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Wowser – A Tax Blog Throw Down – Why Keeping a Separate Business Checking Account Can Save Your Clients Money.
By Stacie Clifford Kitts, CPA
I must say, the business life of a tax accountant isn’t exactly a mardi gras. Moreover, it’s no wonder that we don’t see movies of the week about the accountant who couldn’t balance his or her ledger – borrrrring.
Therefore, I certainly look forward to the occasional lively debate, something stimulating and thought provoking, you know to spice it up a bit . But gees, I sure was stunned to read the comments made by June Walker over at her blog post There’s no shortage of bad advice out there. I suppose I don’t need to go into the details, since you can head over to her blog and read it yourself. But suffice it to say, she was a little miffed when a fellow blogger seamed to diss her blog post You Do Not Need A Business Checking Account.
But, hello, what do you expect to happen when you give that type of advice? Come on -you do not need a business checking account? What? Are you serious?
Regardless of all the important reasons to have a separate business account, you can check those out here at The Wondering Tax Pro’s blog, the extra cost that would be incurred by many clients to have an accountant or bookkeeper wade through business and personal expenses to pick out the proper deductions is not something I would readily advise to any client. And I know this from personal experience. Thank you.
I want my clients to focus on the important aspect of managing their businesses – you know – the revenue generating part, not the “Oh crap, I forgot to pull that business expense out of my co-mingled account” part.
So if you want to save your clients some frustration and some accounting fees, please advice them to open a separate banking account for their self-employed business.
In my opinion, advising a client NOT to open a separate business account would undoubtedly increase the accounting fees for those clients. So unless that is your intention, better stay away from that type of advice.
IRS Seeks Comments from Government Agencies at Upcoming Public; Forum on Proposals to Advance Tax Preparer Performance Standards
WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service today announced the second in a series of public forums will be held on Wednesday, Sept. 2, in Washington, D.C., and feature a panel of federal and state officials, moderated by IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman.
The panel will include representatives from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) and the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). Representatives from the states of California, Maryland, Oregon and New York will also participate on the panel.
Shulman announced a far-reaching review of paid preparers on June 4 to produce a comprehensive set of recommendations by the end of this year to boost taxpayer compliance and strengthen industry standards.
“This is the next important step in our open dialogue with interested parties in this effort,” Shulman said. “I’m very pleased with the quality of the feedback we’ve received so far. I’m confident these forums will ensure that all ideas are on the table when it’s time to form our recommendations.”
The forum will convene at 9 a.m. ET in the IRS Headquarters at 1111 Constitution Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20224. Anyone interested in attending should confirm attendance by sending an e-mail message to CL.NPL.Communications@irs.gov.
The first public forum was held on July 30 in Washington, D.C., and featured a panel of consumer groups and another panel of tax professional organizations. A third forum will be held in Chicago on Sept. 30 featuring independent return preparers and software industry representatives.
The IRS issued Notice 2009-60 on July 24 as an added call for public comments to ensure that all interested individuals and entities have the opportunity to contribute ideas.
Written comments must be received by Aug. 31, 2009. They should be submitted to CCPA:LPD:PR (Notice 2009-60), Room 5203, Internal Revenue Service, P.O. Box 7604, Ben Franklin Station, Washington, D.C. 20044.
Comments may also be e-mailed to Notice.Comments@irscounsel.treas.gov. Please include “Notice 2009-60” in the subject line of any e-mail messages. More details can be found in the notice.
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