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Good News for 990 e-Filers
December 27, 2011
Joyce Ripianzi
In case you missed the recent notice from the IRS: tax-exempt organizations that are required to file their 990 returns by January 17, 2011 or February 15, 2012 now have until March 30, 2012 to do so. [...]
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BESP - Have You Made Your List and Checked It Twice?
December 21, 2011
Pamela Sintros
If not, you may find the new rules are a bit naughty and not so nice …
Effective, January 1, 2011, both public and privately-held companies are required by the FASB to use [...]
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5 Reasons to Avoid an Employee Stock Ownership Plan
December 16, 2011
Gregg Hamilton-Piercy, MFA Cornerstone Consulting
As mentioned in my November post, an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) is an employee benefit plan that serves as a tax-qualified, defined-contribution retirement plan and presents [...]
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What Crowd Funding Legislation Reform Means for Entrepreneurs
November 23, 2011
Travis Drouin
Earlier this month, the House of Representatives passed several bills relating to small business financing, including the headline-making “Entrepreneur Access to Capital Act” (HR 2930), intended to ease decades-old regulations regarding crowd funding. [...]
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5 Reasons to Implement an Employee Stock Ownership Plan
November 16, 2011
Gregg Hamilton-Piercy, MFA Cornerstone Consulting
An employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) is an employee benefit plan that serves as a tax-qualified, defined-contribution retirement plan. [...]
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Charities Must Notify Attorney General of Major Changes
November 2, 2011
Joyce Ripianzi
As funding dries up and some Massachusetts charities begin planning for a regrettable, but inevitable restructuring or cessation of operations, they need to bear in mind that [...]
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Three Tax Issues to Keep in Mind when Forming a Partnership
October 26, 2011
Scott Davis
When speaking to owners of startup companies and others who are considering the formation of a partnership or LLC, I find that many are curious about the tax implications of such a move. [...]
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Is XBRL More Than Just a Compliance Expense?
October 19, 2011
Tracy Curley
With XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) now in its third phase of implementations, nearly all public companies using U.S. GAAP are now required to submit data in the fully searchable, digital format. [...]
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Tips for Nonprofit Audit Committees
October 5, 2011
Christine Schneider
In last week’s post, What Makes a Great Audit Committee?, I suggested some criteria to consider when selecting or evaluating the members of an audit committee.
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What Makes a Great Audit Committee?
September 28, 2011
Christine Schneider
Your audit committee can serve as a powerful tool for your company, and its potential to do so is determined by the expertise of the individuals that comprise it. [...]
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The 5 Principles of a SOC 2 Report
September 21, 2011
Matt Pettine, MFA Cornerstone Consulting
The new SOC (Service Organization Control) 2 reports provide information and assurance relating to a service provider’s non-financial control environment and are most commonly based upon a combination of one or more of the Trust Services Principles.
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You Might Qualify for the R&D Tax Credit – Yes, You.
September 7, 2011
Erin Carmody
The U.S. government distributes billions of dollars in research and development (R&D) tax credits each year – but the money isn’t just for research labs. [...]
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A Bit of Perspective in This Anxious Investment Environment
August 24, 2011
Stephen Fusi, Senior Wealth and Investment Advisor, New Wealth Advisors
The current anxious investment environment will eventually pass. While that may be of little consolation, it is a future point of focus that should not be ignored. [...]
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Disclosing Your Tax-Exempt Information
August 17, 2011
Christine Schneider
When your tax-exempt organization receives a request for inspection of its federal filings – Form 990 or 990-EZ, 990-T if applicable and its application for tax exemption – do you know how to respond? [...]
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Liquidation Diligence and the Importance of Acting Quickly
August 10, 2011
Steve Jones
When the economy is down, bankruptcies are up. Consequently, as protection against the impending costs associated with this increased risk, lenders should be focusing their attention not only on the quality of collateral but also on just how [...]
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Using Roth IRAs to Mitigate “Double Taxation” of International Investments
August 5, 2011
Jeff Arsenault
As I and my colleagues have mentioned in previous blog posts, investing in a Roth IRA has a number of tax-related advantages. The $100,000 income limit window on converting a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA [...]
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Internal Controls Assessments: You Have Now Reached a Comfortable Cruising Altitude
July 27, 2011
Lisa Whittemore, MFA Cornerstone Consulting
When a business is first founded, the President has their hand in each and every business process. They make the widgets. They sell the widgets. They collect the cash for the widgets.
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State Sales Tax Nexus Requirements – What Every Company Should be Considering
July 13, 2011
Shannan G. Cuddy
Businesses that sell products or services in interstate commerce, whether online, by catalog, over-the-phone or in-person, face challenging multi-state sales tax compliance issues.
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Impaired or Not Impaired: That is the Question
July 6, 2011
Mike Piessens
Do you have the intangible asset “Goodwill” sitting on your books from previous business combination transactions?
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Staying in Shape for Retirement
June 29, 2011
Jim Guarino
Everyone agrees that planning for retirement is important—so why do so many of us choose to avoid the issue year after year?
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10 Steps to Prepare for a SOC Report Audit
June 6, 2011
Rob Busch, Michelle Mackey and Matthew Pettine
A Service Organization Control (SOC) report can help your company meet requests you receive from your clients on behalf of their auditors, gain a competitive edge, and benchmark against best practices. [...]
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Investor Alert: 2013 and Its Expiring Tax Provisions Will Be Here Before You Know It
June 1, 2011
Jim Guarino
While it is welcome relief to investors that federal tax rates on income, qualifying dividends, and capital gains have been extended [...]
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A Word of Advice for Smaller Reporting Companies as XBRL Becomes a Reality
May 25, 2011
Tracy Curley
In 2009, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued rules requiring public companies and foreign private issuers that prepare [...]
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What You Need to Know About the Davis-Bacon Act and Employee Benefit Plans
May 11, 2011
Scott Tuxbury, New Wealth Advisors — Retirement Plan Advisory Practice
Many companies don’t feel they can competively bid on federally funded contracts because they cannot afford the increase in employee payroll [...]
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Leveraging Controls for 3rd Party Assurance Reports
May 2, 2011
Joseph Landry
Have you been contemplating obtaining a service auditor’s report in order to meet the assurance needs of your customers and/or your customer’s auditors? [...]
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Evolving State Tax Trends to Watch: “Economic Nexus" and the Growing Popularity of a Single Sales Factor Apportionment
April 13, 2011
Shannan Cuddy
In what has been called the worst economic crisis since the Depression, states are scrambling to make up for massive shortfalls in tax revenue. [...]
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A Closer Look at the Benefits of the Refundable AMT Credit
April 6, 2011
Jim Guarino
For those of you who paid alternative minimum tax (AMT) more than three years ago, you may be entitled to some much-needed relief. [...]
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AICPA SOC Reports – Now That’s a Big Deal!
March 30, 2011
Rob Busch
In my November 2010 blog post on the demise of the SAS 70 standard (“SSAE 16 to Supersede SAS 70 Standard – What's the Big Deal?”), [...]
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Attention All Landlords - The IRS Intends to Scrutinize Your Rental Income More Closely
March 15, 2011
Jim Guarino
Back in 2008, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported that over 50 percent of taxpayers (with rental real estate activity in the 2001 tax year) [...]
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States Continue to Target Internet Retailers with "Amazon Nexus" Rule
March 2, 2011
Shannan Cuddy
Illinois recently joined Colorado, New York, North Carolina and Rhode Island in aggressively targeting out-of-state Internet retailers that utilize in-state [...]
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SEC Begins to Make Progress on Dodd-Frank Act
February 16, 2011
Tracy Curley
In a follow-up to my October 2010 blog post, The SEC Will Be Busy This Fall Thanks to Dodd-Frank, I am back with an update [...]
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Just Another Winter in New England... How to Account for a Building Collapse
February 9, 2011
Joyce Ripianzi and Mike Piessens
Close to 100 roofs have buckled and collapsed under the weight of heavy snow and ice in the past week, including the building of [...]
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New 1099 Requirements Hit Landlords Hard
February 2, 2011
Jim Guarino
As MFA reported in April of 2010 (Get Your Paper Trail Ready; Expansion of 1099 Use Coming in 2012), the passage of the health care bill [...]
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Retail & Hospitality Industries Receive Favorable IRS Guidance on Gift Cards
January 25, 2011
Craig Eaton
For those MFA clients and others whom the sale of gift cards and gift certificates is a standard business practice, I wanted to share with [...]
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Checklist for the Sale of a Business
January 19, 2011
Travis Drouin
We received a lot of great feedback last month from my post Checklist for Newly Formed Entities – thank you all for the emails, tweets, etc. All of your feedback got me thinking though [...]
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2011 Means Greater Transparency for 401(k) Plan Sponsors
January 12, 2011
Scott Tuxbury, New Wealth Advisors — Retirement Plan Advisory Practice
Back in July of 2010, the Department of Labor (DOL) issued revised disclosure rules for providers of services to 401(k) and other retirement [...]
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