Tag Archives: free resources

FREE Accounting Education Webinars — January 2025

January 9, 2025 Nancy McClelland Leave a comment

A few too-good-to-miss free resources have come through my inbox and socials recently, and I wanted to make sure to share the goodness with y’all.

Velocity 2025 – Virtual Annual Planning Retreat by Justine Lackey

🗓️ Date: Tuesday, January 10th
⏲️ Time: 12:30-4 pm EST

What’s the disconnect between dreaming big and actually making it happen?

✨ You need a clearly articulated vision.
✨ You need to map that vision to projects and/or milestones.
✨ You need a system to move you from idea to impact

Velocity is an annual planning virtual retreat for bookkeepers and accountants who are SO DONE with task overwhelm, to-do list drama, and missing their goals every single year.

This event is all about:
🎯 Getting clear on what YOU want for your business and life.
🛠 Building your roadmap to success.
🔥 Equipping you with the tools to take off like a 🚀 rocket 🚀 in 2025.

Justine is a dear friend and endlessly supportive, and I know we have a lot of members of her “The Nest” program in our ‘Ask a CPA’ group who have amazing things to say about her quality as an educator.

Paid Diagnostic Reviews: Unlocking Profitable QBO Cleanups by Veronica Wasek

🗓️ Date: Tuesday, January 21st
⏲️ Time: 2:30 pm EST | 1:30 pm CST | 12:30 pm MST | 11:30 am PST

Kick off 2025 with a fresh approach to profitable cleanups! In this webinar, Veronica will share her step-by-step process for conducting paid diagnostic reviews. Explore how to assess your clients’ QBO books, get paid for your time and position yourself as the expert for cleanup services. You’ll learn:

How to get paid for diagnostic reviews
A proven framework for reviewing QBO books
Pricing strategies to ensure profitability
Tips to position and sell cleanup services

Register here —> https://www.bigmarker.com/veronica-wasek/Paid-Diagnostic-Reviews-Unlocking-Profitable-QBO-Cleanups?ref=f5fcbf

This is the process we use internally for doing diagnostic reviews as well that I learned directly from Veronica many years ago.

(And yeah, that’s a photo up top of the two of us showing off our Top 10 ProAdvisor awards together last year! She loves dancing as much as I do and is my favorite accounting conference “dance buddy”.)

Building a Healthier & Happier Tax Season by Randy Crabtree

🗓️ Date: Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2024
⏲️ Time: 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM ET

Insightful and practical session focused on strategies for managing stress, improving work-life balance, and maintaining mental and physical well-being during tax season. You’ll learn practical tips for time management, effective communication with clients, and maintaining focus and energy. Randy will share actionable tools to enhance productivity, reduce burnout, and foster a more positive, enjoyable tax season.

Randy is one of the most inspiring, kind people in the industry, and works tirelessly to promote the idea that accounting can be a sustainable career choice. He runs my favorite conference, Bridging the Gap (early-bird registration only $799 through 1/31) and I’ll be a guest on his Unique CPA Podcast next month!

I Got 1099 Problems But a Workflow Ain’t One on QB Power Hour

🎥 Recorded, watch anytime!

Dan DeLong invited me to join Rich Kane and Matthew Fulton to chat about 1099 tips and tricks, as well as ways to make 1099s a part of your monthly client services.

Catch the recording here —> 1.07.25 – I Got 1099 Problems

The session came with a special offer to join ‘Ask a CPA’ for 30% off the first 3 months with discount code QBPH30 so you can enjoy the recording of our recent, fabulous Q&A session on 1099s with payment method expert Jennifer Dymond!

Speaking of discount codes, the first 99 new subscribers to apply code DANCING1099 will get an extra 10.99% off their first order at Dymond’s legendary https://www.1099problems.io searchable 1099 payment method website, so go get on it.

We see you, bookkeepers and accountants… we know January’s a rough month. Hope these free resources make your January less stressful! You are not alone.

If this or any other posts on the website were useful to you, and your financial situation permits it, please consider contributing to my tip jar. Ths allows me to continue to provide free accounting resources to small businesses who do not have the funds available to hire a CPA.

IRS, Tips

Struggling With Taxes? Here’s Where To Get Help in 2024.

February 24, 2024 Nancy McClelland Leave a comment

The past four years have been challenging in so many ways, to so many people — but as a tax preparer, I can confidently say that the inability for the IRS to provide its usual level of customer service has been among the most impactful. Luckily, recent Congressional funding to make up for years of inadequate budgets, combined with Treasury Secretary Yellen’s direction that IRS priorities should include clearing the backlog of unprocessed tax returns and improving customer service, seem to be making a difference.

Pre-pandemic, the IRS offered all sorts of taxpayer assistance options, but the inability to offer in-person services, as well as the intense strain that government financial relief programs placed on the already-stretched agency, made it impossible to offer even the most basic of support programs. The good news is that now Taxpayer Assistance Centers are open to the public one Saturday each month for walk-in help without an appointment.

On February 24, March 16, April 13, and May 18, from 9 am to 4 pm, certain IRS Taxpayer Assistance Centers will offer in-person service and assistance to meet taxpayers’ needs. The IRS recommends that you come prepared and bring documents such as photo ID, Social Security cards, IRS notices received, proof of bank account information, and so on. Professional foreign language interpretation will be available through an over-the-phone translation service. For a list of addresses, visit the IRS’s website announcement and then click the plus-sign to the left of your date of choice. Scroll down to your state, and all the addresses of the participating offices will be listed.

The IRS also notes various options for obtaining free tax preparation services locally:

Eligible individuals or families can get free help preparing their tax return at Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) or Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) sites. To find the closest free tax return preparation help, use the VITA Locator Tool or call 800-906-9887.
To find an AARP Tax-Aide site, use the AARP Site Locator Tool or call 1-888-227-7669.
Any individual or family earning $79,000 or less in 2023 can use tax software through IRS Free File at no cost. There are products in English and Spanish.
MilTax, a Department of Defense program, offers free return preparation software and electronic filing for federal tax returns and up to three state income tax returns. It’s available for all military members, and some veterans, with no income limit.

The IRS has also published a series of “Tax Time Guide” news releases designed as a resource to help taxpayers file an accurate tax return. And NerdWallet recently published a list of free and tax preparation resources. It’s not a magic wand, but after some rough years, you’re no longer alone when it comes to navigating tax season.

IRS, Tips

Struggling With Taxes? Here’s Where To Get Help

March 7, 2023 Nancy McClelland Leave a comment

The past three years have been challenging in so many ways, to so many people — but as a tax preparer, I can confidently say that the inability for the IRS to provide its usual level of customer service has been among the most impactful. Luckily, recent Congressional funding to make up for years of inadequate budgets, combined with Treasury Secretary Yellen’s direction that IRS priorities should include clearing the backlog of unprocessed tax returns and improving customer service, seem to be making a difference.

Pre-pandemic, the IRS offered all sorts of taxpayer assistance options, but the inability to offer in-person services, as well as the intense strain that government financial relief programs placed on the already-stretched agency, made it impossible to offer even the most basic of support programs. The good news is that some of the Taxpayer Assistance Centers are reopening to the public, one Saturday each month for walk-in help without an appointment.

On March 11, April 8 and May 13, from 9 am to 4 pm, certain IRS Taxpayer Assistance Centers will offer in-person service and assistance to meet taxpayers’ needs. The IRS recommends that you come prepared and bring documents such as photo ID, Social Security cards, IRS notices received, proof of bank account information, and so on. Professional foreign language interpretation will be available through an over-the-phone translation service. For a list of addresses, visit the IRS’s website announcement and then click the plus-sign to the left of your date of choice. Scroll down to your state, and all the addresses of the participating offices will be listed.

The IRS also notes various options for obtaining free tax preparation services locally:

Eligible individuals or families can get free help preparing their tax return at Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) or Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) sites. To find the closest free tax return preparation help, use the VITA Locator Tool or call 800-906-9887.
To find an AARP Tax-Aide site, use the AARP Site Locator Tool or call 1-888-227-7669.
Any individual or family earning $73,000 or less in 2022 can use tax software through IRS Free File at no cost. There are products in English and Spanish.
MilTax, a Department of Defense program, offers free return preparation software and electronic filing for federal tax returns and up to three state income tax returns. It’s available for all military members, and some veterans, with no income limit.

The IRS has also published a series of “Tax Time Guide” news releases designed as a resource to help taxpayers file an accurate tax return. And US News & World Report recently published a list of free and low-cost tax preparation resources. It’s not a magic wand, but after a few rough years, you’re no longer alone when it comes to navigating tax season.

Education, IRS, Tips

FREE CPE/CE Webinar: §199A and Reasonable Compensation – Jan 12 & Feb 2, 2023

January 10, 2023 Nancy McClelland Leave a comment

Presented by **Thomas Gorczynski**
Partner/CEO/President
Gorczynski & Associates, LLC

One of my favorite presenters — Tom Gorczynski — is giving a free webinar in conjunction with RCReports (one of my favorite apps), and CPA Academy (one of my favorite education platforms) this Thursday, January 12 (to repeat on Thursday, February 2), on Section 199A and how it interacts with Reasonable Compensation requirements.

The course description from CPA Academy:

§199A is a key tax deduction available to pass-through entities through tax year 2025. Reasonable compensation determinations have a substantial impact on a taxpayer’s potential §199A deduction and are an important part of tax planning. This course will describe how reasonable compensation intersects with §199A and tax planning with examples.

Learning Objectives

Name factors impacting S corporation’s reasonable compensation determinations
Describe the effects on §199A of paying less than the reasonable compensation amount
Identify the effects on §199A of paying more than the reasonable compensation amount

FREE – 1.0 hour CPE / 1 CE
Field of Study: Taxes

About The Speaker

Thomas A. Gorczynski, EA, USTCP is a nationally recognized speaker and educator on federal tax law matters. He is editor-in-chief of EA Journal, author of the Tom Talks Taxes newsletter, co-author of the PassKey Learning Systems EA Review Series, and co-owner of Compass Tax Educators.

It’s an extremely important topic, and one of the best presenters out there — and it’s free! (No, I’m not being paid to promote this; I simply want to make sure my readers don’t miss out on a golden opportunity.) If you struggle with entity choice calculations due to Section 199A, or if you are unsure how to calculate Reasonable Compensation, you should take this opportunity to learn more.

Education, IRS, Tips

Reasonable Compensation Stress Test & Resources

March 5, 2022 Nancy McClelland Leave a comment

This isn’t the first time I’ve posted about the useful resources offered by RCReports — but as it turns out, it’s been a while. Apparently I take it for granted that everyone knows about Reasonable Compensation requirements all too often, and then I regularly discover that it’s just not true.

Note: I am a loyal paid subscriber to RCReports, and receive no compensation or discounts for promoting their service or resources. I just think they’re great.

In any case, recently I was asked by a colleague to train her on the basics of Reasonable Compensation and walk through my process. I asked her to do these three pieces of homework first:

Read this article about stress-testing the RC amount – How to Stress Test a Reasonable Compensation Figure – RCReports
Watch this 2-hour RC Reports training session – Reasonable Compensation for S Corps on Vimeo
(tip for professionals – this class is sometimes offered on CPAacademy for free, with CPE credit included).
Watch this 1-hour RC Reports demo – RCReports Product Demo – RCReports

I know most non-accountants won’t bother with the 2-hour training session that walks through court cases and the history of Reasonable Compensation audits and challenges. And certainly folks who are not in the business of performing these calculations aren’t likely to bother with the 1-hour demo.

But anyone running their own corporation, and those considering electing S-corp status, will want to read about stress-testing. This is something you can do regardless of the calculation process, or how you got to the salary amount in the first place. A helpful excerpt (edited) from the article:

There are six main factors or tests (the IRS lists even more), but “applying just the first three will usually tell you whether a compensation is reasonable or not. In other words – three strikes and you’re out.”

1) Training and experience: Does $X/year seem like enough compensation for somebody who has this level of training and experience?
2) Duties and responsibilities: Does $X/year seem like enough compensation for someone with these duties and responsibilities?
3) Time and effort devoted to the business: Does $X/year seem like enough compensation for someone who worked this many hours/week?

But what if the company can’t afford to pay reasonable compensation? I hear that question a lot, as you might imagine. That’s a common situation, and a simple answer — you’re not required to pay yourself the entire amount of salary… it just means that you can’t issue distributions until it has been paid. “The amount of reasonable compensation will never exceed the amount received by the shareholder either directly or indirectly.” And no fair holding off on paying salary for years while building up retained earnings and then issuing a huge distribution in the first year you pay yourself salary. The IRS knows that trick as well. RCReports writes more about the issue in this article — check out Example 4 in particular for information about the look-back period.

There are different methods of determining Reasonable Compensation — yes, I’m referencing yet additional RCReports articles for details — the cost approach, market approach, and income approach. The Cost Approach generally works best for small businesses where the business owner provides multiple services for the business (wears many hats).

The key with all of these resources is to get shareholder-employees to take a closer look at their own salaries and make sure they are following IRS guidelines. Stress-testing is a great place to start, but for a more thorough approach to calculating Reasonable Compensation, I recommend contacting a CPA with background in this area who can walk you through an RC interview and help you support the amount you ultimately choose.

The Dancing Accountant