Zoho Expands Free Edition of Zoho CRM to Ten Users for Businesses

Zoho today expanded Zoho CRM Free Editionby packing it with new features and making it available for up to ten users as it celebrates ten years of the product launch. The move is significant because companies with ten or fewer employees comprise more than 90 percent of U.S. businesses.

“Over the past decade, CRM software has become one of the most critical applications for businesses of all sizes. Yet, the majority of CRM solutions do not meet the price or ease-of-use requirements of many small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs),” said Zoho Evangelist Raju Vegesna. “To fill this gap, ten years ago, Zoho launched Zoho CRM Free Edition, which offered a feature-rich CRM for up to three users free. Today, we renewed our commitment to SMBs by expanding the Free Edition to an unprecedented ten free users.”

In addition to increasing the number of free users to ten, Zoho has revved up the Free Edition with more features providing a powerful experience. The new features include:

• A document management module to safely share proposals, competitive analysis and other sales collateral
• Security administration capabilities to set profiles, roles and permissions
• Support for up to 25,000 customer records
• Seamless integration with complimentary Zoho apps like Campaigns, Support, SalesIQ, Reports, Survey and Projects

“Most customers are cynical of so-called free products because they assume there has to be a catch. But, Zoho’s commitment to free is real and enduring. In fact, we recently strengthened our free editions for Zoho Mail,Zoho Sites and Zoho Connect,” added Vegesna. “And, unlike bait-and-switch free offerings, Zoho’s free editions are developed with the same craftsmanship as our enterprise editions.”

Availability

Zoho CRM’s 10-user Free Edition is available immediately. Existing Zoho CRM users currently using the Free Edition will automatically be upgraded to the 10-user free edition.

For more information on Zoho CRM Free Edition, please visithttps://www.zoho.com/crm/smb/, and for more information on Zoho, visit http://www.zoho.com. To get breaking Zoho news, follow the company on Twitter at @zoho and on Facebook athttp://www.facebook.com/zoho. The latest news about Zoho products is available on the company blog, http://blogs.zoho.com.

Tax Planning for Wealthy Clients

Maddy Perkins for Financial-Planning writes: With the top income tax rate at 39.6%, advisors need to be savvy about the tax-saving strategies they utilize for their high net-worth-clients. 

Given the income tax rate, tax bracket management is increasingly important, Bob Keebler, a Green Bay, Wisc.-based CPA, told attendees at the 2015 AICPA Personal Financial Planning Conference. In many ways, he said, finding a tax edge for clients in higher brackets -- particularly the 35%, 33% and 28% brackets -- is increasingly difficult.

"Good money managers may be able to find tax alpha," Keebler said. "But year-over-year, it’s difficult to create."

His two biggest suggestions for advisors? Utilize Roth conversions where applicable and don't shy away from life insurance as a tax-savings plan.

ROTH IRAs: PAY ATTENTION TO STATE LAWS

If you're up against estate taxes, Roth IRAs can be more efficient and are great options for many clients, Keebler said. But, it's important to pay attention to state income tax laws when converting -- especially when clients plan on moving for their retirement.

"When you're thinking Roth conversions, most of our thinking and writing has stopped at federal law," he said. "That's wrong.

"We have to look at estate tax, federal and state estate tax, and we have to look at the dynamics of the state income tax," he added. SNIP - the article continues @ Financial Planning, click here to continue reading...

Intuit buys cash management startup ZeroPaper to push QuickBooks in Brazil

Harrison Weber for VentureBeat.com writes: This morning Intuit, maker of accounting software, announced it has acquired ZeroPaper, also a maker of accounting software.

The deal gets interesting when you consider ZeroPaper’s origin: Brazil. In a statment, Intuit outlines how it bought itself traction in Brazil: “ZeroPaper’s focus on serving small businesses in Brazil will help accelerate Intuit’s entry into this large market. The transaction helps Intuit establish itself in Brazil, the seventh largest economy in the world with more than 16 million small businesses,” the company said.

As for the reason behind Intuit’s need to expand in Brazil, the company is clearly looking to get in there before it’s too late. Younger international competitors, like FreshBooks, already offer Portuguese-language support, but none appear to have made major moves in the market — yet.

The Health Care Law - Getting Ready to File Your Tax Return

It’s always a good idea to prepare early to file your federal income tax return.  Certain provisions of the Affordable Care Act – also known as the Health Care Law – will probably affect your federal income tax return when you file this year. 

You or your tax professional should consider preparing and filing your tax return electronically.  Using tax preparation software is the easiest way to file a complete and accurate tax return. There are a variety of electronic filing options, including free volunteer assistance, IRS Free File for taxpayers who qualify, commercial software, and professional assistance. 

Here are five things you should know about the health care law that will help you get ready to file your tax return. 

Coverage requirements

The Affordable Care Act requires that you and each member of your family havequalifying health insurance coverage for each month of the year, qualify for an exemption from the coverage requirement, or make an individual shared responsibility payment when filing your federal income tax return.

Reporting requirements

Most taxpayers will simply check a box on their tax return to indicate that each member of their family had qualifying health coverage for the whole year. No further action is required. Qualifying health insurance coverage includes coverage under most, but not all, types of health care coverage plans. Use the chart on IRS.gov/aca to find out if your insurance counts as qualifying coverage. 

For a limited group of taxpayers -those who qualify for, or received advance payments of the premium tax credit - the health care law could affect the amount of tax refund or the amount of money they may owe when they file in 2015. Visit IRS.gov/aca to learn more about the premium tax credit.

Exemptions

You may be eligible to claim an exemption from the requirement to have coverage.  If you qualify for an exemption, you will need to complete the new IRS Form 8965, Health Coverage Exemptions, when you file your tax return.   You must apply for some exemptions through the Health Care Insurance Marketplace.  However, most of the exemptions are easily obtained from the IRS when you file your tax return. Some of the exemptions are available from either the Marketplace or the IRS.

If you receive an exemption through the Marketplace, you’ll receive an Exemption Certificate Number to include when you file your taxes. If you have applied for an exemption through the Marketplace and are still waiting for a response, you can put “pending” on your tax return where you would normally put your Exemption Certificate Number.

Individual Shared Responsibility Payment

If you do not have qualifying coverage or an exemption for each month of the year, you will need to make an individual shared responsibility payment when you file your return for choosing not to purchase coverage. Examples and information about figuring the payment are available on the IRS Calculating the Payment page.

Premium Tax Credits

If you bought coverage through the Health Insurance Marketplace, you should receive Form 1095-A, Health Insurance Marketplace Statement from your Marketplace by early February. Save this form because it has important information needed to complete your tax return. 

If you are expecting to receive Form 1095-A and you do not receive it by early February, contact the Marketplace where you purchased coverage.  Do not contact the IRS because IRS telephone assistors will not have access to this information.

If you benefited from advance payments of the premium tax credit, you must file a federal income tax return. You will need to reconcile those advance payments with the amount of premium tax credit you’re entitled to based on your actual income. As a result, some people may see a smaller or larger tax refund or tax liability than they were expecting.  When you file your return, you will use IRS Form 8962, Premium Tax Credit (PTC), to calculate your premium tax credit and reconcile the credit with any advance payments.

For more information about the Affordable Care Act and your 2014 income tax return, visit IRS.gov/aca.

How to deduct health-insurance premiums

Bill Bischoff for MarketWatch writes: With the ever-increasing cost of health care, you should be ever-vigilant in looking for chances to claim tax breaks for medical expenses. Here’s the story on health-insurance premiums that you can potentially deduct on your 2014 return.

Deductible medical expenses

As an individual taxpayer, you can potentially claim an itemized deduction for qualified medical expenses, including health-insurance premiums. However, to actually claim a deduction on your 2014 return, your total qualified expenses, including eligible health insurance premiums, must exceed 10% of your adjusted gross income (AGI) or 7.5% of AGI if you, or your spouse if you are married, was age 65 or older as of Dec. 31, 2014. AGI is the number at the bottom of the first page of your Form 1040; it includes all taxable income items and selected deductions such as alimony paid, student loan interest (up to $2,500), and moving expenses.

If your total qualified medical expenses don’t exceed the applicable percent-of-AGI threshold, you get no write-off. Sorry. That’s why it’s important to identify all qualified expenses that you can throw in the pot, including health-insurance premiums.

General rule for deductible health-insurance premiums

In the medical expense pot, you can include premiums for health policies that cover doctors and hospitals (so-called major medical coverage), dental care, vision care, and specialized health policies that cover things like accidents and cancer. You cannot deduct premiums for insurance that cover loss of limbs or loss of earnings due to illness or injury.

Premiums for Medicare insurance

Just a couple of years ago, the IRS finally admitted that Medicare insurance premiums count as qualified health premiums for purposes of the itemized deduction for medical expenses. Some tax pros, including yours truly, had long believed this to be true, but the Form 1040 instructions and IRS publications provided no support. Now they do (see IRS Publication 502, Medical and Dental Expenses at the IRS website.) There are several different kinds of Medicare insurance. Here are the details.

Medicare Part A is commonly called hospital insurance coverage. Most eligible individuals are automatically covered for Part A without having to pay premiums because the Part A premiums are considered to be paid from Medicare taxes on wages while the individual (or spouse) was working. However, some individuals must pay premiums to get Part A coverage. If that’s your situation, the Part A premiums for 2014 could have been up to $426 a month per covered person (up to $5,112 per person for the whole year).

Medicare Part B is commonly called medical insurance coverage, and Part B together with Part A is often called “original” Medicare. Part B mainly covers doctors and outpatient services, and most people must pay monthly premiums for this Medicare cornerstone. For 2014, most folks paid the standard Part B premium of $104.90 a month ($1,259 per person for the whole year). Higher income individuals could have paid up to $335.70 a month for 2014 (up to $4,028 per person). As you can see, we can be talking about significant dollars here — especially if you are married and both you and your spouse paid Part B premiums last year.SNIP.  The article continues @ MarketWatch, click here to continue reading...

Dependency deduction

Barry Dolowich for the Monterey Herald writes: Question:  My son turned 24 during 2014 and is a graduate student at Berkeley. He is also completely financially dependent on me. I pay all his tuition and most of his living expenses. He works part time and earns about $5,000. Will I be able to claim him as a dependent on my 2014 tax returns?

A For 2014, the deduction to arrive at taxable income for each dependency exemption is $3,950.

Five tests must be met before an exemption for a dependent is allowed:

1. The child must be younger than the taxpayer, must be under age 19 at the close of the calendar year or a full-time student under age 24 at the end of the calendar year;

2. Over half of the dependent’s total support for the calendar year must have been furnished by the taxpayer. Please note that untaxed income is included in this test (tax-free income, nontaxable Social Security benefits, etc.);

3. The dependent must be an immediate family member (son, daughter, mother or father) or an ancestor of either the mother or father. Adopted children, “step” relatives, in-laws and half-blood relations may also qualify as dependents. Additionally, a person who, during the taxpayer’s entire tax year, lives in the taxpayer’s home and is a member of the taxpayer’s household may also be claimed as a dependency exemption;

4. The dependent must not have filed a joint return with his or her spouse; and

5. The child must have the same principal place of abode as the taxpayer for more than one-half of the year.

There are other ways to have your son qualify as a dependent. However, he would need to earn less than $3,950 (the 2014 exemption amount). Because your son reached age 24 during 2014 and he earns more than $3,950 per year, you will not be able to claim him as a dependent regardless of your financial support.

Please note that there are special rules for claiming exemptions for children of divorced parents and children who share the cost of supporting their parents.

Income Tax Credits Explained / Learn How Tax Credits Can Reduce What You Owe

Jason Summers for IRS.com writes: A tax credit is a dollar-for-dollar reduction in the amount of tax that you owe. For example, a $500 tax credit will save you $500 in taxes.

On the other hand, a tax deduction merely reduces your taxable income. The amount of your tax deduction is equal to the percentage of your marginal tax bracket. For example, if you are in the 25% tax bracket, a $500 tax deduction will save you $150 in taxes (because $500 x 25% = $150).

Tax credits are claimed on your income tax return — on the second page of IRS Form 1040, after you report your earnings and calculate your AGI (adjusted gross income).

>> FREE: E-File Your Taxes Today

For individual taxpayers, there are two main types of tax credits: refundable tax credits and non-refundable tax credits.

Non-Refundable Tax Credits

The most common tax credits are non-refundable tax credits. Non-refundable tax credits reduce the amount of tax that you owe, however, they cannot reduce your tax liability beyond zero. Additionally, non-refundable tax credits cannot be used to offset Self-Employment Tax or tax on withdrawals from IRAs and other qualified retirement plans.

Popular non-refundable tax credits include the following:

• Foreign Tax Credit
• Child and Dependent Care Credit
• Education tax credits
• Retirement Savings Credit
• Child Tax Credit
• Energy Savings tax credits

In many cases, you are required to submit a separate/additional form or schedule to verify your eligibility for a tax credit.

Your non-refundable tax credits are tallied on Lines 48–54 of Form 1040. Line 55 is the sum of your credits, and Line 56 is your tax liability after taking those credits into account. On Line 56, it says that if your total credits (Line 55) are more than your tax (Line 47), you should enter “0”.

Refundable Tax Credits

Refundable tax credits can reduce the amount you owe to beyond zero, even resulting in a tax refund. There are three popular refundable tax credits that can be found on Form 1040:

The most commonly used refundable tax credit is the Earned Income Credit (EIC). This credit is claimed on Line 66a of Form 1040.

The Additional Child Tax Credit is designed for lower income individuals who were unable to take advantage of the full Child Tax Credit because they did not owe enough tax. This credit is claimed on Line 67 of Form 1040.

The American Opportunity Tax Credit (AOTC) helps qualified taxpayers to offset the costs of higher education and is worth up to $2,500. This credit can be claimed on Line 68 of Form 1040.

Refundable tax credits are reported in the “Payments” section of your 1040 tax return, along with Federal income tax withheld and quarterly Estimated Tax payments. Since they are classified as payments, refundable tax credits can also help offset your self-employment tax and qualified retirement plan distribution tax.

Tax Forms 1040A and 1040EZ

On Form 1040A, you can claim most of the credits that are available on Form 1040. This includes the credit for child and dependent care expenses, credit for the elderly or disabled, retirement savings contribution credit, education credits, and the child tax credit. 1040A filers may also claim the Earned Income Credit, the Additional Child Tax Credit, and the American Opportunity Tax Credit.

Note that the only tax credit that you can claim on Form 1040EZ is the Earned Income Tax Credit.

Tax Credit Resources

You can use the following IRS publications to determine your eligibility for these common tax credits:

• IRS Publication 514 (Foreign Tax Credit for Individuals): PDF
• IRS Publication 503 (Child and Dependent Care Expenses): PDF
• IRS Publication 970 (Tax Benefits for Education): PDF
• IRS Publication 972 (Child Tax Credit): PDF
• IRS Publication 596 (Earned Income Credit, EIC): PDF

For more information about tax credits, please refer to Part Six of IRS Publication 17 (Your Federal Income Tax).

Working Abroad Can Yield Tax-Free Income

Nail McKinney Professional Association writes: Article Highlights:

• Tax-Free Income from Working Abroad
• Foreign Earned Income & Housing Exclusions 
• Foreign Self-Employment Income 
• Claiming or Revoking the Exclusion 

U.S. citizens and resident aliens are taxed on their worldwide income, whether the person lives inside or outside of the U.S. However, qualifying U.S. citizens and resident aliens who live and work abroad may be able to exclude from their income all or part of their foreign salary or wages, or amounts received as compensation for their personal services. In addition, they may also qualify to exclude or deduct certain foreign housing costs. 

To qualify for the foreign earned income exclusion, a U.S. citizen or resident alien must: o Have foreign earned income (income received for working in a foreign country); 

• Have a tax home in a foreign country; and 
• Meet either the bona fide residence test or the physical presence test. 

The foreign earned income exclusion amount is adjusted annually for inflation. For 2015, the maximum foreign earned income exclusion is up to $100,800 per qualifying person. If taxpayers are married and both spouses (1) work abroad and (2) meet either the bona fide residence test or the physical presence test, each one can choose the foreign earned income exclusion. Together, they can exclude as much as $201,600 for the 2015 tax year, but if one spouse uses less than 100% of his or her exclusion, the unused amount cannot be transferred to the other spouse. 

In addition to the foreign earned income exclusion, qualifying individuals may also choose to exclude or deduct from their foreign earned income a foreign housing amount. The amount of qualified housing expenses eligible for the housing exclusion and housing deduction is limited, generally, to 30% of the maximum foreign earned income exclusion. For 2015, the housing amount limitation is $30,240 for the tax year. However, the limit will vary depending on where the qualifying individual's foreign tax home is located and the number of qualifying days in the tax year. The foreign earned income exclusion is limited to the actual foreign earned income minus the foreign housing exclusion. Therefore, to exclude a foreign housing amount, the qualifying individual must first figure the foreign housing exclusion before determining the amount for the foreign earned income exclusion. 

Before you become overly excited, foreign earned income does not include the following amounts: 

• Pay received as a military or civilian employee of the U.S. Government or any of its agencies. 
• Pay for services conducted in international waters (not a foreign country). 
• Pay in specific combat zones, as designated by a Presidential Executive Order, that is excludable from income. 
• Payments received after the end of the tax year following the year in which the services that earned the income were performed. 
• The value of meals and lodging that are excluded from income because it was furnished for the convenience of the employer. 
• Pension or annuity payments, including social security benefits. 

A qualifying individual may also claim the foreign earned income exclusion on foreign earned self-employment income. The excluded amount will reduce his regular income tax, but will not reduce his self-employment tax. Also, the foreign housing deduction - instead of a foreign housing exclusion - may be claimed. 

A qualifying individual claiming the foreign earned income exclusion, the housing exclusion, or both, must figure the tax on the remaining non-excluded income using the tax rates that would have applied had the individual not claimed the exclusions. In other words, the exclusion is off-the-bottom, not off-the-top. 

Once the foreign earned income exclusion is chosen, a foreign tax credit, or deduction for taxes, cannot be claimed on the income that can be excluded. If a foreign tax credit or tax deduction is claimed for any of the foreign taxes on the excluded income, the foreign earned income exclusion may be considered revoked. 

Other issues: 

Earned income credit - Once the foreign earned income exclusion is claimed, the earned income credit cannot be claimed for that year. 

Timing of election - Generally, a qualifying individual's initial choice of the foreign earned income exclusion must be made with one of the following income tax returns: 

• A return filed by the due date (including any extensions); 
• A return amending a timely-filed return; 
• Amended returns generally must be filed by the later of 3 years after the filing date of the original return or 2 years after the tax is paid; or 
• A return filed within 1 year from the original due date of the return (determined without regard to any extensions). 

A qualifying individual can revoke an election to claim the foreign earned income exclusion for any year. This is done by attaching a statement to the tax return revoking one or more previously made choices. The statement must specify which choice(s) are being revoked, as the election to exclude foreign earned income and the election to exclude foreign housing amounts must be revoked separately. If an election is revoked, and within 5 years the qualifying individual wishes to again choose the same exclusion, he must apply for approval by requesting a ruling from the IRS. 

Are you looking for foreign employment or has an opportunity already presented itself to you? Before you make your final decision, please call our office to learn more about the foreign earned income and housing allowance exclusions, or how to meet the bona fide residence or physical presence tests.