Archive for April, 2011
by Jim Wagoner, CPA
In our last enewsletter we reported that Congress passed the repeal of the expanded 1099 reporting requirements. On April 14, 2011 the President signed this into law.
As a result of the repeal, the 1099 reporting rules continue unchanged: Namely, under IRC § 6041(a), “All persons engaged in a trade or business and making payment in the course of such trade or business to another person” of $600 or more must report the amount and the name and address of the recipient to the IRS and to the recipient. The Code applies this requirement to payments of “rent, salaries, wages, premiums, annuities, compensations, remunerations, emoluments, or other fixed or determinable gains, profits, and income,” and the Treasury regulations add, “commissions, fees, and other forms of compensation for services rendered aggregating $600 or more” as well as interest (including original issue discount), royalties and pensions (Treas. Reg. § 1.6041-1(a)(1)(i)).
by Anita Sherman, CPA | Managing Partner and Larry Greenwalt
For the third year in a row, Greenwalt CPAs, Inc. employees’ have named Greenwalt as a Top Workplace company, finishing #2 this year out of 51 small company employers (firms with less than 150 employees) in the Indianapolis Star’s Top Workplaces survey, published April 17, 2011. This annual survey was conducted by Workplace Dynamics, an independent organization who directly surveyed company employees and compiled the results.
Workplace Dynamics asks employees a number of questions in six major categories, and our ranking among the 51 employers is as follow:
- Direction – ranked 1st
- Conditions – ranked 1st
- Execution – ranked 1st
- Career – ranked 2nd
- Managers – ranked 12th
- Pay and benfits – ranked 7th
Under the Special Awards category, Greenwalt CPAs/Larry K. Greenwalt received the Leadership Award for small companies.
The statements that Greenwalt CPAs scored relatively highest on (according to Workplace
Dynamics) were:
- I have confidence in the leader of this organization
- I feel well-informed about important decisions at this organization
- There is not a lot of frustration at my workplace
We had a 90% response rate from employees, compared to the survey average of 62%, which is extremely high, and further strengthens the accuracy and meaningfulness of the results.
We are appreciative that our team has again bestowed this honor on us, but we also firmly believe that in reality, our clients are beneficiaries as well, and that is very important to us. According to Workplace Dynamics, “..top workplaces tend to outperform their peers in areas such as client satisfaction, productivity and employee retention…”
by Tim Ayler, CPA
Partner, Director of the Construction Services Group
How did this happen? Average Builder, Inc. just wrapped up a $1,000,000 construction job, and realized that their job netted a profit of just $10,000, or 1%! While this may seem out of the ordinary, we have seen far too many real situations like this during reviews of various client job schedules for the year ended 2010.
On April 5, Congress voted to repeal the expanded Form 1099 reporting requirements that were added in 2010. In 2010, part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act included provisions to expand the 1099 reporting requirements in 2012 to include payments for goods or other property, and to include corporations, who did not have a filing requirement previously. The Small Business Jobs Act, also passed in 2010, included provisions, starting in 2011, to those receiving rental income from real estate. The new law, once signed by the President, will repeal all of these provisions and the 1099 rules will go back to the rules that are currently in place. The current rules for 1099 reporting generally include payments made from your trade or business to non-corporate entities for services performed.
If you have any questions on whether you can use these beneficial tax savings for your company, please don’t hesitate to call Marie Jett or Larry Brodnik.
by Jim Wagoner, CPA | Director, Tax Services Group
During the last couple of weeks it has come to our attention that the Indiana Attorney General’s Office sent 3,500 businesses letters and invoices indicating a $5,000 penalty for not registering and filing a zero return. The Attorney General’s Office has subsequently acknowledged that there is no requirement to file zero returns, but that it is considered a best practice.
You should go to http://ucp.indianaunclaimed.com/attorneygeneral/ucp/reporting.html to learn more about the annual filing requirements for unclaimed property.
If your business has past unclaimed property to report to the Attorney General’s Office, please seek advice of your legal counsel before registering since you are outside the amnesty period.
On the website you can find a sample due diligence letter to send to owners of the unclaimed property. Also, check out the Dormancy Periods Table link that provides information as to when to report unclaimed property to the Attorney General.
If your business does not have unclaimed property, a negative (zero) annual report may be filed, but it is not statutorily required, although encouraged by the Attorney General’s Office. However, it would be our advice to seek advice from your legal counsel before doing so.
If you have any further questions, please feel free to call us at Greenwalt CPAs.
by Jennifer McVey, CPA and Amanda Meko, CPA | Team Members of the NFP Services Group
Nonprofits often ask their advisors how to look at an operating reserve: Is it cash set aside for a rainy day? Is it the same as an organization’s net worth? How much is too little — or too much? Nonprofits often ask their advisors how to look at an operating reserve: Is it cash set aside for a rainy day? Is it the same as an organization’s net worth? How much is too little — or too much