Monday, September 18, 2017

ONLINE RESOURCES FOR TAX PREPARERS



Here, in alphabetical order, are some websites you MAY find useful in your practice.  You may already be aware of several of these sites and are currently using them.  
 
Of course the most useful sites of all will be www.irs.gov and state tax department sites (see below for a source of links to state tax department sites).
 
 
The latest in accounting and tax regulations, legislation, technology and insight.
 
    
Sign up for the ACCOUNTANTS WORLD DAILY HEADLINE NEWS email newsletter, which provides links to articles and blog posts on timely tax, accounting and audit, technology, financial planning, and small business topics. Click on “Sign Up for the Daily Headline Newsletter”.  This portal has lots of other resources and information for accountants.
 
 
This address will take you to the State Department per diem rates for Lodging and Meals and Incidental Expenses for international travel.  Use these amounts if you travel overseas for business.
 
 
With the “divestiture” of ATT in 1984, and all the splits, both positive and reverse, spin-offs and mergers that have followed, determining the cost basis of ATT stock sold, as well as the basis of the various spin-off companies’ shares, is a real project.  Go here for Tax Basis Worksheets for each individual event in the history of ATT.
 
 
You can use this site to find the price of any listed stock or mutual fund on any exchange for any given date.  If you inherit an investment, your cost basis is the fair market value of the investment on the date of death of the person from whom it was inherited.  This information is generally reported on the federal estate or state inheritance tax return.  However, when you sell the stock you inherited you do not always have ready access to this information.  You can calculate your basis by going to this site and, under “Historical Quotes”, enter the ticker symbol of the stock and the date of death, or the business day closest to the date of death, to get a price quote.  If you sell stock that you received as a gift, your basis is either what the donor paid for the stock or the fair market value at the time the gift was made.  You can also use this site to determine a cost basis for gifted property.
 
 
You must begin to take annual required minimum distributions from a traditional IRA or employer pension account by April 1st of the year following the year in which you turn age 70½.  This address takes you to a calculator that will determine the amount of your required minimum distribution for the year.
 
 
Read the CCH TAX AND ACCOUNTING BLOG of the most important federal and state tax news stories.
 
 
Go here to sign up for free email newsletters from CCH, including federal and state TAX NEWS HEADLINES.  
 
 
CCH periodically publishes free TAX BRIEFINGS on federal tax legislation and developments.  Scroll down to listings under the books for sale.
 
 
Over 100 calculators covering such areas as home purchase, mortgages and home equity loans, savings and retirement, automobile purchase and financing, credit cards, stocks, bonds and mutual funds, IRAs and insurance.
 
 
One of the biggest time wasters during the tax filing season is trying to determine the cost basis of stock sold by a client – especially stock that has split often since its original purchase, or was acquired via spin-off or merger.  This site will help you determine the tax basis of securities sold, and show how to account for those stock spinoffs, mergers, splits, split-offs, rights, and class action claim checks. I have so far used it to look up two stocks that had been acquired via merger, and found it very helpful in these two situations. Cost basis information, calculators, worksheets can also often be found in the Shareholder Services sections of company websites.
 
 
You can use the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System to pay any type of federal individual or business tax online.  For example, once you determine your federal estimated tax payments for the year you can go to this site and, after registering, instruct eftps to automatically withdraw each quarterly payment from your bank account on the individual due dates (April 15, June 15, Sept 15 and Jan 15) and never have to worry about forgetting to make a payment or making a payment late.   
 
 
If you travel for business, instead of deducting your actual expenses for meals and incidental expenses you can elect to deduct the federal per diem amount for the location of the travel.  Go here to find the federal per diem rates for Lodging and Meals and Incidental Expenses for domestic business travel.  
 
 
The rules regarding claiming a deduction for donating a car to charity have drastically changed, but there are still situations where you will deduct the fair market value of the automobile.  Click on “My Car's Value" to find your “Blue Book Value”. 
 
 
This is the website of HomeWork Solutions, nationally recognized experts in the field of household employment taxes providing assistance to domestic employers and their tax preparers.  I have no experience in dealing with this firm, and this entry is not an endorsement of their services.  However, this site is an excellent source of information and resources on household employment and the “Nanny Tax”.  It provides detailed answers to Frequently Asked Questions about the Nanny Taxes, downloadable tax forms, employment forms and free tip sheets and tools, and has a Nanny Tax Blog.
 
 
The Limited Liability Company (LLC) is one of the most flexible entities for a business. You can protect personal assets from business losses and judgments just like a traditional C-corporation, with the pass-through taxation of a partnership.  This site has, or links to, just about everything you always wanted to know about forming, operating and ending a Limited Liability Company, but didn’t know who to ask.
 
 
An online collection of payroll tools, this site features a Paycheck Calculator to determine the federal and state withholding and net pay under various scenarios.  You can use this calculator to see how changing your withholding status and/or number of exemptions will affect your take home pay.  It also has other helpful calculators and resources..
 
   
Here are some websites that provide guidelines for determining the value of non-cash (clothes, household items, appliances and furniture, etc.) contributions to charity.
 
 
This site offers complete and up-to-date information on Section 529 college tuition savings plans for all states, with links to the websites of the individual state plans.
 
 
Go here for direct access to the state tax agencies and state tax forms for the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and US Territories.
 
 
These are weblogs, or “blogs” that deal with federal, and sometimes state, tax issues.  The Wandering Tax Pro blog, which I write, provides up-to-the-minute advice, information, resources and commentary on federal and New Jersey state income taxes and the NJ property tax rebate and refund programs, and updates on federal and state tax legislation, IRS and NJ Division of Taxation rulings and regulations, and federal and state tax court decisions.  
 
If you have any sites you have found helpful in your practice that you would like to add to this list, please email me at rdftaxpro@yahoo.com with “Tax Pro Online Resources” in the Subject Line. 
 
TAFN
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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