Learning Center for Tax and Financial Insights

Article Highlights: Your federal tax refund status can be checked online. E-file refunds are generally issued within 21 days of filing. Direct deposit provides the quickest refunds. If your 2018 federal return has already been filed and you are due a refund, you can check the status of your refund online. “Where’s My Refund?” is an interactive tool on the IRS website at IRS.gov. Whether you have opted for direct deposit into one account, split your refund among several accounts, or asked the IRS to mail you a check, “Where’s My Refund?” will give you online access to your refund information nearly 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If you e-file, you can get refund information within 24 hours after the IRS has acknowledged receipt of your return. Generally, refunds for e-filed returns are issued within 21 days. If you file a paper return, your refund information will be available within four weeks. When checking the status of your refund, have your federal tax return handy. To access your personalized refund information, you must enter: Your Social Security number (or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number); Your filing status (single, married filing joint return, married filing separate return, head of household, or qualifying widow(er)); and The exact refund amount shown on your tax return.

Article Highlights: Electronic Funds Withdrawal Direct Pay Electronic Federal Tax Payment System Send a Check Pay by Cash Credit Card Installment Agreement Tap a Retirement Account If you aren’t one of those lucky Americans who gets a tax refund from the IRS, you might be wondering how you go about paying your balance due. Here are some electronic and manual payment options that you can use to pay your federal income tax: Electronic Funds Withdrawal – You can pay using funds from your bank account when your tax return is e-filed. There is no charge by the IRS for using this payment method, and payment can be arranged by your tax return preparer, allowing for e-filing of your return and submitting an electronic funds withdrawal request at the same time. Direct Pay – You can schedule and make a payment directly from your checking or savings account using IRS Direct Pay. There is no fee for this service, and you will receive an e-mail notification when the funds have been withdrawn. Payments, including estimated tax payments, can be scheduled up to 30 days in advance. You can change or cancel the payment up to two business days before the scheduled payment date. Electronic Federal Tax Payment System – This is a more sophisticated version of the IRS’s Direct Pay that allows not only federal income tax but also employment, estimated and excise tax payments to be made over the Internet or by phone from your bank account, with a robust authentication process to ensure the security of the site and your private information. This is a free service. Payments, which can be scheduled up to 365 days in advance, can be changed or cancelled up to two days prior to the scheduled payment date. You can use IRS Form 9783 to enroll in the system or enroll at EFTPS.gov – but do so well in advance of the date when a payment is due because the government will use U.S. mail to send you a personal identification number (PIN), which you will need to access your EFTPS account. Send a Check – You can also pay the old-fashioned way by sending in a check along with a payment voucher. The payment voucher – IRS Form 1040-V – includes the information needed to associate your payment with your IRS account. IRS addresses for where to send the payment and your check are included with Form 1040-V. Pay with Cash – Taxpayers without bank accounts or those who would just prefer to pay in cash can do so by making a cash payment at a participating 7-Eleven store. Taxpayers can do this at more than 7,000 locations nationwide. Taxpayers can visit IRS.gov/paywithcash for instructions on how to pay with cash. There is a very small charge for making a cash payment, and the maximum amount is $1,000 per payment. But don’t wait until the last minute, as it will take up to a week for the IRS to receive the cash payment.

One of the reasons we like QuickBooks is because it uses language and processes that are familiar to small businesspeople. Instead of using the term “accounts receivable,” it has a menu label that says Customers and menu items that use phrases like Create Invoices and Receive Payments. You would have to go into the Chart of Accounts to find standard accounting terminology – and we never recommend that you do that without consulting with us first. Yet when you’re doing customer-related tasks, you’re following a traditional accounts receivable workflow, a series of steps that completes a sales cycle, like Estimate | Invoice | Payment | Deposit. QuickBooks keeps it simple for you and doesn’t often force you into unfamiliar territory. One of the more pleasant elements of accounts receivable is the process of receiving customer payments. There’s more than one way to do this, and it’s very important that you use the correct way in each situation. Payment Methods Before you record your first payment, you’ll need to make sure that QuickBooks is set up to accommodate its Payment Method. QuickBooks comes with some standard types, but you can add, edit, and delete your own options (though not those that are built in to the software). Open the Lists menu and click Customer & Vendor Profile Lists, then Payment Method List. This window will open: You can work with Payment Method options in this window. To use any of the commands in the Payment Method drop-down list, you’d highlight the method by clicking on it and opening the options list by clicking the down arrow in that field. Note: When you add or change an existing entry, the window that opens contains fields for both Payment Method and Payment Type. They should be identical or at least very similar. Settling an Invoice If your company sends invoices, you’ll need to record their matching payments in the Customer Payment window. Click Customer | Receive Payments or the Receive Payments icon on the home page. There’s also a button for this in the toolbar in an open invoice. However you get there, here’s what it looks like: You’ll record payments that customers send in response to invoices in this window.

On a basic level, a virtual CFO (or vCFO for short) is exactly what it sounds like. This is someone who performs all of the services normally associated with a chief financial officer, only in a third-party capacity. Instead of going to the trouble (and expense) of hiring, training and bringing someone with these qualifications into your organization, you're getting access to someone who can handle all of this remotely on a schedule that works best for all involved. This is a job that didn't even exist as recently as a decade ago, but technology has advanced to the point where not only is it possible, but more businesses than ever are using on demand or part time CFOs to help their organizations soar in increasingly competitive marketplaces. This is true for a huge variety of different reasons, all of which are certainly worth exploring. The Power of a Virtual CFO The major reason why smaller organizations in particular are finding vCFOs so helpful is that they're a viable way to control costs almost immediately. Rather than paying the salary to hire your own CFO in a full-time capacity (which can easily balloon into the hundreds of thousands of dollars per year once experience and benefits are accounted for), you get the services you need, in an on-demand way, for a fraction of the cost. To that end, a vCFO is really no different than managed services or similar options you may already be using. This bleeds directly into the next major reason why vCFOs can be so beneficial: They can customize their own skills and services to better meet the needs of your unique organization. Rather than paying someone for a lifetime's worth of education, you're only paying for the skills needed to perform the tasks at hand. But even better, the services being offered can also be adjusted on a regular basis as your business continues to grow and evolve. All of this provides you with almost unprecedented access to a wealth of knowledge that used to be out of your budget. Leveraging Someone Else's Experience to Your Advantage That expertise also creates a ripple effect across your enterprise in the best possible way. You're bringing in someone who naturally has involvement in many different companies similar to your own. This means that you're in a unique position to avoid making the same mistakes that they've previously made. But maybe the biggest advantage that a virtual or gig-based CFO brings to a company has to do with the quality of the advice being offered. This is more than just an accounting setup. The focus goes beyond simply setting up a financial structure and putting a framework in place for you to effectively manage your books. Consider the types of challenges that you're likely to experience over the course of just five years. Your business will naturally get more complex as you add not only more employees but also suppliers, vendors and all the contracts that come with them. If you go through a period of rapid growth, it can quickly cause your financials to grow out of control ... unless you're prepared for it. A straightforward accounting setup isn't necessarily enough to offer that much-needed level of preparation, but a vCFO is. This is a professional who has arrived with the express purpose of putting the systems in place to not only better support the current phase of your business, but the next one as well. Being Better Prepared for What Comes Next In the end, a vCFO won't just explain the finer details of your business' financial situation. They'll work with you to make sure you're better informed about not only your current status, but the pros and cons of the options that are available to you in the future. That level of strategic advice — and the advanced decision-making made possible because of it — would be difficult to replicate through nearly any other means. Armed with more actionable knowledge than ever, you'll quickly find yourself in a better position to always make the right choice at exactly the right time moving forward. This, in turn, ensures that your business can maximize profitability as much as possible over the next few years, thus allowing you to run the type of organization you always dreamed you'd one day be a part of. If you're a large, national organization that can afford to bring on a full-time CFO, there really isn't any reason NOT to do so. But for most other companies, using a vCFO isn't just an effective way to fill the types of gaps that naturally exist in your skill set — it's a way to help your business thrive for the next five, 10 or even 20 years in the most efficient and cost-effective way possible.

If you’re reading this, the chances are high that you’re one of the many, many people who have received a notice from the Internal Revenue Service. Some level of correspondence with the IRS is natural ‒ particularly leading up to and in the immediate aftermath of tax season. But if you’ve received notification that the government is about to file a tax lien or tax levy against you, suddenly you’re talking about an entirely different ballgame. But the most important thing you can do at this point is stay calm. Yes, both of these notices mean that your financial situation has just gotten significantly more complicated. But you do have rights in each scenario that you would do well to protect at all costs. What Is an IRS Tax Lien? An IRS tax lien is a very specific type of claim that the government (in this case, the Internal Revenue Service) makes on your property. That property can include but is not limited to real estate and other types of assets. Typically, this is something that occurs when you’re past due on your income taxes and you’ve failed to make proper arrangements to get yourself back up to date again. A tax lien can affect you in a number of different ways, all of which are less than ideal. Even though tax liens no longer appear on your credit report, your credit rating will still suffer ‒ thus harming your ability to get a loan or secure new credit for your business. Tax liens also usually appear during title searches, which can impact your ability to sell your house or refinance the mortgage you already have. What Is an IRS Tax Levy? A tax lien is essentially the first part in a two-step process. That second step takes the form of a tax levy, which involves the actual seizure of the property in question in an effort to pay the tax money you owe. Via a tax levy, the IRS can do everything from garnish your wages, seize assets like real estate or even take control of your bank accounts to get their money. At the very least, you’re likely to go through wage garnishment ‒ meaning that you’ll be taking home far less money at the end of the week in your paycheck. A 21-day hold might be placed on your bank account in an effort to encourage you to “work things out,” and if you don’t, they may even try to seize your home as a last resort. Luckily, there are a few things that the IRS CAN’T seize even by way of a tax levy. These include things like unemployment benefits, certain pension benefits, disability payments, workers’ compensation and others. What Can I Do About Them? Thankfully, even in the unfortunate event of a lien or levy, you do still have some options available to you. More than anything, if you CAN pay your tax bill, you SHOULD pay your tax bill. If necessary, get on an IRS payment plan to help you get back up to date. Yes, your past due balance will continue to accrue both interest and penalties until you’ve paid it off. But the choice between paying interest and losing your house isn’t really a choice at all. It’s also important for you to actively work to protect your rights if you feel it necessary to do so. After receiving either a lien or a levy notice, you can always file an appeal with the IRS Office of Appeals if you feel you’re being treated unfairly. It is within your right to ask for a conference with the IRS agent’s manager so that your case can be reviewed by a fresh set of eyes. If nothing else, this is a great way to make sure that your side of the story is known. You can also apply for a Withdrawal of the Notice of Federal Tax Lien, which will remove the public notice of a tax lien filing. If the IRS has notified you that any of your property is about to be seized, you can file something called a Certificate of Discharge. This will remove the property in question from the effects of the tax lien, allowing you to sell something like your home (or another asset) without worrying. All of this can be confusing and stressful. Working with a seasoned tax professional can take negotiating with the IRS off your hands.

Article Highlights: Filing an extension Extension is for filing, not paying any tax due Installment agreements If you are up against the April tax filing deadline and still need some information to complete your tax return, you can obtain a six-month automatic extension to file your 1040. The filing extension will give you extra time to get the paperwork together, but it does not extend the time to pay any tax due. You have to make an accurate estimate of any tax due and pay at least 90% when requesting an extension. Interest will be owed on any amounts not paid by the April deadline. If your return is completed but you are unable to pay the tax due, do not request an extension. File your return on time and pay as much as you can. The IRS will send you a bill or notice for the balance due and will only charge interest and penalties on the unpaid balance.