A Step Toward Fixing Our Tax System

Here's a link to an article in today's Wall Street Journal written by Charles Murray that may go a long way to explaining what's wrong with our current tax system:

Withholding Is Bad for Democracy

My comment
I would venture to say that the majority of American voters have no idea how much they're spending in taxes. The current payroll tax system is organized as one of the greatest "sleights of hand" in human history. It's time we reconfigure the tax system to reinforce positive behaviors [productivity, taxpayer savings and smart investment (education, charity, retirement, insurance, etc.) and government transparency] and discourage negative behaviors (lack of political accountability, wasteful government and consumer spending, welfare mindset). As Mr. Murray is suggesting, one very powerful way to accomplish this is through modification of the payroll tax collection system so all taxpayers can see how much "income" tax they're actually paying.

As well, we need to have much tighter controls on government spending. The current system places little, if any, accountability on the decision-makers. A more responsible and transparent federal budgeting process is long overdue. A responsible budget process would include enforceable spending caps, a budget resolution holding the force of law, the termination of baseline budgeting rules that put expensive programs on autopilot, sunset provisions to end outdated programs, and an increase in the number of votes needed to waive points of order.

Letter to Senator John Cornyn

Dear Senator,

Health Care for All Americans--you've got to be kidding me? This is an outrage! Now is not the time to raise taxes on employers and high-income earners in order to pay for a health-care system that isn’t broken. Congress doesn’t have the priorities of our country in order!

I strongly support the notion that all Americans are entitled to affordable health care. I am strongly opposed to paying for health care-reform by raising income taxes to pre-Reagan era rates and increasing employer payroll taxes in the midst of crippling recession. This is not the way to prosperity! I can only hope that common sense prevails in the Senate.

As an active voter this great state of Texas, I appeal to your better judgment to vote against every effort to increase taxes as a way to pay for this initiative. Surely, there’s enough waste in other programs to make this work without raising taxes on those who are creating jobs and working hard to provide for their families.

Jeff Beckley, CPA

jeffbeckleycpa@gmail.com

www.twitter.com/thetaxxman

CPA Services Your Clients May Not Know About

Here's a good article to share with your clients who may not realize all you have to offer:

http://www.miamiherald.com/business/story/1096539.html

Document Management

Here's a great post from Dave McClure at CPATechAdvisor.com:

The Hardware Side of Document Management

The salient point for me is that hardware "may be the most important part of document management"

Scanner(s): If you'd like to manage your practice documents electronically it is critical to purchase production quality scanner(s) that is (are) dependable, fast and adaptable to different size and quality paper. It doesn't have to be expensive. In our office, we use a Fujitsu fi-5120 (current model is the fi-6130) that can scan up to 30 ppm and handles various size documents in the same feed. Very easy to clear paper jams and includes Adobe Acrobat Standard 9.0 with purchase. Intuit has a Special Offer on this scanner (currently $870)

Server: You also need to make sure you have an secure, efficient and logical storage system for electronic documents. We've shied away from the proprietary document management database in our office. Instead, we've opted to create a simple shared directory on our server where we store all client source documents as well as practice management information (policy manuals, knowledgebase, engagment letter templates, etc). Client source documents are organized by client and tax year. Each tax year contains a series of subfolders (e.g. tax returns, source docs, LOEs, etc.) I will go into detail on this in a subsqequent post.

The document management database should be secured (passwords, firewalls, encryption, etc.) and regularly backed up. Again, you don't have to spend a lot of money to acheive sound security and back up.

And finally, make sure your server has enough memory and processing speed to adequately handle the volume of workstation activity. It's worth the extra money to avoid lag time in accessing documents from your server.

Printer: This is the least important hardware item in you document management system. A low-end production quality printer will suffice. We have adn HP-3360 B/W LaserJet that handles most tax return printing. We also have an HP OfficeJet 7500 that efficiently handles color printing. Do not break the budget with the printer.

Monitors: Make sure all workstations are equipped with dual monitors. This is essential for the data input and final review in tax return workflow. The dual monitor will expand your "desktop" enable the user to call up source documents on one screen and the tax program (or other program) on the other screen thereby eliminating the need to toggle between programs.

Don't let the lure of sexy document software distract you from the important task of selecting suitable hardware for your "less paper" office.

First Post

Welcome to the Tax Man Blog--where we talk about best practice tips and techniques for the tax professional.

Unfortunately, here in the States, taxes are here to stay. The government keeps getting bigger which means our share of what we make keeps getting smaller--especially for those who don't have competent, proactive tax guidance.

That means your role in serving your tax clients will become increasingly valuable. Helping you become more efficient and knowledgeable in serving your clients is our focus. Please follow our blog in the coming days, months, and years to keep abreast of the top ideas for managing your practice and improving your clients' experience.