Now that we are out of the holiday season, it means we can look back, and can you believe that it’s only been about a month since Christmas?

It seems that a lot has happened since then, but maybe now that we have passed the inauguration of Donald Trump and its immediate fallout, we can get back to feeling normal. Or maybe in this holiday-season lookback, we can at least start to give some hope to those who are finding it difficult to come by.

This optimism can come in the economic realm, where numbers show that spending over the holiday season grew at a high rate. The growth was at least mild across many indicators, but was especially pronounced in the online realm.

This does not surprise me, as more and more people I know get the most value from their Amazon Prime membership around the holidays. Also, knowing people that have done ALL of their holiday shopping online is no longer rare and these numbers seem only bound to grow.

It stands to reason then that at the same time that those numbers are increasing, I have also noticed a marked decrease in the amount of people who worry about shopping online. Even those in older generations (traditionally the ones least accepting of new technology) no longer seem to have many qualms about inputting a credit card number online to make a purchase.

With all those dynamics in place, though, it does still surprise me that some people are still hesitant about embracing online accounting. If society is already pushing more and more of their transactions into cyberspace, why hold back from embracing that next step?

From my end, I not only have been moving to learn about such new types of accounting, but am impressed at what it allows me to do. Many of the traditional issues one has with an accountant, after all, happened with communication breakdowns and the ensuing waiting those breakdowns cause. If I am waiting on a couple answer to easy questions, of a few receipts, and my client is then waiting in turn for me to address them once received, those bits of time add up and can hold books from being finalized when they’re 98% of the way there.

Now, however, there are more ways to this communication to happen, more access to books on both sides of the relationship, and thus more ways to finish things quicker.

With that, reporting happens faster.

With that, reporting is more powerful because it more accurately reflects what is happening in your business as this moment

With that, why would one not want to embrace these new technologies?

Those who do not want to make the cloud accounting jump seem to most hesitant about security concerns. I hope then that this little anecdote about how much holiday shopping happens online helps illuminate why this need not be a giant concern. Sure, no one can ever 100% guarantee complete cyber security, but with that many online transactions happening, they are clearly coming with a level of security with which we are comfortable.

So if you have been reticent about making the cloud accounting jump in the past, we understand. But if it is something you would like to explore, we would love to hear from you now and see what we can do to help. 

There are a number of different 1099 forms and chances are pretty good that at least one will be making its way into your mailbox (be it the actual one at the curb or a virtual one) over the coming weeks. These forms cover a large range of money that you may have received during the year and include things from interest income to dividends to tax refunds to real estate transactions. The most mysterious of these, however, may be the 1099-MISC from that reports miscellaneous income.

I think that many have their first introduction to this form come in a negative way. Wait, what’s this? I have to report this money that I got months ago, and only now pay taxes on it?

Well, yes.

Beyond that, however, there may be money that you received over the last year that did not result in someone needing to send you that 1099 form, but chances are to be completely legal, the IRS would require you to still report that income if you want your return to be valid in their eyes.

Yes, it may feel unfair that you have to pay taxes on this money. Yes, it may feel strange that with any money you ever receive, you should default to thinking that taxes will be owed on it. This, though, is just another one of those topics that show why it is best to have a tax professional on your side when you try to navigate these waters.

Growing up, I thought of these forms as what people received for their side hustle; they had a real job they went to from Monday to Friday, did something else smaller to supplement their income, and this form showed up at the beginning of year when it was time to account for that. More and more people, however, are finding their way through the modern economy with only income of this 1099 nature.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics published data in August that said nearly 15 million people are self-employed. This makes up about 10 percent of U.S. workers, which is a number that I found rather surprising. Granted, my profession brings me into contact with many people who are working in such a way and need help to make sure they are handling their finances correctly, but I had no idea how large a portion of the work force these people constituted.

On one side of this, I am thrilled by it. The idea that one can plot their own way through life, choose what they want to do, and succeed in doing so lines up with much of what we believe is inherently great in our country. On the other side, however, I am afraid that this might mean there is a great number of people blazing this path who are unaware of just what their tax burden is. Sadly, lacking this knowledge could lead to the end of the dream where you blaze your own course.

So if you are someone worried about what your upcoming tax bill is going to look like, or just what money you made that will be taxed, this is the time to tackle those questions. At least now you are giving yourself some time to get the money together if you are facing a large bill you did not count on. And, as always, we would love to help you answer all those questions.

I might be pushing it by stretching some end-of-last-year/beginning-of-this-year thoughts into the second week of the year, but hey, at least I’m warning you early in this article that I am about to do it.

And yes, it seems everyone and their second cousin’s sister-in-law craft year-end lists (we rank our top 10 pointless relatives inside!), but some of them seem to have some value. For instance, I believe those of you who own your businesses could benefit from this article that discusses the best business lessons of 2016.

The lesson that stood out most to me on the list was “Understand Metrics and Data, and Don’t Misuse Them.” Working in the accounting industry, I have certainly seen people who know the answers they want before they even look at their financials. Unfortunately, there is often a way to shift things around to make the numbers give those answers, at least at first.

Such machinations eventually catch up with those businesses, though. Instead of looking for the mental bandage of seeing what you want to see, use the real numbers to make moves that can get your business where you want it without having to fudge anything.

I also want to highlight the last item on the list  “Give Employees a Way to Shine.” I am not one who has been able to embrace a millennial mindset of complete equality in the workplace, and believe that some structure tends to keep a necessary level of focus. I do, however, like this idea of making sure that everyone has a way to show what they can do and outperform expectations. Not only will the business as a whole benefit from those shining moments, it is also a good way to identity potential and the employees you want to do your best to keep in the fold.

A fact that I cannot possibly avoid is that this time of year also signals the beginning of tax season. Yes, I also mentioned this last week when I mentioned tax scams topping the Better Business Bureau’s list of scams. But when it comes to taxes, you’re just going to have to get used to hearing about them for the next few months.

Tax scams themselves, though, came back around since I last wrote. The IRS is continuing its efforts to stay ahead of criminals taking advantage of their system, and recently gathered people together from across the tax landscape to discuss security measures.

I have been positive in the past about how the IRS is being proactive in its stance surrounding tax fraud, but I was especially impressed when I read in this article that there was a 50 percent reduction in the number of affidavits of taxpayer identity theft that were filed with the IRS last year. Now, I did just say that one should not move numbers around to make them show what you want, but that number is big enough that even if the IRS has moved some numbers around to make this one look really good, there is a great deal of positivity behind it.

There is so much money involved that the IRS has definite reasons to do its best to stay ahead of those who want to take advantage of it. Maybe with that much interest, it could even lead to advances that will be helpful to cyber security beyond the tax world.

Or maybe I’m just still holding on to too much early-year optimism. 

At the beginning of the year, many people get ramped up many different things – and the amount of commercials I’m seeing from Planet Fitness says it’s doing its best to take advantage of this.  For those of us in the tax industry, though, it means we are ramping up for our busy season.

And although I am sure that I will wish take this back come mid-April, I am only excited for this.

For yes, it is our busy season, but it is also our fulfilling season. This is when I get to do the most for the most people, saving money for clients and helping many get refund checks they may not have been expecting.

This means, however, that this time of year will also send us many commercials for both franchise tax preparers and do-it-yourself methods. I obviously have a stake in this game, but I think it is unfortunate how many taxpayers use those methods for filing.

There is a reason that I take pride in my job, and it is because it takes a lot of work and many years of experience to do it as well as I do. That franchise tax preparer, however, probably started taking some standardized courses just a few months ago and software does not have the power to understand your situation like another person who can ask personal questions.

If you are undergoing any medical procedure, you want it to be done by someone who possesses the highest level of knowledge, but so many put their taxes in the hands of those on the lower end of that spectrum. And yes, this is a little hyperbolic and taxes aren’t a life-or-death situation. I do believe, though, that it highlights how we should be trusting those who can do the best job.

It is true, after all, that taxes are complicated and can be treacherous. I wrote many times over the last year about tax scams, to the point where I occasionally feel like a broken record. This seems to have been justified, though, as the Better Business Bureau deemed tax scams the biggest scam going for the second year in a row.

Now if someone said you owed some tax money wouldn’t you want the confidence in knowing your return was handled by a professional? If you worried it was a scam, wouldn’t you want a trained practitioner on your side whom you could consult?

Beyond that, taxes are difficult. I mean if the only thing needed to handle them was to write a check to the IRS of some predetermined amount every year, we would all do it on our own.  Everyone enters a return not completely knowing how it will turn out, though. The reason for that is just what counts as a deduction or an expense and what counts as income do not come with easy definitions.

For a humorous example of that, I encourage you to look at this article from Wise Bread on things you could be taxed on.

So as we start this new year, I hope this finds you having enjoyed a wonderful holiday season.  I also hope this symbolizes the start of us being able to work together for a productive tax season and beyond.

Just maybe give me a break come late April.