The Bench Shutdown: Why Big-Box Bookkeeping Falls Short—and How a Real Accountant Partnership Powers Small Business Success
Vancouver’s Bench Accounting, one of North America’s largest online bookkeeping services, just shut its doors without warning as reported by DH National . Thousands of small businesses found out that their financial platform was gone overnight. According to reports, Bench is pointing clients toward another provider—essentially making it someone else’s problem. This abrupt exit underscores […]
Can You Get Paid to Send Your Kids to Summer Activities?
We frequently hear about companies and a select few individuals obtaining tax breaks through unconventional, mythical methods. How about a practical one that can be used for something extremely important, like parents and their children? You don’t have to hire some elusive high-top accountant to know that sending your child to summer camp or […]
Irish For a Day
On Saint Patrick’s Day, millions of Americans go scrounging through their Ancestry DNA tests in hopes of finding a drop or two of Irish blood to justify a trip to the bar. Others struggle to pronounce those unpronounceable Irish names: Cillian [kill•ee•an] and Saoirse [sor•sha] are easy enough, but Meadhbh [mave], Fiadh [fee•a], and Caoilfhionn […]
Art, Not Science
I start these missives with the premise that nobody should pay more tax than they have to. Then, I launch into a story about someone finding a way to pay less. Usually, the story involves federal income taxes, which are the biggest tax bills most of us ever face. Sometimes, the story involves estate taxes, […]
“Price Is Right” Taxes
The IRS reminds us that, “the U.S. income tax system is built on the idea of voluntary compliance. This means that taxpayers are responsible for declaring all of their income, calculating their tax correctly, and filing a tax return on time.” In other words, “the IRS depends upon honest reporting.” (There are people who would […]
What Happen$ in Vegas Goes to Washington
Sunday’s Super Bowl in Las Vegas was a spectacle for the ages. MVP Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs affirmed their dominance in the NFL, coming from behind to win in overtime. It was their second straight Lombardi trophy and their third in five years. About 1,000 celebrities clogged nearby airports with their private […]
Open Secrets
Last fall, a former IRS contractor named Charles Littlejohn copped a plea to one count of unauthorized disclosure of tax return information. Specifically, Littlejohn leaked Donald Trump’s tax returns to the New York Times in an explicit attempt to sway the 2020 election. Last week, US District Court Ana Reyes sentenced him to five years […]
What is BOI? And Am I Required to File It?
Starting on January 1, 2024, the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) takes its first significant step towards implementation. It introduces a federal filing requirement known as the Beneficial Ownership Information Report (BOI) for most corporations and limited liability companies (LLCs) formed in 2024 or later. The primary goal of this act is to combat the misuse […]
Suze Orman is Full of It
America has always been a land of opportunity, but most Americans don’t seem very good at managing those opportunities. The average American has just $87,000 saved for retirement, dimming hopes for endless days of pickleball in the sun. Nearly 4 in 10 can’t cover $400 in an emergency, which explains a landscape littered with dollar […]
Macks the Knife
Five thousand years ago, give or take, the Mesopotamians invented the shekel. It was the world’s first currency and represented a huge step forward from primitive barter, the direct trade of goods and services. Since then, ingenious humans have used all sorts of objects to store and exchange value, including beaver skins, tea bricks, cowrie […]