Overview of our services…
Supporting the day-to-day accounting, tax, and financial needs of businesses in various industries.
Providing tax plannings and income tax preparation services to individual and business clients throughout the U.S. and in other countries.
Specialize in international compliance such as reporting foreign income, foreign business ownership, Non-Resident with U.S. situs asset, and more!
And in short…
Your Success is our business!
We love to see our clients succeed in their business, their income, their finances, investment, tax planning…
Every client is special and unique in their way. We do our best to provide a tailored service to each and every one of our clients.
Individual Income Tax Information Return Reporting
U.S. Resident (Form 1040)
Non-Resident Individual Income Tax (NRA)
Individual
Preparing tax returns yourself is not as easy as it seems in the advertisement. Even though tax software may help, but software can never replace the insight of a real tax professional. The U.S. tax law and system is already very complicated and with the constant changes, one can easily miss a tax deduction or phaseout limit.
According to a study released by the US Government’s General Accounting Office, most taxpayers (77% of 71 million taxpayers) believe they benefited from using a professional tax preparer. Planning is the key to successfully and legally reducing your tax liability.
“Individual income tax” includes Federal, State, and Local tax filings. The federal tax rate is uniform throughout the country, but the state and the local tax rate of each state are different. There are some states which do not have state individual income taxes (e.g. Texas and Washington). Some of the most ignored parts of an individual income tax are the inclusion of Self-Employed Taxes (SE Tax) aka Social Security & Medicare Taxes and the requirement of making quarterly estimated tax payments.
The IRS will randomly select and red-flag a certain number of tax returns each year based on its procedure. The IRs also will assess various types of penalties and interests (e.g. underpayment of estimated tax penalties, civil penalties, and etc.)
Business Income Tax Information Return Reporting
C-Corporation
S-Corporation
Partnership
Limited Liability Company (LLC)
Foreign Corporation
Exempt Organization (Non-Profit)
Trust & Foundation
Estate & Gift
Business
There are various types of business entities, and each type is taxed differently than the other. The strategy is a lot different for the different types of entities.
C-Corporation (After Tax Cut and Jobs Act “TCJA 2018 Tax Reform) is taxed at a flat rate of 21%. C-Corp is also known for its double taxation structure. The corporation itself needs to pay a Corporate Tax, then when the retained earnings are distributed to the shareholders, the shareholders need to pay a Dividend Tax.
S-Corporation is a pass-through business that does not have corporate taxes. Even though S-Corp does not have built-in SE Taxes, but officers are required to take reasonable compensation to pay their shares of payroll taxes.
Partnership / LLC is also a pass-through type of business but the net profit/loss may be required to pay the additional SE Taxes (Social Security and Medicare Taxes).
Strategies and filing requirements are also different for other commonly seen entities:
- Single Member Limited Liability Company (SMLLC)
- Sole-Proprietorship or a DBA
- General Partnership, Limited Partnership or Limited Liability Partnership
- Family Foundation, Charitable Trusts, Gift Tax Return
Business Accounting & Taxes
Accounting
Depending on the type of business and industry, business natural normal determines the accounting method (Cash or Accrual)
In general, the cash method means recognition upon received or paid, while the accrual method means recognition upon completion of a business transaction or service.
Business Expense
An outgoing cash flow is not an “Expense” that cannot be used to reduce an income.
Only when this outgoing cash is of business, income-generating, and fulfill the requirements of Ordinary and Necessary.
This is also further determined based on the business industry.
Payroll Reporting and Taxes
At a federal level, payroll taxes are paid by both the employee 7.65% and the employer 7.65% on the gross payroll. At State-level, taxes would vary state by state. The employees are also required to make a prepayment for year-end income taxes (Federal and State Withholding). The combined employee payroll taxes are retained by the employer and paid to the corresponding government agencies accordingly by the employer.
Sales Tax & Reporting
When you are in the business of “Selling”, most likely a seller’s permit is required. The state of California Sales Tax is separated into Local, County, Distribut, and state-wide rates. A business would need to know the correct tax rates to charge the customer and remit to the tax authority accordingly. When a business under charges sales tax, the difference is to make up by the business. Sales Tax Audit is very common among small businesses.
Bookkeeping
All businesses must generate some type of financial report for year-end income tax filing purposes. It is important for a business to account for each and every business transaction which is then used to compile a financial report. In general, a monthly bookkeeping and financial report is done for most businesses.
Separation of Business and Personal
In general, one of the key functions of a business entity is to provide limited liability, so the shareholder or directors are not personally liable for the business. However, when a business mingles personal and business funds or has serious misconduct, this liability protection may be voided (Piercing the corporate veil). Furthermore, upon a tax audit, business transactions in a business account separated from personal would be the best evidence to substantiate business income/expense claims.
Business Services
Food Service (Restaurant), Construction, Retail, Wholesale, Import, Expense, Franchise, Real Estate, Medical office, Law Firm, Advertising, Creative Artist, Professional Athlete, and more
Compliance Consulting
Domestic Outbound
Foreign Inbound
Individual Tax Identification Number (ITIN)
FBAR and FATCA
Tax Audit
Notice Correspondence
ABC License
International
The United States tax law taxes worldwide income. In addition to worldwide income, information reporting and compliance may also be required. This is a very sensitive topic as the penalties assessed in this regard start from $15,000 and upward.
Domestic Outbound
A U.S. person / Tax Resident is required to report and include income generated anywhere in the world to the U.S. income tax return. The foreign income may be excluded under certain circumstances, or some type of credit is calculated to reduce the doubled taxes income when foreign taxes are paid. In other situations, some income may be doubled taxed. In addition, foreign assets such as foreign bank and financial accounts and foreign business/investment ownerships are also subject to information reporting.
Foreign Inbound
A Non-Resident Alien (NRA) may be required to file a U.S. tax return at a non-resident capacity when NRA either has ownership of U.S. situs assets or generates U.S. sourced income. The NRA is then required to obtain a Tax ID Number (ITIN or EIN) before the NRA can properly report the income or asset. This is especially important when the investment is exiting the U.S. market, certain funds may be withheld by the U.S. tax authorities. The funds won’t be released to the NRA until all the filing requirements and tax liabilities are properly fulfilled.
FBAR (Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts)
This was originated under the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) enacted in 1970. The filing requirements and enforcement were to and by the Internal Revenue Service Department (IRS). Until the year 2001, additional civil is imposed upon failure to file, and when proven willful failure criminal penalties and charges are imposed. Until the year 2016, the filing requirements are no longer to the IRS but directly to the U.S. Department of the Treasury (FinCen).
FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act)
Under the President Obama era, the cracking down on illegal tax evasion using foreign accounts further empowered the IRS to penalize taxpayers who fail to comply with the FATCA requirements
Individual Tax Identification Number (ITIN)
A person can do a lot with a U.S. Tax ID Number; therefore, IRS has strict procedures on who is qualified to apply.
With the global widespread identity theft issues, the procedures to apply for ITIN are especially rigid.
We are the IRS Certified Acceptance Agent (CAA) especially for taxpayers who needs to apply for ITIN