directing the taxpayer to a website for additional information.The website contains malware that will attempt to infect the taxpayer’s computer. IRS stressed that it does not initiate taxpayer communications through e-mail.The agency recommended that recipients of a message claiming to be from the IRS or EFTPS adhere to the following advice: do not reply to the sender, access links on the site or submit any information to them; and report and identify this or other phishing, e-mail scams and bogus IRS websites by forwarding the e-mail or URL information to IRS at phishing@irs.gov .
If the reports that Verizon is going to have the IPhone in January are true then there will be millions of more people using the IPhone. There are endless apps for the IPhone out there for everyone…even Accountants. Yes there are apps out there that could be useful in your accounting business or for any business. The Accounting Degree.com site has a list of 100 Awesome IPhone Apps that may be of some use to you. Check them out!
I hope to be up and running soon. Once that happens I will share some thoughts, links, articles on what is happening out there.
