I went to high school and college and learned all the generic educational stuff. Actually, I was pretty bored through most of the educational process.
But over that process, I had the opportunity to take several tax courses, and became obsessed with tax law.

I loved Monopoly and rarely have been beaten, and the Internal Revenue Code became like a very complex, intriguing game of Monopoly. The Internal Revenue Code provokes an intense thought process, working through Code, Rule, Reg’s, and Court Cases to ultimately save clients a lot of money. That’s ‘win-win’. I get paid and clients save money.

Upon graduation from college, I went to work with a Tax Consultant that originally was engaged as a Philadelphia IRS field auditor. A real smart guy. He left the IRS and went to work for the clients he had been prosecuting while with the IRS. I worked and learned as much as I could with him and eventually started my own practice in PA. After building a very successful multi office practice, the years and the hours began to take a toll on health and family. I sold out and moved West to play ‘Cowboy’. I purchased an Outfitting Business, Double Diamond Outfitters, and was perfectly happy roaming the beautiful Mountains of Wyoming.

One tragic day, my wife of 17 years was deceased and I had two young children that needed me. Having to be closer to home for my kids, I put the Outfitting business on hold and opened ‘ Reed “Rick” Miller Tax Accounting’, here in Afton. That’s been sixteen years ago now and my Tax Accounting practice continues to grow. I am an Enrolled Agent with the IRS, which requires passing a rigid two day four part examination, covering all aspects of Taxation. The EA allows representation of clients before the IRS and requires annual Continuing Professional Education standards.

We prepare tax returns for clients throughout the State of Wyoming and many other states. Many of our clients, even though they have moved from Wyoming, return each year (some by electronic means only).

We handle all forms of taxation, from Payroll, Individual, Farm & Ranch, Partnership, Corporate and LLC’s.

We work for you, not the IRS, striving to keep your hard earned money in your own pocket.

I am again happily married to my beautiful wife Kelly of 14 years. My children are grown, doing well and are out on their own, and they have blessed us with grandchildren. When not in the office, I’m outside, racing motorcycles, mountain biking, climbing mountains, riding horses, hunting, fishing or traveling on another motorcycle adventure.

Just as important as a W2 is a 1099-Misc.  1099-Misc need to filed by January 31 of every year just like W2s.

If a 1009 is not filed, the deduction may be disallowed and there may be penalties.

When does a 1099 need to be filed?

Here is a check list for reporting on 1099-Misc.

1.  Was a service provided in the course of a trade or business?

• Services include:  rent, attorney’s fees, and independent contractor fees
• 1099-Misc do not report purchases of goods

2.  Was the amount over $600?

• If the payment is under $600 per independent contractor or attorney, then the payments do not need to be reported on a 1099-Misc.
• If the payment for rent was under $600 or the rent was paid to a real estate agent, then the payments do not need to be reported on a 1099-Misc.
• Prizes and awards including non-cash prizes and awards valued over $600 are required to be reported on a 1099-Misc.

3.  Was the payee a corporation?

• Payments to a corporation are generally not required to be reported on a 1099-MISC.  Payments to a corporation are to be reported if they are payments for:

*  medical and health care,

*  fish purchases for cash,

*  attorney’s fees,

*  gross proceeds paid to an attorney (legal settlements),

*  substitute payments in lieu of dividends or tax-exempt interest

4.  If royalties of more than $10 were paid then the payments are to be reported on a 1099-MISC

5.  Were there direct sales of at least $5000 of consumer products to a buyer for resale in any location other than a permanent retail establishment?

• This is the only time the sale of goods is reported on the 1099-Misc.

If you have any questions on filing 1099-Misc for your business please give us a call and we would be glad to answer your questions.  If you would like to forget about all the hassle of these forms, then we would be glad to complete these forms for you.

 

The IRS has announced recently that they will not begin accepting returns until January 31, 2014.  So for those looking to get their tax refund as soon as possible, it looks like the middle to end of February will be the soonest that the refunds will be issued.  But this in no way means that we will not be able to work on returns in January, we will just have to hold the return and file it on January 31st.

For more information here are links to articles by CNN Money and the IRS:

http://money.cnn.com/2013/12/18/pf/taxes/2014-tax-season/index.html?iid=SF_PF_LN

http://www.irs.gov/uac/Newsroom/2014-Tax-Season-to-Open-Jan.-31;-efile-and-Free-File-Can-Speed-Refunds

Time to say thanks again for your business and friendship.  We truly appreciate the opportunity to serve you.

The Christmas season is truly a time to rejoice!  Every day is such a special gift, but Christmas is exceptionally special, celebrating the birth of Jesus, our Savior.  Christmas warms the heart and fills the air with love and joy.  May this season fill your hearts with an extra dose of Love and Kindness.  Live every day to the fullest.  Help a friend – be a friend.

May you be blessed with good health, happiness and prosperity in the coming year.

I love Star Valley and can’t think of a better place to live.  I grew up in Star Valley and like most young adults, I couldn’t wait to leave and go to the city.  But after living away for 8 years and starting a family, my husband and I decided to move back to the country and mountains.

We realized the city life was not for us because we enjoy the outdoors and mountains.  There was little open space and no mountains in Kansas.  We enjoy going on horseback rides in the mountains and  my husband enjoys training horses.  My kids love to go to their Grandparents, where there enjoy 4wheelers, snowmobiles, and buggy rides pulled by Pie and Ice Cream.  We love to go camping with our extended family.  We also enjoy the family atmosphere here in Star Valley.

I attended Western Wyoming College and then went on to Idaho State University.  I decided to study accounting in college because of classes I attended in high school.   I enjoyed studying accounting and business administration in college and graduated with a Bachelors of Business Administration.

After finishing college my family decided to make a big change and move to Kansas.  And boy was it a big change, no more mountains or abundance of public lands, but we were close to the city and all it offered.  My husband worked in the running track and football turf  industry and later worked in the airplane industry, while we were in Kansas.  I worked as an Administrative Assistant for a nonprofit company.

 

Rick’s Tax Tips

 

 

Quick review of the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (post Fiscal Cliff)

• Tax rates remain pretty much the same with the exception of the 39.6% bracket starting at $400,000 of Taxable income.
• Long Term Capital Gains remain at 0% for Taxpayers in the 10 and 15% tax brackets.
• Personal Residence gain exclusion of $250,000 single, or $500,000 joint is still available.
• Qualified Principal Residence Indebtedness cancelled is not taxable up to $2 million.
• Dependent Care Credit, along with Earned Income Credit, Adoption Credit, Educational Credits and Child Tax Credit have all been preserved.
• Section 179  $500,000 deduction limit for depreciation has been extended.
• Bonus Depreciation (50% of the NEW cost) first year write off has been extended.
• Most of the Energy Credits are still available in 2013, including the Residential Credit.
• Some forms will not be processed until March 1, 2014.
• The Teacher $250 above the line expense deduction has survived.
• We are completing tax returns right now, so don’t delay coming in to see us.

More Tax Information

• The Business Mileage Rate for 2013 is 56.5 cents.
• Health Saving Account limits for 2013 are $3250 Single, $6450 Joint plus $1000 for over age 55.
• In general, if in the course of your business you pay out $600 or more to a non-corporate entity, you are required to file a 1099 to that person/business by February 1, of the following year. See 1099 Questionnaire
• Keep in mind that hiring children under the age of 19, in your business, could save you tax dollars.
• Hiring your spouse could also be a tax savings maneuver to deduct health insurance cost on your business schedule, saving you an additional 15% of tax over alternative health insurance deduction options.
• Do you have employees or sub-contractors?  If you control the wages, hours required to work, provide the tools, materials and supplies for that person and you maintain substantial control over that person, you most likely have an ‘employee’.  You would be required to withhold tax and file payroll reports.  A sub-contractor, in most cases, would be a person that establishes a price that he will perform a specific amount of work for and he furnishes his own tools and supplies.  NOTE: These are very generic guidelines.  If you have specific questions regarding sub-contractors, please contact our office.  My point is to make you aware if IRS were to reclassify a sub-contractor to an employee would be very expensive, requiring filing late payroll reports, paying back withholding taxes and upwards of 25% penalties.
• Now that December 31st, the last day to take advantage of 2012 expenses and income deferrals’, is behind us, there are limited tax savings opportunities remaining.  But there is still hope.  You have the IRA , the SEP, the HSA and a few others.  We can still help.
• Another big one with the IRS is the Hobby Business. Some points you need to consider in your business.  If it is a Hobby, you may only deduct expenses up to your income.  You may not deduct your loss against other ordinary income.  Areas that the IRS looks at are:  the amount of expertise you have in the business or the amount of expertise you have hired, the amount of hours you spend in the business, your intent and ability to make a profit, the manner in which the business is run – are there business cards, letterhead, etc.; what type of advertising has been done to promote the business;  is there any formal business registry.  Here again, these are just some guidelines for you to think about.  Please call for any specific concerns.
• Travel and Transportation are two big expense items in most businesses.  You don’t want to lose them.  IRS does require you to maintain a written log to qualify those expenses.  At this point, we are not required to have a copy of the log to use those expenses, but should you be audited, IRS will definitely be looking for that log.  It’s the beginning of the year, a good time to start that log.

Travel and Transportation food for thought. You go to IF Christmas Shopping and incidentally pick up business supplies. That is a non-deductible trip.  Let’s change it up.  You go to IF to pick up business supplies, incidentally Christmas Shop, go out for supper, spend the night, have breakfast out and head home.  That trip, the supper, the breakfast, the lodging, and the mileage both ways are all deductible.  It’s less expensive to travel for business than for pleasure!

Helpful Tax Season Filing Tips

• Extensions are good! They allow us more time on your taxes and the risk of audit for tax returns filed in the extension period is much lower.
• If you need last-minute payroll or 1099’s, we’re available to help.
• When bringing in your tax information, please let us know if there are any time restraints.  We will bend over backwards to have them when you need them.
• Corporations are due on the 15th of March.  If you don’t want to file an extension, please try to have your information to us by no later than the beginning of March.
• Tax Organizers (all your prior year info is in one column and you simply insert your current year data in the adjacent column) are available upon request. Call 307-885-‘Zero’Tax (0829), Contact us by Email or text 307-203-7433

Drop Off’s as usual are welcome. Appointments are available Mornings, Afternoons and Evenings. Check us out at www.ReedRickMiller.com

 

I was born and raised in Wisconsin and grew up on a small farm spending most of my youth involved in 4H and FFA.   I graduated from High School with honors and served my country in the United States Army [Read more…]