Xero Releases iPhone App for Xero Personal

Sholto Macpherson for Box IT writes: Xero has updated its cloud accounting program for individuals, Xero Personal, with an iPhone app. The Xero Personal for iPhone app used bar charts to show whether the user was within budget for spending categories such as entertainment, eating out, clothing, as well as saving.

“Xero Personal for iPhone gives you a picture of your finances on the go, allowing to see at a glance your progress against your spending and savings goals, to set up categorisation rules for new transactions, and see transactions across all of your bank accounts, whether you bank with one bank or four,” Xero said in a blog post.

Xero has signalled that mobile applications would be an area of focus. The company changed its direction on mobile development by deciding to write native applications for Apple’s mobile operating system iOS and Google’s Android.

Xero recently established the School of Mobile, a training program for experienced developers looking to transition into mobile apps.
Accounting software company Reckon, formerly the Australian distributor of the QuickBooks brand, revealed a heavily featured mobile app would be released with its upcoming cloud accounting program, Reckon One.

Xero Personal has received little attention compared to Xero’s accounting program for businesses. Released in 2010, the personal accounting program received bank feeds in December, well after the business version and its last major update.

Minimizing Taxes When Transferring Wealth

• KELLY KEARSLEY for the Wall St Journal writes:   
The client was an entrepreneur in his 60s with an estate worth about $30 million. His elderly parents had accumulated about $5 million in assets. Meanwhile, his children were just exiting college and entering the workforce.

"This is a wonderful American success story and we wanted to make sure that we minimized taxes when the time came to transfer the wealth to the next generation," says James B. Lebenthal, president of equity asset management and chief investment officer of New York-based Lebenthal Asset Management, which manages $425 million for 85 families.

Mr. Lebenthal and his team set up a sophisticated estate plan that included a dynasty trust to help accomplish those goals. The children already had UTMA (Uniform Transfer to Minors Act) accounts, and their parents had paid their college tuition. But the dynasty trust served a different purpose: Its role was to provide a vehicle for the client's elderly parents to reduce their estate through gifting, while creating a pool of assets to offset the estate-tax bill facing the father's heirs after his death.

"Between the two generations, there's an enormous amount of wealth being transferred to the kids," Mr. Lebenthal says.

The adviser recommended that the dynasty trust hold a $10 million life-insurance policy on his client, the entrepreneur, as its only asset. The grandparents would then gift their several grandchildren $60,000 each year through the trust to pay the policy's premium. They would use their annual gift-tax exclusion of $14,000 per recipient to avoid taxes, while simultaneously reducing the value of their own estate.

Mr. Lebenthal notes that the grandparents' gifts are subject to the generation skipping tax (GST), though he expects the tax bill to be nominal given the relatively small size of the gifts. However, any financial event that occurs within the trust after those contributions are made is not subject to the GST, the adviser says.

That means that once the adviser's client dies, the $10 million life-insurance benefit passes to the trust tax-free. The client's children can then use those funds to pay the taxes on their father's large estate. Or, the children can choose to leave the funds in the trust, which will continue in perpetuity to grow tax-free for the benefit of future generations.

"This creates a balloon payment to take care of the reduction in wealth that will occur when the parents die," Mr. Lebenthal says.

Mr. Lebenthal notes that dynasty trusts should be used carefully, primarily because they are irrevocable and the grantor gives up control over the assets once they are in the trust. However, this restriction didn't concern the grandparents, who did not need the money and were looking for ways to reduce their estate before their deaths.

The dynasty trust was a piece of a comprehensive plan with many moving parts that Mr. Lebenthal and his team implemented for the family. But the entrepreneur father was relieved to have a strategy that will reduce the sting of a potentially large estate-tax bill.

"The children are still a little bit unaware of what's going on, but for the first and second generation, it's a cogent plan that helps them maximize their wealth," Mr. Lebenthal says.

Intuit builds on its new Practice Management system with acquisition / Intuit announced earlier this week that it has aquired Fifo, a cloud-based workpaper management system for accounting and tax professionals. The system is a part of Intuit's continuing development of it's Practice Management Suite,

Isaac M O'bannon for CPA Practice Advisor writes:  Intuit announced earlier this week that it has aquired Fifo, a cloud-based workpaper management system for accounting and tax professionals. The system is a part of Intuit's continuing development of it's Practice Management suite,

"As the time saving benefits of online and mobile solutions to small businesses and accounting professionals become more undeniable, I’m excited to announce we’ve acquired Fifo, an Australian market leader in online accounting practice management software," Intuit's Jill Ward said in a blog post. Ward is the Senior Vice President & General Manager of Intuit Accounting Professionals Division.

"Fifo’s innovative cloud technology is helping make accounting and bookkeeping firms around the world more efficient, more profitable, while improving their cash flow and growth. By joining Intuit, our combined teams will be able to solve big problems for accountants and bookkeepers, helping them save time and better collaborate with clients."

Intuit announced its new Practice Managment suite in June, with a demonstration of the cloud-based system designed for public accountants and tax professionals serving multiple clients across multiple types of services. It includes integrated modules for client management, engagement management, time and billing and reporting, as well as direct integration with the Lacerte and ProSeries professional tax compliance systems. One of the chief benefits that Intuit has attained in the suite is a consistency of interfaces and user experiences across all modules and functions.

With Fifo integrated into the system, Intuit will add tax workpaper management capabilities, and the company also plans on weaving that technology into the newly redesigned U.S. and international versions of QuickBooks Online.

"This acquisition is an important step in helping us expand our global presence and solve more of the accounting professional’s workflow," Ward added. Fifo’s global ready solution helps professional accounting practices and bookkeepers improve practice profitability, drive efficiencies and improve client service levels. The offering provides online workpapers, workflow, document sharing, client collaboration and communication – and will be fully integrated into the QuickBooks Online ecosystem and our Virtual Office for accounting professionals. It will be offered at no charge to accounting professionals."

“At Fifo, we’ve focused on helping accounting firms and bookkeepers around the world use online solutions to run a more efficient office and be more profitable," said Shane Macfarlane, Fifo's CEO and Director, who will be joining Intuit’s global operations. "Now with the power of Intuit’s market-leading QuickBooks accounting and financial solutions, we’ll be able to accelerate the pace of delivery and dramatically increase the number of customers we can serve. This is a great day for our company, our customers, and accounting professionals around the world.".

What's The Difference? Mutual Funds And Exchange Traded Funds Explained

Michael Chamberlain for Forbes writes: Mutual Funds have been a popular way to invest for several decades while Exchange Traded Funds, or ETFs as they are they’re commonly known, are relatively new but are quickly gaining popularity for their low-cost and their better tax treatment. There are some differences of which you should be aware.

As a review, a mutual fund is an investment, which contains a pool of different shares of individual stocks and or bonds, which are specifically chosen by a Fund Manager or the funds’ management team.

The price of a mutual fund does not vary during the course of the trading day because it is set at the end of each trading day. You buy or sell a mutual fund at the end of the day after the price for that day has been set, based on the value of the individual investments in the Fund. So if the price of the Mutual Fund you want to buy is $45.00 per share and you place an order to buy $10,000 you will acquire 22.222 shares at the end of the day.

All mutual funds have expenses including commissions, redemption fees and operational expenses. Commissions or loads as they are sometimes called are either front-ended or back-ended, meaning you can a commission when you either buy or sell, respectively. There are also no-load or non-commission mutual funds and are much preferred. Redemption fees are to discourage excess turnover and occur only if the fund is sold prior to a specific period of time. Operational fees include managements’ expertise and miscellaneous fees such as for advertisement or distribution expenses. On average, Mutual Fund annual expenses can range from as little as 0.1% to as much as 3% or more per year. These expenses are not seen by the investor on the monthly statements and are somewhat hidden and can have an impact on your overall return.

Exchange Traded Funds

ETFs have several similarities to mutual funds. Like a Mutual Fund, an ETF is a pool or basket of investments. However, ETF’s many times have lower expenses then a similar mutual fund in that there are no loads and the operating expenses are often lower. FINRA posted the following comparison of expenses on its website.

Fund Type	Average Total TOT +1.74%Operating Expenses
	Mutual Funds	ETFs
US Large-Cap Stock	1.31%	0.47%
US Mid-Cap Stock	1.45%	0.56%
US Small-Cap Stock	1.53%	0.52%
International Stock	1.57%	0.56%
Taxable Bond	1.07%	0.30%
Municipal Bond	1.06%	0.23%

Another primary difference is that an ETF doesn’t trade at the end of the day like a Mutual Fund. The price of the ETF is determined by investor demand at any given time during the trading day.

How to Buy ETF’s

ETF’s are bought and sold like stocks. There is the bid price from buyers and the ask price from sellers.  So when you go to buy an ETF you do not place an order for $10,000. If you want to invest that amount you need to determine the number of shares to buy.

To start, look at the bid and ask price and figure that what you will pay will be somewhat close to those numbers. Lets say that the bid for an ETF that you are interested in is $45.15 and the ask is $45.18. Divide $10,000 buy the ask price $45.18 and you get 22.1337 shares. You would place an order for 22 Shares. A short time later your order will be filled and you will learn the exact price that was paid. Let’s say that the order was filled at $45.17. You will pay $993.74 for the shares and there will be a transaction fee from your custodian to place the order. Let’s say it was $9 for the trade. Therefore you paid a total of $1002.74 for your 22 shares of the ETF.

The “spread” which is the difference between the highest acceptable buy price and the lowest acceptable sell price can vary based on the volume of selling and the demand for the shares. While the bid-ask spread might be only 1 penny in the case of widely traded ETF’s it might also have a much wider spread for a less liquid ETF. If you are going to buy a large order of a lightly traded ETF, you would be well served to buy in several smaller orders to avoid a big increase in the spread. Talk to your advisor or custodian about this if you are unfamiliar with this topic.

ETF Tax Efficiency

ETF’s are more tax effective than mutual funds. An ETF’s ability to decrease or avoid capital gain distributions comes from two differences: Unlike mutual-funds where shares are redeemed with the Fund directly, ETF’s are traded on an exchange just like a stock. When one party sells the ETF and another buys on the exchange so the underlying securities within the ETF are not sold to raise cash for the redemption, therefore no gain- no tax. The redemption process also enables the fund manager to sell the most effective cost-basis stocks through stock transfers during the redemption or creation process. These characteristics can also mean a difference in the after-tax rate of returns from a mutual fund versus an ETF, even when they both replicate the same underlying index.

Perhaps this was more than you ever wanted to know about the similarities and differences of a mutual fund and an Exchange Traded Fund but it certainly doesn’t hurt to be informed, after all, information is power.

Get Ready To Shop: State Sales Tax Holidays Are Back!

Kelly Phillips Erb for Forbes writes:  It’s that time of year! State sales tax holidays are back just in time for back to school shopping – only this time, many states have extended exemptions to include every day items as well.

Forty-five states, the District of Columbia, and Guam impose sales taxes on the sale or lease of many goods. Five states actually have no state sales tax (though there may be local applicable sales taxes): Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire and Oregon. Of those forty-five states, just under half offer some sort of break on sales tax for school supplies, energy efficient appliances and hurricane preparedness. Most offer their holidays at the end of July or the beginning of August in order to attract back to school shoppers.

Here are the sales tax holidays – with details – that I know about so far:

• Alabama. Beginning at 12:01 a.m. (CST) on Friday August 2, 2013, and ending at twelve midnight on Sunday, August 4, 2013, Alabama will hold its eighth annual sales tax holiday giving shoppers the opportunity to purchase certain school supplies, computers, and clothing free of state sales or use tax. Local sales and use tax may apply.
• Arkansas. Beginning at 12:01 a.m. on Saturday August 3, 2013, and ending at 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, August 4, 2013, Arkansas will hold its sales tax holiday allowing shoppers the opportunity to purchase certain school supplies, school art supplies, school instructional materials, and clothing free of state and local sales or use tax. All retailers are required to participate and may not charge tax on items that are legally tax-exempt during the sales tax holiday.
• Connecticut. Beginning on Sunday, August 18, 2013, and ending on Saturday, August 24, 2013, sales or purchases of clothing or footwear costing less than $300 per item are not subject to Connecticut sales and use taxes.
• Florida. Beginning at 12:01 a.m. on Friday, August 2, 2013, and ending at 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, August 4, 2013, no Florida sales tax or local option tax will be collected on sales of clothing, footwear, and certain accessories selling for $75 or less per item, on certain school supplies selling for $15 or less per item, and on personal computers and certain related accessories selling for $750 or less per item, when purchased for noncommercial home or personal use. The exemption does not apply to any item of clothing selling for more than $75, to any school supply item selling for more than $15, or to any personal computer or related accessory selling for more than $750. Books are NOT exempt from tax during the 2013 sales tax holiday.
• Georgia. Beginning on August 9, 2013, and ending on August 10, 2013, certain items will be exempt from sales tax, including clothing and footwear with a sales price of $100 or less per item (but not clothing accessories such as jewelry, handbags, umbrellas, eyewear, watches, and watchbands); school supplies to be used in the classroom or in classroom-related activities with a sales price of $20 or less per item; and single purchases, with a sales price of $1,000 or less, of personal computers and personal computer-related accessories (but not cellular devices, furniture, and computer-related accessories designed for recreational use). Georgia will have a second sales tax holiday from October 4-6 on energy efficient products with a sales price of $1,500 or less per item and water efficient products with a sales price of $1,500 or less per item; the exemption does not apply to purchases for trade, business, resale, or commercial use.
• Iowa. Beginning on 12:01 a.m., August 2, 2013, and ending on, August 3, 2013, no sales tax, including local option sales tax, will be collected on sales of an article of clothing or footwear having a sales price less than $100. The exemption applies to each article priced under $100 regardless of how many items are sold on the same invoice to a customer.
• Louisiana. Beginning at 12:01 a.m. on Friday, August 2, 2013, and ending at 11:59 p.m. on Saturday, August 3, 2013, the first $2,500 of the sales price of noncommercial purchases (not leases) of items of tangible personal property (not vehicles or meals) are exempt. The holiday will apply to the 4% state sales tax, but will not apply to the sales taxes levied by parishes, municipalities, school boards, and other political subdivisions of the state. The state will not observe a separate “Second Amendment Sales Tax Holiday” as it did in 2010, 2011 and 2012; this year, guns are included in the regular sales tax holiday. The state also observed a hurricane preparedness sales tax holiday earlier in the year (May) which has expired.
• Maryland. Beginning on Sunday, August 11, 2013, and ending on Saturday, August 17, 2013, Maryland will observe its Shop Maryland tax-free week. Qualifying apparel and footwear $100 or less, per item, are exempt from the state sales tax. Accessory items are not included. Cities may elect to opt out of the sales tax holiday and retailers in those cities who have officially opted out of holiday may not participate.
• Mississippi. Beginning at 12:01 A.M. Friday, July 26, 2013, and ending on 12:00 Midnight Saturday, July 27, 2013, sales tax is not due on the sale of articles of clothing or footwear if the sales price of a single the item is less than $100
• Missouri. Beginning at 12:01 a.m. on Friday, August 2, 2013, and ending on Sunday, August 4, 2013, certain back-to-school purchases, such as clothing (any article having a taxable value of $100 or less), school supplies (not to exceed $50 per purchase), computer software (taxable value of $350 or less), personal computers (nnot to exceed $3,500) and computer peripheral devices (not to exceed $3,500) are exempt from sales tax. The state’s Show-Me Green Sales Tax Holiday previously expired in April.
• North Carolina. Beginning 12:01 A.M. on Friday, August 2, 2013, and ending on 11:59 P.M. on Sunday, August 4, 2013, sales tax exemptions will apply to clothing, footwear, and school supplies of $100 or less per item; school instructional materials of $300 or less per item; sports and recreation equipment of $50 or less per item, computers of $3,500 or less per item; and computer supplies of $250 or less per item will be exempt. Clothing accessories, jewelry, cosmetics, protective equipment, wallets, furniture, items used in a trade or business, and rentals are not covered by the exemption. Additionally, between 12:01 A.M. on November 1, 2013, and ending on 11:59 P.M. on Sunday, November 3, 2013,certain Energy Star qualified products are exempt – with no cost threshold – from sales tax. This includes clothes washers, freezers, refrigerators, central air conditioners, room air conditioners, air-source heat pumps, ceiling fans, dehumidifiers, and programmable thermostats.
• Oklahoma. Beginning at 12:01 am on Friday, August 2, 2013, and ending at twelve midnight on Sunday, August 4, 2013, Oklahoma will hold a sales tax holiday giving shoppers the opportunity to purchase certain clothing and shoes free of sales tax. This includes state and any local sales taxes on the sales of any article of clothing or footwear designed to be worn on or about the human body with a sales price of the article of less than of $100. This does not apply to the sale of any accessories, special clothing or footwear primarily designed for athletic activity or protective use that is not normally worn except when used for athletic activity or protective use, or to the rental of clothing or footwear.
• South Carolina. Beginning on Friday, August 2, 2013, at 12:01 a.m. and ending on Sunday, August 4, 2013, at midnight, shoppers will benefit from an exemption of the 6% state sales tax and any applicable local taxes on certain items. During this time, the 6% state sales and use tax, and any applicable local sales and use tax, will not be imposed on clothing, clothing accessories (e.g., hats, scarves, hosiery, and handbags), footwear, school supplies (e.g., pens, pencils, paper, binders, notebooks, books, bookbags, lunchboxes, and calculators), computers, printers and printer supplies, computer software, and bath wash clothes, blankets, bed spreads, bed linens, sheet sets, comforter sets, bath towels, shower curtains, bath rugs and mats, pillows, and pillow cases. The sales tax holiday, however, does not apply to sales of jewelry, cosmetics, eyewear, wallets, watches, furniture, rental of clothing or footwear, items for use in a business, or items placed on layaway or similar deferred payment and delivery plans.
• Tennessee. Beginning at 12:01 a.m on Friday, August 2, 2013, and ending on Sunday, August 4, 2013, at 11:59 p.m., shoppers can enjoy tax-free purchases on certain clothing, school and art supplies and computers. Tax-free items include clothing with a price of $100 or less per item, school and school art supplies with a price of $100 or less per item and computers with a price of $1,500 or less. These items are exempt from state and local sales tax in Tennessee during the holiday.
• Texas. Texas shoppers get a break from state and local sales taxes from August 9, 2013, to August 11, 2013, (note that this is a change from last year). As in previous years, the law exempts most clothing, footwear, school supplies and backpacks priced under $100 from sales and use taxes, which could save shoppers about $8 on every $100 they spend. The state held an Energy Star sales tax holiday earlier in the year (May) and it has expired.
• Virginia. Beginning on August 2, 2013, and ending on August 4, 2013, purchases of certain school supplies, clothing and footwear will be exempt from the Virginia sales tax. Each eligible school supply item must be priced at $20 or less, and each eligible article of clothing and footwear must be priced at $100 or less. Additionally, during October 11-14, 2013, purchases of products meeting the Energy Star and WaterSense qualifications, such as certain energy-efficient appliances, will be exempt from sales tax. Eligible products must be priced at $2,500 or less for each item, and be purchased for noncommercial home or personal use. The state’s hurricane preparedness sales tax holiday has expired (it was in May 2013).

I’ll be sure to update with more information as it becomes available.
Finally, remember that some local governments may still charge sales taxes and some restrictions may apply – check your state’s web site (links above) before you shop.

How Your New Little Bundle of Joy Will Change Your Tax Return

Mark Steber for the HuffPo writes:  If you've recently joined the ranks of Kanye West and Kim Kardashian, Jessica Simpson, and Eli Manning by adding a new baby to your family, you'll notice some big changes on your tax return when you file in January. Since you'll likely be sleeping a lot less, you may have time to organize the things you need for tax time between feedings, naps and diaper duty. Let's look at some of the changes a new dependent brings to your individual income tax return.

The changes to your taxes start before the baby gets here. All of your out-of-pocket expenses for medical are deductible if you itemize deductions and meet the threshold for out-of-pocket costs. The tax code allows you to claim any unreimbursed medical expenses that exceed ten percent of your adjusted gross income as an itemized deduction. These expenses include any prescription medications for the mom-to-be, all prenatal care, any ultrasounds, blood work, and other lab work and medical tests. While the baby is making its appearance in the world, there are the expenses for the hospital, such as the labor and delivery room, mom's bed, and the baby's incubator. After the mom and baby go home, there are still medical expenses, such as the after-tax cost of health insurance, the well-baby checkups, mom's post baby checkup, and many others. Now is the time to set up a folder, envelope, even a shoe box to keep all of your receipts for medical expenses and child care expenses.

If you are able to participate in a medical Flex Spending Account (FSA) through your job, you may want to consider starting one for a few reasons. You are allowed to put up to $2,500 of your pay into the FSA before taxes, which can then be used to pay your doctors, hospital, lab, and prescription fees. While it's convenient to know you have money for these costs set aside, there is also tax savings because there is no income tax on money put into an FSA and there is no Social Security or Medicare taxes, commonly referred to as payroll taxes, withheld from this money. The payroll tax savings alone can be as much as $191.25 before any income tax savings are considered. If both you and your spouse have an FSA option, consider investing in the FSA for each of you. One caution here, any money left in the account after all your 2013 expenses are paid will be lost, so plan carefully. This is often an overlooked tax benefit, so make sure you understand it and take advantage of it to benefit your tax situation. 

As long as your child is born before midnight, December 31, 2013, you will be able to claim the dependent exemption of $3,900 for your child, or each child if you are blessed with more than one. You may be eligible for the Child Tax Credit, a $1,000 credit available for each dependent child under the age of 17 as long as your income is less than $75,000 ($110,000 if married filing jointly and $55,000 if married filing separately). For taxpayers who do not need the full $1,000 per child to reduce their taxes to zero, there is the Additional Child Tax Credit. This credit allows qualified taxpayers to claim the balance of their Child Tax Credit as a refundable credit and pay any additional taxes or increase their refund.

If you and your spouse will both work after the baby arrives, child care costs up to $3,000 for one child and $6,000 for more than one child may qualify for the nonrefundable tax credit, the Credit for Child and Dependent Care Expenses. Depending on your income, this credit can be up to 35 percent of your qualified expenses and has no maximum income limit. As a nonrefundable credit, you can use the credit to offset your income tax liability only and any unused portion is not allowed as a refund. Like the FSA, many employers offer a pre-tax Dependent Care Benefit (DCB) program. Taxpayers may be eligible to put up to $5,000 total per year in their DCB account, tax-free. The money may then be used to pay eligible daycare expenses during the year, reducing your taxable income. If you have more than one qualifying child in daycare and your expenses exceed the $5,000 maximum, you can claim the credit for any expenses between $5,001 and $6,000. The maximum DCB benefit can save you as much as $382.50 in payroll taxes during the year, plus any income taxes you will not have to pay. However, like the FSA, make sure you use all the money in the account for your childcare or you will lose the income and must add-back any unused DCB to your wages when doing your tax return.

Taxpayers with an income of less than $46,227 ($51,567 if married filing jointly) and up to three children may qualify for the refundable Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) of up to $6,044. The credit amount varies based on total earned income, adjusted gross income and family size. Like the Additional Child Tax Credit, the EITC is available to taxpayers as a refund if their credits, withholdings, and any estimated tax payments exceed their total tax bill.

These are just a few of the most common tax benefits awaiting new parents. There are additional benefits available once your child starts college, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. Having a child is a wonderful thing, even when it comes to taxes. Having a child is also one of the biggest, if not THE biggest life change resulting in new and different tax considerations to you. It is a great time to consider some additional tax help, even if just for the first time, to ensure you identify and take all of the new tax deductions you deserve.

If you adopted a child this year, or plan on adopting, stay tuned for next week's post on how adoption affects you at tax time.

The Evolution of Small Business Accounting / Acclivity Co-Founder Scott Davisson discusses accounting management and the company's point-of-sale software for the Apple computers with Deirdre Bolton on Bloomberg Television's (Click To View Video)

QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions: a good choice for a small business that's already using a QuickBooks product but needs to manage the financial books of multiple entities and maintain inventory at more than one location, and which needs more generous data limits.

Kathy Yakal for PC Magazine writes:   Anyone who has investigated small business accounting software at all knows the name "QuickBooks." Long the market leader, QuickBooks has won numerous Editors' Choice awards from us, thanks to its usability and a smart set of accounting tools. The software family has been around since the early 90s, when QuickBooks for DOS was launched.


 
Over the years, the line has grown. QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions is the newest (though it's at least a decade old) member, and the most sophisticated. It looks and works exactly like the more junior versions of QuickBooks, which means it uses simplified language and a clean, attractive user interface and straightforward navigational tools to make accounting more understandable for non-accountants.
QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions, being the very top of the Intuit food chain, adds complexity and capacity in many areas. It's superior to the rest of the line in areas like pricing flexibility, inventory management and reporting. It can track tens of thousands of people, items, accounts, etc., and up to 30 employees can access it simultaneously.

That would imply that QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions can be used by companies large enough to have 30 people working on the financial books at the same time. It's unlikely that the application would be used by such a sizable business, given that it's not scalable; it's rooted to the desktop (unless it's hosted) without the benefit of a lot of comparable add-ons (it can integrate with options in the Intuit App Center, but they're not built to take advantage of midrange solutions, except for Salesforce) and it lacks some of the automation and depth offered by the midrange solutions I reviewed.

Bases Covered Like Sage 50 Quantum, QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions touches the low end of midrange accounting applications (though it doesn't have inventory management muscle to rival Sage 50 Quantum unless you pay for the Advanced Inventory module). It's gone about as far as it can go in terms of meeting small business bookkeeping needs without overwhelming its target market with too much.
Intuit has, therefore, for the past few years focused on giving users better access to their existing data and streamlining the interface. Its core is a solid double-entry, GAAP-compliant accounting solution, but as it faces the user, it replicates the tasks they were previously doing manually. It maintains a general ledger and provides record and transaction forms for managing accounts payable and receivable, inventory and payroll, and reports.

Because it's a desktop software product, though, it makes those financial chores faster and easier, and the results more accurate. Once you create a customer record using the templates provided, for example, you can insert that data anywhere it's needed—on an invoice, in a collection letter, in a report, etc., without ever having to type it in again. All of the program's individual elements are integrated, and they're designed to accelerate the daily workflow and ensure that accounting rules are followed, warning the user when something isn't being done correctly.

Above and Beyond QuickBooks Pro and Premier do all of those things. But Enterprise Solutions adds functionality and flexibility to every part of the product. Forms have more custom fields. You can work in two company files simultaneously and create consolidated financial statements. You can do more tasks on a global and/or multi-user level, like change price levels or set defaults, and adjust inventory or change sales tax rates. Pricing levels are far more flexible: You can establish hundreds of them.
Inventory management –always the weakest area in Pro and Premier – is much stronger. You can manage multiple warehouses and always know where your stock is down to the bin level.  Bar code scanning and serial or lot tracking are also available. It supports two costing methods: average cost and FIFO (Sage 50 Quantum and true midrange solutions offer more). QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions also supports connections to ODBC-compliant applications for custom report creation.

A New Look In 2012, Intuit completely revamped what had been an old, cramped user interface on all of its products, including QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions. The results were effective. The home page is now much cleaner, more open and less confusing. A large, interactive process map with icons for the most commonly-used tasks is planted there. To the left is a new icon bar that can be moved to the top or hidden. The program shortcuts in the top of the pane can be customized to accommodate your own workflow preferences. You can click on other bars in the pane to toggle between your shortcuts, account balances, your favorite reports and a list of open windows.

You can also use the standard menus at the top of the screen for navigation. And once you get into record and transaction screens, you'll now work with a Microsoft Office-like ribbon bar that displays activities related to the open form, like Find, Save, Memorize, Print, or convert to another type of form (estimate-to-invoice, for example). You'll enter data and make selections from drop-down lists to complete the fields in these screens.

I think this look and navigational screen is easier to use and more attractive than Peachtree Quantum's, but neither would work well to tame the voluminous windows, menus and links that the other solutions I reviewed contain. Each of them has found a plainer, text-heavy interface that—for the most part—works well.

Generous Support Intuit includes a year's worth of unlimited help in its subscription price (access to U.S.-based product experts) as well as online backup and software upgrades. Similar support is offered by the midrange solutions I reviewed. It's especially critical for QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions, since its program-based help is rather lacking.

Also lacking are features that Peachtree Quantum, too, doesn't offer. QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions falls short in areas like automated processes and approvals, revenue recognition management, customization and easy custom reporting, and real-time access to project costs, revenue, profitability, etc. By missing some of the features and capabilities that would make them true midrange accounting solutions, they're less able to help company managers make more informed business decisions and reduce overhead costs.

Intuit doesn't position QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions as a peer of NetSuite  or Intacct  or Microsoft Dynamics GP. But it's at the top of the QuickBooks solution family—as far as current users can go without making a drastic software change. Dedicated users will begin to spend more time outside of the application, on things like spreadsheets and workarounds, to avoid that switch.

So QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions would be a good choice for a small business that's already using a QuickBooks product but needs to manage the financial books of multiple entities and maintain inventory at more than one location, and which needs more generous data limits. When more is required—the native anytime/anywhere access, robust flexibility, extensibility and financial analysis, and automation—it's time to leave the Intuit family and move up to midrange, where our Editors' Choice is Netsuite ERP.

Sage 50 Quantum Accounting 2014: or users of entry-level Sage products who need to move up but aren't ready for the cloud, and for new businesses who want the best that small business accounting software can offer.

Kathy Yakal for PC Magazine writes:  Sage 50 Quantum Accounting 2014 is a member of the largest global software family represented in my latest batch of ERP reviews. Over the years, its parent company, Sage, has acquired numerous small and mid-sized business solutions, primarily in the accounting field (though it also publishes an old, familiar contact manager, ACT!). It now supports several previously-independent lines, including Simply Accounting, BusinessWorks, DacEasy, and Peachtree.

Sage has left the entry-level Peachtree lineup (Pro, Complete, etc.) intact, changing only the applications' names to Sage 50 (Sage 50 Pro Accounting, Sage 50 Complete Accounting, etc.). Sage 50 Quantum Accounting sits at the top of the list, maintaining the look and feel and core feature sets of the junior Sage 50 products, but incorporating functionality that brushes up against the low end of the midrange accounting solutions. This includes more generous data capacity, support for more users (up to 40), more sophisticated job-tracking, and role-based security levels.

All Sage 50 products—with the exception of the relatively new Sage One—are desktop-based. This allows growing businesses to move up through the ranks without having to learn a new application and appeases the large number of small companies who are uncomfortable doing their financial work in the cloud. But while some elements of Sage 50 Quantum Accounting look fresh, most of its working parts use the same interface and navigational tools that have existed with little change for years.

A Solid Base The products formerly known as Peachtree have matured to the point where there's little more they can add in terms of small business financial processing features. In fact, they hit that wall a few years ago. So the emphasis in upgrades has been on how work is done, rather than what the products can actually do.

This means that Sage 50 Quantum Accounting is quite capable of handling the basic work required of a GAAP-compliant, double-entry accounting PC application. Its front end—the part that you as a user see—is designed to be understood by non-accountants. Behind the scenes, the software is busy doing the technical work—the debits and credits, journal entries, etc., that are necessary to keep the books balanced.

All of that work you used to do on paper or in Excel—or in another accounting product—can be done quickly and accurately using Sage 50 Quantum Accounting. You can track receivables and payables, manage your inventory and jobs, and process your payroll. Your paper forms and manual processes will be replaced by the software's records (customer, vendor, item, and employee) and transaction forms (invoices, purchase orders, quotes, and sales orders, etc.).

More than Capable Data is integrated both within the program—eliminating duplicate data entry errors—and externally, with Microsoft Office. Standard and custom reports and other analysis tools help you interpret the numbers and make better business decisions. Sage 50 Premium Accounting and Sage 50 Quantum Accounting also offer company consolidation, departmentalized financial statements, and serialized inventory.

Sage doesn't ignore the cloud entirely; there's connectivity outside the confines of the desktop. Sage 50 Quantum Accounting offers remote access and web synchronization tools, and you can import your bank statements. Merchant accounts and online backup are available, and there are virtual connections within the payroll services. At the present time, however, you can't pay bills online unless you've already established a connection, which is a serious deficit.

But Sage 50 Quantum Accounting pulls ahead of QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions in several areas, particularly its sophisticated job management and interactive reporting tools, and its inventory management (four types of costing methods are supported, comparable to midrange solutions and two more than QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions offers). It also uses built-in intelligence to post transactions automatically ("SmartPosting") as well as to automate the order process workflow. Some of its more advanced features are geared toward specific industries, like construction, manufacturing and distribution.

An Aging Interface There's nothing overly difficult about getting around in Sage 50 Quantum Accounting. A vertical pane on the left divides the program's functions into related areas (Customers & Sales, Employees & Payroll, Jobs, etc.) and provides a place for often-used, customizable shortcuts. When you click on one of the module tabs, a graphical flow chart/process map opens in the center of the screen.

This multi-button graphic further breaks down each area into its many tasks. Inventory & Services, for example, displays its capabilities and workflow through navigational buttons (and their sub-menus) that represent the work you or your staff might do in that area, like adding or editing item records and building assemblies, creating purchase orders and receiving inventory, and doing an inventory count.

The right side of the screen is reserved for related lists (customers, banking, etc.), and mini-reports and graphs. These groupings of data are all interactive. When you click on one, a record or transaction or report opens in a new window that uses toolbars, data entry fields, and drop-down windows, and tabbed informational screens to help you both enter and view your accounting data. If you'd rather, you can use the standard Windows menus in the top toolbar.

Once you learn the program's layout, it should be fairly easy to get where you're going quickly. But we've become used to seeing state-of-the-art graphical screens on the web, even on sites that offer business and productivity tools, like Web-based Intacct and NetSuite. Working with Sage 50 Quantum Accounting isn't the most aesthetically–pleasing, efficient experience because of its dated look and navigation.

Effective Help and Reporting Peachtree has always had exceptionally thorough program help, and Sage has upheld that standard, building on what was already there. You can browse or search the help files, study user manuals and watch training videos. You can get online support individually or through the Sage community. Sage University provides additional training resources, and the Sage Advisor, which can be toggled on and off, provides content-sensitive help with the program itself.

One button that appears in multiple functional areas—Intelligence Reporting—takes you to a sophisticated Excel-based reporting tool, which is included in Sage Business Care. Sage requires that you purchase a Sage Business care support plan—there are three levels—and includes the cost in your purchase fee. The $2,999 purchase price goes up if you buy a higher level of support.

Sage 50 Quantum Accounting clearly distinguishes itself from the other products in the Sage 50 small business line—and from QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions—through its advanced functionality in security and workflow automation, inventory and jobs. But it doesn't offer the same level of customization; support for complex financial processes like revenue recognition; or financial planning and analytic tools that the cloud-based solutions reviewed here provide. It lacks their CRM and e-commerce functionality, as well as their anytime/anywhere access. And it's not optimized for as many specific industries.

I can certainly recommend Sage 50 Quantum Accounting for users of entry-level Sage products who need to move up but aren't ready for the cloud, and for new businesses who want the best that small business accounting software can offer. The application, though, lacks the flexibility, extensibility and complex financial processing that NetSuite ERP (our Editors' Choice) and Intacct, as well as higher-level Sage products like Sage ERP X3, offer.

Bill.com Offers Invoice Approval Solution

Michael Cohn for Accounting Today writes:  Online bill payment and invoicing service Bill.com has introduced the Bill.com Approval Solution, which promises to speed the invoice approval cycle for accountants, small and midsize businesses, and nonprofit organizations, while adding important checks and balances to the approval process.

With Bill.com, paperwork is scanned, faxed or emailed into the system. Bill.com then enables users to find the necessary data, contracts and other documents anytime from remote locations. Bill.com also records the payment due dates, revises the cash flow projection graph based on this information and sends out email notices to the right approvers. It shows each employee only the bills and paperwork they need to see and reminds them when there’s a bill to review. Bill.com then prints and mails the checks or pays electronically on the day specified by the user. The vendor receives remittance information and the user’s accounting software is updated automatically.

The new Bill.com Approvals Solution enables accountants and tax professionals to customize the approval process to fit the needs of each client through personalized consoles that let them manage all their clients from a single interface. Features include the ability to customize the approval policies of client companies to require approvers for any bill or vendor credit based on the dollar amount. Users also get the ability to specify the number of users on any bill or vendor credit, as well as access to make changes in the workflow at any time.

Configuration options allow accountants to control when changes are allowed to a bill or vendor credit during the approvals process. Improved security measures prohibit unauthorized access to the client’s Bill.com account by requiring a secure code sent to their phone or other device.

“With the Bill.com approval cycle, you will never miss another discount or get stuck with a late fee because a bill was lost in a pile of paperwork on some approver’s desk,” Bill.com CEO René Lacerte said in a statement. “Approving bills shouldn’t be hard—it should be one of the quickest and easiest things you do.”

For more information, visit www.bill.com/product/right-for-me/invoice-approval.

Intuit acquires Fifo, an Australian cloud-based workpaper software provider

Jennifer Germano for Whatech writes: Intuit, the maker of QuickBooks Online, today announced it has acquired Australian cloud-based accounting practice management software provider Fifo and will be making the software free of charge to current and new accountant and bookkeeper users. Rich Walker, Director, Accountant and Bookkeeper Strategy, Intuit Australia said the acquisition of Fifo further cements Intuit’s Australian presence and commitment to providing real business solutions for Australian accounting practices. “The talented Mebourne-based Fifo team will join Intuit’s Accounting Professionals Division and will help us address a big pain point for accountants and bookkeepers, as well as support our business strategy to become Australia’s small business operating system,” Mr Walker said. 

“Our aim is to focus on the key areas accountants need to improve in order to run a more efficient and profitable practice. Our commitment to an open ecosystem and decision to keep Fifo platform-agnostic will ensure that existing users continue to run their business and collaborate with their clients with no interruptions,” he said. 

Former Fifo CEO Shane Macfarlane said he was excited to be working with Intuit and the opportunities ahead. “Our main focus remains helping accounting firms and bookkeepers around the world use online solutions to run a more efficient office and be more profitable,” Mr Macfarlane said. “With the power of Intuit, and the opportunities to integrate with its market-leading QuickBooks Online accounting solution, we’ll be able to accelerate the pace of delivery and dramatically increase the number of customers we can serve. “This is a great day for our company, our customers, and accounting professionals around the world,” he said. Rich Walker concluded that Intuit is not just a provider, but a partner to the small business and accounting and bookkeeping communities. “Our platform solution is designed to serve the needs of all these key groups in a way that helps them grow their own firm and makes their clients more successful,” Mr Walker said.

Talibro.com is making its official introduction. Talibro.com is an online cloud accounting software for small and medium sized service and product oriented businesses and accountancy firms managing them.

Talibro.com is making its official introduction. Talibro.com is an online cloud accounting software for small and medium sized service and product oriented businesses and accountancy firms managing them. The application is easy to use; it requires no special training and can be used without background knowledge of accounting to do bookkeeping.

The project started late in 2011 with an idea to develop a robust, double entry accounting system for small and medium sized businesses, which could be fully utilized without any user guide, extensive webinars or knowledgebase. In October 2012, Talibro.com was launched for limited users which allowed the creators, brothers Bekzod and Sherzod Ruzmetov, time to tackle any issues, and add requested features before announcing Talibro.com as the best accounting software for SMBs.

"It is an amazing tool and it seems scalable for small to mid-size firms. It has worked well for us and the new features makes it even better,” says Jonathan Ngah of Synergyenterprize.

What makes Talibro.com different from other apps to be called the best accounting software?

-Advanced user roles and permissions management, where users can manage "View", "Add", "Edit" and "Delete" permissions of company staff.

-Built-in inventory management where users can carry their stock value in FIFO (First-In-First-Out) or LIFO (Last-In-Last-Out) methods.

-100% transparent Financial and Management Reports. Every number in reports can be cracked.

-Advanced Journal Entries. Apart from basic journal entries, users can adjust customer and supplier balances.

-Document Management. Users can attach documents to invoices, bills, checks, bills, customers, supplier and journals.

-Overdue Invoice Reminder/Debt Collection Control. Users can send overdue invoice reminders to their customers with one click and request payment via PayPal.

“This is a fantastic accounting software. The 'dashboard', 'expenses', 'sales', 'purchases', 'items', 'documents', and 'reports' areas are very well designed, intuitive, and easy to use. A very nice, value-adding, software for any small and medium sized business,” says Gary Waissi from College of Technology and Innovation.

The Ruzmetov brothers are constantly and consistently innovating to make Talibro.com better. Currently, they are working on OFX Integration to support live bank feeds as well as localization of the system in various languages.

"I chose Talibro because I wanted an online (cloud based) accounting system to allow me the flexibility of working remotely. I wanted something that would stay up-to-date with operating system changes so I would not need to buy a new software package within a few years,” says Todd Krutchkoff, Sidetrackproducts. "Talibro offers all of the functionality that I need to run my start-up consumer goods business while keeping me within budget. I like Talibro's clean, easy-to-navigate interface and the professional-looking templates and reports. When I have had questions, Talibro's Customer Service has been quick to respond."

Talibro.com has also launched the first version of their Accountant Edition. The best accounting software is being offered for free to accountants. Accountancy firm professionals can invite their customers into the system and help them management their bookkeeping.

CCH Selected by IRS Again to Provide Reliable, Comprehensive Sales Tax Data

For the ninth straight year, CCH has been selected by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to deliver comprehensive sales tax rate and taxability tables to help millions of Americans prepare their tax returns. CCH, a part of Wolters Kluwer is a leading provider of tax, accounting and audit information, software and services (CCHGroup.com).

"It's an honor to be selected again by the IRS and a tribute to everyone on the CCH team who works very hard on our sales tax solutions to generate reliable, updated rate and taxability information for every ZIP Code in the country," said Scott Gruchot, CCH Vice President & General Manager, Corporate Services. "Delivering valuable multi-jurisdictional sales tax information gives us the opportunity to directly support millions of taxpayers and tax professionals who regularly integrate our solutions into their daily workflow, enabling them to make informed decisions based on the latest CCH tax data."

Pinpoint Tax Rate Location Accuracy
Taxpayers will continue to have access to granular tax districts rather than full-city tax rates. The ability to pinpoint specific municipal sales tax rates provides a higher degree of accuracy and enhances the taxpayer experience by allowing users to precisely identify their tax jurisdictions.

Data for Convenient Tax Return Preparations
Information for IRS tables, used by taxpayers to determine optional sales tax deductions for income tax returns, is generated from several CCH workflow tools, including thedatabase providing updated sales tax data for every ZIP Code, city, county and state in the United States and its territories. Tax information for IRS tables also comes from CCH's IntelliConnect^® research platform.By leveraging these solutions, CCH supplies the IRS with updated sales tax information for all U.S. tax jurisdictions.

CCH's taxability and tax rate information for state and local jurisdictions supports the IRS's online Sales Tax Deduction Calculator – available to taxpayers for filing 2013 income tax returns. The data enables the IRS to list the average amount of sales tax – according to income and family size – that should be paid in each jurisdiction. These average amounts represent a "standard market basket" of consumer expenditures.

Taxpayers relying on these IRS tables can conveniently determine whether to deduct their state and local sales tax versus their state and local income tax – without having to save all their receipts throughout the year to tally sales tax that was actually paid.
In addition to providing data for the Sales Tax Deduction Calculator, CCH is also supplying the IRS with data related to the taxability rules for more than 500 Bureau of Labor Statistics spending categories.

For More Information
To learn more about CCH's sales tax calculation solutions, including Sales Tax Office, please contact a CCH sales representative at 1-866-513-CORP (1-866-513-2677). More information is also available by visiting CCHGroup.com.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/07/17/5573870/cch-selected-by-irs-again-to-provide.html#storylink=cpy

Tax Planning for a Bequest

Mike Piper from the Oblivious Investor writes:   A reader writes in, asking:

“Because of a generous pension, we expect to spend from our portfolio at a rate of just 1-2% per year, meaning that most of the portfolio will probably be left to our children. Do you have suggestions for how to prioritize our accounts for spending? Portfolio is mid six figures, so estate tax is not a concern…unless they change the rules again.”

Step-up in Cost Basis

A common piece of retirement tax planning advice is to spend from taxable accounts before spending from IRAs and other retirement accounts, so as to maximize the length of time that your money is allowed to grow tax-free. Depending on circumstances, however, that advice may need to be turned on its head when you know you’ll be bequeathing most of your holdings.

The key fact here is that when your children inherit your taxable holdings, they will receive a “step-up” in cost basis. That is, their cost basis will be the market value of the assets as of (in most cases) the date of your death. As a result, any unrealized capital gains that had built up over your lifetime will go entirely untaxed. Therefore, for taxable holdings in which you already have significant unrealized capital gains, it often makes sense to avoid liquidating those holdings and paying tax on the gain, given that it’s possible to avoid paying tax on the gain at any point in time.

The older you are — or, to be more blunt, the shorter your remaining life expectancy — the more likely it is that it makes sense to avoid selling taxable holdings with unrealized gains, because there will be fewer years in which you have to pay taxes on dividend and interest income before your heirs get to take advantage of the step-up in basis.

Your Marginal Tax Rate vs. Their Marginal Tax Rate

For most retirees, when choosing whether to spend from tax-deferred accounts or Roth accounts, the question is primarily a function of how your current marginal tax rate compares to the marginal tax rate you expect to have in the future. (If you expect a higher marginal tax rate later, it’s best to spend from tax-deferred now and preserve Roth accounts for later when you have that higher marginal tax rate.)

But when you expect to leave most of your assets to heirs, it becomes a question of how your current marginal tax rate compares to the marginal tax rate you expect your heirs to have while they’re taking money out of the accounts. If you expect your heirs to have a higher marginal tax rate than you have now, preserving the Roth account (by spending from the tax-deferred accounts) generally makes most sense.

In addition, Roth conversions can be a useful tool in years in which you find that, even after taking sufficient distributions from tax-deferred accounts to satisfy your living expenses, you still have a marginal tax rate that is lower than the marginal tax rate you expect your heirs to have when they’re taking money out of the inherited IRA.