ECL Consulting, LLC is dedicated to informing and educating our clients about business, accounting, QuickBooks and tax issues.
Our biweekly e-newsletter provides timely articles to help you manage
your business and finances and achieve your financial goals. Please come back and visit often.
Employers - Federal unemployment tax. File Form 940 for
2009. If your undeposited tax is $500 or less, you can either pay it with your
return or deposit it. If it is more than $500, you must deposit it. However, if
you already deposited the tax for the year in full and on time, you have until
February 10 to file the return.
Employers - Social security, Medicare, and withheld
income tax. File Form 941 for the fourth quarter of 2009. Deposit any
undeposited tax. (If your tax liability is less than $2,500, you can pay it in
full with a timely filed return.) If you deposited the tax for the quarter in
full and on time, you have until February 10 to file the return.
Employers - Nonpayroll taxes. File Form 945 to report
income tax withheld for 2009 on all nonpayroll items, including backup
withholding and withholding on pensions, annuities, IRAs, gambling winnings, and
payments of Indian gaming profits to tribal members. Deposit any undeposited
tax. (If your tax liability is less than $2,500, you can pay it in full with a
timely filed return.) If you deposited the tax for the year in full and on time,
you have until February 10 to file the return.
Employers - Give your employees their copies of Form W-2
for 2009. If an employee agreed to receive Form W-2 electronically, post it on a
website accessible to the employee and notify the employee of the posting by
February 1st.
Individuals - who must make estimated tax payments. If
you did not pay your last installment of estimated tax by January 15, you may
choose (but are not required) to file your income tax return (Form 1040) for
2009. Filing your return and paying any tax due by February 1, 2010 prevents any
penalty for late payment of last installment.
Businesses - Give annual information statements to
recipients of 1099 payments made during 2009.
Certain Small Employers - File Form 944 to report social
security and Medicare taxes and withheld income tax for 2009. Deposit or pay any
undeposited tax under the accuracy of deposit rules. If your tax liability is
$2,500 or more from 2009 but less than $2,500 for the fourth quarter, deposit
any undeposited tax or pay it in full with a timely filed return.
Getting Organized
As
a small business owner you wear many hats. With all the rewards and
responsibilities of ownership, it's no wonder that paperwork often
falls to the bottom of your list, along with organizing your office,
work flow and schedule.
If
you want to eliminate misplaced paper files, know exactly where you put
that document on your computer, have a clutter-free path to your desk,
and remember important deadlines and appointments every time, contact us to put ECL's Organizing Solutions to work for you!
Better yet - call us BEFORE you get stuck to free up your time & start saving money!
QuickBooks Specials
A+ Consulting, LLC is offering the following promotions:
25% off QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions 10.0
Up to 40% off QuickBooks Point of Sale 9.0 software and hardware
As we all know, the people of
Haiti really
need our help and many of us are responding with donations. See our article
below on how to get the most tax benefit from these contributions.
ECL Consulting, LLC's Accounting Professionals can help you get the most benefit out of each deduction.
10 Facts About Claiming Donations Made to Haiti
If you are
donating to charities providing earthquake relief in Haiti, you may be able to
claim those donations on your 2009 tax return. Here are 10 important facts the Internal
Revenue Service wants you to know about this special provision.
1.A new law allows you to claim
donations for Haitian relief on your 2009 tax return, which you will be filing
this year.
2.The contributions must be made
specifically for the relief of victims in areas affected by the Jan. 12
earthquake in Haiti.
3.To be eligible for a deduction on
the 2009 tax return, donations must be made after Jan. 11, 2010 and before
March 1, 2010.
4.In order to be deductible,
contributions must be made to qualified charities and can not be designated for
the benefit of specific individuals or families.
5.The new law applies only to cash
contributions.
6.Cash contributions made by text
message, check, credit card or debit card may be claimed on your federal tax
return.
7.You must itemize your deductions in
order to claim these donations on your tax return.
8.You have the option of deducting
these contributions on either your 2009 or 2010 tax return, but not both.
9.Contributions made to foreign
organizations generally are not deductible. You can find out more about
organizations helping Haitian earthquake victims from agencies such as the U.S.
Agency for International Development ( www.usaid.gov).
10. Federal law requires that you keep a
record of any deductible donations you make. For donations by text message, a
telephone bill will meet the record-keeping requirement if it shows the name of
the organization receiving your donation, the date of the contribution, and the
amount given. For cash contributions made by other means, be sure to keep a
bank record, such as a canceled check or a receipt from the charity. Receipts
should show the name of the charity, the date and amount of the contribution.
For more
information see IRS
Publication 526, Charitable Contributions and Publication 3833 , Disaster
Relief: Providing Assistance through Charitable Organizations. To determine if
an organization is a qualified charity visit IRS.gov, keyword "Search for
Charities." Note that some organizations, such as churches or governments,
may be qualified even though they are not listed on IRS.gov.
Ask
An Expert
Q: Are there any special tax implications for a husband and wife business?
A: There
are several tax issues to consider when a husband and wife have a small
business. One of the advantages of operating your own business is hiring
family members. However, the employment tax requirements for family employees
may vary from those that apply to other employees. Click
here to read about some issues to consider when operating a husband and
wife business.
A
husband and wife operating a business together might want to make an election
not to be treated as a partnership. Click
here to learn more.
Ever have tax, QuickBooks or accounting question, but didn't know who to ask? Now you can Ask An Expert. Send us your question and we'll answer it here.
Have you enjoyed this newsletter? Have any suggestions for things you'd like to see covered? Have a question for our resident Accounting Expert? Let us know by emailing askexpert@eclconsulting.com.
Each issue will cover different topics and have different features, so watch for our next e-newsletter.
Remember, we provide accounting and cash flow solutions for successful companies -- yours!
Have any feedback about this email or our new website? Please Contact Us with your questions or comments and we'll be happy to extend a free 1 hour consultation to all new clients!
Know
anyone who could use ECL's services? When you refer someone who becomes
a client we will give you either $25 off our services or a gift card to
one of many great local businesses. *Please see Referral Rewards on our website for more information.
ECL Consulting, LLC
PO Box 57669
Tuson, AZ 85732 Phone: 1-520-843-2092Ext 1
Fax: 1-520-843-2092 info@eclconsulting.com
