Titusville

Advice for the Year Ahead

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I was looking for some inspiration for my second set of blogs in this New Year. In a which is charged with so much fighting and negativity, I thought it might be nice to find something positive to share with you. Today I am choosing words which are not necessarily just about sound financial adivce, rather they cover so many areas of our lives.  I often am inspired by the words of Dave Ramsey, and this post from him seems to have just the right tone:

“With a new year comes new opportunities. Second chances. Do-overs. You get to leave the past behind and start with a clean slate! You can make this year better than the last.

As this new year begins, try out these proven principles that will set you up for success.

Related: Take advantage of this year’s clean slate and take Financial Peace University.

1. Let mistakes stay where they belong.

There’s a reason the rearview mirror is smaller than the windshield. Looking at what’s ahead is more important than looking at what’s behind you. Yes, you need to take responsibility for your past, but that doesn’t mean you have to stay there. You can’t be excited about the future if you’re living in the land of regret!

2. Let experience teach you.

Whether it’s those mistakes you’ve made or the unexpected trials that knocked you off your feet, learning from them can be fuel for future success. When asked about his many failed inventions, Thomas Edison once said, “I have not failed 10,000 times—I’ve successfully found 10,000 ways that will not work.” Failure deepens your compassion, forgiveness and empathy. It can give you more self-awareness, improve your skills, and motivate you to work harder.

Related: 4 Secrets for Staying Focused

3. Let gratitude decide your outlook.

When you choose gratitude, you enjoy better relationships, feel better physically and emotionally, improve your self-esteem, and even sleep better at night. There are no downsides to seeing through the lens of gratefulness, but the benefits can radically improve your life!

There are no downsides to seeing through the lens of gratefulness.

We want to come alongside you to help you win. Whether you’re trying to get out of debt, start a new business, or plan for retirement, we hope you’ll turn to us as your trusted source for great content and life-changing truths. We believe in you and your future!

What are you waiting for? Let these principles make 2017 a great year for you! Write down those goals and resolutions. And then start working on them, one day at a time. A successful year is waiting. Go after it!”

At DiSalvo and Company, we are always on the look out for new ways to help our fellow business owners, and the people in the communities where we live and work. Remember, having a good plan will help your business stay on track. Finding ways to cut waste will also help you keep more money in your pocket, both in business and in you personal life.

Pete DiSalvo, CPA

Melbourne - Titusville - VeroBeach - Certified Public Accountant

 

Tax Preparation Time

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It’s the most wonderful time of the year. All the paper is flowing and the numbers are growing and we’ll be of good cheer. Okay, so for some people this is NOT the most wonderful time of the year. But at DiSalvo & Company CPA’s we both LOVE and hate this time of the year. We love it because we get really busy helping people get the best tax preparation and advice that we can offer. The Fact that some people are going to wait until the very last day to bring in their information, we don’t like so much. But we know it will happen, and so we are prepared.

At DiSalvo and Company, we also wish that people would come and see us more during the rest of the year. There are things they do during the year, that if they had consulted us, we could have helped them to save money, or invest more wisely, but I guess that is a conversation for another day.

So what is it that we do that we think is so wonderful at this most wonderful time of the year? Well, we do offer  business tax preparation services for many different types and sizes  of businesses whether you have one location locally or operations in multiple states. It is our job to check and see about every where that we can save you money so your business can realize higher profits.

Tax Returns for Individuals – we make sure you get your tax return back fast with our income tax preparation services for individuals.  Our deductions or credits so you get the highest tax return possible. In addition to traditional tax preparation, we’re qualified to prepare trust, gift and estate tax returns. We meticulously prepare these types of returns and file them on time to avoid penalties.

You run a non-profit? Have no fear, here at DiSalvo and Company, we  provide Form 990 tax returns for churches, charities, foundations, and other non-profit organizations.

Just please don’t wait until the last minute, make an appointment today. Let’s get this done.

Pete DiSalvo, CPA

 

Happy New Year From DiSalvo & Company

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It’s a New Year, and I don’t know about you, but I always feel like a new year provides us with a clean slate. Everything that was bothersome about the previous year is temporarily cast aside and I feel like anything is possible. that feeling isn’t often sustainable for a long period of time, but it can pop back up here and there.

Many of our local businesses here in Indian River County and Brevard County experienced rapid growth over the past couple of years and because you all have been so busy, it was hard to spend time looking to the future, or even implementing new processes which could have made things better. But it might be nice to take a few days to stop, breathe and think about what you could do to keep the momentum, while making things work more smoothly. Perhaps there are even ways to increase the profits you make from all of this new business.

With rapid growth there often comes the pitfalls of inefficiency. Perhaps you have simply limped along without a bookkeeper, and without a good software package for tracking leads and closing new customers. Maybe your HR manual is out of date, and your computer systems,, are they running as efficeintly as they could be? Is it time to perhaps invest in your business in order to streamline processes and become more efficient? Do your sales people find it easy to enter orders? Does your back-office personnel have to use different software to track things? Is there one software package that could integrate both, while also being end user friendly?

Sometimes when a company gown too fast, old procedures are patched up enough to keep things going, but they really aren’t appropriate for a larger company, and it could be time to take a moment to look at those things. Talk to your people, if they have come to you from another company, that company may have had some tools which your company could now use. Make certain you get suggestions from the people who will be using the new tools, or you might get push back, which could make any changes less effective.

There will always be people who don’t want to change anything, ever. Here’s hoping that you, as the head of your growing company, are not one of them. Here at Central Comm we are always striving to stay fresh and current, as painful as that can sometimes be. For many folks, even systems that now longer work properly can be more comfortable than learning a whole new way of doing things. But most of the time, once you get past the learning curve, you can find that a different way of doing things which takes advantage of new software or hardware, may make your work life easier.

Pete DiSalvo

Vero Beach Certified Public Accountant

CPA – DiSalvo Logo

 

End of the year Tax Tips

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With the end of the year, all new questions and concerns about filing your income taxes arise.  Now is the time to start thinking about last minute adjustments that need to be enacted now to make your filing even easier.  DiSalvo and Company is here to help with your end of year planning and to get you ready for next year.

According to Accounting Today here are several tax tips that will benefit individuals this year.

“First – what’s not changing: While President-elect Trump is in a strong position to enact his promise of lower tax brackets next year, it’s important to remember that the current income tax rates of 10, 15, 25, 33, 35 and 39.6 percent are still in effect for the tax returns being filed next mid-April. The standard deduction amounts remain $6,300 single/married filing separately, and $12,600 for married filing jointly. The standard deduction for heads of households, however, rises to $9,300.

Deferring income: If the president-elect does manage to lower and simplify the individual tax brackets per his plan, that means rates next year will be lower, so it might be worth it for individuals to consider deferring some income into 2017. That may mean getting a bonus in January, instead of December, or waiting to redeem a savings bond, or putting off debt forgiveness income.

New permanent incentives for individuals: The PATH Act of 2015 made a number of tax incentives permanent. For individuals, these include:

  • The American Opportunity Tax Credit;
  • The teachers’ $250 classroom expense deduction;
  • The ability to deduct state and local sales tax instead of state income taxes;
  • The exclusion for direct charitable donation of up to $100,000 from an IRA; and,
  • The 100 percent gain exclusion on qualified small-business stock.”

If this all sounds a bit overwhelming, not to fear, DiSalvo and company are here to help with any and all of your Tax questions. We keep up with the latest in Tax rules so that you don’t have to worry about anything but your own business, so give us a call.

Pete DiSalvo

Vero Beach Certified Public Accountant

CPA – DiSalvo Logo

 

 

 

 

Have You Run Your Credit Report Lately?

Forensic accounting, bokkeeping, CPA, tax preparation, business planning

With all of the  computer hacking and other  scams  are around these days, it’s more important than ever to run a credit report at least once a year.  The major credit reporting agencies are required to allow you to run a free credit report which also does NOT impact your FICO  score. Before the end of the year, please, go and take a moment to run this free report. It’s also a good idea to check and see if your credit card company has provisions for checking your credit score. I know that Citibank has that feature on it’s website.

Why do you care about your credit and your credit score? You may not know this, but all manner of companies check your FICO Score.

  1. Utility Companies
  2. Insurance Companies  both Home and Auto
  3. Potential Employers
  4. Credit Card Companies
  5. Investment Companies
  6. Mortgage Lenders
  7. Landlords

As you begin your Investment planing for 2017, or if you may be thinking about purchasing a home, or a new automobile, it’s always best to know where you stand BEFORE you begin the search. That way you can clean up any errors should you find some. Also, be very careful about checking your credit card statements each month. Some of my clients have found small, regular charges on their statements which were NOT initiated by them. The sooner you catch this type of thing, the easier time you have getting those charges removed and preventing further charges on your card.

DiSalvo CPA

Vero Beach Certified Public Accountant

CPA – DiSalvo Logo

 

 

 

 

Self Employment and Home Purchase

moving up to a lrager home, accoutant who plans for home purchases, home purchase qualification, tax preparationNow that the bank statement loans have gone by the wayside because they were abused by some people in the Mortgage Industry, what is the self employed person to do when they want to purchase a home? Continue reading

Have Your Been Tracking Your Expenses?

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Tax Time is going to be here before we know it. If you aren’t tracking your expenses it’s going to make preparing your taxes more difficult and dare I say frustrating. Before the holiday press begins, please take a moment and look through your credit card statements and receipts and begin to list your expenses. Continue reading

News From the IRS

Advice on Moving an IRA, CPA vero beach, tax advice, financial adviceAs a CPA firm, it is our obligation to keep up with new rules and laws which affect the taxes of our community. We regularly study and learn about these new laws, not all of which we enjoy learning about, but this one is a ruling that will help some people a great deal. Taken from the IRS.GOV website:

“New Procedure Helps People Making IRA and Retirement Plan Rollovers

IR-2016-113, Aug. 24, 2016

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service today provided a self-certification procedure designed to help recipients of retirement plan distributions who inadvertently miss the 60-day time limit for properly rolling these amounts into another retirement plan or individual retirement arrangement (IRA).

In Revenue Procedure 2016-47, posted today on IRS.gov, the IRS explained how eligible taxpayers, encountering a variety of mitigating circumstances, can qualify for a waiver of the 60-day time limit and avoid possible early distribution taxes. In addition, the revenue procedure includes a sample self-certification letter that a taxpayer can use to notify the administrator or trustee of the retirement plan or IRA receiving the rollover that they qualify for the waiver.

Normally, an eligible distribution from an IRA or workplace retirement plan can only qualify for tax-free rollover treatment if it is contributed to another IRA or workplace plan by the 60th day after it was received. In most cases, taxpayers who fail to meet the time limit could only obtain a waiver by requesting a private letter ruling from the IRS.

A taxpayer who missed the time limit will now ordinarily qualify for a waiver if one or more of 11 circumstances, listed in the revenue procedure, apply to them. They include a distribution check that was misplaced and never cashed, the taxpayer’s home was severely damaged, a family member died, the taxpayer or a family member was seriously ill, the taxpayer was incarcerated or restrictions were imposed by a foreign country.

Ordinarily, the IRS and plan administrators and trustees will honor a taxpayer’s truthful self-certification that they qualify for a waiver under these circumstances. Moreover, even if a taxpayer does not self-certify, the IRS now has the authority to grant a waiver during a subsequent examination. Other requirements, along with a copy of a sample self-certification letter, can be found in the revenue procedure.

The IRS encourages eligible taxpayers wishing to transfer retirement plan or IRA distributions to another retirement plan or IRA to consider requesting that the administrator or trustee make a direct trustee-to-trustee transfer, rather than doing a rollover. Doing so can avoid some of the delays and restrictions that often arise during the rollover process. For more information about rollovers and transfers, check out the Can You Move Retirement Plan Assets? section in Publication 590-A or theRollovers of Retirement Plan and IRA Distributions page on IRS.gov.”

IF you have any questions about this information, please don’t hesitate to call myself or one of my associates. Moving IRA’s can seem like a daunting task, but if it’s done properly by a firm that knows what they are doing, it can be a smooth process.

 

Pete DiSalvo, CPA

Vero Beach Certified Public Accountant

CPA – DiSalvo Logo

September 15th is Almost Here

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You may say :”Pete, why should I care about September 15th?” If you are one of my regular clients, I have you on notice, but if you aren’t one or we have somehow missed you, this is why September 15th is important: September 15 is the extended due date for partnership, S-corporation, and trust tax returns. If you filed an extension earlier this year, then your time is now up!

From the Tax Cut website:

September 15

File a 2015 calendar year income tax return (Form 1120) and pay any tax, interest, and penalties due. This due date applies only if you timely requested an automatic 6-month extension. Otherwise, see March 15.

Deposit the third installment of estimated income tax for 2016. A worksheet, Form 1120-W, is available to help you estimate your tax for the year.

And Just FYI, here are all of the dates that were important this past year, and will likely be just as important for 2017..

September 15

File a 2015 calendar year income tax return (Form 1120) and pay any tax, interest, and penalties due. This due date applies only if you timely requested an automatic 6-month extension. Otherwise, see March 15.

Deposit the third installment of estimated income tax for 2016. A worksheet, Form 1120-W, is available to help you estimate your tax for the year.

December 15

Deposit the fourth installment of estimated income tax for 2016.

Remember, for all of your Tax Preparation needs, whether you are an individual, a partnership, an S-Corp, and LLC or a Corporation, or a Trust, we have highly skilled accountants here at DiSalvo and Company

Pete DiSalvo, CPA

Vero Beach Certified Public Accountant

CPA – DiSalvo Logo

 

 

The “Slow Season” Is a Great Time for Planning

business consulting, business growth, tax planningAlong the Treasure Coast and up into the Space Coast, summer used to be our slow season. The people who live here part of the time traditionally return to somewhere up North or oversees and we have this beautiful coastline all to ourselves.

That situation has begun to change over the past five years. There are more full time residents moving into the area. Homes are going up all over the two counties and Realtors can’t get listings fast enough to satisfy the demands for housing.

Still, for some of our clients, this time of the year they get a little breather. It is the perfect time to take stock of where their businesses are financially, what their new goals are, and what steps they need to take to get to the next level.

Pete and his staff can help you plan for the future, and stream line the company tasks by taking over things like Payroll and Bookkeeping. We have the tools to put you on the path.

The first thing we need to determine is what is currently working well for you. Is it print advertising, word of mouth, networking, website and social media, or perhaps a combination?

Next, we work to figure out who your most profitable customers are, and how we can get more of them.

Third, who are the customers you want that you aren’t getting? Is your image consistent with the value of your services? Sometimes a business doesn’t need MORE customers, they just need customers who are willing to pay more for a higher quality of service.

Give us a call..it’s a great time of year to take stock and ramp up for next year!

Pete DiSalvo

Vero Beach Certified Public Accountant

CPA – DiSalvo Logo