Why Every Small Business Should Outsource Their Back-Office Accounting?

Outsourcing has essentially permeated every area of business. As a small business owner, you should make the most of what outsourcing has to offer. One of the tasks that you should outsource is back-office accounting. Back-office accounting services handle payroll management, accounts payable, service accounts receivable and other important tasks.  They hire dedicated workers and cloud accounting services such as QuickBooks hosting and save both time and money.

Yes, outsourcing your accounting and bookkeeping to outside firms make a lot of sense for a small business. Outsourcing is the biggest trend in the global marketplace and as a small business owner it is something that you should take full advantage of. Let’s look at how outsourcing your accounting related tasks can be advantageous to your small business.

Outsourcing Cuts Costs – The biggest reason to outsource accounting related tasks to an outside firm rather than to get them done by an in-house team is that it costs. Outsourcing provides much greater visibility to your company’s financial operations and gives you better control over your expenses. You can scale up or scale down your spending based on your current requirements. Outsourcing delivers excellent cost advantages and allows you to get more done for less.

Accounting Firms Use Dedicated Software – Another major advantage of outsourcing your accounting related tasks to an outside firm is that they use dedicated accounting software and services such as cloud hosting. Most back-office accounting firms make use of QuickBooks hosting, Sage hosting, Drake hosting and other cloud accounting services. This helps them cut costs and use the latest software upgrades.  You may be assured that accounting firms use the latest technologies that are available in the market.

You Can Pay As You Go – One of the biggest advantages of outsourcing your accounting related tasks is that you are charged on a transactional basis.  Which means for accounts payable related tasks, all users are charged on an inclusive basis.  There are no extra charges for emails or phone calls or follow ups. Accounting firms provide an all-include a monthly fee that includes all financial statements, transaction processing and disbursements. So you will be asked to pay for the services depending on your requirements alone.

 You Are Assured of the Highest Level of Security – Most accounting firms use third-party data centers made available to them by a hosting company to store your information. Accounting firms don’t hold any of your data on their servers – they store your data on remote servers through the use of cloud computing. Cloud hosting providers store your data in highly secure, state-of-the-art data centers with 24/7 power backups and round-the-clock security.  Also, there is no fear of your data getting lost as it is backed up every day, which ensures maximum data redundancy.

 You Will Have Access to Quick and Accurate Reporting – Cloud accounting is a very secure method to store and retrieve most of your accounting and financial data. It gives you the flexibility you seek and offers an excellent overview of your business’s financial health. Back-office accounting firms use cloud computing to your advantage.

Why Lacerte tax hosting is an advantageous choice?

Those days are gone when businesses used to rely on manual tax reporting process which consumed a lot of time, and complexity came as an add-on with it. The introduction of tax based software has made the tax life of individuals, professionals and businesses, very easy. Some of the best tax based software like Lacerte, offers a combination of ease and accuracy which helps users to fill tax return, make audit and perform other tax related services in a very easy and quick manner.

But the way in which sunrise is already very mesmerizing but to experience it in the best possible way, we go to mountains or beaches, in the same way, Lacerte tax software comes with many features and tools but to experience its features in the best possible way,  moving it to cloud is the best option.

That’s why, in this article, we have outlined some of the reasons to why Lacerte tax hosting is an advantageous choice.

Less hassle during tax season

Tax season is an alarming situation for most of the businesses because during this time, they have to fill their tax returns before the due date. But with Lacerte tax hosting, even the tax season passes like the months of spring. Due to its multi-user accessibility, it allows various users to work on the tax reporting at the same time, which helps them to collaborate in a better way and thus even lengthy tax return filling is completed very quickly.

All features of desktop and without any installation

Instead of installing the software on your local device, the Lacerte hosting on the cloud will install the software on the server of the hosting provider. Thus, to access the software, you will be no more limited to your office only as the Lacerte tax hosting will be accessible from anyplace and through any device like PC, laptop, tablet etc.  The software is already known for saving your time on every aspect of tax reporting and the ability to access it even when you are traveling, leads to increased productivity.

Trouble free integration with Quickbooks

For most of the business requirements, the tax software needs to be integrated with the accounting software like Quickbooks. Lacertetax software offers smooth integrations with Quickbooks and other accounting software. But installing multiple number of software, integrating them and then storing their data in the same system, can lead to slower functioning of the system and the software as well. But with Lacerte tax hosting, you don’t have to face such problems and the software on cloud can be easily scaled.

Makes outsourcing fruitful and safe

These days, most of the businesses and specially SMBs, prefer to outsource their financial processes. Lacerte tax hosting simplifies the entire process of financial outsourcing and makes it more fruitful and safe. The client can easily track and monitor their data on cloud and can also receive the real time updates of all the processes related to tax.

Cloud had now become a necessity for all software based professions and businesses. Since the process of tax reporting is totally based on software, therefore the value of cloud cannot be neglected. For those users who still are using the software on desktop, upgrading to Lacerte tax hosting cloud is most recommended as they have missing the real advantage of using the software from long.

IRS Tax Scams to Watch Out for in 2017 - Part 2

We talked about three of the most common IRS tax scams in Part 1 of this series on IRS Tax Scams to Watch Out for in 2017. Here we look at more such tax scams which wreaked havoc on ordinary citizens.

#1: Tax Preparer Scam / Obamacare Scam

One of the anomalies in US tax laws is that anyone can claim to be a tax prepare. There is no qualification needed to be a tax preparer. Luckily though most people who offer to do your taxes are qualified accountants and CPAs and they try to do their best. However, there are some frauds that get into this business.

The Affordable Care Act, or Obamcacare, for example, makes it mandatory for people to get health insurance. Those who don’t apply for this can get penalized. But most people who don’t qualify for Obamacare get exemptions so that they don’t need to pay the penalty.

 The only issue with this is that there is a new tax scam where some tax preparers are telling their clients that they own the government a penalty on Obamacare and have to pay the amount in cash to them, otherwise it is not possible to file their tax returns. Remember  - even if you owe any money to the IRS, that should be paid to the IRS by check. Never to the tax preparer with cash!

 #2: Snail Mail Scam

The snail mail scam is similar to the Obamacare scam discussed earlier. Here you will get a tax bill – completely fake – that says that you owe a penalty to the government for not possessing health insurance under the Affordable Care Act. This looks like a legit communication from IRS, but it is not that.

The IRS says that scammers from across the nation are sending fraudulent versions of CP2000 notices. These are letters that inform taxpayers stating discrepancies related to their tax return.

Since this scam happens through snail mail, it is very difficult to detect, and can fool a lot of people. Here’s how you can spot it. The fraudulent snail mail is issued from “Austin, Texas” and relates to the Affordable Care Act. It lists the payment voucher as 105C and wants the check to be made out to the I.R.S. and delivered to “Austin Processing Center”.

#3: IRS iTunes scam

This is a recent scam in which someone claiming to be from the IRS duped a young college student into putting hundreds of dollars into different iTunes cards for wrongly representing her tax returns. iTunes gift cards are untraceable and scammers can get the cash easily, which is why they are preferred in tax scams such as these.

 #4: Tax-Refund Fraud

A lot of scammers have been stealing people’s Social Security numbers and filing false claims for refunds based on such identities. This is also called as identity theft. So when you file your tax return legitimately, it is rejected by the IRS as someone has already filed a return in your name! This is a really common scam and you can only pray that it does not happen to you as it creates a messy situation for everyone.

We provide cloud-based tax preparation services. Contact us for a free trial offer on any of our ATX Cloud, Drake Cloud, Quicken Cloud, QuickBooks Cloud, Sage 50 Cloud, Lacerte Cloud or ProSeries Cloud services.

IRS Tax Scams to Watch Out for in 2017 – Part 1

IRS Tax scams have unfortunately become very common over the years. IRS scammers have been working extra hard in 2017 as well. We cast a look at some of the worst IRS scams or IRS Tax Scams that you should be wary of.

Generic IRS phone scam

In IRS phone scams, you will be sent a surprise tax bill by the scammer, purportedly by the IRS, which you have to pay immediately or you will be arrested. The scammers make use of telephonic spoofing or phishing so that their number comes up on the phone as from IRS.

They will also have access to the last 4 digits of your Social Security number, which they use to show themselves off as being legitimate. They send fraudulent IRS e-mails to support their claims and fake IRS badge numbers.

You will be asked to make the payment by wire or debit card to a particular account, which they say belongs to the IRS. Be aware, IRS never contacts you by phone asking for money. They only contact you by snail mail.

 Supposed Refund Scam

One of the greatest feelings anyone can have is to get a notice from the IRS that they would be soon getting a tax refund. That’s enough to thrill anyone. You would love to have a secret tax refund waiting for you somewhere.

An accountant Craig Smalley explains in NerdWallet about how this supposed refund scam works. He says that his client received an email that looked like it came from the IRS – informing them that they had received a $7,000 refund.

“All my client needed to do was enter his Social Security number and bank account information, and the IRS would directly deposit the supposed refund into his account. Yeah, right. In this case, I could tell this was a scam because the website didn’t have an irs.gov address.” Craig explains.

Fake Hostage Scam

This is another new type of scam which came to light in 2015 in Washington. A middle aged woman was trying to buy more than $2,400 in prepaid credit cards. When the Clerk asked why she was buying so much in prepaid cards, she said that she had received a call from someone in the IRS warning her about an unpaid tax bill.

What made it worse was that the man – who claimed to be from the IRS – said that he was holding her daughter hostage and would kill her in case she did not pay up.

This is a fraud on so many levels. IRS employees are not a bunch of gangsters like that. They don’t threaten you or ask for ransom. Fortunately, in this case the store clerk alerted the police, who found out that the woman’s daughter was safe. But sadly the scammer still got away.

We discuss more IRS tax scams in the Part 2 of this series. Meanwhile do sign up for our cloud-hosted tax preparation services such as Quicken Hosting, QuickBooks Enterprise Hosting, ProSerie Hosting, QuickBooks Hosting, Drake Tax Hosting or Lacerte Hosting.

What’s the Best Way to Access QuickBooks Remotely?

QuickBooks is everybody’s favorite accounting and financial management software, used by professionals and business owners alike. It comes with a number of great features that cater to the diverse accounting needs of a wide segment of users.

What makes QuickBooks so special is its unique user interface (UI), which simplifies accounting in a big way. The company dominates the market for accounting software, and is used by 85 to 90 percent of small and mid-sized businesses in the USA.

That should give you an idea of QuickBooks’ dominance. More and more businesses are going global today and working from a remote location is an accepted manner of doing business. However, the desktop version of QuickBooks does not come with remote access.

For that reason, you should sign up for QuickBooks Cloud.  QuickBooks Hosting, which we provide, gives you the remote access to QuickBooks while delivering a number of other benefits. Let’s consider them one by one.

Using hosted QuickBooks saves time and money as there is no reason to maintain an office infrastructure. You will have up to date access to the QuickBooks software at all times, even when you are not in your office in the event of an emergency.

 Different users can collaborate on the same file, and owners or managers can track the work of accountants. The gift of anytime, anywhere access, combined with multiuser collaboration can make all the difference.

You can also get QuickBooks on the Cloud through the company’s own proprietary cloud based service QuickBooks Online. However, it can be safely said that QuickBooks Cloud or QuickBooks Hosting is a much superior option compared to QuickBooks Online because you will get the same interface with our service as you would get with the desktop version of QuickBooks.

  

The problem with QuickBooks Online is that it is a completely new software compared to QuickBooks Desktop. The interface or UI is entirely different. So if you are going to be using it or the first time after years of using QuickBooks Desktop, you will be at a loss and won’t know how to manage the software.

With Hosted QuickBooks which is provided by us, you will have access to the same desktop version of the software with added functionalities such as anytime, anywhere access. Also, this makes a major difference to the security of your data as everything is stored in a remote server on the cloud, and can be accessed only with a proper username and password.

 Multiple members of your team can have access to QuickBooks Cloud based on their level of authorization. You can be fully confident about the security of your data as it is protected with a 128-bit secure key encryption and the servers are packed in ultra secure US based data centers. Further, your data is backed up daily using a dual backup system, so there is no reason to worry about data loss.

 Contact us for a free trial offer onQuickBooks Cloud.

Easiest Way to Save on Your Taxes in the USA - Move to a State with No Income Tax

Every year in the United States, taxpayers pay over $3 trillion in taxes. That’s a lot of money! Americans pay not only federal income tax, but also state income tax. This means a massive chunk of your income goes to the government.

Such high taxes can be particularly painful when you are carrying a lot of debt, such as credit card debt or student loan debt. Nobody likes to lose such hard earned money. So what can you do to make sure that you pay less in the way of taxes next time?

Move to a state with no income tax. As simple as that.

 You can save up to $1,977 a year by moving to a state with no income tax as per a  study by Student Loan Hero.

Let’s understand how this works.

States that collect income tax use them for funding basic services and essential programs for residents. Over 50% of state tax revenues are invested in education and healthcare initiatives like Medicaid. A number of state agencies use the income taxes to pay for law enforcement and public transport.

In most states in the country, residents have to pay both federal and state income taxes. However there are 9 states within America that don’t levy a state income tax. These states are: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming. As long as you live in these states, you don’t have to pay state taxes, and so can get massive yearly savings.

How much could you save on taxes by living in these nine states? That depends largely on your income bracket and current location. So, if you are from the state of Oregon for example, you will have a state income tax of 7.75%.

This is the highest rate of taxation in the country. This means someone who makes the median salary in the state — which is about $49,710 — will need to pay $3,851 extra, in addition to the federal taxes paid by them.

So if you move to a state without state income tax, you can avoid having to pay an amount close to $4,000 a year in taxes. This is a significant amount indeed, no matter how you look at it. You can then use your tax savings to pay off student loan obligations or credit card debt.

The more you save from not paying state income tax, the easier it will be for you to get out of debt, so that you will be able to save more in the long run. Use this money to pay off your loans and lower the interest charges. You can as well save tens of thousands over the lifetime of your loan.

 Now, there are costs related to moving to another state that could lower your savings somewhat, such as putting a deposit on a new house or apartment, or getting a new vehicle registration. These factors should be taken into account.

  

You can also save a considerable amount of money by signing up for our cloud hosted accounting services such as ATX Hosting, QuickBooks Pro Hosting, Quicken Hosting, QuickBookshosting, Sage 50 Hosting, Lacerte Hosting and ProSeries Hosting.

What’s the Difference Between QuickBooks Hosting and Quicken Hosting?

Both QuickBooks and Quicken are two of the most popular accounting software on the market. They have been developed by the same company, Intuit, which is the biggest name in accounting applications. Millions of people around the world trust Intuit products.

The best way to access these software applications is through the cloud. QuickBooks Hosting and Quicken Hosting are very popular. We have tens of thousands of people around the world who subscribe to our Hosted QuickBooks and Hosted Quickens solutions.

But there is a lot of confusion over the difference between Quicken Hosting and QuickBooks Hosting. How do they differ from each other? How to know which of the two software applications to choose? The fact is the market for both Quicken and QuickBooks is massive, and since they both have such similar names, with the prefix “Quick” attached to them, there is an obvious reason for the confusion.

 As a matter of fact Quicken was released to the market by Intuit much earlier than QuickBooks. This is something not many people know about since QuickBooks is clearly the most successful software of the two.

 They are both popular accounting solutions that have met with great success. However, choosing one among the two applications is not as difficult as it sounds. Let’s quickly analyse the two popular accounting applications so that you will know which among them would suit you more.

Quicken Cloud

Quicken has been around since 1983. So that makes it a 34 year old software. That is as old as it gets in the industry, which makes the fact that it is still popular today really astonishing. It is essentially a “personal finance management tool”, which means it helps you manage your finances.

Quicken makes use of a single-entry accounting system and is more suitable for personal accounting requirements. It is used for tracking and listing of all financial transactions and allows you to handle your finances with ease.

Quicken is no longer a part of Intuit. It was sold by the company to H.I.G. Capital in 2016. But it will always be associated with the Intuit brand.

QuickBooks Cloud

QuickBooks is a hugely popular accounting solution that has been the #1 accounting software for small and midsized businesses, CPA firms and accountants since 1998, when it was first introduced. QuickBooks is capable of meeting your complex accounting requirements.

The software is loaded with a number of great features that allow you to manage payrolls, prepare taxes and streamline all of your accounting operations. QuickBooks dominates the business accounting market and is the preferred solution used by over 85 percent of small and midsized businesses in the United States.

So clearly, QuickBooks and Quicken are not the same thing. Quicken is more suitable for managing personal finance for individuals while QuickBooks is ideal for business accounting for businesses, CPA firms and accountants.

We provide both Quicken Hosting and QuickBooksHosting. Contact us for a free test drive on any of our plans.