Hello to our clients and friends! I hope you are enjoying the spring and all of the interesting weather. It feels like it’s finally warming up! It was great to catch up with many of you this tax season. It seems change is in the air for most of our clients. There is a lot to talk about so here goes nothing!
Upcoming Important Tax Deadlines
California Pass Through Entity Tax (PTET) initial estimate is due June 15th, 2024. If you wish to elect to pay your state income tax through your Partnership or S-corporation you must make this first estimated tax payment timely. When state taxes are paid by a corporate entity via the PTET the full amount of the state taxes paid is deductible by the business. State taxes paid personally are limited to those who can itemize and for those who can itemize they are limited to $10,000. For taxpayers that own an eligible business and pay over $10,000 per year in business related state income tax this is an excellent tax saving strategy.. Please reach out to us if you are interested and think you may be eligible. We have already reached out to some of you that we think would benefit from this election.
QuickBooks Upgrades
QuickBooks has revised their invoices to include new AI Features. I thought I would provide some tutorials on the changes. You can follow this link to some videos on the new invoicing upgrades. The videos are short, easy to understand and should be helpful if you are having any trouble with the invoicing upgrades. As always, please reach out to your CSM if you need any additional assistance.
New Tax Complications for 2024
As previously mentioned, I would like to remind everyone that:
The 2024 1099-K Threshold is lowered from $20,000 to $5,000.
Beneficial Ownership Reporting Requirements are now in effect. If you have an LLC or Corporation, this new requirement is for you.
Please see the February Newsletter for detailed information.
California Employer Mandate for Retirement Account Sponsorship
The State of California requires companies with 5+ employees (excluding owners) must offer a retirement plan. The deadline for compliance is 12/31/2022. The deadline for companies with 1+ employees (excluding owners) is 12/31/2025. We are reaching out to all our clients who have employees on payroll and helping them to become compliant with this new mandate. Please feel free to tell your friends who own businesses with employees that we can offer multiple retirement plan options that are very affordable and have built-in tax savings for the business owner in the form of tax credits, deductions, and tax strategy! We are huge fans of setting up 401k plans for small employers as they not only help the employees but they are very beneficial to the employers.
The penalty for non-compliance is $500 per employee. If your company employs 1+ employee, please reach out and we will help find an appropriate solution. Employer retirement plans can be a fantastic tax planning tool, so please don’t be dismayed.
San Diego County Residents Disaster Relief
If you are one of our San Diego clients, the spring deadlines were extended this year until June 17th as a result of the flooding that occurred in San Diego County.
The following deadlines have been moved to June 17:
Federal and state individual income tax returns and payments, which were previously due April 15.
2023 contributions to IRAs and health savings accounts for eligible federal taxpayers.
2024 estimated federal and state tax payments that were previously due April 15.
Quarterly payroll and excise tax returns that were previously due on Jan. 31 and April 30.
Calendar-year partnership, corporation, fiduciary and S corporation returns, which were previously due March or April 15 — for federal and state alike.
Calendar-year tax-exempt organization federal and state returns, which had been due May 15.
IRS Interactive Tax Assistant
One of my favorite sections of the IRS Website is the Interactive Tax Assistant or (ITA). At this site you can search for items of interest, but there is also a long list of tax topics with interactive questionnaires. You can get questions answered like Should I file an amended return? and What is my filing status? By answering a series of questions. It’s a fantastic tool!
Help with Health Insurance - QSEHRA
Many employers we come across are not in a position to provide a health insurance plan for their team, but they would still like to provide assistance to their employees with the payment of their individual health insurance premium. A QSEHRA is a great alternative for employers in this group.
A Qualified Small Employer Health Reimbursement Arrangement, or QSEHRA, is a health benefit for small businesses with less than 50 full-time time employees. A QSEHRA essentially allows employers to reimburse employees for the cost of their individual health insurance premiums and medical expenses tax-free. Please reach out to us if you would like more information. We would love to help.
Paperless and Fully Remote
Just a reminder that Aurora Consulting Group LLC is paperless and fully remote. This is a huge benefit to our clients and the businesses you refer to us. We are licensed in all fifty states and can serve clients anywhere in the world with ease. We are flexible on meeting scheduling and do everything possible to make ourselves available even if it is outside of normal working hours. If you become aware of a friend or family member that may benefit from your services, please reach out. We are particularly interested in working with clients in the professional services industry as that is our expertise and where we can make the most impact.
Karbon and Portal Update
Aurora’s switch to Karbon this spring has been very successful and it seems everyone is getting the hang of using the magic links. If you have any trouble, please reach out. We still have a few clients attempting to access the old Client Portal. We no longer have the Canopy Client Portal. We switched to Karbon in January as noted in our December and February newsletters.
Pricing Updates and New Pricing Coming this Summer
Paige will begin sending new annual agreements for many clients shortly. Your agreement will be based on the service level you are receiving, plus an estimate of your needs based on our historical relationship and the out of scope services we have provided in the past year. For instance, if you are on a monthly close agreement, but during the year, we also provide advisory, consulting, and CFO services, your new agreement will include those services and the pricing will reflect that. For more background on this change, please check out our February Newsletter. You can find the newsletter on our website in the Blog section.
Team of Three Approach
This month we are beginning the transition to a full Team of Three Approach. The transition will take approximately six months, but the end game will look like this. Every client will have a Customer Service Manager (CSM) who is their first point of contact for bookkeeping, accounting, and QuickBooks questions. Each client will also be assigned a Client Controller, who will review and publish your financials, perform tax planning, and advisory, as well as tax preparation services. And lastly, all clients on a full service agreement will also be assigned a CFO. Your CFO will perform advisory, coaching, and consult on your business needs and goals. We are strong believers in this approach as your support. Each specialist has an area of expertise and can focus on your business with their specialized knowledge. This creates efficiency and accountability. If you are unsure who to contact, you can always reach out to your CSM and they will direct you. You will be the first to know when we assign your team of three. We will reach out individually and let you know who these team members are. In the meantime, please continue to reach your current contact.
Thank you for taking the time to read through all of my ideas. It means a lot to me and the entire Aurora Team to be as helpful to our clients and friends as possible. We hope we can be supportive with whatever is on the horizon for you. Please feel free to reach out if you have questions or if you would just like to chat about your situation.
Sincerely,
Sandra
Comments