San Diego Chapter Forum Newsletter September

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1 San Diego Chapter Forum Newsletter September When:, September 14, 2010 September Chapter Dinner Meeting Speaker(s): Topic(s): Location: Tax Jeopardy It s a fun and light hearted approach to tax issues but you still learn a lot! Sheraton Hotel Mission Valley 1433 Camino del Rio South San Diego CA (619) for directions Events Schedule: 4:00 5:00 Board of Directors Meeting 5:00 5:30 Registration 5:30 6:20 Presentation begins 6:20 7:20 Dinner 7:20 7:30 Announcements 7:30 8:30 Presentation continues 8:30 Meeting adjourns Cost: Reservations: $25 each for member and spouse with a timely reservation $33 for nonmembers with a timely reservation $40 for all late reservations Call (800) or send an e mail to ckohltax@att.net before 5 p.m. the previous Wednesday, which will be September 8, 2010 to make your reservation. PRE PAID DINNER RESERVATIONS MUST CALL AND CANCEL IF NOT ATTENDING THE MEETING! 1

2 Presidents Message I fear this election year will bring us substantive changes the Tax Code as Congress and the Administration stumble around to finding the "politically correct" changes to make that will meet with favor on the different sides of the debate. This promises to make the coming Tax Season interesting as well as frustrating. Remember how in recent years some changes didn't arrive until around December 20th, causing IRS to rewrite the rules and postpone their ability to accept e filing? Should we extend or not the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts? Should we extend them for some folks and not for others? Should we make subject to Self employment Tax all of the distributable income of S corporations, Partnerships and LLCs (irrespective of monies actually taken as Draw)? This last item was previously discussed on the national stage, apparently dropped, and now revived in the recent Report of The President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board, headed by Paul Volcker. Read it yourself and weep at: vote.pdf In that Report we also read a suggestion that the Corporate Tax be applied to all businesses that have corporate characteristics, such stock that is publicly traded, assets or income above a certain level or a large number of owners. If that isn't an attack on publicly traded (or simply large) partnerships and LLCs I don't know what is. The Report also suggests consideration of a simple return in which the IRS would mail a pre filled return to as many as 60 million taxpayers who don t itemize deductions and receive all their income from wages or other third party payers. Taxpayers would then simply sign and return the form or amend it if they disagree. WHAT?! Don't we already spend a lot of time defending Clients against SFRs? What Taxpayer do you know that is capable of amending any return? A simple return would relieve millions of taxpayers from the chore of filling in tax forms and would reduce the frustration and anxiety of taxpayers at tax time, the Board said in its Report, while bemoaning that about 60 percent of Americans now pay others to do their taxes. Don't they realize that every time they "simplify" the Tax Code they actually increase the number of folks who give up and come to us for help...? Hummm, I guess that is not a bad thing, although it will be challenging so sign up for more education, and come regularly to our monthly meetings to learn, network and share experiences with your fellow CSEA members. Roger Garay, EA Chapter President EA Website: If any EA, current with their dues, would like to be included on the Chapter s website so that their name, phone number and address is listed, then contact Lynne Fletcher fletchertax@cox.net with your contact information. 2

3 Dates for 2010 September 14 th September 27 th Monday September 29 th Wednesday September 29 th Wednesday October 12 th November 1 & 2 Mon & Tues November 9 th December 9, 2010 Thursday December 14 th January 11, 2011 UPCOMING CHAPTER EVENTS Event / Topic For more details visit our website at Tax Jeopardy: Is fun and light hearted but people still learn a lot. NOL s and 1045 Preparation (6) hrs. Business Property Foreclosures & Debt Relief (AM Session 3 hrs.) C is for Conversion (PM Session 3 hrs.) Health Care Reform Package COD Workshop held at National University Real Estate Tax Strategies Update Federal & State Seminar held at National University Representation Ethics Speaker(s) Jeff Ward, EA Vicki Mulak, EA, CFP Vicki Mulak, EA, CFP Wayne Otchis, CPA Chris Meacham, CPA William Exeter Vicki Mulak, EA Kim Kastl, EA CSEA President TBA 3

4 SAN DIEGO CHAPTER OFFICERS & DIRECTORS 2010 / 2011 POSITION NAME E MAIL PHONE NO. President Roger Garay, EA rogertax@ix.netcom.com st VP Karen Joyner, EA taxgirl@cox.net nd VP Christy Kohl, EA ckohltax@att.net Secretary Betty Cabral, EA betty@taxandbusiness.org Treasurer Art Savage, EA asavagetaxsvc@cox.net Past President Steve Leibold, EA sleibold@sdbizadv.com Director (Society) Steve Leibold, EA sleibold@sdbizadv.com Director Tom Carter, EA tomcarter@sbcglobal.net Director Lenna Nunn, EA lennanunn@cosslias.com Director Maria Riveroll, EA Taxqueen25@cox.net Director Elaine Smith, EA eztaxes@sbcglobal.net Director Desiree Wilson, EA legacyplanner@gmail.com Member Benefits: Thanks to members participation at our education events we have been able to build a surplus in our reserves. Because you as members of the Chapter have contributed to that success, the Board of Directors has decided to make some of the surplus available through member benefits. Here are some of the benefits current members will enjoy this year. Pre-paid dinner meeting pricing will be $160 for eight (8) dinner meetings. If members pre-pay by the August 10, 2010 meeting they will receive one (1) copy of their choice of either a 2010 QuickFinder Individual or TaxBook Individual reference manual at Chapter expense. A monthly dinner meeting drawing for a $25 gift card or CSEA-SD CPE class (winner must be present) for a total of eight (8) such drawings this fiscal year ending 06/30/2011. A monthly dinner meeting drawing for one (1) year (winner must be present) $185 towards CSEA-CA membership renewal (not NAEA). There will be four (4) random drawings for the fiscal year ending 06/30/2011. A monthly dinner meeting drawing for one (1) $400 towards Super Seminar registration (winner must be present). There will be four (4) random drawings during the fiscal year ending 06/30/

5 TAX BITS: Are your clients making energy saving improvements to their homes this year? Take note: The improvements must be installed by December 31, 2010 to qualify for a tax credit. Homeowners can claim a credit for 30% for the cost of energy saving improvements made to a primary residence. They include skylights, outside doors, windows, pigmented or special asphalt roofs plus high efficiency furnaces, water heaters and central air conditioners. The maximum credit for 2010 is $1500, but the ceiling is reduced dollar for dollar by any credit that you claimed last year. Businesses lack standing to sue competitors over misclassified workers. A district court rules in a suit by a pest control firm against a competitor. The firm claimed that the competitor obtained an unfair competitive advantage by intentionally misclassifying workers as independent contractors. But the court won t adjudicate claims that competitors aren t paying their fair share of taxes. That s for the IRS to investigate (EcoSure Pest Control v. Eclipse Marketing, D.C., Utah). IRS will eliminate use of federal tax deposit coupons after Thus firms will have to wire deposits of all taxes to IRS payroll taxes, corporate income taxes and estimates, excise taxes and the like. Currently, employers can use paper coupons if their annual deposits don t exceed $200,000. Only small firms will be exempted from depositing electronically employers with $2,500 or less in quarterly employment taxes that pay their liability when filing their Form 941 returns. All other users must switch to making deposits by wire using Treasury s Electronic Federal Tax Payment System. For information on enrolling for electronic deposits, go to or call WEBSITES & INTERNET TIPS: Legal Bit Stream: Source for federal tax law, from reference materials and regulation text to court decisions and IRS forms. IRS Tax Information for Tax Professionals: IRS kiosk featuring news, regulations and updates. FTB Information for Tax Professionals: FTB news, regulations and updates. Click on View current articles. us/ Microsoft Inc. Free Storage: A free website that enables users to store up to five GB of files for others to download. Password protects who can download files or make them available to anyone. AllMyFaves: Hundreds of the most frequently used URL s updated regularly. Official Legislative Information: Government site where you can download any code for California, and track the status of any bill before the California Legislature Search Engine Sites: Good places for constantly updated investment information. Xe Foreign Currency Exchange: A quick way to see the movement of foreign currencies against the dollar especially useful for dollar Euro comparisons and people who hold investments in other currencies. Zillow: Good place to quickly check home property values. Big Charts: A Wall Street Journal service offering numerous charts and graphs with various data streams. You can find historical stock pricing too. 5