The tax code is highly complex. There are ways in which individuals can reduce their tax burden, many of which they’re unaware. Anyone can save themselves a significant amount of time, money and stress by hiring a tax accountant.

However, the tax professionals provide far more than assistance at tax time. Tax accountants help clients attain their financial goals, recommend tax strategies, and ensure taxes are filed accurately and on time. More than 74 million individuals and business owners received assistance from a tax professional in 2020. There are 3 essential questions to ask when hiring a tax accountant.

Self-Employment Taxes

Many individuals are operating side hustles and working in the gig economy without realizing that the IRS considers that self-employment. That makes earnings subject to additional taxes. Individuals should ask their tax accountant if they’re paying self-employment taxes and if there’s any way to reduce the amount.

Self-employment taxes include Social Security and Medicare, along with state and federal taxes on income. There are ways to reduce the tax burden and a tax accountant will know how to accomplish that.

Payroll

Business owners need to ask their tax accountant about placing themselves on the company’s payroll in the future. There’s a tax deduction that can be taken by doing so. Not all business entities are able to do this and a tax accountant will know if the client qualifies. For those that do qualify, it’s viewed as a distribution for IRS purposes and owners will be taxed as an employee.

Estimated Taxes

Many small business owners encounter problems during their first years of operation because they don’t budget for their taxes or fail to make estimated tax payments. A tax accountant will be able to provide sound advice and guidance on whether individuals should be making estimated tax payments.

At Peavy and Associates PC our mission is to assist you with all your tax preparations, payroll and accounting needs.  We provide our clients with professional, personalized accounting services and guidance in a wide range of financial and business needs. Give us a call today and discover why our clients return to Peavy and Associates, PC year after year!

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Everyone has financial goals they’d like to accomplish, but many don’t know how to begin. The goal may be to eliminate credit card debt or save for retirement. There are short-term and long-term financial goals and they all begin with identifying what those goals are. People should make sure their financial goals are specific to them and not what others are doing.

Make a List

At its most basic level, individuals can begin by making a list of what they want to accomplish financially – and be realistic. When motivated to create a list, most people are surprised by the number of things they include. Individuals need to make sure their goals are always uppermost in their mind. Keep the list highly visible by placing it on the phone, using sticky notes, or tape a copy to the refrigerator.

Be Specific

Saving money or managing finances better is too vague. Individuals need to be specific. That can include purchasing a new car, taking a dream vacation, or living without credit cards.

Make a Budget

Budgeting is a skill that many have never learned. In one column, list all of the household’s monthly income. In another column, list all of the recurring monthly bills. Subtract the bills from income. The remaining number is how much disposable income is available to put toward financial goals.

People should be prepared to make adjustments. That can mean eliminating or reducing expensive coffee, the number of times they eat out, or the number of subscriptions to streaming services. Even small changes can make a difference.

Measurable Results

Everyone needs to be able to see measurable results. It keeps people from becoming discouraged and provides proof that what they’re doing is or isn’t working.

Set a Deadline

Individuals need to set a specific date for accomplishing their goal. Work on one goal at a time. The deadline will depend on what a person wants to achieve. It could take a matter of months or involve a multi-year plan.

At Peavy and Associates PC our mission is to assist you with all your tax preparations, payroll and accounting needs.  We provide our clients with professional, personalized accounting services and guidance in a wide range of financial and business needs. Give us a call today and discover why our clients return to Peavy and Associates, PC year after year!

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Operating and growing a business is a full-time endeavor. There’s no reason for business owners to take on the responsibilities of another job when there are highly-trained professionals available who have the training and experience required to do so in an exemplary manner.

Time

One of a business owner’s most valuable assets is time. When individuals find themselves expending as much time working on the books as they do their business, it’s time to hire a bookkeeper. When individuals are overwhelmed and don’t have sufficient downtime, errors creep in and the business will suffer.

Receipts and Transactions

There are untold transactions that take place every day in the course of conducting business. Maintaining accurate records is essential for any business. Losing track of receipts, invoicing, employee-related expenses, and even when insurance is due opens the door to errors that can cost a business far more than the expense of hiring a bookkeeper.

Paying Penalties

There are numerous state and federal reports and taxes that must be filed each year, along with deadlines for submitting that information. Failure to do so results in financial penalties that increase the longer they go unpaid. Any business owner that finds themselves paying fines and facing penalties needs to hire a bookkeeper as soon as possible.

According to the IRS, approximately 47 percent of the penalties it collects is due to filing delinquencies. A bookkeeper can assist in eliminating that problem and help clients keep that money within their business.

Profits aren’t Increasing

Over time, business owners expect to see an increase in profits. Without accurate records, there’s no way to discern if advertising is working, if the business is acquiring new customers, areas of inefficiencies, and where the company is losing money. A bookkeeper can help determine that and assist individuals in maintaining their cash flow.

Planning for the Future

Eventually, every business owner wants to expand their business. Individuals may want to apply for financing or achieve a specific goal by a certain time. The services of a bookkeeper will show business owners where their finances stand at any point in time so they can accurately plan for future growth or even retirement.

At Peavy and Associates PC our mission is to assist you with all your tax preparations, payroll and accounting needs.  We provide our clients with professional, personalized accounting services and guidance in a wide range of financial and business needs. Give us a call today and discover why our clients return to Peavy and Associates, PC year after year!

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A significant number of college students are reassessing their career path. They’re discovering they won’t make as much as they anticipated. A study conducted by Real Estate Witch found that undergrads across all majors overestimated their starting salaries by 88 percent. There are numerous well-paying opportunities in accounting for 2022 and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects a significant growth rate in all areas.

Bookkeeper

A bookkeeper maintains a company’s day-to-day financial transactions. They record, prepare and present financial statements to supervisors and managers about some or all of an organization’s accounts. They’re responsible for keeping a running total of costs and income and it represents an excellent opportunity for those entering the field. Bookkeepers enter data, verify billing statements, and work with multiple types of financial software.

Personal Accountant

There’s an almost endless need for personal accounts. They keep track of and help individuals and business owners manage credit card and bank statements, keep tax records, review expenditures, and ensure staff are paid.

Tax Preparer

Individuals, entrepreneurs and small businesses utilize the services of a tax preparer throughout the year to ensure their finances stay on track. Tax preparers prepare taxes, ensure clients are only paying what they should, and help them organize records. They may work for a larger company, but often operate their own business out of their home.

Forensic Accountant

Law enforcement agencies, lawyers, private investigators, insurance companies, government agencies and financial institutions employ forensic accountants. They’re often called as expert witnesses in court cases to prove embezzlement, fraud and other financial wrongdoing. They analyze financial statements, bank records and other documents.

Environmental Accountant

The job includes recording income, expenditures and other transactions related to cost savings. Many companies and corporations employ environmental accountants to create social responsibility statements in terms of energy costs and similar changes relating to green practices.

At Peavy and Associates PC our mission is to assist you with all your tax preparations, payroll and accounting needs.  We provide our clients with professional, personalized accounting services and guidance in a wide range of financial and business needs. Give us a call today and discover why our clients return to Peavy and Associates, PC year after year!

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An accounting firm offers an extensive array of services to meet a multitude of needs. They have highly trained CPAs that provide personalized guidance in financial matters of all types to maximize client profitability. They assist clients in creating strategies for the future, meeting financial goals, and minimizing tax liability.

Tax Services

Tax services encompass far more than simply filing taxes with the IRS at the appropriate time. Accounting firms help clients develop strategies and plans to reduce taxes on income, investments, and retirement distributions. An accounting firm will also assist clients in reducing taxes on gifts and their estate, along with optimizing available financial opportunities.

Accounting

Startups, established enterprises and sole proprietorships can all benefit from the services of an accounting firm for budgeting, corporate tax planning, and accounting systems. Many businesses provide profit sharing plans and employee benefits to attract and retain the best workers. An accounting firm will help clients establish those benefits in a cost-effective way.

Payroll

One of the biggest expenses for any company is its payroll and records must be kept meticulously. Accounting firms prepare payrolls, handle direct deposits and ACH payments, and take care of federal and state tax payments. An accounting firm will also prepare W-2s, 1099 statements, and provide clients with monthly and quarterly payroll reports.

Consulting

One of the many services provided by an accounting firm, and one of the most valuable, is consulting. Accounting firms help clients focus on what’s most important to them to achieve their financial goals through forecasting and cash flow budgeting. They create personal financial statements, provide ledger services, and clients receive litigation support.

Attestation

Individuals should choose an accounting firm that offers all three levels of attestation – audits, reviews and compilations. The firms conduct in-depth audits to confirm inventories, transactions, and account balances. Reviews are provided to ensure the integrity of information and compilations prepared for internal management.

At Peavy and Associates PC our mission is to assist you with all your tax preparations, payroll and accounting needs.  We provide our clients with professional, personalized accounting services and guidance in a wide range of financial and business needs. Give us a call today and discover why our clients return to Peavy and Associates, PC year after year!

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Choosing an accounting firm to handle business interests, personal finances and/or taxes can be confusing. Compounding the problem is the inability to discern which financial services are actually needed or an insufficient budget to hire an accountant. Instead, people often try to navigate their financials on their own and leave money on the table.

Identify Needs

Private individuals and businesses will typically have vastly different needs, though they can intersect. The same is true for startups, established businesses and sole proprietors. Cryptocurrency investors, those with lottery winnings, stocks, and rental properties will need an accountant with experience in those areas.

Qualifications

An accounting firm should be willing to provide their qualifications and areas of specialization in the services for which they’re being hired. Don’t be hesitant about asking questions to discover if they’ve been involved in audits and the outcomes. Seeking referrals from family, friends and/or other business owners is a good way to learn about accounting firms that may be right for an individual’s needs. Don’t forget to contact the Better Business Bureau to determine if there have been any complaints about the firm.

Experience and Support

Having experience in the specific areas for which an accountant is hired can’t be overstated. They’ll know about tax laws, deductions and credits available within specific industries. They’ll also have the expertise to assist with future planning and goal setting. Audits are always a potential event and the accountant should provide support and services that represent the client’s interests in that eventuality.

Near or Far

The location of the accountant relative to the client is important. Individuals may not have the time to drop everything to meet with their accountant. That’s especially true for people that frequently travel or have overseas holdings.

Making Connections

Clients should feel comfortable discussing any facet of their financial or business interests with their accountant. If they don’t, it’s time to find a new accountant. The chosen accountant should be able to explain things in clear and understandable language without jargon specific to the accounting industry.

At Peavy and Associates PC our mission is to assist you with all your tax preparations, payroll and accounting needs.  We provide our clients with professional, personalized accounting services and guidance in a wide range of financial and business needs. Give us a call today and discover why our clients return to Peavy and Associates, PC year after year!

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In an accountant’s reporting systems, depreciation of a business’s fixed assets such as its buildings, equipment, computers, etc. is not recorded as a cash outlay. When an accountant measures profit on the accrual basis of accounting, he or she counts depreciation as an expense. Buildings, machinery, tools, vehicles and furniture all have a limited useful life. All fixed assets, except for actual land, have a limited lifetime of usefulness to a business. Depreciation is the method of accounting that allocates the total cost of fixed assets to each year of their use in helping the business generate revenue. 

Part of the total sales revenue of a business includes recover of cost invested in its fixed assets. In a real sense a business sells some of its fixed assets in the sales prices that it charges it customers. For example, when you go to a grocery store, a small portion of the price you pay for eggs or bread goes toward the cost of the buildings, the machinery, bread ovens, etc. Each reporting period, a business recoups part of the cost invested in its fixed assets. 

It’s not enough for the accountant to add back depreciation for the year to bottom-line profit. The changes in other assets, as well as the changes in liabilities, also affect cash flow from profit. The competent accountant will factor in all the changes that determine cash flow from profit. Depreciation is only one of many adjustments to the net income of a business to determine cash flow from operating activities. Amortization of intangible assets is another expense that is recorded against a business’s assets for year. It’s different in that it doesn’t require cash outlay in the year being charged with the expense. That occurred when the business invested in those tangible assets.

At Peavy and Associates PC our mission is to assist you with all your tax preparations, payroll and accounting needs.  We provide our clients with professional, personalized accounting services and guidance in a wide range of financial and business needs. Give us a call today and discover why our clients return to Peavy and Associates, PC year after year!

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An accountant is a licensed professional who has gone to hell and back to gain their designation as a certified public accountant. The testing for the certification is beyond brutal. If an accountant is certified, it means they are extremely versed in the tax code, finances and tax issues. 

Many people are under the mistaken belief that accountants simply provide tax return preparation services. The stereotypical view involves a person dropping off their receipts a month before tax returns are due and the accountant doing the best he or she can to prepare a tax return while limiting the amount of money you owe the government. This occurs, but people are wasting money if this is how they are using their accountant. 

Accountants have expertise in the tax code. You should use this. Ideally, an accountant will aware of all aspects of your financial life. They should also be aware of significant events in your private life, such as the fact you are about to have a child. The reason this is important is it gives the accountant the ability to solve your tax mystery. 

Solving a tax mystery simply refers to an accountant figuring out the best way to limit your taxes. As you know from police shows on television or mystery novels, finding as many clues as possible is the way to solve the mystery. The accountant needs to do the same with you and you need to help them. Each part of your finances represents a clue to solving the mystery of how to cut your tax bill. 

Once an accountant has all the clues, he or she can do their job. They will give you specific direction on the steps to be taken to save money on your tax bill this year. Equally important, they will give you advice on how you are going to save taxes in future years. Depending on your situation, they may even recommend a long-term tax strategy for stuffing away money to pay for your kids’ college tuition or your retirement. 

The purpose of using an accountant is not just to put tax returns together. They put together tax strategies to save you money this year, the next and throughout your life.

At Peavy and Associates PC our mission is to assist you with all your tax preparations, payroll and accounting needs.  We provide our clients with professional, personalized accounting services and guidance in a wide range of financial and business needs. Give us a call today and discover why our clients return to Peavy and Associates, PC year after year!

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It might seem like a no-brainer to define just exactly what profit and loss are. But of course, these have definitions like everything else.  Profit can be called different things, for a start. It’s sometimes called net income or net earnings.  Businesses that sell products and services generate profit from the sales of those products or services and from controlling the attendant costs of running the business. Profit can also be referred to as Return on Investment, or ROI. While some definitions limit ROI to profit on investments in such securities as stocks or bonds, many companies use this term to refer to short-term and long-term business results. Profit is also sometimes called taxable income.

It’s the job of the accounting and finance professionals to assess the profits and losses of a company. They have to know what created both and what the results of both sides of the business equation are. They determine what the net worth of a company is. Net worth is the resulting dollar amount from deducting a company’s liabilities from its assets. In a privately held company, this is also called owner’s equity, since anything that’s left over after all the bills are paid, to put it simply, belongs to the owners. In a publicly held company, this profit is returned to the shareholders in the form of dividends. In other words, all liabilities have the first claim on any money the company makes. Anything that’s left over is profit. It’s not derived from one element or another. Net worth is determined after all the liabilities are deducted from all the assets, including cash and property. 

Showing a profit, or a positive figure on the balance sheet, is of course the aim of every business. It’s what our economy and society are built on. It doesn’t always work out that way. Economic trends and consumer behaviors change and it’s not always possible to predict these and what income they’ll have on a company’s performance.

At Peavy and Associates PC our mission is to assist you with all your tax preparations, payroll and accounting needs.  We provide our clients with professional, personalized accounting services and guidance in a wide range of financial and business needs. Give us a call today and discover why our clients return to Peavy and Associates, PC year after year!

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