Blog posts from: 2014
Meet the ShindelRock team: Mike Altomaro
You’re a Staff Accountant at ShindelRock–tell us about what you do for clients. I have a variety of responsibilities, most of which are tax and accounting services for our clients. For business clients, I review financial records, prepare account reconciliations,...
Going Cruisin’? How to handle the tax liability of a company-paid cruise or vacation.
Sponsored cruise trips and other paid vacations under the guise of conventions or meetings have become the ultimate sort of employee perk or sales tool for companies with deep pockets. But for the recipient (and in some cases, their spouse),...
View from the Rock named a Top Accounting Blog!
We're pleased to announce that ShindelRock's View from the Rock accounting blog was recently recognized as a Top 50 Accounting Blog by MastersinAccounting.info. Published at least twice a week, the ShindelRock blog focuses on accounting, tax, estate and trust, medical practice management,...
Michigan to Increase Interest Rate for Income Tax Refunds
In a recent post, we detailed how you could check the status of your State of Michigan tax refund if you haven't received it yet. But what if the refund check becomes VERY late? Public Act 133 of 2013 provides...
SR Client Question: How can I check the status of my refund?
It's a question we get often this time of year--"Where's my refund check?!" Fortunetly, both the IRS and the State of Michigan have made it easy to check the status of your check online: IRS 1. Go to www.irs.gov 2. ...
Four Tips for Managing Remote Workers
The greatest challenge in managing a remote work force is communicating with those off-site workers according to a new Robert Half Technology survey, which asked more than 2,300 chief information officers (CIOs) about the difficulties they face in managing a...
Take Section 179 expense in certain cases when purchasing equipment
Section 179 allows a business to immediately expense the full cost of equipment in the year of purchase, rather than capitalizing and depreciating the asset over its useful life. This means that more tax benefit will be recognized in the...
SR Client Question: What should I know about the Uniform Transfers to Minors Act?
UTMA (Uniform Transfers To Minors Act) replaced UGMA (Uniform Gifts To Minors act). In addition to gifts of securities, life insurance policies, annuities and cash, the new act also provides for gifts of other property interest, real property and titled...
Do’s and Don’ts for Withdrawals from 529 Plans
Total tax-advantaged 529 college savings plan assets are expected to balloon to $237 billion by the end of 2015, according to Financial Research Corporation. If you or someone in your family is planning to start college soon, it’s likely you...
Private Company Accounting is Getting Simplified
After decades of attempts and debates on how to address private company financial statement issues and concerns (some of you may remember the “Baby - GAAP”, “Big GAAP-Little GAAP” terminology) we are now seeing the issuance of U.S. Generally Accepted...