Archive for October, 2009

Thriving In The Business Of Dentistry

Oct 31, 2009 accounting

Dentistry is an intense field. One spends several years preparing to practice and must have focus and drive. During this time a person often develops the habit of taking on every challenge within their coursework individually. The concepts of growing a business of dentistry are often not focused on as intently as they should be to assure success when one has their own practice.

One reason that there is frequently difficulty in developing a thriving practice lies in one’s management style. Many dentists have spent so many years developing skills that require complete control of each aspect of their patient’s care that they develop a habit of micro-management. While micro-management can be very effective in a one on one, patient-doctor relationship, it is not an effective business management style.

There must be a solid foundation of basic business management principles established early on for the business of dentistry to be successful. The first, and most difficult principle for most dentists is their management style. Dentists, by nature, are very “hands-on” people. They want to be sure that every part of their patient’s dental care is provided at the high standard they have set. In the business world these characteristics would be referred to as a micro-management style.

Hiring a team of professionals who have the level of expertise to make the business of dentistry thrive requires that a dentist trust the team to do their job. Micro-managers do not trust the individuals around them to perform at the level that is needed to succeed. For most professionals who have the expertise one needs to succeed, this is an unacceptable working environment. A dentist must therefore learn and use a macro-management style that encourages the team to achieve the goals that will make the business of dentistry successful.

Creating clear job expectations and descriptions will be crucial in having a team that functions smoothly. The job descriptions provide the employee with clear expectations and provide the practitioner the visual boundary that they need to allow their team to function effectively.

Hiring individuals who meet the requirements of the job and have the personality that is required to maintain a positive environment in the office will allow the dentist to focus on patients and sustain growth that the rest of the team is bringing to the practice.

When a dentist has developed a solid team that is working toward the same goals he/she will find that learning the techniques to work in a macro-management style will serve them very well in developing a successful business of dentistry.

As a successful and growing San Francisco Cosmetic Dentist I know the challenges that dentists face everyday. Whether it is dealing with patients or insurance companies, it can be a confounding amount of work. This makes it very important to be as good of an businessman as a dentist. It is always a joy to introduce myself as a businessman and practicing cosmetic dentist San Francisco .

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Types Of Employer-sponsored Retirement Plans

Oct 27, 2009 accounting

Many of the employers offer attractive retirement packages to the employees today. If you are offered one, make sure you get into it after considering your circumstances and the plan put forth by the employer. Some of the more popular plans are mentioned below:

401(k) The 401(k), 403(b) and 457 plans derive their names from the Internal Revenue Code sections. While 403(b) plans are similar to 401(k), only tax-exempt organizations are eligible for the same. 457 plans, on the other hand, are for governmental entities. The employees are given the chance to defer tax on a portion of their income by contributing the amount to a fund for retirement set under the plan. Employers providing 401(k) or 403(b) plans may hand over the option of a Roth version.

An employee aged fifty or above is given the option to make catch-up contributions under the plan. Moreover, the legal annual contribution ceiling for these plans is considerably higher than those for IRAs. Under special circumstances the employers add an amount equal to the contributions made by the employees, offering better income.

The distributions from 401(k), 403(b) and 457 plans are expected to abide within the minimum distribution rules, similar to those with IRAs. The major difference between the two is that under this plan you may be given the chance to continue to contribute even after you turn 701/2.

Solo 401(k) plan Solo 401(k) is a retirement plan meant for a self-employed individual. As the conventional 401(k) is not meant for these people, the solo 401(k) was launched that includes a combination of the features of 401(k) with other plans.

Under it, a self-employed individual can add an amount up to the 401(k) limit including the catch-up amount wherever applicable, along with an additional figure that can be contributed to a SEP IRA. The solo 401(k) is applicable to those in the self-employed business who do not have employees. The presence of employees calls for the adoption of the traditional 401(k) plan. The plan also calls for the generation of income that can cover the amount of contribution, or else the administration and the cost of the plan will be lost.

SIMPLE IRA: The plan, SIMPLE (Savings Incentive Match Plans for Employees) IRA is a program meant for employers with less than hundred employees. Under the plan the employer has to contribute an amount equal to those made by the employees up to a certain percentage limit, typically, 3%, or a flat rate of 2% irrespective of the contribution made by the employee.

The requirements imposed by the law on the contribution ceiling and the catch-up amount are lower than for 401(k) plans. Though the SIMPLE IRA rules and SIMPLE 401(k) plan rules are similar, the minor differences make the SIMPLE IRA preferable. For example, while limited testing is necessary for SIMPLE 401(k), discrimination testing is not called for in SIMPLE IRAs.

Defined contribution plans: These plans that include the profit sharing and money purchase plans have different rules regarding the limits to the employer and employee contribution. Where the employer plans are merged with the employee plans, the annual contribution ceiling by the employee excluding the catch-up amount is made lower that what the employer can offer.

An ESOP is a variety of defined contribution plan suited for closely-held businesses.

Defined benefit plans: Although not popular as it once was, the defined benefit plans is a traditional system under which the employees cannot make their contribution to the annual retirement benefit. The complete investment risk attached to the scheme is accepted by the company who offers assurances of payment. Unlike defined contribution plans, funds that are segregated by employees, the defined benefit plan fund is often pooled.

A defined benefit plan is generally more expensive to create than the time-honored defined contribution plan; but they permit the employers to contribute appreciably more than the defined contribution limits as the figure is defined by the amount needed to generate the benefit. Though it is crucial to recognize the amount expected in the future, it’s even more vital to identify the factors affecting future income. Remaining abreast of this knowledge can help in making wise decisions regarding your retirement.

This data is distributed for informational purposes only, with the understanding that Doeren Mayhew is not rendering legal, accounting, or other professional advice or opinions and assumes no liability in connection with its use. Please contact Doeren Mayhew for more information.

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Planning For Retirement With IRA’s

Oct 25, 2009 accounting

Retirement plans have special tax advantages, but they also suffer from tax regulations. Two benefits would be that you are able to get a tax break if you contribute to a retirement plan and you are also able to have your retirement income grow tax free. The regulations include things such as limits on annual contributions, frequency of contributions, and the total size of each contributions. Before jumping into a specific IRA plan it is wise to weigh your options in order to find the plan that is right for you. There are two basic categories to choose from; you can either go with an IRA or an employer-sponsored plan.

IRAs are very popular because they are so easy to setup and also easy to maintain. A person does not need employer approval to open an IRA and you can contribute as much as you want to the account, as long as you do not exceed the annual limits). Below are the three main types of IRAs.

Traditional IRA. With this type of IRA you are able to let your assets grow on a tax-deferred basis. This is advantageous because you will not have to pay taxes on your assets until you withdraw funds from your account.

Your eligibility to make a contribution depends on statutory limits, your earned income and your age. Your contribution is limited to the amount of earned income income from wages and self-employment income that you have for the year. It doesn’t include investment income. Those age 50 and older may be able to make additional catch-up contributions. Plus, your spouse may use your earned income to make a contribution of his or her own. However, you (and your spouse) are eligible to make contributions only if you’re under age 701/2 at the end of the year for which you’re making the contribution.

Considering other options besides the traditional IRA may be in your best interest.

One factor that may affect your decision is the deductibility of your contribution. Your income level and other factors will determine if your contribution to a traditional IRA will be fully deductible. If neither you nor your spouse is eligible to participate in an employer-sponsored plan, your contribution is deductible no matter how much income you earn. But if you or your spouse is eligible, your tax deduction for making an IRA contribution may be reduced or completely eliminated depending on your adjusted gross income (AGI).

If you aren’t eligible to make a deductible contribution (or a Roth IRA contribution), you may wish to make a nondeductible one you’ll still enjoy the benefit of tax-deferred growth. And, when you withdraw the funds after age 591/2, only the earnings will be taxed. You can withdraw your nondeductible contribution without tax.

Roth IRA. You may contribute the same amount to a Roth IRA as you can to a traditional IRA, but there are different eligibility rules, such as no age limit with respect to contributions, so long as you meet the earned income requirement.

The total amount of your annual contribution to IRAs can never be larger than the defined limit. That being said, if you are eligible you can contribute all of your income to a traditional or all of your income to a Roth IRA. You are even allowed to split your contribution between the two different IRA?s.

The Roth IRA also differs from a traditional IRA in that you won’t be able to claim a deduction for your contributions. But all Roth IRA earnings can be withdrawn tax free after age 591/2, provided you’ve had the account for at least five years. (You can withdraw amounts up to your total contributions tax free at any time.)

There are other differences as well. Traditional IRAs have required minimum distribution rules that must be strictly followed. Roth IRAs have no distribution requirements during your lifetime.

If you already have a traditional IRA you may be able to convert a portion, or even all, of your traditional IRA to a Roth IRA. You will have to do a cost-benefit analysis to see if the benefit from the conversion will outweigh the added tax obligations that result from changing the plan.

Simplified Employee Pension SEP IRA. A SEP IRA enables self-employed entrepreneurs an avenue to make significant IRA contributions that would not be permitted under a traditional or Roth IRA plan. As far as tax purposes are concerned, SEPs are treated the same as the other types of IRAs. The main difference is that SEPs allow a much higher contribution limit than the other two.The formula for calculating the exact contribution amount is too complex for our purposes, but a rough estimate of 20% of your net self-employment earnings is a good start.

This data is distributed for informational purposes only; Doeren Mayhew is not rendering legal, accounting, or other professional advice or opinions and assumes no legal responsibility. Contact Doeren Mayhew for more information.

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How to Mac for QuickBooks to QuickBooks Online

Oct 25, 2009 accounting

A few months ago Intuit, the manufacture of QuickBooks, released a new version of QuickBooks Online that runs with the Safari web browser. The new version of QuickBooks offers a multiuser alternative for users of QuickBooks in a Mac environment. It is currently possible for Mac QuickBooks users to run multiuser versions of QuickBooks for a reasonable monthly price, and have unattended backups and software updates included in the monthly price.

In addition to the Safari interface, QuickBooks Online has been optimized to work with the iPhone. The iPhone app is a read only application, however some added options exist for customer, vendor and employee information as well as the ability to create and send invoices. Also, there is another benefit for Mac users of QuickBooks, namely,there is no longer a wait for updates to the Mac version of QuickBooks.

It is relatively easy and straightforward to install QuickBooks Online (without the need to convert QuickBooks for Mac files to QuickBooks online files). However, it gets somewhat complicated when you need to convert an existing QuickBooks Mac file to a QuickBooks Online file. Intuit does a fairly good job of making the online installation easy.

Manually converting your QuickBooks for Mac file to QuickBooks Online is not that difficult, as long as you carefully follow the instructions and generally takes about 30 minutes. You cannot directly convert your QuickBooks for Mac file to QuickBooks Online. There is an intermediate step that requires you to convert your QB Mac file to a QB Windows file and begins with the drop down menu in QuickBooks Mac. The process begins, by selecting the File menu and then selecting Back up to QuickBooks for Windows within the QuickBooks for Mac software. Upon completion of this process, the file is sent to QuickBooks and you receive a notification when the process for converting the QuickBooks Mac to QuickBooks Online is completed. Initially, I was surprised to observe that this process is performed at the Intuit level rather than in real time. A suggestion to facilitate this process, is that in the event you do not receive timely notification of completion from Intuit, I suggest that you contact tech support and ask them to look into the status of your conversion and request that they expedite it for you. Generally, when I have called tech support, and they are very accommodating. They will facilitate the process, although they generally do not give any time guarantee and attribute the potential delay to their busy servers.

Generally speaking,the manual conversion process takes about a half hour (exclusive of the subsequent Intuit conversion) and my Mac clients have been pleased with QBO. One client was disappointed that the vendor type classifications are not currently available in QuickBooks Online. I confirmed this shortcoming with Intuit support and they suggested the following workaround.The workaround, is to use one of the fields in the vendor profile as the vendor type. So far, my clients are happy to have multi-user access, the ability to work from anywhere and unattended and automatic backups, notwithstanding sluggish performance due to the web connection.

A couple of words of caution, the first is that QuickBooks Online, does not offer extensive inventory applications with comprehensive features ordinarily included with the desktop versions and the second, that the conversion may require the services of your accountant or CPA or a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor to affect a smooth and orderly transition to the QuickBooks Online platform.

As long as you understand up front the limitations of QBO, then you should find the QBO platform acceptable and more importantly, a helpfully financial tool to run and monitor your business.

Sandor Lenner,CPA-MBA has been providing accounting services for 35 years. He is also a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor and can offer discounted QuickBooks software. QuickBooks Online Edition ” Starting as low as $9.95 a month. Subscribe to my free monthly newsletter. I will not share your email with anyone.

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Planning to Start a New Business? What You Need To Do / Feasibility Study

Oct 22, 2009 accounting

Are you considering starting up a new business or maybe buying into an established business? Plan for your success, undertake a feasibility study before you commit yourself to this business and reap the rewards of success. Here are some key questions to address.

When looking at starting a new business, will you be entering into an established market? If so, you need understand your competition, who the market leaders are and strength of your competitors. If alternatively there is no established market, you will need to be able to create the market you need to sustain your business.

You also want to do some research to measure whether that market is static, growing or shrinking.

How will you finance your entry into the market and your business until such a time as it is financially sustainable? What legal obligations are required for the type of business you are considering?

And finally you want to make sure you understand all of the skills required to operate a business in this area successfully. Do you have those skills already? Can you acquire them? Or can you hire in consultants or contractors that can provide those skills?

These are some of the issues requiring attention that are critical to your new business success.

Alternatively, if you are considering buying into an existing business, specific questions on the established business need to be addressed, such as: why is the owner selling? How are similar businesses currently performing? How good is the current business location physically compared to its competition? For example if the business is reliant on foot or street traffic for its customer pool, are there better locations? Have you had a good look around your respective selling area? Have you analysed, considered, evaluated and discussed what you are getting for the price you are paying? You will need to dig down to understand the real position of the business you are buying into.

A feasibility study will assist you in address these questions, and help with your decision to undertake the business (or not) as well as provide a basis to plan out your strategy from. The feasibility study can be structured as follows:

Revenue: what do you believe a reasonable level of revenue would be for such a business and what is the worst case and the best case scenarios?

Competitors: list your competition – your current competitors in your business market.

General Business Environment and/or Economic Impacts: a description of the current environment and market trends your business will be entering into.

Your Business’ Unique Selling Point: a clear understanding of what your business will differentiate itself with in the market – what will make people pay attention to your business over other businesses in the marketplace. This may be cost, quality or expertise, for example.

Cash Flow Analysis: you will need a careful cash flow analysis statement indicating when you expect money to come in and how much and when and how much money will be leaving your business. That way you will understand the cash needs of your business. Remember one of the biggest reasons that start-up businesses fail is because they run out of cash.

By completing your feasibility study prior to entering a new business, you will be putting down on paper the key facts about the business you are planning to undertake. This will allow you to have an objective look at the state of play and make a rational and more objective decision as to whether to go ahead or not at this point in time.

So think about undertaking a feasibility study before you commit your time, money and effort into starting a business and help plan for your future success.

Want to find out more about Brisbane accounting, then visit Accountia’s website and learn more about feasibility studies and other business services Brisbane.

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7 Great Tips For Choosing An Accountant For Your Business

Oct 22, 2009 accountancy

Every business, regardless of its size, needs an accountant to look after the reporting of its finances. With financial reporting being something that has to be done right, first time around, then it is of the utmost importance to employ the services of a professional and efficient accountant.

With so many accountants to choose from those, getting the right for the job is no easy task. These 7 tips will go a long way towards making it easier for you though…

1) Analyze your own needs. Do you just need someone to help you meet your statutory requirements? If so, then a larger, reputable, brand name accountancy firm will probably be your best option. However, if you are looking for specific help and someone to help guide your business financially on a regular basis, then a smaller, more responsive firm would probably be better.

2) Meet them in person before committing. The initial meeting should be free, with a partner, and will allow you and the accountancy firm to see whether there is a match between what you are looking for, and their ability to provide it.

3) Make sure the accountant is transparent about pricing. A reputable firm will be completely ‘up-front’ about pricing, and should make very clear what you can expect to pay for their services, and on what terms.

4) Request testimonials from existing clients. The testimonials should be more than just a list of company names – ask for the names of senior people within client companies, with contact details. Even better, take client names from the website and call them unprompted; this may garner a more honest opinion.

5) Visit their website. What is your general impression of their company website? Is it easy to navigate and find what you’re looking for? Is it up to date? Though not a conclusive factor in itself, a company who put time and effort into their website are more likely to make good use of technology within their services.

6) Use the internet for research. Enter the name of the accountancy firm into Google and look through the results brought up. What you are looking for is recommendations and comments in general. Forums on your best bet as what is written there is almost certainly going to be unbiased. Be prepared to spend 15 minutes or so going through at least the first 5 pages of results.

7) Evaluate their response times. If you fired off an email enquiry, how quickly did they respond? The chances are that the speed and comprehensiveness with which they answer your initial questions, will be reflected in their ongoing service.

Learn More : Business Plan Cash Flow

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3 QuickBooks Online Add-Ons that Maybe Required to Operate Your Business

Oct 21, 2009 accounting bookkeeping

There are 3 important QuickBooks Online Add-ons that may be important to the way you manage your business with QuickBooks Online. This article will discuss these QuickBooks Online add ons and will provide you with information that you should consider to make an informed business decision. This article will inform you of the additional expenses that may not be apparent when considering the purchase of QuickBooks Online.

By way of background, the three types of QuickBooks Online products discussed are QuickBooks Online -free, QuickBooks Online Basic,and QuickBooks Online Plus. Please refer to my other articles that compare and contrast the functionality of QuickBooks Online Basic and QuickBooks Online Plus.

Add-On for Credit Card Sales From Customers - To process,approve and record credit card sales you need to purchase QuickBooks Online Merchant. Accepting Visa, MasterCard, American Express and other credit card types can attract new customers, help you get paid faster, and save you time in collecting payments. This ability to accept credit card payments is called a merchant account service. With the QuickBooks Online Merchant account, you are able to authorize and process credit card transactions with eitherQB Online Basic or QB Plus. This credit card add-on, processes and records payments from customers, in real time, thereby eliminating the need to manually record credit card sales in your QuickBooks. For this add-on, there is a onetime set up fee of $59.95 and a monthly fee of $19.95, along with standard authorization and credit card fees. If you are able to purchase this from a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor there are substantial discounts available for these services.

One positive aspect, is that the use of QuickBooks Online Merchant does save you money because you no longer need to lease phone lines and lease terminal hardware or software. It should be noted that for in store credit card sales, a merchant service card reader does not work and that a credit card reader requires QB desktop software, 2002 or higher. Intuit designed their product so you do not have to use a credit card reader. The alternative is not that bad, you have to manually type in the credit card number and enter the customer sale information usually included in an invoice. In a few moments, you are informed if the customer payment is approved or declined by the credit card company. (By the way, the other day, I made a credit card purchase in a major department store, and they manually took an imprint of my credit card and effectively, manually took the time to process my credit card purchase, so even the major department stores have manual processes)

Payroll Add On- Payroll for QuickBooks Online is sold separately and is not included with either QuickBooks Basic or QuickBooks Plus. However, Intuit, offers the following solutions as of the date of this article (a) QuickBooks Online Basic ($9.95 monthly) and payroll ($9.95 monthly) and (b) QuickBooks Online Plus ($34.95 monthly) and payroll ($9.95 monthly),sometimes Intuit offers a 20% discount for Plus version. When you purchase QB Online Plus from a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor there is an additional 20% discount available to you, which in total is a 40% savings. QuickBooks ProAdvisor discount pricing are subject to change.

Inventory Add On- At the current time, Intuit the manufacturer of both QuickBooks Online Basic and QuickBooks Online Plus does not offer an inventory accounting option. Unfortunately, many small companies companies maintain their inventories in Excel and periodically record and make the inventory adjustments into QuickBooks Online. Some options to you are available; you can buy an inventory add-on such as OE Companion which currently offers a 30 day free trial for their inventory accounting add-on or you can visit the Intuit website to obtain inventory add-ons from the Intuit Market. I have not reviewed any of these inventory add-ons and therefore, I cannot provide an opinion or review regarding their effectiveness and compatibility. However, we can look forward to the future, as Intuit is developing an inventory add-on.

This article was written to provide information to a purchaser of QuickBooks Online. The article is introductory and does not attempt to assess your specific business needs. As is the case for any purchase of hardware or software, professional analysis should be undertaken to carefully evaluate your business needs by your accountant, CPA, or a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor prior to purchasing any add-on or any software application.

Sandor Lenner,CPA-MBA has been providing accounting services for over 35 years. He is also a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor and offers discounted QuickBooks software. QuickBooks Online Edition ” Starting as low as $9.95 a month. Subscribe to my free monthly newsletter. I will not share your email with anyone.

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Your Guide To Bookkeeping Classes

Oct 18, 2009 accounting bookkeeping

If you are trying to obtain additional degrees in accounting or even have your own bookkeeping establishment but you just cannot attend the regular campus then the best thing that can happen to you is that you can get yourself admitted in online bookkeeping classes. The advantage of the online classes is that you need not even attend the classes and also study based on your own time convenience. This allows you to spend time on your current job as well as make sure that you get the extra degree.

The best online bookkeeping classes are those which allow you to be flexible yet they have the facility of a live chat or calling up the faculty so that you can get your doubts and questions resolved by experienced people. This is a must for learning.

Most diploma courses will teach you all about the debit and credit as well as the basics of accounting. It will also teach you about the commonly accepted accounting principles or as they are called the GAAP norms.

Make sure that you get the references from your friends and relatives about the suitable online course before paying up the fees. You will not get any money back once you have already paid and want to cancel. You will need discipline and perseverance to get the best out of the online classes. This is where most of the students fail as they are not that disciplined in scheduling their time.

Compare all the costs associated with the online classes as well as the classes at a regular offline college or university. The online classes are cheaper however the fact is it is always better to have the interaction with the faculty in a regular school or college. That is why a lot of people prefer the offline method.

You should take bookkeeping classes for certified bookkeepers and select the best online bookkeeping classes

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Retirement Planning – Getting Your Retirement Income In Time

Oct 18, 2009 accounting

Throughout the years, the two main sources of income when Americans retire are social security and pensions from their employers. However, since the prices of every item these days are increasing, the financial support that people may get from these sources may not be enough to sustain all their needs. Social Security support may not be that large in amount while pensions are only given by very few employers.

This is why personal savings are essential for this might be the only viable solution when it comes to retirement income.

Social Security
If you want to be entitled for its benefits, the system will require contribution from you tantamount to minimum of 10 years. The benefits will be determined on your calculated earnings prior to retirement and your decided age of retirement to start receiving these benefits.

The good side about this is that the benefits are set to go up with inflation and the bad side is that your earnings in determining the benefits are capped. This just means that those who earn huge income will get less of their usual earnings compared to those whose income is below the level of cap.

When you reach the age of full retirement, which used to be 65 years old, you will be able to receive your benefits in full. However, people who were born in the year 1938 and later, the full age of retirement is increasing gradually until it arrives at age of 67 for those who are born later than 1959.

If you want to check out how much benefit you can get, go to the website of Social Security Administration at www.ssa.gov. You can also review the annual statement sent by SSA to your registered address, which they send to you three months before your birthday.

Early vs. Late Acquisition of Benefits
You can choose to start getting your benefits even as early as 67. However, expect that you will receive fewer benefits compared to if you have waited for your actual and full retirement age to come first. For instance, 66 is your full retirement age and you decided getting your benefits by age 62. Then you will be receiving just around 75% of the amount you are supposed to have. For every month that you wait patiently for until you reach the actual age, your monthly benefits are set to increase. So in this example, by age 63, you will get about 80% of the actual amount.

As an extra option, you can settle to delay your acquiring of the benefits of your retirement plans up to a year or more of your actual retirement age and add up to the amount you will receive every month. For example, your full retirement age is 66, then each time you go a year more beyond that age, then you are to get an additional 8% each month. Therefore, if you wait until age 70, then you are most likely to get 132% of your monthly benefits.

Just remember that choosing to take your early benefits could mean smaller payments but definitely more payments in your entire lifetime. The same thing is similar when there is delay. So your final decision on when to take in your benefits should require a lot of thinking with regards to your total amount of expected benefits all throughout your lifetime. Hence, the best alternative will greatly depend on the length of your life. Check out the SSA website to help you in analyzing the benefits one can receive at varying age levels.

Keeping in Mind the Benefits of Your Spouse
Even if your spouse never acquired earnings under the system of Social Security, he or she is still entitled to become a beneficiary under your record. Depending on the ages of your kids, they are also eligible to receive benefits.

If you start getting benefits at full retirement age, then your spouse can get about 50% of your benefits. If you will take in your benefits at an early age, then your spouse’s benefits will lessen too. The percentage or rate of the benefits they are to get will vary on when you will take your benefits.

Remember that the spouse may be eligible for his or her benefit. With this, he or she will be given the higher among the two amounts.

This data is distributed for informational purposes only, with the understanding that Doeren Mayhew is not rendering legal, accounting, or other professional advice or opinions and assumes no liability in connection with its use. Please contact Doeren Mayhew for more information.

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Preparing for an IRS Audit

Oct 18, 2009 accounting finance

Everyone dread’s the thought of one day opening up a letter from the IRS to find out that they’re being audited. So now what? How should you reply to a letter like this?

If is understandable that you may be scared about meeting with the auditor, but the best advice you can get is to not panic. Gather all your expense receipts and accounting records together when preparing yourself. Be careful to get all the information together and try not to worry about what the auditor will say or do. You can only control what you can control.

Before choosing to just set this aside for another day, take a few minutes and think about what you should do now. It is a good idea to call the IRS office to find out what is going on and what day they are wanting to meet with you to go over the paperwork. Making this one phone call will help shed some light on the situation and will aid in helping you to decide how to proceed.

Remember when you are on the phone with the IRS representative that it is not their fault you are being audited. They are simpliy answering the phone and trying to help you. If you have been up front and honest about your situation, there really is no reason to be worried.

Once you speak with the representative on the phone, you may determine that you need more time to get all the necessary documents together. In this case you may need to ask for a postponement. A postponement will grant you additional time to get the gather all the paperwork together. Many times these are granted provided you have been cooperative with the auditor and have a legitiment reason for needing the postponement. So don’t wait to the last minute to get in touch with the auditor.

Closing Comments

Finally, it’s important to recognize that just about all audits are merely called for because of small mistakes. You probably added up or deducted incorrectly, or wrote down the information on the wrong line. That type of matter happens daily. This audit advice is to not be afraid, be honest about what is going on, and then fix the mistake. By approaching the situation with a positive attitude, the IRS auditor will be willing to work with you. Despite popular belief they are human too.

Hubert Miles is a free lance writer and webmaster for several financial websites. For more information on Personal Finance Tips and Finance Articles.

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