‘A Tough Situation Can Get Worse’ Says Ellicott City Accountant
Firstly, I’m here to offer you a friendly reminder: Sunday is Mother’s Day. Do with this reminder what you will 
.
And speaking of moms, if you’ve ever spoken with friends who have had to place their parents into a care facility, you know how difficult the process can be.
I was once asked to weigh in on how to make this decision, so I’ve done so, here. I did some digging, and I believe I’ve put together something helpful — and clear.
(And I know that this isn’t a “normal” topic for a Ellicott City, MD Tax Preparation Business to go into — but I’m not interested in “just” sticking to the script.)
Because for far too many people, the “story” of their lives doesn’t end as well as they might have hoped. Care facilities (when they’re necessary) can be a blessing … and, well, they can be a nightmare. So, to help you make sure that your family (and your friends’ families) make the best decision possible, I’ve put together a two-part series on nursing home placement — and how to do it right.
Feel free to forward this along to anyone who may be affected by these issues. We’re always here to help!
Not Your Normal Ellicott City, MD Tax Professional: Curtin’s Long-Term Care Guide (Part 1)
It’s a fact: most nursing home admissions happen under extremely stressful circumstances.
It’s an overwhelming task to find the best nursing home placement for a loved one, perhaps because, well … where do you even begin?
But, although this is a job that no one wants, it can be done with forethought and confidence that the best decision was made for everyone involved. It’s easier (and better for your loved one), if that first placement is well thought out. Yes–a nursing home resident can be moved from one facility to another, but this type of disruption is rarely in everyone’s best interest, as it can be disturbing on a variety of levels.
So it’s best to do it right–from the beginning.
Here’s a great place to start your search:
The Federal Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has a part of its Web site called “Nursing Home Compare”. Surprisingly (for a government service), it’s actually quite handy:
http://www.medicare.gov/NHCompare
This area of their site identifies facilities that have a history of poor performance–and ones which do well. In fact, the Nursing Home Compare site labels nursing homes it calls “Special Focus Facilities” — those that have repeatedly violated state and federal health and safety rules and that rank in the worst 5 to 10 percent of all inspected facilities in a given state.
You’ll want to cross those off your list from the very beginning.
Using this website, you can see detailed inspection information about each nursing facility that interests you, comparing various government-rated “quality measures” such as:
• Percent of High-Risk Residents Who Have Pressure Sores
• Percent of Residents Who Spend Most of Their Time in Bed or in a Chair
• Percent of Residents Who Have Moderate to Severe Pain
• Percent of Residents Who Were Physically Restrained
• Et cetera.
The site also rates the care and services that each facility provides to its residents, and allows you to view how each facility stacks up in staffing hours for each type of health care worker against the state and national averages.
And there’s other comparison tools available. For example, U.S. News and World Report has recently started providing rankings of America’s nursing homes.
http://health.usnews.com/senior-housing
These rankings rely on the data from the above government site–but they DO provide some advanced search engine capability. Nursing homes are presented in tiers within each star category, based on their total stars in all three of the major areas. The topmost tier, for example, consists only of five-star homes that got 15 stars. The next tier down is five-star homes with 14 total stars, and so on.
Within each tier, nursing homes are listed alphabetically. If you’re looking for a nursing home by location, and turn up too many, search terms can be combined in order to narrow the results. For example, perhaps you want to search just for nursing homes that have a religious affiliation, or that accept Medicaid residents. Or you can launch a multi-pronged search, perhaps searching for non-profit four-star nursing homes that accept Medicaid and are located within 25 miles of a particular city.
However–here’s my big caveat when it comes to just looking at ratings: Nothing can substitute for visiting a nursing home in person. After all, every nursing home will have some deficiencies; working with extremely disabled and impaired persons is very difficult.
So, to find the best possible nursing home for your family’s situation, the first step is to determine what is most important for your family in looking for a facility. And I hope that you would agree that the potential resident’s needs and desires must be included in this evaluation. Consider variables such as location of the facility, whether a special care unit (such as for dementia) is available, and what types of payment sources are accepted.
The second step is to identify the facilities in your area which meet the criteria you have established.
In my next Note, I’ll give you some pointers on how to conduct an on-site tour properly–what to look for, questions to ask, etc.
Ellicott City Accountant answers: “What now?”
The dust is truly beginning to settle around our Ellicott City, MD tax preparation offices after our very busy TY2011 tax season (ok, maybe that’s just pollen).
Regardless, we’re beginning the process of serving you during the “off season”, and evaluating how things went. To that end, I’ve got ONE BIG FAVOR TO ASK:
(If you haven’t already done so) Would you take three minutes, right now, to jot me a quick email about your experience with me and my staff? It really helps us to evaluate our season. Plus, it’s helpful feedback for new and potential clients. I’ve found that I can “promise the moon” with a potential client, but they really want to hear from somebody like YOU.
One more thing on this: could you be as specific as possible? You may not be comfortable disclosing savings amounts, refunds, etc, but as much as you’re willing to share, would be great!
Thanks again…and THANK YOU for trusting us with your finances this year. We know how personal it is to you!
Your Ellicott City Tax Professional ‘s FAQ Guide For After The Tax Return Dust Settles
It’s a familiar feeling.
Relief. Exhilaration (or frustration at having to pay *more* taxes!). Gratitude for a job well done by your preparer.
Unless you’ve filed for an extension, however you feel about your tax return…chances are, it’s done.
But, even now, we do get some questions. So, I thought I would answer some of the basic ones for you. If you have any additional questions, feel free to give us a call (410-203-2201) or send me an email.
We’re here for you!
1. “When will I get my refund?”
Well, the IRS does seem to have entered the 21st century.
If you had us “e-file” your return, you can check your status right now, or if you had us mail a paper return, after about 3 to 4 weeks.
When you’re checking with the following options, make sure you have a copy of your tax return on hand or know your “filing status”, SSN and the exact dollar amount of the anticipated refund.
• Online: Go to IRS.gov and click on Where’s My Refund.
[or go right to: http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=96596,00.html ]
• Automated Phone: Call 1-800-829-4477 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for automated refund information.
• In-Person Phone: Call 1-800-829-1954 during the hours shown in your IRS form instructions. [Of course, the hold time for the IRS is ... somewhat of an issue ]
2. “Do I need to keep a copy of my return?”
Yes, for a *minimum* of three years. There’s all kinds of contexts where it’s useful. We do keep one on file, on your behalf, but it’s just smart and safe for you to keep one in a secure place at home. (I’ve already written about Amended Returns, and you need a copy for that process, of course.)
As for the supporting documents from your return, anything that relates to a home purchase or sale, stock transactions, retirement, business or rental property, should be kept much longer than the three years.
3. “I think there’s a mistake in my return. What should I do?”
Sometimes, you’ll find a receipt or a documentation after April 17th which really would have changed your prior year tax return. That’s, again, when you would have us file an “Amended Return”. Here are some other common reasons to Amend…
• You neglected to report some income earned.
• You claimed deductions or credits you should not have claimed.
• You did not claim deductions or credits you could have claimed.
• You filed under one filing status, but you should have filed under another.
You might have other questions, which I haven’t addressed here. Let me know!
(And don’t forget to write me a quick note about your experience! THANK YOU!)
Ellicott Accountant Explains How To “Reclaim Control Over Your Taxes – Even Old Returns”
Part of me can’t believe that I’m taking the time to write this post, here, Monday morning the 16th (the day before the filing deadline). But I also know if I don’t do it now, this tax season having been so full … well, I’ll admit that we can anticipate a bit of a break being needed come Wednesday .
And, of course, the other part of me (the wiser part) says: “John, helping people with their taxes is only the means to a greater end: enabling your clients to live richer lives, without having to fret about the details.”
My relationship with you (and all of our clients in and outside of the Ellicott City, MD area) is worth the time investment (and more).
And speaking of investments, I know that a fair number of our clients were graciously invited to send their final “investment” to the IRS (and their state) this week.
And some of our clients also received (or will be receiving) a payment from the Treasury, as a sort of “thanks for letting us have your money for a year!” gesture. No interest paid out, of course.
Both of these circumstances are problematic in their own way.
In the following weeks, I’ll be sharing with you how you can fix that — but one of the first (and often overlooked) methods is … well, allow me to elaborate.
Ellicott City, MD’s Most Trusted Tax Professional Explains The First Step To Reclaiming Control Over Your Taxes
Our clients who filed with us this year already feel the peace-of-mind that you were able to claim every possible deduction which is legally allowed in the tax code for 2011. After all, we put each return through an extensive review process to ensure you keep as much of your hard-earned income as the IRS allows.
But what about your friends, both here in Ellicott City, MD and beyond? And what about your previous years?
Well, since the filing deadline is already upon us, they (and you) might think that the proverbial “fat lady” has sung on 2011 returns (and 2010 and 2009). Not so.
Because according to the most recent report on the matter, issued by the General Accounting Office, taxpayers overpay the IRS almost $1 billion every year due to incorrect itemization and preparation.
What’s worse is that those who prepared their own taxes (with a software, or on their own) are the most vulnerable, according to the report. But did you also know that taxpayers who used one of the “big chain” preparers are almost as bad off?
An excerpt from an additional report from the GAO: In a Limited Study, Chain Preparers Made Serious Errors
In GAO (United States Government Accountability Office) visits to chain preparers, paid preparers often prepared returns that were incorrect, with tax consequences that were sometimes significant. Some of the most serious problems involved these preparers…
1. Not reporting business income in 10 of 19 cases;
2. Failing to take the most advantageous post-secondary education tax benefit in 3 out of the 9 applicable cases; and
3. Failing to itemize deductions at all or failing to claim all available deductions in 7 out of the 9 applicable cases.
More clippings from the report:
* The 19 paid preparers we visited arrived at the correct refund amount only twice. On 5 returns, all for the plumber, they understated our refund amount by a total of $3,465.
* All 19 of our visits to tax return preparers affiliated with chains showed problems. Nearly all of the returns prepared for us were incorrect to some degree, and several of the preparers gave us very bad tax advice, particularly when it came to reporting non-W-2 business income. Only 2 of 19 tax returns showed the correct refund amount, and in both of those visits the paid preparer made mistakes that did not affect the final refund amount.
So what can your friends do about this? And what could YOU do about it, if you didn’t have us handle your taxes in prior years? Simple: file an “Amended” Return.
Many tax businesses don’t provide this service, but even though we’ve completed our clients’ returns, we WILL review any of your friends’ returns–at no charge.
See the below special message, for more details…
+++++++++++++++++
“No Charge” Return Review
Special Gift Certificate
As a complimentary service this year, we will provide a Return Review To Any Non-Client.
We will also review prior year returns from clients who did NOT have us handle their taxes during the year under question..
No charge will be made, unless we have to file an amended return.
Email our office or call 410-203-2201 to set up this complimentary service!
Deadline May 4th
+++++++++++++++++
Sending you our affection, through a haze of tax forms…
Ellicott Accountant Discusses “Freedom From Taxes”
It’s the final week of tax season, and our office here in Ellicott City, MD is hopping!
Which isn’t to say that I don’t have the time to step away for a moment and write to you, my friend (if you have all your papers in, and are waiting for our completion — fear not! My team is hard at work, as I type…).
This is often our busiest week of the year (so please be understanding), but it’s also the week when we receive, with clockwork regularity, many questions about extensions.
So, I’ll be clearing that up this week, but before I do so, a few quick unrelated points:
1) Next Tuesday, April 17th is the filing deadline, but it’s ALSO (by actual coincidence) “Tax Freedom Day”. This is the date pegged by the Tax Foundation as the date when you’ve finally worked to pay off your taxes. The rest of the year is “take home” pay. 
2) Don’t forget that April 17th is also the deadline to contribute to IRA’s and HSA’s in order to have them count on this year’s (2011) taxes.
And, onto this week’s Note on Extensions…
Your Ellicott City, MD Tax Professional Tells The Truth About Extensions
Let’s clear some things up with some facts about getting an “extension”.
As you know, Tuesday April 17th is the filing deadline for a federal tax return. If you need more time to get your paperwork complete, you need to file (or have us file on your behalf) Form 4868 (Automatic Extension of Time to File) with the IRS by the end of the day on the 17th. This gives you an automatic six-month (until October 17, 2012) extension of time to file.
Here’s the deal: An “Extension of Time to File” is not an “Extension of Time to Pay”, unfortunately — except for certain cases (more in a moment). In normal circumstances, the Extension simply gives you an automatic six months of additional time to get your paperwork together and file that return. But, if you owe more than what you paid with your estimate, you’ll be accumulating penalties and interest on the difference–so PLEASE don’t take the entire six months to do this!
The exception to this rule is for:
1) Wage earners who have been unemployed at least thirty consecutive days during 2011 or in 2012 up to this year’s April 17 tax deadline; or
2) Self-employed individuals who experienced a 25 percent or greater reduction in business income in 2011 due to the economy.
So, if that’s you — let us know! We’ll get you payment relief.
For the rest of you, when filing your “Extension of Time to File”, you’ll need to estimate what you think you owe to the IRS. This should not be pulling numbers out of thin air (or other various body parts)! You’ll still need to go through your receipts and tax documents and get them “somewhat” organized.
From here, you can estimate both your income and your expenses, and then approximate what you owe Uncle Sam. Keep in mind that this is an ESTIMATE. And, you’ll have to pay what you estimate you owe at the time we file for the extension.
You can do this all electronically through our office, you can mail in the form WITH estimated payment (must be postmarked by the 17th), or you can call a specialized provider and pay by credit card. We can provide you with the appropriate number to call.
And it’s NOT TOO LATE! See below, and come by right away!
To more of your money in your wallet!
+++++++++++++++++
“PROCRASTINATORS ONLY” Special Gift Certificate
$23 Towards Any Tax Service
“Yes, I Have Procrastinated Filing My Taxes This Year … But I Still Want to Protect Myself from All the New Tax Laws and Get MORE Money Back from Uncle Sam with A Peace-Of-Mind Guarantee that’ll Keep Me Sleeping like a Baby when My Taxes are Filed with the IRS!”
Deadline April 17th
Not valid with any other offer
+++++++++++++++++