Dec 24, 2024
2024 Client Letter
2024 Client Letter
Happy Holidays Everyone!
We hope this letter finds you in good health, and enjoying the holiday season with family and friends. This is our annual update for the 2024 tax season (tax returns to be filed in 2025).
There have been many changes over the past year, and we want to keep you posted on both the happenings in the office as well as key tax issues we are seeing for this year.
The Asmus Tax team members are Gordy, Paula, Cheyanne, Amy, Jennifer, & Zibbey. As we have included detail of each team members’ role in past newsletters, we won’t repeat that section this year, but you are welcome to visit our Team page at asmustax.com to learn a little more about each of us.
Please note: The best way to reach Gordy is to call the office at 218-463-3005 to get a message to him. If you prefer to e-mail Gordy, please always CC cheyanne@asmustax.com. As Gordy can receive anywhere from 20-100 calls and hundreds of e-mails each day, it is important for us as a team to provide the quickest response time for our clients. Please do not call Gordy’s cell phone as he is usually either in a meeting or on a call, and you will not be able to leave a voicemail.
Speaking of “team,” we want to remind you we all really do work together as a team, especially when it comes to tax returns. Each staff member plays a part in making sure your tax return is prepared accurately and filed on a timely basis. Please know that you can be comfortable communicating with any of our team members, and that Gordy and Paula are kept in the loop.
If a member of our team has contacted you, please understand we are a nationwide business and need your assistance in promptly responding to our communication. Know that it is your responsibility as the taxpayer to respond and provide your preparer with the information necessary to complete a timely and accurate tax return. If we have made multiple attempts to contact you, and have received no response, your tax return will be automatically extended.
With the goal of timely and accurately prepared tax returns in mind, we continue to tweak our tax return process in order to better serve you. As a reminder, it is rarely necessary to actually meet with Gordy or Paula to have your tax return prepared. Dropping off, e-mailing, faxing, or mailing your tax documents to the office works very well, and we will always call you to review any questions we have before finalizing your return.
To optimize Gordy’s time this year, meetings during tax season will only be scheduled when absolutely necessary. Gordy will also not be traveling to the Twin Cities for any meetings during tax season. The travel time alone simply eats up too much valuable time and energy that needs to be spent on completing tax returns. We get it! He’s a great guy, and he enjoys meeting with you too! However, spending an hour with each client during tax season simply isn’t feasible. We are happy to schedule a meeting outside of tax season if you’d like to visit with him.
With that said, please know you will always receive a review call from Gordy, Paula, or Cheyanne with any questions and/or once your tax return is complete. If, at that time, a need for an in-office or Zoom meeting is determined, a brief meeting will be scheduled for you.
Once the preparer has reviewed your tax return with you, the return is then passed on to our final processing team to review all entries (and correct any human errors that may occur) before printing/e-mailing your return and any documents requiring signature before e-filing. Depending on the current workload, this final quality check may take some time, but we will get your tax return finalized as soon as we possibly can.
Getting your tax return documents to us
As more and more clients have become comfortable with electronic delivery of tax documents, we remind you how important it is to deliver your documents to us in a secure way in order to prevent identity theft. Please do not ever take a picture of your tax document on your phone, and text it us. This is just an invitation for a hacker to nab your social and other personal information and use it for all kinds of things that spell disaster. Instead, please contact the office and ask us to e-mail you a secure link for uploading your documents. If scanning & e-mailing isn’t your thing, faxing is just as secure. If you opt to mail your original tax documents to us, we highly recommend utilizing a tracking method so you can verify they have been received by our office. If you have any questions regarding best practices for the delivery of your tax documents, please don’t hesitate to call.
Payment Policy Update
For the great majority of you who promptly pay for services, we want to send a huge THANK YOU! Over the years, however, we have encountered increasing difficulties in collecting payments from some of our clients. Due to this challenge, we have deemed it necessary to put a new policy in place.
As of 1/1/2025, we will require full payment for tax returns before the returns will be e-filed.
Once it has been processed, you will receive a copy of your tax return, signature forms authorizing us to e-file & confirming your bank account information, and an invoice for the completed tax preparation services. You are welcome to pay by check, cash, credit card, or authorize us to debit the bank account we have on file for your tax return payments/refunds. As a reminder, we cannot deduct our service fees from your tax refund.
Engagement Letters
One additional change we will be implementing this year, is that we will be providing all clients with Engagement Letters to be signed before work will begin on any tax return. If you are not familiar with that term, an engagement letter simply states the services Asmus Tax will provide, the responsibilities of the client, and our payment policy. The vast majority of our clients will be e-mailed a link to this letter which can be electronically signed. Please watch for an e-mail from Zibbey Thompson, which will include the link to the engagement letter. We would like this signed and returned asap, so it is on file once we receive your 2024 tax documents. If you do not have electronic signature capabilities, please call our office at 218-463-3005, and we will mail you a copy.
Federal and State Regulatory News:
1. We continue to see the amounts and enforcement of tax penalties increase dramatically. Please remember, an extension to file is not an extension to pay. The best way to avoid penalties, when extending your return, is to pay at least 100% of your prior year’s total tax by the due date of the return. We often think of March 1st as the filing deadline for farmers, but it’s actually just the due date if you have not paid estimated tax throughout the year. If you pay your estimated tax by January 15th, you have until April 15th to file your return. If you need to extend your return, and are unsure of the amount of tax payment you should send prior to the due date, please contact us.
2. We have seen several Minnesota audits come through in 2024, and one major area of focus is mileage logs. If your personal vs business mileage is not documented, it is NOT allowed according to the auditors. Please look into different mileage recording apps for your phone, or keep a log in the glove box of your vehicle. Cheyanne did a little research on different mileage apps, and https://mileiq.com appears to be a good one, if you are looking for a recommendation.
3. Due to increases in identity theft, the IRS is recommending taxpayers take advantage of their Identity Protection (IP PIN) program. We have also dealt with numerous cases of dependents incorrectly being claimed by both parents. This causes e-file rejections, that generally take months to straighten out. An IP PIN for children, in these cases, may have prevented the e-file error. For more info regarding IP PINs, please see https://www.irs.gov/identity-theft-fraud-scams/get-an-identity-protection-pin or call the office.
4. The IRS tax law changes for 2024 are in the books, and not expected to change much. We expect a very active year with tax changes in 2025 as numerous tax laws are set to expire in 2025. We will keep you updated on these as they are addressed. A couple of items on the agenda for change in 2025 are:
a. Adjustments on estate reporting
b. Accelerated Depreciation - Both Section 179 and Bonus depreciation limits are set to decrease.
Tax Law & Office Updates:
1. The standard mileage rate for 2024 is 67 cents per mile; up 1.5 cents since 2023. If you are claiming a mileage deduction, please be sure to have a mileage log in place.
2. There have been recent developments in the Beneficial Ownership Information Report (BOIR) requirements. At this time, all corporations and LLC’s registered with the Secretary of State now have the voluntary option to file this form. To stay up to date on BOIR requirements, please visit https://fincen.gov/boi .
3. Our team at Asmus Tax has been working hard to position ourselves to start working on tax returns in early January to set us up for a successful tax season. In the past, business returns have been delayed due to late receipt of documents, such as 1099’s and K-1’s. We expect to see these forms issued on a more timely basis this year, and are looking forward to getting a running start on the season.
4. For all businesses, the sooner we receive your year-end financial statements, the quicker we can complete your tax return. If we handle your bookkeeping, we will be completing the financial statements as early as possible, so we can complete your tax return by or well before the deadlines.
Service Fees & Referral Discounts:
1. Business Clients (Schedules C, E and F) please provide a 1-2 page summary of your income and expenses. If there is a stack of receipts or papers to be reviewed, please know we must charge for the bookkeeping time involved in the scanning and categorizing of receipts.
2. Please know that we welcome questions throughout the year. If you have an in-depth question that requires research, and IRS phone call, or a meeting such as tax planning, business planning, or business setup, we do need to charge a fee for our time. However, if you have just a quick question you’d like to ask over the phone, we do not charge a fee.
3. Just a reminder that we do offer referral discounts! For every new client referred to us, you will receive a $50 credit on your account once the new client’s invoice has been paid. Last year we filed returns in over 20 states. Keep in mind we can serve clients nationwide!
Important Deadlines to Remember:
· January 31st – All payroll tax returns must be filed and paid. All W-2’s and 1099’s must be delivered to recipients and filed with the IRS and state. If we assist you with any of these items, please submit your information ASAP to allow adequate processing time.
· March 3rd – Farm tax returns due unless you paid previous year estimated taxes by January 15th.
· March 17th – S-Corporation (1120-S) and Partnership (1065) tax returns due.
· April 15th – Individual (1040) and Corporation (1120) tax returns due.
Please wait to send tax return information until you have received all 1099 and W-2 income forms. HOWEVER, once you have received everything, the sooner you can get the info to us the better.
Thank you for your continued patronage, and enjoy the holidays everyone!
Sincerely,
The Asmus Team