Posts by Morgan Sullivan

Thanks to you both for the input!

The only "employees" involved were us—my parents and me—depending on who was acting as the owner of the small business at any given time.
They’ve both been retired for over a year and a half now, collecting their full benefits, and all the tax liabilities on their records have been settled. As for me, I’m not retiring, nor am I closing the business.

I could wrap my head around them asking for a year of audits, but demanding twelve years of records now? We spent a fortune paying accountants just to manage those meager monthly statements... everything was paid, and we filed every annual report right on schedule per federal law... it feels like there's no end to this.

Even in retirement, my folks can't catch a break; I suspect they'll still be digging up paperwork even after they pass away. Apparently, the law requires these documents to be kept "permanently." I actually received a notice from Medicare & Medicaid Services regarding this.

But "permanently" doesn't exist in the physical universe—how can anyone draft a law that defies the laws of physics?

Thanks again for the help. I'm curious if anyone else has ever had to justify twelve years of history. I was talking to a client from Germany today, and he mentioned they audited ten years of his business; they had to prep all the files, and an official actually came to his house for three straight days to review everything in person. Has anyone else dealt with something like that?

I’m looking for some help, advice, or maybe just someone who’s been through this...

We’ve operated as a family business for over 40 years—it’s always been the same grind, just with different sets of regulations thrown at us. My parents eventually consolidated everything into one entity; at various points, they were owners, then partners, while I was an employee, before finally becoming a partner myself as everyone else phased into retirement. Now, I’m the last one standing.

I just received two separate notices—one for each of them depending on when they held ownership—demanding payroll records, salary summaries, and specific tax forms for every single employee. They aren't asking for much, apparently... except for a full 12-year stretch from 2003 all the way to 2015.

Since that was ages ago, I assumed those records should have been properly archived—and that the IRS would have tracked it all back then. We used to hire an accounting firm because we were registered for sales tax, but now that I’m operating under a simplified tax status, I handle the books myself.

...so, I’m wondering if there’s any way to push back against this requirement. Why on earth are they digging through the distant past when everything was paid in full?

Is it "normal" for them to demand this? What am I supposed to do?

To be honest, I don't even fully grasp what these specific documents are, and I don't exactly have the storage space to go hunting through twelve different filing cabinets. We’re talking hundreds of pages—144 pages of payroll alone. I'm honestly a bit shell-shocked...

Thanks, Jane Doe & John Smith!

Yeah, I finally managed to "grab" my new tax certification yesterday—honestly, I’d already forgotten how to even download it. I went a bit crazy trying to track down the right instructions... (they don't have file extensions when you download them, so if you don't manually add .pdf because you think it's some kind of error... you just end up spiraling through endless loops of IRS card reader manuals and guides...)

It's nice to have confirmation that the folks at the IRS explained exactly what I need to do regarding resetting the register to zero. Appreciate it!

I also handled everything over at Accenture—or, well, I will handle it, since I'm lagging behind on everything, though I wasn't even entirely sure if I was doing it right myself. So, thanks for the reassurance!

Anyway, I'm still a little confused—I'm opening a new ledger now and transferring everything over as if it were a new year... all because the owner description is changing... just so that by the end of the year, I can pull different versions of the P-PPI and such for "before us" versus "after me"?

Is it necessary to file a joppd report when paying out an "advance income" to a business partner?

My partner and I run a joint small business, and since she’s retiring on August 1st, we want to pay her a "portion" directly to her account.

From what I can gather—even though our partnership agreement says we split everything 50/50—nobody actually checks that. So, I suppose I could just pay her some arbitrary amount, leave the rest in the business account, and then basically pay myself later while she never sees another dime...?

I'm also dealing with a massive headache regarding "transferring" the business from a joint venture to a sole proprietorship. It's being treated like a brand-new entity, even though the bank account and tax ID stay exactly the same.

At Synesis, I was already forced to open a "separate" set of books for myself because the IRS insisted I file a distinct joppd for every individual. Even though Synesis was perfectly capable of generating one single joppd for both of us, I had to create two separate ones—essentially acting like there are two different businesses.

Now, I assume I have to open a third set of books, where I first have to "merge" the totals from the previous two, then carry over the balance to continue the year under a new tax ID and all that...?

On top of that, the folks at Fiskal1 told me it isn't possible to just de-register a location and re-register it with a new fiscal certificate. Instead, they archive the old one—effectively losing it—and open a completely new one where the numbering starts back at 1. If an inspector ever shows up, pulling up an old receipt would require their specific service and access to that archived data....
It would be nice if you could just pick up where you left off, especially since nothing is actually changing except the owner's tax ID, but well... here we are.

I don't really see the point of partnerships or business transfers if it ends up requiring the same amount of work as starting from scratch. I mean, I know why they do it, but it still feels unnecessarily convoluted.