Should I Move My Business Onto the Cloud?

Being a cloud-based business means that all of the applications you use to run your business are on the Internet instead of being located on a computer or server. In essence, through the cloud, you may access your files and applications from anywhere at any time — you don’t need to be in a traditional office setting.

If you haven’t moved your business, or at least a part of it, onto the cloud, here are some reasons to make the transition:

 

1. You no longer have to invest in expensive servers.

Instead of investing thousands into purchasing the hardware you need to build a server and then also having to pay someone to manage it, you can simply subscribe to a cloud service. There will always be someone available to help you when you need it, and your software will automatically go through updates without you having to pay an additional fee.

 

2. It’s a great tool for disaster recovery.

When another company is hosting your files, you can sleep easy at night knowing that they have your data backed up securely. If there’s a power-outage at your office, know that you can access important files from a different location and they won’t be impacted.

 

3. It will increase collaboration between your team without sacrificing security.

Because your team members can access files from any part of the world at any time of day, they have the ability to collaborate with each other on projects — even if they’re not working right next to each other. Collaboration will also be more secure on the cloud since you and your team members won’t have to constantly email documents back and forth. You can simply share where they are located on the cloud and when someone else needs to check or make an edit to a document, they can just pull it up on their own computer.

 

4. Your business will become more environmentally friendly.

Moving onto the cloud is great for the environment because based on the amount of business you have at a certain time of year, you can change the amount of server space you need with the company hosting your files. This means that your business can conserve energy when you don’t need to be using it. Having every document you need located on the cloud will also decrease the need to make hard copies of files. You’ll likely be using less paper, ink, and energy when it comes to file management.

 

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If you’re interested in moving your accounting or tax business onto the cloud, check out our last Facebook Live from the Xero Roadshow with MSATP members Jonathan Rivlin and Adrian Simmons. The two discussed why they love having their businesses on the cloud and the benefits of being able to work collaboratively with clients.

Sales Tax & Use Tax: What’s the Difference?

We’ve covered the recent Sales & Use Tax updates after the South Dakota v. Wayfair case on our blog in the past (check out our three posts: South Dakota v. Wayfair: What Does This Mean for Online Retailers?, New Hampshire’s Take On the Wayfair Decision, and How the Wayfair Decision Affects Maryland Businesses). With our upcoming seminar and webinar, Sales and Use Tax After the Wayfair Case, we thought we would get down to the basics: what’s the difference between sales tax and use tax?

Because we have to pay it on most purchases, it’s pretty easy to understand that sales tax is a percentage of the sale price of goods and certain services that will be used, stored, or consumed in the same place that item or service is purchased. Buyers pay sales tax to retailers who then pay it to the state — and sometimes the county or city too.

The concept of use tax is a little more complicated. Buyers must pay use tax on purchases that are subject to sales tax, but are not charged sales tax. This means that if a buyer purchases goods or certain services by a seller who is located outside of the state that they reside in, they must pay tax on it. Though sales tax is usually paid by a consumer, use tax can be levied against a seller or consumer.

Consumer and seller use tax is also different. When consumers make an out-of-state purchase over the Internet, phone, or even in person, and they are not charged sales tax on the item, they are responsible for reporting and paying use tax on the transaction. Consumers would not be charged sales tax on a purchase if that company doesn’t have nexus in the state they reside in. (A nexus is a presence which is established if the company has a physical location, employees, or if they own delivery vehicles in a particular state.) In this instance, retailers don’t have to collect sales tax on the goods or services they are selling, but buyers have to pay consumer use tax.

Seller use tax applies when sales are made to buyers or businesses located outside of the state that the seller has nexus in. Use tax needs to be paid by retailers on inventory purchased without sales tax if they use that inventory at a later time.

The complexity of sales and use tax comes down to the state where the law originates. For more information about how we deal with sales and use tax in Maryland, don’t forget to sign up for the MSATP Sales and Use Tax After the Wayfair Case seminar and webinar on September 25!

MSATP Past President Bill Feehley, CPA, will be teaching the course in Owings Mills, MD, and will be discussing nexus issues for surrounding states, determining when sales tax should be charged and collected from customers in neighboring states, issues related to non-compliance, the Supreme Court’s decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair, and more. Seats will fill up quickly, so sign up now!

#TechTips: Getting Into the Nitty Gritty with Sales Tax Apps

By Jonathan Rivlin for MSATP

This post will focus on the exciting world of sales taxes — we’ll leave their oft-forgotten friend use tax for another post.

NOTE: This post was written before the US Supreme Court’s Wayfair decision; as of now, Quill is still the law of the land. And that land includes some 10,000 taxing jurisdictions!

It’s not that we don’t want to comply, it’s just that with the lack of uniformity in what is taxable, what the rate is, what the frequency of measurement is, whether it’s cash or accrual, what type of registration is required, and how payment is to be made (electronic or paper), AND whatever you think you know today will be obsolete tomorrow, compliance is, in a word, difficult.

When your humble Tech Tips was entering the profession in the 90’s, this was not an issue. Our retail clients didn’t have to worry about nexus with other states. Nexus back then was a hair product. (Yes, I know that product is spelled “Nexxus,” but you get the point.)

So, sales tax: don’t worry, there’s an app for that.

Both QBO and Xero (See prior post on Xero) have sales tax modules built into them, but that’s not enough. These ledger based modules will help you calculate which sales are sales taxable, what rates apply (provided you know what rates to use), and what jurisdictions to remit to, provided that you know this and manually update it yourself.

As limited as this is, it is a mandatory first step.

Now, having gotten that groundwork set out, we can look at some purpose built sales tax apps that can snap into your cloud based ledger.

We’ll look at two: Avalara and TaxJar.

Avalara and Intuit seem to be kindred spirits. Avalara does not publish rates on its website — instead, would-be clients are instructed to contact them for a quote. In this modern age, this is where the decision should stop. This tactic may have worked prior to the Cloud, but in today’s environment it has the veneer of something less than trustworthy.

TaxJar and Xero also seem to be kindred spirits. TaxJar and Xero are native to the Cloud — they were built for the modern way of transacting and computing. Both TaxJar and Xero publish their rates on their website: you know what you’re getting when you pay. You can sign up yourself, on your time, without hassle or the pleasant experience of being upsold.

Both TaxJar and Avalara will calculate your sales tax and assist with filings and registrations. Both sites offer state registration services for varying price levels. Both sites offer a resource library that appears to be available to the public without charge, which is very helpful! There’s a certain commoditization at work here.

Our decision was to use TaxJar, and here’s why:

1) Pricing was transparent (See above and also the previous article on Xero)
2) The “partner agreement” didn’t require us to violate the AICPA’s code of professional ethics. Let’s elaborate on this:

The new way of doing business involves the accounting firm establishing a relationship with a given app provider, be it Xero or Intuit, TaxJar or Avalara, or what have you. These companies offer (often require) some level of training to ensure that each accounting partner knows how to use their system. This is a little patronizing, but it is important.

These apps also have different partner levels (bronze, silver, gold, platinum, etc) based on the number of clients a given firm puts on a specific app. Discounts on per client monthly fees can be had once certain benchmarks are hit. These apps also have agreements that firms need to adhere to.

And then we come to Avalara’s partner agreement.

Avalara’s partner agreement required us to create and submit a marketing plan to Avalara for review, and they would punish us if we failed to meet the benchmarks set out in our plan. Avalara in a sense was inserting themselves into our business and making us responsible for growing their business. No other app does this! When I took issue with this to the sales rep that we contacted, I was told that it wasn’t really enforced and no other accounting firms had ever questioned it; they just sign up, and couldn’t I just sign up already? Why was I bothering her with my questions? (Us CPAs and our questions…)

I realize that not all readers of this column are CPAs, but for those readers that are CPAs, and for any other practitioner that is governed by some regulatory body (attorneys, EA’s, licensed tax preparers, etc), we are governed by a code of professional conduct that requires us to remain in compliance and good stead with any contracts we enter into.

In the 90’s and Aught’s, this meant that we had to be honest about how many user licenses we needed to disclose to Intuit; that we couldn’t use the same copy of Office for all of our work stations. Not that anyone has ever done that — by the way, doing something like this is a felony, and it’s also grounds for being thrown out of the profession.

So, back to Avalara and their partner agreement: If you want to keep your license to practice (and I know that’s a tough call after the new tax law), I would strongly suggest not obligating yourself to an overly invasive, difficult-to-comply-with software license agreement.

I can’t tell you what to do. What I can provide are some alternative perspectives for a given situation, or as Obi Wan Kenobi would say, “…a certain point of view.”

There are surprisingly few absolute right or wrong, yes or no decisions. For us, it comes down to who we want to spend our time with. What do we value as a firm? How would we want to be treated? How do our clients want to be treated? Our firm’s answers to these questions may differ from yours and that’s okay — just be clear about what your answers are and how you arrived at them.

For us, we value transparency, low-pressure sales, well-designed U/X (user interface), passion for their specialty bordering on geekiness, fantastic tech support, and an open attitude where we are treated like partners and not as marks to be milked for add on sales and hidden fees.

That’s why we chose TaxJar over Avalara, Xero over QBO, Gusto over ADP/Paychex, and more apps that we’ll detail in subsequent posts.

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We’d like to hear from you! Please submit your own tech tips to us at techtips@msatp.org! We will award a free subscription to The Tax Book to the person who submits the best tip.

Thanks, and catch you next time!

TT

MSATP’s Favorite Podcasts

A podcast is an audio show that you can listen to online — it’s basically like on-demand radio on the Internet. There are thousands of podcasts out there about various subjects, some of which include business, celebrities, professional development, news and politics, and more. They’re easily accessible both on mobile devices, and on computers (check out those links to see how you can listen to them).

On our Facebook Live last week, MSATP President Ellen Silverstein and Kait LeDonne of LeDonne Branding & Marketing discussed their favorite professional development and accounting podcasts. Check them out below!

 

Professional Development

 

1. Lewis Howes School of Greatness

The School of Greatness podcast has grown rapidly to be one of the top-ranked Business and Self-Development podcasts in iTunes. It regularly appears in the Top 50 of all iTunes podcasts, and gets downloaded over 2 million times per month.

Episodes range from interviews with incredible world-class game changers in entrepreneurship, health, athletics, mindset, and relationships, to solo rounds with the host, Lewis Howes. It’s super fun and he always features awesome guests like Tony Robbins, Alanis Morsette, and more. It’s a great leadership development podcast.

 

2. How I Built This With Guy Raz

This NPR produced podcast features founders of companies like Lyft, Lululemon, Stitch Fix, and other pioneers. There was an episode featuring Kate and Andy Spade just a few weeks before Kate’s death, and it was so incredible hearing how they built the brand together. This podcast gives you access to the top business minds, and it’s the perfect way to inspire you at the beginning of your day.

 

3. Entrepreneur on Fire

Entrepreneur on Fire, or EOFire as its fans affectionately refer to it, is hosted by John Lee Dumas. Like “How I Built This,” John features entrepreneurs and asks them about their journey. EOFire isn’t just about household business names you hear about — it’s the everyday entrepreneur he talks to, and he makes it a point to ask about their setbacks and hardest moments as a business owner. It feels real and relatable, and it reminds entrepreneurs that you aren’t alone in this journey!

 

Accounting

 

1. Bigger Pockets

The Bigger Pockets Podcast, hosted by Joshua Dorkin and Brandon Turner, is about growing wealth with smart investment. Dorkin and Turner take on investing like smarter morning drive-time guys, with wonky humor and in-your-face enthusiasm. Previous topics include negotiating (with an FBI hostage negotiator) and real estate investing. To paraphrase Chief Brody in Jaws, you’re gonna need bigger pockets – for all the money you’ll make!

 

2. Accountants Doing Cool Sh!t

This is about exactly what its title implies – accountants who are using their skills, knowledge, and creativity to do some interesting, innovative, and unusual things. Lifestyle Accountant, a worldwide networking group, provides services to accounting freelancers and entrepreneurs, including the economic podcast, populated by exciting new voices in the field.

 

3. Future of Accounting with Danetha Doe

This is a great podcast for business owners seeking to attract young professionals. Danetha Doe is one of the Millennial generation’s top thought leaders and ambassadors, attracting attention from Huffington Post, Xero, and Wells Fargo for her expertise. Her podcast, Future of Accounting, is targeted at young people heading into accounting, including students and young professionals just starting their careers. Danetha Doe doesn’t just host the Future of Accounting – she is the future of accounting.

 

4. The Abacus Show

The Abacus Show, hosted by Bob the CPA from Abacus U, brings top accounting professionals, influencers, and experts into informative, entertaining financial podcasts. Bob, whose Abacus U offers online courses in topics like resume building and using LinkedIn effectively, covers crucial issues for accountants and accounting students like joining professional organizations and going digital.

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Of course, the cool thing about podcasts is different ones appeal to different people. Do you have a podcast that you love or produce? Let us know in the comments! Plus, don’t forget to tune into our Facebook Live all about podcasts here.

9 Tips to Help You Protect Your Practice From Cybercrime

It only takes one employee to jeopardize your company’s cybersecurity.

In news release IR-2018-170, the IRS has advised tax professionals to increase their security measures due to a 30% increase in reports of data thefts from last year.

Below are some tips from the IRS and its Security Summit to help you protect your practice from cybercrime:

 

  1. Before you hire a new employee who will be dealing directly with client information, conduct a background check and make sure they sign a confidentially agreement. Also ensure that they understand how to handle client information so that there is no breach in a client’s privacy.
  2. Try to limit how much contact an employee will have with your client’s information. Only give employees the minimal access they would need to complete their job.
  3. Make sure that your employees are using strong passwords, with at least 8 characters. Passwords should have both upper and lower case letters, numbers, and symbols.
  4. Require your employees to have a setting on their computer that will automatically lock their screen after a period of inactivity. This will require them to input their password once they are back on their computer. Also make sure that employees have software installed on their devices that will protect them from viruses, spyware, and other unauthorized intrusions.
  5. Employees should store computers and other electronic devices carefully and securely when they are not in use to minimize the amount of people that come into contact with those devices.
  6. Train your employees to lock rooms and filing cabinets where client records are stored. Make sure that if your employees are sending or storing client information electronically, all information is encrypted.
  7. Teach your employees to report all suspicious behavior online as a precaution.
  8. Ask your employees to avoid using public wifi networks when they are using a device that has client information on it.
  9. If an employee is no longer working for you, delete their user accounts on all platforms to prevent the risk of hacking and leaking client information.

 

What do you do to ensure that your client’s data is safe? Leave your tips in the comments below!

Why Is America Struggling With Financial Literacy?

According to PEW, the U.S. household debt has reached $13.2 trillion in the first quarter of 2018, which is higher than what it was during the 2008 financial crisis. Additionally, student loan debt has reached a record high of $1.5 trillion in the first quarter of 2018.

Does America’s increasing debt have something to do with the fact that only 17 out of the 50 states have personal finance as a prerequisite for high school graduation?

Kentucky is one of the states that’s behind in financial literacy. They have the eighth-highest personal bankruptcy rate in the U.S., with 345 bankruptcy filings per 100,000 residents.

PEW relates that last year, Kentucky’s state Treasurer Allison Ball spoke to high school seniors about credit cards and finance, but saw that the information being relayed to them was met with blank stares. She attributes that to the fact that one week before graduation, the students were unaware of what the term “interest” even meant.

In 2020, Kentucky will require incoming high school freshmen to take a financial literacy course before they graduate. In the course, students will learn how to understand and manage their credit, create a budget, take out a loan for a large purchase, and even how to save for retirement.

It took six years for Kentucky policymakers to finally bring this financial literacy measure into law. Though there are no studies to prove how financial literacy classes affect students as they transition into adulthood, Kentucky state officials are hopeful that by investing in their students, they will bring about a change for the state’s financial status.

Maryland is one of the states whose Board of Education, in 2011, set financial literacy standards for grades 3 through 12. However, whether or not these standards are implemented has been left up to each school district. For more information about the state of financial literacy in Maryland, tune into last week’s Facebook Live to hear from the State of MD Financial Literacy Committee.

What do you think — should financial literacy be a required high school prerequisite around the country? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!

MSATP’s Business Builders ThinkTank

Running an accounting and tax business can be difficult. Between managing personnel matters, data security, business operations, and legislative compliance, it’s easy to feel buried or isolated. That’s why MSATP is excited to announce our latest professional and business development initiative: The Business Builders ThinkTank.

The ThinkTank is a group similar to a CEO peer group, designed to create a space where business owners can connect with each other to discuss and work through challenges. The ThinkTank will create an environment that will help enhance the quality of everyone’s business. Group members will share the problems they encounter, and others will share how they have resolved them in the past.

The intention of the ThinkTank is to always move the conversation forward. So instead of leaning into “This isn’t working or why this won’t work,” the way to approach a situation will be by asking, “How do we create this in a way that is workable for your firm?” This way, challenges won’t become roadblocks to growth, but instead, just obstacles that you can push through together. 

Three inaugural groups will be set up: BWI, Baltimore County, and Montgomery County. Each group will have 8-10 participants who are committed to meeting on the third Thursday of every month, from 8 – 9:30 a.m. The meetings will take place in the off-season, between May-November, for a total of 7 meetings.

Participants are required to attend 5 out of 7 meetings. If they miss more than 2, we will ask that they turn their seat over to someone else. This will help maintain integrity in the space and build trust amongst participants.

MSATP Second Vice President Richard Gottfried, Treasurer Donya Oneto, and CPR Committee Chair Tom Bray will initially be leading these groups. They will identify participants who have a desire to become group leaders and facilitators, and then train them to do so.

We’re so excited to start this initiative! If you are interested in participating, you can register on our website here. If you have any questions, you can email info@msatp.org, or call us at 1-800-922-9672.

For more information, tune into our Facebook Live from last week. President Ellen Silverstein was joined by Donya and Tom for a rundown on the ThinkTank initiative. Don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel so you can get notifications every time we upload a new video.

How the Wayfair Decision Affects Maryland Businesses

The Comptroller of Maryland has released a Tax Alert regarding the Maryland Sales & Use Tax in reference to the Supreme Court decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair. This Tax Alert is meant to shed light on what is expected of online retailers who sell products or provide a taxable service for use in Maryland.

To recap, the South Dakota v. Wayfair decision overturns the earlier decision made in North Dakota v. Quill Corporation, which stated that businesses must have a physical presence in a state in order for that state to collect and remit sales tax from its earnings. Recently, several states have signed the Streamlined Sales Tax Agreement, a plan aimed at simplifying tax collection, but Maryland is not one of the participating states.

According to the Comptroller, if you have already been collecting and paying sales tax to the state of Maryland, you should continue to do so.

If you have not been collecting and paying sales tax and you sell products or provide a taxable service in Maryland, you should read up on the recent Supreme Court’s Decision to see how it impacts you. We’ve covered this decision on our blog here.

If you would like to start collecting and paying sales tax to the state of Maryland, you need to get a sales and use tax license by completing a Combined Registration Application.

Maryland businesses selling products or taxable services in other states may be required to pay sales tax in those states. The Comptroller recommends directly contacting any states you may have business in if you have any questions regarding this decision.

For a deeper understanding about sales and use tax and to get your questions answered, you can now register for MSATP’s newest seminar/webinar, Sales and Use Tax After the Wayfair Case. To register for the webinar, click here, and to register for the in-person seminar, click here.

A Grad’s Guide to Becoming an Accountant

Accountants are some of the most trusted advisors in business because of their level of involvement with their clients’ fiscal wellbeing. Because of their wide range of knowledge — from taxes to wealth management, in most cases — young CPAs and tax professionals have the potential to become the trusted advisors every business needs.

Here are some tips for graduates and young professionals:

 

1. Apply what you know.

Just because you’ve finished a degree in accounting or finance doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re fully aware how to apply the skills that you’ve learned. Start applying those textbook scenarios to real world happenings. Step outside of your comfort zone and seek opportunities that will allow you to expand your knowledge base and, more importantly, teach you how to solve a wide range of problems for your clients.

 

2. Tell the truth and hold yourself accountable.

Everyone makes mistakes, especially when first starting out in a field, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Think back to any particular moment in your life when you’ve made a mistake, and you’ll notice that you learned a lesson from it. Though making mistakes is okay, it’s essential that if you do make a mistake, you let an experienced coworker know immediately so they can help you recover. Don’t let your ego keep you from asking for help when you need it.

 

3. Stick to deadlines.

A huge part of being an accountant is having the desire to see your clients succeed. If you expect to be seen as an advisor for a business owner, you must stick to all deadlines to ensure that you never let your clients down. Work on your time management skills before tax season, especially if time management is something you struggle with. The most effective way to manage your time is by designating enough of it to each client. Make sure you’re not distracted by trivial and unimportant tasks so you can give your clients the attention they deserve.

Check out our recent blog post about time management to help you stay on top of your workload!

 

4. Build your network.

Don’t be afraid to attend networking events for accountants. Making connections with other professionals, especially those who have years of experience, will only help you become a better accountant or tax preparer. Remember, other professionals want to help you succeed — ask them questions and don’t be afraid to reach out to them for advice. After all, they were once in your shoes too, and they have an idea about what you’re going through.

 

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MSATP offers opportunities to help professionals build their businesses and their networks. Register now for our upcoming Employee to Entrepreneur event on October 25 for your chance to meet other young professionals and learn from experts in the field. The first 25 registrants will receive a free Associate Membership with their registration, so sign up now!

5 Time Management Tips to Help You Achieve Your Goals

Everyone looking for success in their professional and personal lives sets goals regularly — even if they’re not writing them down as they think of them. Though you may achieve some of those goals as you get tasks done on your list of things to-do, you’ll find that a good chunk of those goals aren’t that easy to achieve — only because you aren’t dedicating the right amount of time to them.

You may run an organized business or find success in the work that you do, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re using your time as efficiently as you could be. If you’re ready to achieve the goals that have been unattainable for as long as you can remember, check out this list of time management tips curated specifically to help you achieve your goals.

 

1. Audit your time for 7 days.

 

How do you spend your time at work? At home? For a whole week, keep track of what you did every hour in a journal or on your phone. Then, before bed, spend some time highlighting the least productive things you did that day. The next day, avoid the habits that you thought were unproductive, and at the end of the week, check and see where you spent the most time. This will make it easier for you to determine where you need to put in additional effort, and where you need to cut back.

 

2. Get your most important tasks done in the mornings.

Once you’ve rubbed the sleep out of your eyes, you’ll find that you’re fresh, energetic, and ready to take on the day that lies ahead of you. Mornings are usually quiet, so you can focus on your thoughts — that’s when you should define your three most important tasks of the day (MITs). Use your morning to get those three tasks done, and once they’re complete, you’ll be motivated to continue being productive throughout the rest of the day.

 

3. Schedule specific times in the day to respond to emails.

Is having your email notifications on completely necessary? In most cases, you’ll find that it’s not. Constantly getting notifications for your email is an obvious distraction, especially when you keep taking breaks from work to reply to them. Schedule three or four times in the day to check your email, and stick to your plan. Make a similar plan for answering messages so you can avoid unnecessary distractions — just be sure that your colleagues, clients, and family know to give you a call in case of an emergency.

 

4. Declutter your workspace.

Researchers at the Princeton University Neuroscience Institute have published a study that concludes, “When your environment is cluttered, the chaos restricts your ability to focus.” Spend some time cleaning off your desk — what do you need on the surface, and what can be put away? If you find that papers and other items accumulate on your desk every day, take some time each evening before your leave work to clean up your work station. Coming back to to a clean space the next morning will act as another motivational tool to help you complete those MITs you’ve set.

 

5. Find inspiration and stay positive.

Whether it’s listening to a motivational podcast while driving to work, or reading an inspiring quote before your day has begun, find a way to look forward to accomplishing your goals — it’ll even boost your creativity. Plus, always stay positive, even if you aren’t able to achieve everything you wanted to one day. After thinking about what you could’ve done better, pat yourself on the back for trying, and make sure to tell yourself that you’ll do better tomorrow. That way, you’ll hold yourself accountable while practicing self-love.

 

 

Have you heard? MSATP does a Facebook Live every week! If you missed this week’s Live video where we talked about the Maryland Board of Accountants meeting, exciting changes to Microsoft Office, and updates from the IRS, check out the video on YouTube. Make sure to subscribe to our channel so you don’t miss out!