Recently I received an inquiry from my website which is listed below: 

I found your website…love the Christian approach. I’m in need of a Profit and Loss statement from a CPA quickly for a loan modification I’ve applied for. I am a Realtor…and have some minor expenses from my commission checks. I can drum up receipts for the desk fee and website fee, but the rest is minor for gas (lunches with prospects) and one rebate I have not gotten a cashed check back for. They don’t add up to much, and would almost be willing to take them out if you would have to have receipts to prepare?

I need this very quickly or we might lose our loan mod. Any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated. 

Incorporating your business and knowing what is best from Day 1 is what your CPA may be best utilized for to protect you personally, legally mitigate your income taxes and planning for your retirement. Below is my response to the client’s inquiry: 

Thanks for visiting www.HisCPA.com I can certainly help you quickly with your need but would need to talk to you further and to get a copy of your prior personal return in order to gain a good understanding of your business and to advise/quote accordingly. Feel free to give me a call and I will be happy to discuss. 

If you have not yet incorporated might I suggest you review the article on our web-site at http://www.hiscpa.com/article2.html as being an S Corporation might both legally save you taxes as well as limit you personally from corporate liability. 

Also if you have already incorporated your business as an LLC, we can look to convert your business to an S Corporation for tax purposes and potentially also legally limiting your annual tax oblations. 

I look forward to hearing from you soon.

John Dillard is an Christian Speaker/Author and Certified Public Accountant in Duluth, GA. To See how he takes Christ along with him to work visit http://www.hiscpa.com/ and for his latest book Overcoming Life’s 9/11’s: Job’s Journey and a Voice of One: Nehemiah’s Prayer visit http://www.john-dillard.com/ or call John Dillard CPA today at 770.814.9304 (All Rights Reserved) Dare to Attempt Something so Great for the Kingdom of God that it is doomed to failure, lest Christ be in it!  

Contact HIS CPA PC (A Christian CPA Firm) today.

We advise clients on: IRS representation, Offer in Compromise, Tax Problems, Incorporation in Georgia, Corporate and Personal Income Tax Returns, Part-time CFO, Virtual Controller, Business Planning, Offer in Compromise, Back Taxes, Bookkeeping.

Duluth GA CPA on the Successful Business Owner: Addressing Entity Selection

Evaluating what type of entity your business should be, I strive to balance the legal protection issues vs. the tax savings. I have developed the mindset that there is no perfect election but there are ones that are better than others. The below assumptions are based upon the fact that my clients tell me that they want to pay as few tax dollars as legally possible. There are some very specific rules, as well as some generalities. As such, I suggest that you sit down with a tax professional to see how these guidelines relate to you. Having Served as a CPA in Duluth, GA for over ten years, entity selection is perhaps the biggest mistake business owners and entrepreneurs make when getting started. 

                                                RULES OF BEING AN S CORPORATION 

There can be no more than one hundred shareholders and they all need to be U.S. citizens or resident aliens. You almost always have to have a calendar year as your fiscal year. The S Corporation rules have been around since before 1960 and were set up to simplify the rules and regulations of being a business owner. When the corporate return/Form 1120S is filed you do not pay any income taxes as the profits of the business are reported on your personal tax return.  As long as you pay yourself a reasonable salary, you may also take shareholder distributions out of the business that are devoid of FICA/Medicaid taxes. S Corporations like a C Corporation affords the business owner personal liability protection from business risks. Keys to maximizing that protection is to treat the corporation like one by doing all your business in the corporate name, signing all of your documents listing your corporate title,  not co-mingling any personal issues/bills in the corporation, and by having your annual Board of Directors and Annual Shareholder Minutes Meeting.

 Other advantages of being an S Corporation include the ability that if you have corporate losses, and you fund (you put the money in the business) those losses personally, then you can deduct those losses on your personal return.  Losses that are funded by the bank (a direct loan from the bank to the corporation) or by trade creditors are not deductible. Often you can set up a loan so that the bank lends to you personally and then you could do a personal loan to the company which will result in you having contributed basis/the dollars to the business, thus making any losses that you fund deductible. 

                                                      BEING AN C CORPORATION 

C Corporations are ideal for those to whom do not qualify to be an S Corporation such as a public held company that has thousands of shareholders, lots of classes to stocks, and sells its stock to anyone (corporations, individuals, retirement plans, etc).  A C Corporation pays taxes on all its profits first at the corporate level and then when the dollars are paid out to the owners in subsequent years, the owners pay tax again at the individual level. C Corporations, therefore, are exposed to a “double taxation” that none of the other entity types are exposed to. If you think taxes are bad enough paying them once, try paying them twice.

C Corporations can make a timely tax election to become an S Corporation and start taking advantage of tax advantages of being an S Corporation. Care should be taken to ensure that all shareholders understand and agree to become an S Corporation and that there are no or relatively insignificant net operating losses that might still be utilizable if you were to stay a C Corporation. Then after these are utilized/considered, I would affect the change.

 LLC’s, LLP’s & PARTNERSHIPS

All of these entity types would be poor selections for a print shop as they will all result in higher taxes with no additional advantages for the printer. I have personally developed a mindset that if you do not need to be another entity type then you need to be an S Corporation. For example, generally speaking a printer that was an LLC, LLP, or Partnership will pay higher taxes with no additional advantages as opposed to being an S Corporation. 

Below are some of the reasons you might want to be an LLC or LLP are:

-If you were a lawyer or physicians practice then all of the partners personal assets are at risk if one partner does something wrong, while if an LLC or an LLP, only the offending partners personal assets would be at risk. This is because of the professional service statues for these type of professionals, but these rules do not relate to our printer.

-If you were an real estate developer and you had a piece of land that had dramatically increased in value, you can transfer that property to an LLC, LLP, or Partnership without having to pay any capital gains tax. Also with these entity types, you can take shareholder distributions that are not based upon ownership, whereas in an S or a C Corporation they have to be. Again, this does not relate to our printer client.

-These entities can be used also for estate planning purposes as well. 

If you have set up as one of these entity types, it might be advantageous to consider a tax-free merger into an S Corporation which will allow you to retain all the legal contracts, etc. of your present entity while switching to the tax advantages of being an S Corporation.

 I would welcome meeting with you to discuss these and your personal tax situation in detail at your convenience.

 To help find other helpful articles to help you manage your business operationally, strategically and financially visit our articles at http://www.hiscpa.com/articles.html

Award Winning CPA John Dillard is an Christian Speaker/Author and Certified Public Accountant in Duluth, GA. To See how he takes Christ along with him to work visit http://www.hiscpa.com/ and for his latest book Overcoming Life’s 9/11’s: Job’s Journey and a Voice of One: Nehemiah’s Prayer visit http://www.john-dillard.com/ or call John Dillard CPA today at 770.814.9304 (All Rights Reserved) Dare to Attempt Something so Great for the Kingdom of God that it is doomed to failure, lest Christ be in it!    

We advise clients on: IRS representation, Offer in Compromise, Tax Problems, Incorporation in Georgia, Corporate and Personal Income Tax Returns, Part-time CFO, Virtual Controller, Business Planning, Offer in Compromise, Back Taxes, Bookkeeping.

Serving Atlanta, Duluth, Gwinnett, Barrow, Bartow, Carroll, Cherokee, Clayton, Coweta,  Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett, Henry, Newton, Paulding, Pickens, Rockdale, Walton, Barrow, Bartow, Carroll, Henry, Newton, Bartow, Walton, Rockdale, Barrow, Spalding, Coweta, Dawson, Douglas, Fayette, Newton, Paulding, Spalding, Walton, Henry, Paulding, Douglas, Coweta, Canton, Covington, Douglasville, Druid Hills, East Point, Forest Park, Griffin, Lithonia, Mableton, McDonough, Milton, Mountain Park, Newnan, Powder Springs, Stockbridge, Union City, Villa Rica, Winder, Woodstock,  Smyrna, Sandy Springs, Marietta, East Point, Gainesville, Snellville, Buckhead, Buford, Peachtree City, Dunwoody, Kennesaw, Decatur, Conyers, Stone Mountain, North Fulton County, DeKalb County, Hall County, Clayton County, Cobb County, Forsyth County, Hart County, Jefferson County, Duluth, Atlanta, Alpharetta, Johns Creek, Lawrenceville, Milton, Norcross, Snellville, Roswell, Buford, Cumming, Grayson, Lake Hartwell, Suwanee, Sugar Hill, Loganville, Lilburn, Dunwoody, Gainesville, Decatur, Atlanta GA, Gwinnett County, North Fulton County, Cherokee County, DeKalb County, Hall County, Clayton County, Cobb County, Forsyth County, Hart County, Jefferson County, Duluth, Atlanta, Alpharetta, Johns Creek, Lawrenceville, Marietta, Milton, Norcross, Snellville, Roswell, Buford, Smyrna, Marietta, Cumming, Grayson, Hartwell, Suwanee, Sugar Hill, Loganville, Lilburn, East Point, Gainesville, Snellville, Buckhead, Buford, Peachtree City, Dunwoody, Kennesaw, Decatur, Conyers, Stone Mountain, Decatur. Sandy Springs, Peachtree City, Douglasville, Newnan, Griffin, Woodstock, Carrollton, Forest Park, Canton, College Park, Cartersville, McDonough, Riverdale, Fayetteville, Covington, Stockbridge, Conyers, Clarkston, Barrow, Bartow, Butts, Carroll, Cherokee, Clayton, Coweta, Dawson, and Douglas.

Determining to Set Up Your New Ministry as a Non-Profit or an S Corporation 

Frequently I get called to help those setting up a new entity striving to learn whether their ministry should be a 501(c) or S Corporation. A recent statistic indicated there were approximately 640,000 of active domestic entities in Georgia and 58,000 which are foreign (incorporated in other states). Of those, 303,000 of the domestic corporations are for profit, 65,000 are non-profits, and 246,000 are Limited Liability Companies. LLC’s continue to be very popular since their becoming possible in Georgia approximately fifteen years ago and continue to be used more than ever before. Due to their ease of formation, the lack of a need for a formal Board of Directors, and that there is no requirement for owner/active members to take a salary, the administrative burden of operating an LLC makes it an attractive choice when considering corporate structure. 

If you believe you will be raising a substantial portion of funds from those seeking to make charitable contributions to a qualifying organization or a 501(c) would generally be a prudent choice. However, if your new venture or ministry will be predominantly self-funding from business operations, then an S Corporation might be a wiser choice. It is prudent to keep in mind predominantly and measure the amount of additional tax and administrative responsibilities of having a non-profit against the potential funds/monies raised through contributions versus operations. 

An S Corporation has the added advantage (as opposed to an LLC) of not requiring FICA/Medicaid taxes to be paid on shareholder distributions as long as a fair and reasonable salary is paid. As your results and how you plan to utilize your corporate entity can vary substantially from that of others, be sure to consult with your CPA for all of the possible tax/operational consequences which you will be facing as your proceed with your business. An LLC or LLP might be a much better choice for those who are doctors, lawyers, engineers, renting or developing commercial or residential real estate, have more than 100 shareholders or have investor/owners who are not U.S. citizens or resident aliens.

To read more and see which entity type is best for you visit http://www.hiscpa.com/article2.html

John Dillard is an Christian Speaker/Author and Certified Public Accountant. To See how he takes Christ along with him to work visit http://www.hiscpa.com/ and for his latest book Overcoming Life’s 9/11’s: Job’s Journey visit http://www.john-dillard.com/ or call John Dillard CPA today at 770.814.9304

 Dare to Attempt Something so Great for the Kingdom of God that it is doomed to failure, lest Christ be in it!  

We advise clients on: IRS representation, Offer in Compromise, Tax Problems, Incorporation in Georgia, Corporate and Personal Income Tax Returns, Part-time CFO, Virtual Controller, Business Planning, Offer in Compromise, Back Taxes, Bookkeeping. 

Serving Barrow, Bartow, Carroll, Cherokee, Clayton, Coweta,  Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett, Henry, Newton, Paulding, Pickens, Rockdale, Walton, Barrow, Bartow, Carroll, Henry, Newton, Bartow, Walton, Rockdale, Barrow, Spalding, Coweta, Dawson, Douglas, Fayette, Newton, Paulding, Spalding, Walton, Henry, Paulding, Douglas, Coweta, Canton, Covington, Douglasville, Druid Hills, East Point, Forest Park, Griffin, Lithonia, Mableton, McDonough, Milton, Mountain Park, Newnan, Powder Springs, Stockbridge, Union City, Villa Rica, Winder, Woodstock,  Smyrna, Sandy Springs, Marietta, East Point, Gainesville, Snellville, Buckhead, Buford, Peachtree City, Dunwoody, Kennesaw, Decatur, Conyers, Stone Mountain, Gwinnett County, North Fulton County, DeKalb County, Hall County, Clayton County, Cobb County, Forsyth County, Hart County, Jefferson County, Duluth, Atlanta, Alpharetta, Johns Creek, Lawrenceville, Milton, Norcross, Snellville, Roswell, Buford, Cumming, Grayson, Lake Hartwell, Suwanee, Sugar Hill, Loganville, Lilburn, Dunwoody, Gainesville, Decatur, Atlanta GA, Gwinnett County, North Fulton County, Cherokee County, DeKalb County, Hall County, Clayton County, Cobb County, Forsyth County, Hart County, Jefferson County, Duluth, Atlanta, Alpharetta, Johns Creek, Lawrenceville, Marietta, Milton, Norcross, Snellville, Roswell, Buford, Smyrna, Marietta, Cumming, Grayson, Hartwell, Suwanee, Sugar Hill, Loganville, Lilburn, East Point, Gainesville, Snellville, Buckhead, Buford, Peachtree City, Dunwoody, Kennesaw, Decatur, Conyers, Stone Mountain, Decatur. Sandy Springs, Peachtree City, Douglasville, Newnan, Griffin, Woodstock, Carrollton, Forest Park, Canton, College Park, Cartersville, McDonough, Riverdale, Fayetteville, Covington, Stockbridge, Conyers, Clarkston, Barrow, Bartow, Butts, Carroll, Cherokee, Clayton, Coweta, Dawson, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett, Haralson, Heard, Henry, Jasper, Lamar, Meriwether, Newton, Paulding, Pickens, Pike, Rockdale, Spalding, Walton, Canton, Covington, Douglasville, Druid Hills, East Point, Forest Park, Griffin, Lithonia, Mableton, McDonough, Milton, Mountain Park, Newnan, Powder Springs, Stockbridge, Union City, Villa Rica, Winder and Woodstock

Atlanta CPA Gets Back $81,000 refund from IRS for Atlanta Client

John Dillard CPA of His CPA PC just received notice today that the IRS has issued a check to refund one of his Atlanta based clients over $81,000. “Though it took a bit longer than expected,” the client was able to deposit the monies back into their accounts and to gain a refund from the IRS which ultimately resulted in a tax savings to a client of approximately $62,000 in tax savings dollars.

The IRS has long had a process where a company who was an LLC or a C Corporation and who desires to be an S Corporation to make an election to do so. This process is documented and performed by the filing of IRS Form 2553, which is the Election to be a Small Business Corporation. To file for S Corporation status the easy way, this election should be filed within 75 days of incorporation date (if an new company) or within seventy-five days of the tax year to which it relates. S Corporations status allows for the legal avoidance of “double taxation” as C Corporations have to pay taxes first at the corporate level on any retained profits and then again at the shareholder level when monies are paid out to owners in either the form of dividends or salaries. LLC’s continue to be responsible to pay FICA/Medicaid taxes on all of their net earnings out of the business, whereas an S Corporation are only required to pay these FICA/Medicaid taxes on salaries paid out to all employees, including active employee owners. Care should be exercised as tax law requires that all active employee owners take a fair and reasonable salary given position and profit.

If you fail to make the seventy-five day time requirement the IRS has long had a process where one you can formally appeal requesting the S Corporation date you prefer. Care should be taken when performing this procedure and working with a CPA is your best bet to ensure that your S Election request is granted. Talking with the IRS about any substantive tax issue that it is widely recommended that you sign a Power of Attorney, which if Form 2848, to have your CPA talk to the IRS on your behalf, which will dramatically and exponentially ensure a higher success rate than going it alone.

John Dillard is a Christian Speaker/Author and Certified Public Accountant (All Rights Reserved). To See how he takes Christ along with him to work visit http://www.hiscpa.com/ (An Atlanta CPA firm) and for his latest book Overcoming Life’s 9/11’s: Job’s Journey and to learn about his ministry visit http://www.john-dillard.com/ To contact John Dillard CPA (Atlanta Christian Author/Speaker) today call 770. 814.9304 proudly serving Duluth, GA, Gwinnett County and Beyond.

“Dare to Attempt Something so Great for the Kingdom of God that it is doomed to failure, lest Christ be in it!” What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? Romans 8:31 Why are these verses here? Learn how His CPA became a Christian Accounting firm visit http://www.hiscpa.com/christian-CPA.html