We assist with the preparation of income tax returns for individuals, small businesses, corporations, estates and trusts in and around San Antonio, Texas.
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Operating as usual
Due to the snowstorms in February, Texas doesn't have to file until June 15 - the rest of the US is due May 17th - in the interest of avoiding a revolt by the staff, we are closing until April 20th for a mid-season hiatus. I hate to say this but I'll be glad when April 15 is "thing" again and we can have a "normal" tax season. I might regret saying it but it's done now. Lol. We'll see you soon!
The Vescio Group is closed this week due to weather conditions. Our phones and utilities have been out at our office so if you have tried to call, the phones were knocked out with the power. We will do our best to keep you posted and let you know when we are ready to resume office hours. Thanks so much!
IMPORTANT INFORMATION BELOW - My sister-in-law posted this - it happened to her so this is not a copy & paste thing. Please read:
Someone tried to get a credit card in my name, it didn't work because we froze our credit after someone stole our check and wiped out our checking account almost 2 years ago. You can go to Equifax, Transunion, and Experian and freeze your credit.
Someone also opened a savings account in my name, that did work. They used my real address so the banks mailed me information which alerted me to the situations. I'll spare you the longer story and share the important information.
FTC.GOV, go to identity theft page: has lots of information on how to protect against identity theft. You can get a free credit alert for 1 year and renew it every year.
CHEXSYSTEMS.COM here you can check to see all bank accounts opened in your name and get alerts if anyone tries to open one in your name. NO CREDIT CHECK IS RUN TO OPEN A BANK ACCOUNT. The fraud officer I talked to said this kind of fraud is exploding. They move money around in accounts and apply for stimulus checks and unemployment. They open the account with your real address then try to change it.
ANNUALCREDITREPORT.COM to see credit activity in your name.
Please go do all three of these - I am.
PSA - if you have a quickbooks online account, please be sure to 1) change your password regularly and 2) make sure you notifications are set properly to tell you when your banking info is changed, etc and MONITOR them.
True story I just heard from a client: they had a quickbooks online account that got hacked. The hackers changed his business bank account info to a New York account, then proceeded to process over 150 credit card transactions for 150 complete strangers. Once the money hit the bank account, they took the funds and closed it up. They got over $80k from these transactions. My client is now getting hit with credit card processing fees by quickbooks (who knows that these fees originated as a result of a fraud that my client was not a part of ) and when the individuals (who had their credit cards charged) disputed the charges as fraud, my client is getting hit with the processing fees for that as well.
Total nightmare - LifeLock doesn't work on businesses at all folks so they were no help to them either. Moral of the story - change your passwords regularly. I'm changing all of mine again today.
Watch out folks! Don't believe text messages regarding COVID funding!!! The IRS Security Summit issued a warning about a new COVID-related text message scam. According to IRS, the goal of the scam is to trick people into revealing bank account information under the guise of receiving a $1,200 economic impact payment. The text message states the recipient has "received a direct deposit of $1,200 from COVID-19 TREAS FUND. Further action is required to accept this payment … Continue here to accept this payment…." The text includes a link to a phishing Web address. "This fake link appears to come from a state agency or relief organization," IRS said, adding that "it takes people to a fake website that looks like the IRS.gov Get My Payment website." If personal and financial account information is entered on the fake website, the information is collected by the scammer, IRS stressed.
IRS
On the IRS Dirty Dozen list of tax scams: Scammers targeting individuals with limited English proficiency. These IRS impersonators and scammers are often threatening, especially phone scams. These are major threats to people with limited access to information, including individuals not entirely comfortable with the English language. You should ignore these threats and DO NOT engage the scammers. To learn more, click here: www.irs.gov/dirtydozen
For all you folks who owed money with your return and sent the check in but are still getting notices that you owe, IRS is finally halting the notices until they finish opening the mail, currently estimated to be as high as 12 million unopened pieces.
https://www.journalofaccountancy.com/news/2020/aug/irs-corrects-erroneous-payroll-tax-penalties-suspends-some-balance-due-notices.html?utm_source=mnl:cpald&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=25Aug2020
The IRS has stopped sending balance-due notices to taxpayers as it works to process its backlog of unopened mail. It is also working to correct certain erroneous penalties for some employers who reduced their payroll tax deposits to claim COVID-19 relief-related credits.
IRS
Your IRS tax refund may have grown a bit! Due to COVID-19, the tax deadline had a disaster-related postponement.
As a result, nearly 14M individual income tax filers who timely filed their federal income tax returns and got a refund will also get interest payments. Most taxpayers who had direct deposit will get the interest deposited. Everyone else will get paper checks. To learn more, click here: https://go.usa.gov/xfzb6
Still working to get this dealt with - stay tuned.
In a letter dated Aug. 4, 2020, the AICPA joined over 170 organizations to urge Congress to “include a technical correction addressing the tax treatment of loan forgiveness under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP)” in its next round of legislation addressing the coronavirus pandemic.
Texas Society of CPAs has written a letter to the Congress calling for the Congress to clarify deductibility of the expenses paid for by PPP Loans in direct response to IRS Notice stating those expenses are nondeducible. The AICPA is also communicating with the Congress re the same issue. Hopefully we will get new guidance soon. Stay tuned.
https://www.tscpa.org/docs/default-source/comment-letters/federal-tax-policy/2020/ppp-loan-tax-deductibility-txcpa-comment-letter.pdf?sfvrsn=e7f8dfb1_2
This is a nice plain english article about PPP Loan forgiveness for self-employed folks. using the current guidance we have.
https://bench.co/blog/operations/ppp-forgiveness-contractors-sole-props/?fbclid=IwAR28C8nBO0Mlq6oUptZT__A97v5NejnM8uXK6moAXZl1oYOXgwK9uuMQLB0
PPP forgiveness works differently for sole proprietors and independent contractors, the biggest difference being the concept of "owner compensation replacement" which greatly simplifies the loan forgiveness process. Here’s everything you need to know.
A nice synopsis about myths about the stimulus payments.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/personalfinance/will-you-have-to-pay-back-your-coronavirus-aid-money/ar-BB12zAYH?ocid=sf2
CNBC Make It is clarifying seven myths about the coronavirus checks, from whether or not they are taxed to how long it will take for them to hit your bank account.
IRS and SBA will not text you. Do not give anyone any information about your banking or your personal information unless you have verified their authenticity.
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/15/americans-have-lost-13point4-million-to-fraud-linked-to-covid-19.html
Americans have reported losing more than $13 million to coronavirus-related scams since the beginning of the year, according to the Federal Trade Commission.
For folks that have not filed a return in 2018 or 2019, and want to be sure that the IRS has updated information (bank account info and address), this is the link to go to. They DO NOT have the link ready for people who have filed returns yet - that will be coming soon. We will keep you posted.
https://www.irs.gov/coronavirus/economic-impact-payments
We’re committed to helping yout get your economic impact, or stimulus, payment as soon as possible. See if you are eligible for an Economic Impact Payment.
IRS
If IRS doesn’t have your direct deposit info, a check will be mailed to your address on file. For your #TaxSecurity, do NOT provide your direct deposit or banking information for others to input on your behalf into the IRS secure portal. https://go.usa.gov/xvrf7 #COVIDreliefIRS
A few things that have occurred since you last heard from us:
1) The Payroll Protection Program is slowly being implemented. The banks are struggling to get the applications going and small businesses are becoming very anxious. The best thing to do is to check in a couple of times a day with your banks website to see if the information has become available for filing the application. If there is anything you need from our office to assist with this, please let me know.
2) Identity Theft – IRS has warned taxpayers to watch out for emails, text messages, websites and social media attempts related to COVID-19. No one from the IRS will be reaching out to taxpayers by phone, email, mail or in persona asking for information to complete economic impact payments. Please be sure your loved ones and friends are aware of this, especially college students and elderly parents. Do not click on anything in an email that looks like it comes from the IRS or answer any phone calls that look to be from IRS. If in doubt, call us first.
3) IRS Phone assistance – is not available at the time nor are any of the face-to-face services available anywhere in the country until further notice. Paper correspondence received will be responded to only to a very limited degree.
4) IRS has unveiled its “People First Initiative” which is designed to provide immediate relief to those facing COVID-19 challenges. Things addressed in this initiative include (1) suspending installment agreement payments between 4/1/2020 and 7/15/2020 (2) stops installment agreements from going into default during this period (3) suspends certain liens and levies amongst other items. Please go to www.irs.gov and review the News Release IR 2020-59 – you can search for this on the home page of the IRS website.
5) Senior Citizens receiving social security but do not typically file tax returns do not need to do so for 2019 to receive the economic stimulus. For social security recipients who didn’t file returns in 2018 or 2019, the IRS will use information from Form SSA-1099 and RRB-1099 to generate stimulus payments that will be sent to these folks via direct deposit in the same manner their social security is received.
Get Coronavirus Tax Relief Get Your Refund Status Do Your Taxes for Free Get Your Tax Record View Your Account Make a Payment Get Answers to Your Tax Questions Apply for an Employer ID Number (EIN) Forms and Instructions 1040 and Schedules 1-3 Individual Tax Return Other 1040 Schedules Information A...
Update for the stimulus payments - they are developing a portal where folks can input their direct deposit info if it has not been provided to IRS in the past. Stay tuned ....
For all my clients who have embraced an extended due date, a few thoughts:
If you wait to request your information from banks, brokerages, etc until May/June, the timelines to get data will get longer and longer. Data will be harder to get as more people take COVID leave and the longer this goes on, the more backed up everyone (including the tax preparers) will be. If you are at home, and have the ability to gather your tax data and get it in to your preparer now, please do so. That gives us time to review the info and let you know what we are missing so that it can be obtained earlier rather than later when this has been going for several more weeks. In addition, if you have a refund coming, we need to file your return sooner than later, especially if IRS doesn't have your current bank account or current address.
Thank you!!!!
April 2, 2020 — Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) warns taxpayers to be alert about possible scams relating to COVID-19 economic impact payments.
A few updates:
1) Texas Workforce Commission has asked that employers not file their quarterly report until after April 15 and have extended the due date and the payment date for the first quarter report until May 15, 2020.
2) Texas Franchise reports are normally due on May 15 - that date has been extended until June 15, 2020.
3) Payroll Protection Program loans will be administered by each companies bank - you must be a current customer of the bank with which you are trying to apply for the loan.
There was some initial concern that Seniors that don't normally file a tax return due to low income would not get stimulus payments. That has finally been addressed. See the attached article.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/social-security-recipients-who-dont-usually-file-tax-returns-will-automatically-get-dollar1200-payments-treasury-says-in-reversal/ar-BB121Kx7?ocid=spartandhp
Americans on Social Security now have to file a tax return to receive a stimulus check. Most high school seniors and college students won’t get any money at all.
https://www.nbcnews.com/business/consumer/stimulus-checks-are-coming-here-s-how-make-sure-you-n1169576
This gives some good basic info on the stimulus checks. Just one thing to recognize - for taxpayers who have dependents that qualify only for the $500 dependent credit, rather than the $2.000 child credit (i.e. college kids), parents will not receive the $500 stimulus payment for that child. In addition, if the child is reported as a dependent on the parent's return (again, those same college kids), that kid will not receive the $1,200 stimulus either. Most of the articles are not discussing this but since I have two college kids and a ton of my clients do as well, I hunted down the answer.
Spoiler alert: If you haven't filed your taxes since 2017, now is a good time to get that done.
Nice article on how the CARES Act loan program works.
On March 27, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act was signed into law, providing an unprecedented level of emergency assistance for individuals, families and businesses a
The stimulus package finally passed and was signed into law. IRS still doesn't have details on the Stimulus checks yet but they are working on the mechanics of this. I anticipate that over the weekend we will get more concrete guidance of how this is going to work and i will either post articles with details or give you a synopsis of how it's gonna work out early next week.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/03/26/senate-trump-coronavirus-economic-stimulus-2-trillion/
Stimulus package has not been passed yet folks. We are still waiting to find out when it will be. We will keep you posted.
Lawmakers acted with unusual speed and cooperation to produce the largest economic rescue package in U.S. history.
Installment agreement payments between April 1 and July 15 are suspended by IRS - if you are in an installment agreement, the payment will not come out of the bank and you do not need to mail it in. Please read! And Share!!!
IR-2020-59, March 25, 2020 — To help people facing the challenges of COVID-19 issues, the Internal Revenue Service announced today a sweeping series of steps to assist taxpayers by providing relief on a variety of issues ranging from easing payment guidelines to postponing compliance actions.
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