Posts by Richard Howard55

Brenda Chase3 said:We're all still waiting on updates; we will post as soon as we hear anything. 😉

That’s actually been in the Rulebook (and consequently the codebases) for a while now; it just officially went into effect on January 1st, 2016.

Keith Martinez5 said:Hey everyone! Quick question—could someone clarify which label I should use for "recipient" versus "income" when dealing with a sole proprietor's earnings? I'm trying to get everything squared away while setting up a Sole Proprietorship file in the new module over at Sinesys LLC. Thanks so much!

I assume you mean the Non-profit organization document.

Taxpayer code: 0041 through 0046
Income code: 5801 through 5807

The new setup won't let me enter any codes other than the ones listed above.

Carol Price4 said:Just to add—she was asking about taxes, specifically regarding net income after expenses... in the second year, prepayments kick in once the IRS decision arrives. At least, that's how it's worked for me so far, though I haven't had a chance to dig into the latest tax code changes to see if we need to report those prepayments separately from standard income.🤔

The updated IRS regulations hit my desk today. I'll take a look and let everyone know if I can make sense of any of this. Thanks again!

lili p. 🙂
devilgirl 🙂

Yeah, my brain works like a broken desk fan—I end up dizzying myself half the time, though I usually take everyone else down with me too! 😵

Thanks for clearing that up. So, we just keep calculating the contributions ourselves at the end of the year (and they count as expenses when the business closes), but we still need to figure out how those tax prepayments have been handled since the start of 2016 per IRS regulations.

Carol Price4 said:I totally missed that one—where did you read 🤔

Nowhere. I didn't read it anywhere, but it just follows from the logic you guys taught me:
1. if I follow the cash basis principle and can reduce contributions on the payment date, that can't possibly happen in the first year of business; it would have to start in the second. In year one, the tax base would be overstated in that scenario.
2. if I'm following the cash basis, then I wouldn't be able to reduce the base on December 31st in the final year either.

The first part seems right. As for the second, maybe I don't have enough pieces of the puzzle—I'm not an expert here:

IRS regulations—Section 31, Paragraph 3—describe what qualifies as business expenses during a business dissolution.
It mentions unpaid obligations (to vendors and other business-related liabilities). The common thread is they were incurred by Dec 31 and remain unpaid.
Contribution calculations might only happen the day after.

If it’s true that I can include those, then the final year includes the value of contributions from the last two years under regular payments. So, if the tax is calculated on a base halved by contributions, it somewhat corrects the consequence from year one. "Somewhat," because there could still be discrepancies when looking at each year individually.
If I can't include the contribution in the final year, then once again, the tax base is overstated.

Which of this is actually correct?
How are contributions for the second year of business paid? Again, only at the end of the year?
How is the tax for the second year of business paid? Only at the end of the year?

Please, just answer these three questions and I'll be eternally grateful! 🙂

Haha! Talk about tension!!!🙂
It’s pretty disappointing, honestly. You can't even touch the tax base for paid contributions during that first and final year of running a small business. They really nailed the logic on that one, didn't they?

stormybadger8 said:Is this actually how it works?

Yeah, it's spot on. 🙂

Carol Price4 said:For self-employed contributors, you pay those in 2016—it follows the cash basis, so once the payment goes out, it hits the expenses, 😉 meaning it doesn't count until the following year...

So, does that mean my tax base and local surcharges are just the net difference between what comes in and what goes out?

A colleague was asking me how year-end contributions are calculated. She’s got an office for her licensed engineering practice on top of her regular full-time job. I guess it gets complicated. Maybe.
Carol Price4 explained it all to me. I thought I had everything figured out until yesterday...
Honestly, I’m just completely lost today. Nothing makes sense anymore.

As I understand it, contributions are calculated at year-end based on the difference between total income and expenses. I guess.
Can I find out my totals? And if so, how do I actually pay them? Also... which accounts am I supposed to be using here? 🤔 ),
So, what’s next? How am I supposed to handle this in the KPI? Is this actually following the cash principle, or is it more like an exception—kind of like how we deal with depreciation? I guess I need to know if this gets recorded in the KPI for 2015, even though the filing isn't due until February 28, 2016. Maybe that's the catch.
Fellow accountants, I need some help here. This poor bookkeeper is in a bit of a bind. 😵 🙂

Carol Price4 said:It’s not an error—that's just RIPUP's text. I haven't dug deep into the proposed tax code changes yet, but they probably tucked that in somewhere; I doubt they just made it up out of thin air...

😵😵

If that were actually the case, we could all just collectively decide to fudge a decimal point or two—you know, for our own benefit.
But that’s not happening, since taxes and surcharges are going to be assessed based on the tax return rather than through the payroll filings (shame about 😁).
I guess that little consultant got a bit ahead of himself!

Don't sweat it; the deactivation and reactivation processes don't actually overlap. They operate independently, so even if your old boss hasn't filed the paperwork yet, your new employer can still get you set up.

I’d probably run this by another consulting firm. Maybe there was something specific at play here—some kind of "hidden" detail that triggered that response from the IRS.
He's got me totally stumped. 🤔

Your programmer better watch his step if he actually manages to "crawl" his way out of this mess! 👏
The point is this: forget everything you know about those payout lists!

ruggedmaker2 said:You only track unaccounted time if the employee isn't actually on the premises during their scheduled rest period. So, if they use that 30-minute break to run down to the Department of Justice to pick up an ID or something similar...
If the worker stays on-site during their break because they're just hanging out in the breakroom eating a sandwich, you don't write anything down. 😉

I got lucky—my tracking is all automated through software. Employees clock in on a device, and the program handles the heavy lifting.
I only manually enter things like paid leave, field work, unexcused absences, or partial sick leave.

The absolute bottom line is that your time logs (the number and type of hours worked) MUST match exactly what shows up on the pay stubs.
If your records show an employee worked the night shift for a week, then that exact same detail has to be right there on the paycheck. That’s the first thing the inspectors look for (I was sitting right next to them when they were auditing, so believe me, I know firsthand).

ruggedmaker2, I'm curious how you plan to "squeeze" what you just wrote into the new layout for the pay stubs (especially that bolded part) 😍

At a JPMorgan Chase seminar yesterday, they mentioned the regulations are being overhauled. Honestly, they’ve made a mess of them... 🤣

I’m really not a fan of this move toward daily updates for time logs—we used to have an eight-day window.
As if we aren't already under enough pressure... (I missed a filing deadline once; I paid the fine, but the paperwork was late... now I'm just waiting for the FBI to come knocking).

And then there's this requirement for daily, weekly, and vacation tracking... how are you even supposed to manage that properly? Listening to the lecturer yesterday, I wasn't even sure he knew what he was talking about. He actually claimed that if someone works 8 hours, you log 16 hours of rest... I wouldn't call that particularly logical math 😁, but hey... then again... the guy gets paid to give the seminar, and tomorrow he'll publish a new one, charge us all over again, and tell a completely different story... quite brazen, really.
The whole structure of these working hours is just pure chaos...

And things are going to get even more chaotic once we actually sit down to dig into the new payroll statement requirements (that other set of regulations). Right now, it seems like there's time until July 1st... however... it’s going to be ugly if someone doesn't convince the folks at the Department of Labor to stop messing with things before it's too late. They should leave things alone instead of making them worse than they already are. Instead of improving anything, they're introducing absolute nonsense that's going to hit us right in the head and the wallet (though maybe that's the point).
People, please, read through the regulations and check out what these payroll statements are supposed to look like while there's still time, before everything goes south...

Just strip the negative sign from the other page.
They claim at the training seminars that it’s purely for statistical purposes. Based on how the form is actually designed, you really ought to skip the negative number entirely, since that would be the correct sum of the data from the first page.
But, look, if they refuse—if the IRS decides they won't accept negatives—... just delete it. It's not your problem. 🙂

Brenda Chase3 said:Is anyone else seeing these massive delays with the 2015 tax filings regarding those bottom-tier contributions? It’s a total mess. For some people I know, the payments for social security and unemployment insurance haven't even been posted yet. Then you have others where the paperwork is technically correct and has just been sitting in the queue waiting for processing for five days—so they’ve actually made the payment, but the system hasn't cleared the filing yet. Honestly, it seems like almost everyone is running into some kind of glitch with their tax records. Are they still dragging their feet over there, or what is going on?
What cracks me up most is how inconsistent this is; half the payments were posted instantly—literally the same day—while the other half are nowhere to be found. I’m stuck wondering if I should just sit tight and wait or start blowing up their customer service line.

I don't mean to be alarmist, but missing payments seem weird. Maybe double-check the bank statements and give them a ring.
I've already gone through every single line on my FARC records and everything looks solid. Nothing is missing on my end, which is why I'm asking.

Thanks, unknown 🙂

Diagnosis:
I reported this to NOAA within 24 hours.
The form was processed at NOAA.
It’s been five days, and I haven’t heard anything from Medicare.
I have access to the online health portal.
This is my first time filing under these "new" regulations.

Questions:
1. Am I supposed to get a response within 8 days, since that's legally the deadline for Medicare to process the filing?
2. Will I be able to see the individual's status in SuperJ Client after using these "new" methods, or is that email just a confirmation? In other words, will someone at Medicare manually enter the data into SuperJ on my behalf?
3. What happens if those eight days pass and I have no idea what happened with the Medicare filing? If things got stuck somewhere and the deadline passes, is that on me? Should I have done something else by now?

Why am I asking:
I logged into SuperJ Client intending to register an employee.
After entering their name and SSN, a message popped up: "Person currently holds insured status and must be deregistered first!" 😵

Now I’m stuck wondering—is that message because the social security processing is still ongoing at Medicare, or is the person actually still registered somewhere, meaning the NOAA report hasn't "cleared" them yet?

Help!

Thanks a million! ☕
It’s the weekend, so I’m running a bit behind, I guess. 😍