In the News: 4 Helpful Quotes from CPAs

I read so many great quotes from CPAs every day and have such a limited space to summarize them on the blog– it can get to be a bit frustrating.  As I began drafting my bi-weekly ‘In the News’ post, I decided to switch things up this week.

I present to you four helpful quotes from CPAs. Hey – everyone can use a little help now and then.

As Kelli Grant reports in MarketWatch, going to summer camp may be a rite of passage for children, but for parents, it seems more like an initiation into the woes of tuition payments.

What parents might not know is that camp expenses can translate into a tax break.

Tax Reform: The Crystal Ball Never Lies

People often ask me, “Ed, when do you think we’ll finally see tax reform?”

“Not before 2014,” I respond with assurance.
“How can you be so sure, Ed?” they say.
“My crystal ball never lies!

But I started getting a bit nervous about sounding so confident.  After a little digging, I found out my crystal ball had once predicted that the Titanic was unsinkable, yet it went down on April 15, 1912. How’s that for foreshadowing?! That forced me to do some soul searching and thinking.

Flash back to November 2011. I was sitting next to Pat Thompson, who chaired the AICPA Tax Executive Committee.  We were listening to Don Longano, former House Ways and Means Committee Chief Counsel and Washington tax insider, share his views on the prospects for tax legislation at the National Tax Conference.

While You Were Coping With a Filing Season out of...

It’s hard to believe that I’m coming up on my 30-year anniversary at the AICPA.  Before that, I spent eight years in public practice – six with a local firm and two with an international one. Truth is those 30 years have not dimmed the memories of the challenge of filing season.  I joke about those memories but I also admit about how important it is for me to “feel the pain.” 

So many of our members are in public practice and have to “live the pain.”  That is one of the reasons why I am glad that my two directors have experienced many, many filing seasons - one of them ran her own practice for 17 years – as it motivates the Tax Team even more to lessen our members’ pain.

In the News: You Missed the Deadline to File Taxes, Now What?

As I’ve mentioned previously on this very blog, I am a procrastinator by nature. My ‘to do’ list from January of this year is littered with winter-related items (two prime examples are ‘purchase warmer jacket’ and ‘book ski trip for President’s Day weekend’) that I simply didn’t get around to. In those instances, I can shake my head, let out a self-pitying sigh and put it off until next year… But if you missed the April 15 deadline to file either your federal income tax return or an extension, you don’t have the luxury of simply waiting until next year – the time to act is now.

Melissa Labant, AICPA director of tax advocacy, speaking to the New York Times Bucks Blog, advised taxpayers to file as soon as possible and to avoid falling into the trap of thinking ‘oh, the deadline passed so there’s no rush now.’

In the News: Using Tax Refunds Wisely

Do you see your neighbor waiting by the mailbox for their tax refund? Chances are it’s not so they can use it on a fancy vacation or a new spring wardrobe.

This year, workers are most likely to save their refund or use the money for day-to-day expenses, according to a recent survey conducted for the AICPA by Harris Interactive for National Financial Capability Month. And that refund money is substantial. An AccountingWEB article on the survey results states that through March 22, the average refund this tax season is $2,827. That’s trending slightly lower than this time last year, when the average individual refund was $2,860.