As we all know (because of the stack of letters from our merchant accounts requesting our EIN) that the IRS has enacted new 1099 reporting standards that come into effect this year. One of the new additions is the 1099-K which will be how the above mentioned credit card companies report your income to the IRS.  The 1099-K will have a different look then most 1099’s as it will break your income down by month for those fiscal year filers.

Well, the IRS couldn’t leave it at that. They want business return (and schedule C) filers to help them enforce credit card company compliance.

Starting with the 2011 tax return, businesses will now be required to report credit card sales separately from other sales. You will notice on the new forms a separate line for merchant account sales.

 What to expect

More questions from your tax preparer. They will need to know, if you haven’t already separated them out, the amount of credit card sales versus other sales.

An increased amount of 1099’s. Your mailbox will be full of new 1099-K’s. Make sure these get into the hands of your tax preparer so they can accurately prepare your return.

More notices from the IRS. Now the IRS will have another piece of information to check the accuracy of your return. Make sure that you keep all 1099’s for your tax preparer.

Relief for small businesses

Don’t worry if you don’t receive 1099-K’s if you are a small business. The IRS was kind enough to put a floor on the filing requirement. If the aggregate value of the merchant transactions is $20,000 or less and the aggregate number of transactions 200 or less they are not required to file a 1099-K, but of course, you still need to report it.

Professional Utah Account Services For Business and Personal

Financial planning is essential for your business to survive in the current economic times. If you do not have a secure plan in place then more money could end up going out than is being generated and create a bad situation in a matter of months or even weeks. Losing your business could devastate you and your entire family since the economy is in such rough shape. Taking the advice of our Utah accounting team will help to prevent a situation like this. Once we analyze your information we will have a much better idea of where your business stands and what steps are needed to make things work. Cook Martin is here to help you stay on the path to success for your Utah based business.

Contact us if you would like to learn more about the services we provide. During tax season we are also the premier provider of tax services for business owners in addition to our Utah accountant services. If you choose to hire us for Utah accounting services then it will be a much easier time to do your taxes quickly and easily since we will already have your information on file. Give us a call or stop by one of our convenient locations today to learn more!

Our Salt Lake City Bookkeeping Professionals Are Here To Help

Our world is full of cut throat competition in business. The last thing you want is for your small business to begin slipping and not be able to thrive in your industry. Take the step that many businesses have done and use our Salt Lake City Bookkeeping services to your advantage. Save both time and money by converting over all your books to our bookkeeping Salt Lake City professionals that are dedicated to accounting and book keeping. It takes a certain type of person to love dealing with numbers and financial information, but here at Cook Martin we have assembled some of the best people who love what they do! This makes us one of the top locations in Salt Lake for bookkeeping services.

Stop wasting time trying to manage the books yourself. It’s much easier to take all your financial information in to one of our accounting professionals where they will look it over and take care of everything you need when it comes to Salt Lake City bookkeeping. We also offer a wide range of other services including accounting, payroll, and tax preparation. Give us a call today to learn more and find out why your small business needs Cook Martin.

Top Payroll Utah Services For Your Business

Our satisfied clients rave about how our payroll Utah services improved the way their business runs and we invite you to read those testimonials here on our website. We offer several locations to serve your needs with a variety of services other than payroll. We have several certified public accountants ready to help with your business or individual financial needs. Our rates are very competitive and customers say that our value exceeds their expectations when compared to other accounting firms in the state of Utah. Payroll services are not very exciting, especially when you are worried about getting hours counted up and checks sent out to all your employees before a certain deadline. Our services ensure that each check is complete according to the submitted hourly information that we receive and your employees never have to wait any longer than needed for their pay.

Keeping your workers happy is a vital part of running a small business. At Cook Martin we are proud to help play a small part in your business to make it successful. If you believe our payroll Utah services would be of benefit to your business then please contact us today to find out more information.

Choosing The Right Account Utah Has Available

Our locations include Salt Lake City, Tremonton, Heber, Logan, and Orem. With five current locations to serve you there is likely to be a team of professionals at Cook Martin available to review your current financial situation and see where we can make improvements to your budget and future plans. The most important thing when accountant Utah professionals look over your current financial situation is making sure that all your expenses are less than what is coming in, which means your business is going to make a profit. If this is not the case then there is simply no reason to be in business, with a few exceptions. The average small business in Utah will benefit greatly from our accounting services.

To learn more you will need to get in contact with one of our offices. The information needed is available right here on our website so you can talk with the location that is nearest and most convenient for you. Our accountant Utah services are top of the line and here at Cook Martin we strive to provide our Utah accountant clients with the best services in the industry.

Successful companies closely track company profitability and those companies with the means to do so spend a lot of money ensuring that specific jobs, projects, and ideas are profitable to the company.  Larger manufacturing businesses and restaurants spend a significant amount of time and money to maintain details of costs as they are incurred by employing qualified individuals and implementing systems responsible for tracking these costs.  These systems and employees ensure that inventory balances are accurate and that costs of goods sold are matched with the revenues earned during the period.

Smaller production companies and restaurants do not always have the luxury of employing specialized individuals or implementing tracking systems because the high costs of these employees or systems often outweigh the associated benefits.  Small businesses can, however, find simple ways to track profitability while matching costs to the period in which revenues are earned.  We recommend the following ideas to track profitability by period.

1.  Perform an inventory count as often as is reasonable.  The following inventory counts might be the best for your organization to ensure that Cost of Goods Sold and Inventory Levels are accurate for the period:

a.       Monthly Inventory Counts: Some companies find it beneficial to perform company-wide inventory counts monthly.  This limits the need to track inventory throughout the month and results in a month-end adjustment to correctly adjust Cost of Goods Sold and Inventory.

b.      Cycle Counts: Some companies have such large inventory amounts that it might make more sense to perform periodic cycle counts.  In a cycle count, inventory counts are performed for and adjustments are made to subsets or groups of inventory items.  These types of counts usually allow the company to count without requiring a shut-down of productions.

c.       Allocation of Costs:  Some companies will find that it is most beneficial and less burdensome to perform counts less often.  With allocation of costs, Costs of Sales is calculated as a percentage of sales for an entire period, but allocated to smaller periods based on a percentage of revenues for each individual period.

2.  If you pay for a particular service on a quarterly, annualized, or other basis which stretches across multiple periods, you should consider applying the expense to the relevant periods of service.  This will require that non-expensed or unused services be temporarily included as prepaid expenses.

3.  If a payroll period crosses into more than one reporting period, consider expensing the proper payroll expenses in the prior period even if the payment for that payroll is made in the following period.

4.  Depreciate your assets.  Depreciation is not only used for tax, it is also used to expense an asset over the period of usefulness.  Consider depreciating your assets over a reasonable period for which you believe the asset will be useful.  Even though you may be able to depreciate assets more quickly for tax purposes, choosing a reasonable period of depreciation for your company accounting purposes can assist you in determining the profitability of your projects and your company.

5.  Organize your chart of accounts to group operating costs and to segregate those costs from administrative and other costs.

When small business owners and employees actively match costs with the periods in which revenues are earned, they can make better decisions for the future of their company.  We want your small business to make the right decisions to be successful.  If you have any questions regarding the implementation of the above ideas, feel free to contact us at 435-750-5566 or 801-467-4450.

Your Local SLC CPA Team Is Here To Keep You Financially Stable

Saving and spending are both realities that everyone must face in this life. How you deal with those two facts are something that can be controlled if you have a plan and stick to it. Here at Cook Martin Utah CPA we stress that saving for the future is important and if your business or personal financial plan does not include a solid monthly savings portion then you need to speak with one of our SLC CPA team members and find out how we can help. Utilizing a financial plan can drastically improve the way you live your life and is a great way to keep your goals on track so that if you run into emergency or when you retire there are enough funds to support either situation.

Cook Martin knows that managing money is almost never easy. This is especially the case in these current tough economic times and until the market turns around most of us will be wondering why our pocket books are growing lighter and the debt grows larger. Make sure you are not caught in this trend; give one of our SLC CPA’s a call today to discuss what they can do for you to get your finances back on track.

Our Park City CPA Solutions Will Exceed Your Expectations

Knowing exactly where your money is coming from and where it is going is crucial for both personal finances and business finances alike. There’s no reason to be sitting in financial ruin just because you haven’t been given the correct advice to succeed. Our Park City CPA team is here to help with everything from your yearly taxes all the way up to payroll for your employees. Basically anything that involves money and business we are well equipped to handle. Don’t worry, our extensive experience does not stop at just the business end of things. We will gladly work with your personal finance needs and develop a plan to keep your personal ventures on track.

Get in contact with our Park City CPA firm today to learn more about what we can offer and get helpful tips to see exactly what our expertise is in the financial world. You too can achieve financial freedom and be released from the daily struggle managing the accounting needs for your business or for your family. Trust Cook Martin as your local certified public accountant team here in Park City, Utah.

Trust a CPA in Utah For The Best Financial Services

Being a Utah CPA takes dedication and staying up to date with the latest money management techniques. There are certain basics that will always stay the same but it’s important to trust a firm like us that will make sure your money is properly management the right way for the current times. When it comes to tax season we are also the best in Utah to help save you potentially hundreds of even thousands of dollars this year. If you are already one of our loyal clients then it is even easier to have your taxes done and ready to be filed in a very short time since we already have most of your information and know you personally.

We know it is important to have a professional relationship with all of our clients. Some business owners even prefer to have us manage their personal finances as well since they trust our expertise. Contact us today to find out how we can serve you and speak with one of our CPA Utah specialists to learn more about our accounting, bookkeeping, and tax services. There’s no reason to handle these things alone, trust your local Utah CPA team here at Cook Martin.