Sean Brady CPA, General Manager
Hello, we’re happy you are joining us for our second newsletter of 2021. We have some great content for you in this issue and look forward to sharing fun and insightful content in upcoming editions.
I planned to open with “spring is finally here”, but considering the weather the last two weeks it seems like summer has arrived early to NEO! Being a native of Cleveland I am happy to take whatever weather we get as long as it does not include freezing rain in the forecast.
With the rebirth of spring, the beautiful weather, and Covid vaccines, life is beginning to feel a lot more “normal”. I never thought I would say this but it feels good to find myself sitting in traffic again, with the traffic it is great to see people out and about and the hustle and bustle resuming.
Though things are beginning to look more like life as we knew it before the pandemic, the truth is that last year was incredibly challenging for so many small businesses and the fallout is still being felt. At DMS our mission is “to help small businesses”. Myself and the DMS team dedicate our careers to providing accounting and advisory services that drive solutions to leverage the small business owner and make their life easier. We feel small businesses are the life-blood of our economy and provide opportunities to so many people in our communities. With this said, be mindful of where and how you shop and where you turn to find products and solutions – please keep in mind all the caring, creative, and innovative small businesses in your community. Most of us who read this newsletter are small business owners ourselves, let’s work together and strive to contract with local vendors.
To help raise awareness of small businesses we plan to showcase our clients or publish contributions from them in upcoming newsletters. If you would like to be featured or provide a contribution please reach out to me. We would love to share your story!
As we move forward, let’s support our communities and neighbors by getting out and having fun by shopping and dining local! I am looking forward to it and I hope to see you out there!
Sean
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Welcome to our Newest Team Member |
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Casey Kirchner is a DMS Staff Accountant with over 7 years of accounting experience including financial statement preparation, account reconciliation, accounts payable and general ledger experience. He has a unique background in accounting having worked in various industries including technology distribution, non-profit, home construction and bakeries. Casey earned his Bachelor's Degree in Accounting and Financial Management from Hiram College.
Casey lives in Sheffield Lake with his wife, Carla, and beagle, Princess Leia, and enjoys fishing and theatre.
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Three Red Flags that Should Prompt a Call
to an Investment Rights Lawyer
John Chapman, Attorney
Chapman|Albin
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If you lose hard-earned savings because the investment professional you hired gives you bad advice, it’s not fair for you to suffer the consequences of that bad advice. There are investment rights lawyers who can help you fight for what is fair. Here are some ‘red flags’ that should get you thinking about calling a lawyer:
1. Your monthly account statement is as fat as a phone book (remember those?) because your broker is buying and selling in your account excessively — this is called churning. It doesn’t make money for you and all of the trading commissions line your broker’s pocket!
2. Your advisor puts you into a product called a “variable annuity” — huge payday for him, lots of expense and downside for you!
3. Investments have their ups and downs, and that’s just the way it is. But if your advisor puts you into one that collapses, goes to zero, and you start hearing words like ‘fraud’ and ‘Ponzi scheme’, red flag! – time to talk to a lawyer. Your broker has to do his homework before recommending anything to you. If he doesn’t, he should pay the consequences, not you.
And remember: you will lose your legal rights if you sit on them too long. Most investor rights lawyers will talk to you and review your situation without charge. So, if you think you’ve been wronged, pick up the phone!
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About the author
In 1998, Attorney John Chapman established Chapman|Albin to concentrate on representing investors who have been harmed as a result of broker misconduct. Over the years, he and his colleagues have recovered tens of millions in lost savings for more than a thousand American investors. John is a delegate for the Sixth Circuit Judicial Conference and has chaired the Cleveland Bar Association Committee on Character and Fitness to Practice Law. He has been recognized by Martindale-Hubble with an AV Peer Review rating, denoting the highest level of professional and ethical standing. He is a frequent speaker at public forums on issues relating to investment fraud.
ChapmanAlbin LLC
700 West St. Clair Avenue
Suite 200
Cleveland, OH 44113
216-241-8172
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QuickBooks Tip:
Get Started with Tags
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Tags and Tag Groups can give you better insights from QuickBooks Online when it comes to examining income and expenses.
Tags are:
> Customizable - label and track transactions however you like
> Flexible - they do not impact your books
> Great to use for customized reporting
Tags are not:
> Classes, categories, or locations
Learn more about getting started with Tags, and talk to your DMS representative about setting up tags so that you can more easily track and report on items that matter most to you.
Maria Angotti
Chief Onboarding Officer, QuickBooks Certified ProAdvisor
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Making Sense of the Employee Tax Credit
Corrigan Krause CPAs
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The American Rescue Plan Act signed into law March 11, 2021 extended and expanded the employee retention tax credit to December 31, 2021 to eligible employers who retained employees during the COVID-19 pandemic.
What is the Employee Retention Tax Credit?
The employee retention tax credit is a refundable tax credit that employers can claim based on qualified wages, including certain health insurance costs, they paid to employees.
Who Qualifies for the Employee Retention Tax Credit?
Qualifying standards have changed over the months (see below), but as a baseline, qualification is determined by one of two factors. One of these factors must apply to the calendar quarter the employer would like to claim the credit:
1. A trade or business that was fully or partially suspended or had to reduce business hours due to a government order. The credit applies only for the portion of the quarter the business is suspended, not the entire quarter.
Based on IRS guidance, some businesses do not meet this first factor and would not qualify.
Businesses that are considered essential, unless they have their supply of critical materials/goods disrupted in a way that negatively affected their ability to continue to operate and businesses closed, but still able to continue operations mostly intact through telework still may qualify if they experience the second factor:
2. An employer that has a significant decline in gross receipts in 2020 or 2021 compared to the same quarter in 2019.
What Wages Qualify for the Employee Retention Tax Credit?
Generally, wages that are subject to FICA taxes and qualified health expenses can be included when an employer calculates the employee retention credit. These wages must have been paid after March 12, 2020 and, now through to December 31, 2021. Depending on the circumstances, the IRS has multiple ways to calculate qualified health expenses.
To start determining the qualified wages that can be claimed, and employers needs to determine how many full-time employees they have. For the employee retention credit, a full-time employee is any employee who worked at least 30 hours per week or 130 hours in a month in any calendar month of 2019.
The employee retention credit cannot be claimed for wages that are expected to be forgiven under a Paycheck Protection Plan loan or other Covid-relief programs.
What Are My Next Steps?
DMS and the Corrigan Krause Coronavirus Crisis Team (CKCCT) remains available to help walk you through the sometimes complex and confusing employee retention tax credit. Please reach out to your DMS representative or to ckcrisisteam@corrigankrause.com anytime to get the help you need to ensure you receive the tax credits you’re entitled to.
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About Corrigan Krause
Corrigan Krause is a mid-size CPA firm located in Westlake, Ohio, specializing in servicing closely-held businesses since 1989. With a team of over 70 individuals, Corrigan Krause provides various accounting, tax, compliance, and consulting solutions to the challenges that small companies face in the ever-changing business environment. Corrigan Krause is also an independent member of MSI Global Alliance, a worldwide organization of professional accounting firms and business advisors in more than 100 countries.
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Linda McWilliams and her husband Rick celebrated the birth of their first grandchild Emily Claire, born on March 25th.
Laura Granito and her husband Vince attended their son Andrew's swearing-in ceremony as a new firefighter with the Westlake Fire Department on March 26th.
Congratulations to Denise Levine and Val Mechenbier, proud moms of Spring 2021 graduates of The Ohio State University.
Maria Angotti's daughter is a 2021 Vermilion High School graduate and is heading to Ohio University this fall.
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Follow DMS on our newest social media channels:
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