Registration of Tax Preparers

Beginning this Fall, a new registration and testing scheme is being implemented by IRS under the guise of ensuring that the public is protected and that all preparers are minimally competent. I call it a guise, since it won't have anything to do with that, of course. The reason? For those who already have some letters after their names, no testing will be required. So attorneys (most of whom have little no knowledge of taxes), CPA's practicing in large corporations or conducting audits of large corporations (most of whom have little to no knowledge of taxes), will be exempt. They'll be required to register and pay the fee/tax, but are not required to pass a competency test.

The original aim of this was indeed to ensure some level of minimal competency, (AND raise money!) and the target was clearly, though never ever spoken, the large chains and franchise stores who hire seasonal preparers with no experience and who return to some other life as soon as it's April 15, not to be seen again. When the AICPA and the Bar Association successfully lobbied to exclude their members, regardless of their tax knowledge, the competency aim missed the target. Many of the strangest questions that we get on the tax professionals' forum come from CPA's or attorneys who end up having to do a return or counsel someone. But they would be allowed to prepare returns without testing.

The truly sad thing is the unintended consequence of this shortsightedness. Much as new gun laws don't make gangsters turn in their guns, this registration and testing is really more about politicians being able to say they did something. Worse, they're hurting people who are already hurting. Who uses the chains and franchise stores that specialize in cheap returns and refunds today? The poor. The poor are the very ones who will suffer under this new scheme, since the chain stores may have to increase prices to cover the registration and testing fees, and the continuing education requirements for seasonal employees. Or, be more selective about those employees, cutting their staffs. Either way, it'll be a little harder and/or more expensive to get services by the people who already don't have many options. Most can't even go get TurboTax and do their own returns unless they have a computer. So they're stuck.

It makes me sad, and a bit angry.

1099 Insanity Update

There is now word from IRS that they will NOT require 1099'ing on any credit card transactions. Imagine that. So what that does is force us to set up TWO vendor accounts for each vendor instead of one. Since the CC transactions can be ignored, you'd still 1099 for everything else. I don't see how that helps much.

And I wonder what the credit card reporting system turns into then. For some reason, the hair stands up on the back of my neck now. Something's afoot, and it can't be good. Kiss a big chunk of your freedom goodbye.

For anyone who thinks this is as bad an idea as I do, lookkee here: IRS Seeks Comments on New Form 1099 Reporting Requirements

In Notice 2010-51, the IRS invites public comment on how to most effectively carry out a law change that will require businesses to report a wider range of payments to contractors, vendors and others, usually on Form 1099. The new reporting requirements take effect for payments made after December 31, 2010. These comments will help the IRS issue guidance that implements this provision in a manner that minimizes burden and avoids duplicate reporting.

Under a proposed regulation, many business purchases made with credit or debit cards would be exempt from the new reporting requirement because they are already reported by banks and other payment processors. The IRS seeks comments on additional circumstances in which duplicate reporting might otherwise occur and on rules that would prevent such duplicate reporting.

To submit comments:

Via e-mail to Notice.Comments@irscounsel.treas.gov. Include "Notice 2010-51" in the subject line.

Mandatory 1099 Insanity

Buried in the 2000+ page Health Care Bill (or lack thereof, frankly), that no one in Washington bothered to read, is a provision that will change the face of business in America. That is not too strong a statement. The actual language is fairly minimal, merely adding corporations to recipients required to get 1099'd for revenue paid to them by businesses, and then adding a provision that it applies to ALL payments, products AND services. Effective 2012!

This one you have to stop and think about. So for a business, and remember that 95% of business in the US is small business, EVERY dollar of payment will be reported either on a payroll form, or a 1099. Every expenditure at Office Depot, or Home Depot, WalMart, UPS...ALL vendor payments. This is amazing in its scope. Literal forests will be chain-sawed to the ground to create the paper that will then be semi-trucked to WalMart headquarters. Unemployment will cease, since accountants will now have to engage bookkeepers to do the detailed accounting work for each client, or the client will have to hire one, the WalMarts will have to create whole new departments to receive the truckloads of 1099's and then do something with them, the trucking industry will grow, and fuel for the trucks will be used in record amounts! I wish I was making this all up.

And...every small business will have increased accounting or bookkeeping costs as a consequence, since EVERY vendor will have to have a detailed profile, a FEIN on file, and every transaction recorded in detail. Basically, Quickbooks will be required for even the very smallest businesses, because when errors and disptues come up, it will be necessary to substantiate where your reported numbers came from. This is hard work, something that I've managed to avoid in the 25 years that I've been in business, since the 1099 reporting was directed to unincorporated businesses providing services only. Which might be about 10% of the expenditures for many companies. Now, every business will have to conduct its accounting just like a large company. No options.

Note that while the business community will be buried under paper and reporting requirements that they will NOT be able to handle or pay for, the IRS will not be affected at all. Why? Because all this reporting will be done electronically and pushed into a computer somewhere. No human work at all. They'll be completely insulated from this insanity. Nice, huh? (I do wonder if even the IRS computers are capable of handling this increased reporting, tho'. It will be overwhelming even to them.)

Now, let me explain the ramifications, as if what you've read isn't bad enough already.

The IRS will now have EVERY transaction of EVERY business that's not retail. Every business to business transaction will be reported. So the IRS will now know every dollar of income unless you're in retail, and every dollar of expense. Getting a little spooked yet? And they'll be able to match all that with your tax returns. You want to claim an expense? Better have issued a 1099 for it, or disallowed! You trying to trim a bit off your income? Whoops. They know what you got paid now, so no cheating. And, in my mind, they can pretty well eliminate the audit staff since the computer can simply send out bills for the mismatches.

This one needs to die now, but sad to say, I can see that this will come one day anyway. Are we ready for this level of intrusion?

Attack on S Corps/LLC---and small business!

Big news is the attack on S corps and LLC’s in the annual extensions bill, which is the legislation that extends certain expiring tax provisions. The attack is to treat the profits of small ‘professional’ service firms the same as sole proprietors, throwing out decades of case law defining reasonable salaries and completely ignoring the corporate structure. It pits small firms against larger ones who are not subject to the rule. ‘Professional’ services is defined to include most service businesses. The SS ceiling is around 106k this year, and the Medicare tax runs beyond that. A firm earning around that 106k, who has used a reasonable salary of 60k, for example, will see increased taxes of $7000. It would take effect next year. The same rule applies to LLC’s, and includes spousal ownership. It seems to have enough support for passage...stay tuned. This will change everything in entity choices. and is a blatant attack on small businesses for revenue raising in the SS system.

Small businesses, by and large, start as sole proprietors, and all profits are subject to both income and SS taxes. As businesses grow, generally they migrate to either an S corp or an LLC depending on the particular situation, where they have been permitted to set a reasonable salary for services performed, just as larger corporations do. This has been upheld in the Courts, who have defined the issues used to arrive at a reasonable salary. Sadly, due to much abuse by S corp owners and their accountants over the years, rather than auditing those corps who do NOT report reasonable salaries, Congress had decided instead to issue the death sentence to all small business owners using these entities. By requiring ALL profits of these firms to be subjected to SE or SS taxes will double those taxes, which are generally already far more than the income taxes reported. And it completely removes any reasonable options for the small business owner in choosing an entity. For all practical purposes, they'll remain taxed as a sole proprietor, or taxed as a large corporation with oppressive burdens of reporting and taxation not intended for the small business.