About Your Money: Big Changes Ahead?

There will be some significant potential consequences on the horizon if Congress allows certain existing tax laws to expire on January 1, 2013. With only a few months left to plan, it’s time for CPAs to be aggressive in educating clients about the decisions they may face.
Several tax changes are now set to occur at the beginning of 2013 if Congress does not act. Among them: Read More

WSJ:China's Economic Growth Slows

BEIJING—China's economic growth decelerated to its slowest pace since the global financial crisis, damping hopes that the world's second largest economy will provide much support for the faltering global outlook and prompting expectations that Beijing will make fresh moves to stimulate growth. Read More

Real Estate Bust is History, WSJ Says

Nearly seven years after the housing bubble burst, most indexes of house prices are bending up. "We finally saw some rising home prices," S&P's David Blitzer said a few weeks ago as he reported the first monthly increase in the slow-moving S&P/Case-Shiller house-price data after seven months of declines. Read More

AICPA Survey: Finances Causing Rifts for American Couples

New York (May 4, 2012) — Financial matters are the most common source of discord among American couples, prompting an average of three arguments per month, according to a national telephone survey conducted for the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) by Harris Interactive. Read More

Global Economic Forecast is Pessimistic

New York (July 10, 2012) – The world’s CEOs, CFOs and senior management accountants have an increasingly negative outlook for the global economy over the next 12 months, according to the CGMA Global Economic Forecast released today by the American Institute of CPAs - Read More

News of Note - Supreme Court Decision On Obamacare

Supreme Court Decision – the New York Times Opinion
The Times called the decision confusing in an OpEd contributed by Richard Epstein, who said “It is not good for the court or the country that the chief justice’s position in such an important case is confused at its core.” Read more

Supreme Court Decision – the Wall Street Journal Opinion
“It's also hard not to notice that people now extolling Justice Roberts for rescuing the court's integrity are largely the same ones who have been impugning it,” the Journal said. Read more

Supreme Court Decision – the Journal of Accountancy
“Roberts concluded that the individual mandate must be construed as imposing a tax on those who do not have health insurance, if such a construction is reasonable, because "every reasonable construction must be resorted to, in order to save a statute from unconstitutionality," Hooper v. California, 155 U.S. 648 (1895).” Read more

So You Think You Have Problems?

The Tax 'Miseducation' of Lauryn Hill
Singer and actress Lauryn Hill, who captured five Grammy awards for her critically acclaimed 1998 album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, has been charged with failing to pay taxes on income totaling $1.8 million. Read more

IRS Prescribes Rules for Health Care FSAs
A new IRS ruling (Notice 2012-40) provides guidance on a pending limit for flexible spending accounts (FSAs). Read more

Is Your Business Headed in the Right Direction? Are You Sure?

If you're like most business owners, your days are filled by efforts to make your company successful. Those tasks might be focused on making a great product, generating sales, or building customer relationships. And you might be great at those things. But how great are you at making money? And how well are you managing your resources? Click here to read more.

Questions? Contact us at Neikirk, Mahoney & Smith CPAs.

Recession might have changed U.S. economic-growth patterns

The recession might have brought about a long-term shift in the parts of the U.S. that enjoy economic growth and those that lag far behind, according to a growing body of research. Areas with the most debt at the peak of the boom in 2006 suffered the severest decline in economic activity when the recession hit and are making a slow comeback, studies found.smartbrief.com