Bluffs CPA

Ideas, insights, and updates from a CPA in Council Bluffs, Iowa

Daily Nonpareil Readers Choice Awards

Image via Wikipedia I wanted to make sure that all of the Council Bluffs locals remember to vote in the Daily Nonpareil 2010 Reader’s Choice awards. The more significant the participation, the more meaningful the awards are! Follow the link below and click on “Vote Now” in the middle-right portion of the screen (I honestly [...]

Review #1: Outright.com

Outright is a simple, straightforward, and free accounting package geared towards Schedule C filers. Outright will keep a cash basis profit and loss and also help you generate what i would call a ‘preliminary’ Schedule C to aid you (or your accountant) in filing your taxes. Goal: Focus on maintaining cash basis income and expense [...]

Online Accounting Reviews

This summer I will be running a series of posts evaluating several online accounting applications.  Many accountants almost reflexively recommend Quickbooks because it is the software that they have the most experience with and feel comfortable with (it also has a huge share of the small business market already). However, there are currently so many [...]

You need your cable for business?

U6NT3EMF5GSU Diana Coury (a self-employed insurance broker) found herself on the wrong side of the tax law when she deducted 100% of the expenses associated with the apartment she lived in as business expenses as well as 100% of her automobile expenses.  However, considering her lack of documentation and testimony, it seems the IRS was [...]

Midlands Venture Forum – May 27

Have great ideas but don’t have the money to bring them to life?  Head out to the Midlands Venture Forum networking dinner on Thursday May 27 and learn more from an exciting panel of Private Equity Professionals. Get more details about the event and the speakers from Silicon Prairie News.  Remember to read all the [...]

Big Omaha, Big Ideas

Day one is down for the second annual Big Omaha conference and although I’m not there, I have been catching nuggets of ideas and inspiration throughout the day following the #bigomaha hashtag on Twitter. This year’s event featured an all-star line up of speakers thanks to the hard work of the guys over at Silicon [...]

Closing the tax gap with more 1099s

Beginning in 2012 businesses will be required to report all payments in excess of $600 for services or merchandise to the IRS on form 1099, even payments to corporations.  This was slipped into health care reform and is expected to raise $17 billion over the next 10 years (helping health care reform appear more revenue [...]

Berkshire weekend in progress

The congregation of capitalists has begun this evening in Omaha and continues throughout the weekend.  In addition to the agenda for the annual meeting itself, the World Herald reports that many other organizations and events are planned to take advantage of the great minds in the Metro this weekend. I would definitely encourage anyone who [...]

Giving up the personal exemption, not the EIC credit

I have seen this exact error twice in the past two weeks when reviewing the prior year tax returns for new clients.  Divorced parents swapping “claiming the kids” as part of the divorce settlement, trading 8332′s granting the exemption to the noncustodial parent. The prior year tax preparer totally left the second child off of [...]

Remember real estate taxes, even if you don’t itemize

Taxpayers who don’t itemize will benefit from an enhanced standard deduction if they have real estate taxes paid or sales tax paid on the purchase of a new vehicle.  However, this enhancement does require a new piece of paperwork, Schedule L, to figure your standard deduction. It walks you through a series of questions to [...]