Digital First Report: Xero’s Chris Ridd On Growth Rates at the 400,000 Mark

Sholto MacPherson for @ Digital First writes: Xero announced this week that it had hit the 400,000-customer mark on its mission to accumulate 1 million paying businesses.

The big question is whether Xero can maintain the stellar growth rate that saw it jump from 50,000 in 2012 to 370,000 this September. It is difficult to know because this most recent announcement, only a couple of months later, is before the main selling season in most markets. Xero also decided to “keep its powder dry” and not release country-specific tallies until next year.

One theory pushed by incumbent vendors is that Xero has hoovered up all the early adopters in the Australian market. The next chunk of the technology adoption curve, the early majority, may be less inclined to trust a new company and more loyal to their existing supplier.

This theory would be supported by a slowing rate of customer acquisition. I asked Xero’s managing director for Australia, Chris Ridd, whether Xero was on track to maintain its growth rates of about 80 percent.

Ridd’s response is that it depends on the market.

“In New Zealand we’ve been in longer and we are reaching more mature point in the cycle. The last numbers in New Zealand is 42 percent,” Ridd says. “That said, any business would give its right arm to have that growth.”

Australia is the canary in the coalmine. It managed 100 percent growth year on year and Xero now has over 160,000 Australian customers. In this time the early majority has opened up to idea of online accounting software, Ridd says, pointing to a global survey of 700 customers it released last week.

“Of the small business customers we surveyed in Australia who weren’t on the cloud, 46 percent said they would be moving to the cloud. That’s a huge number,” Ridd says.

“We still consider it early days.  The survey is interesting because we’re seeing the cloud become mainstream. We will see that early majority kick in and we think it’s going to be a big year in 2015.”

Driving that uptake will be the network effect of 160,000 customers using Xero with their suppliers and customers. Xero is much more visible than a desktop accounting program. Each time a business sends an invoice through Xero, the recipient receives a link to an online version hosted on (and payable through) a Xero website. This will drive word of mouth and brand recognition.

Ridd acknowledges that Xero faces two new hurdles. The ability to grow off a big number becomes more difficult in established markets, and a “vastly more competitive” environment. However, Ridd still sees plenty of difference with his biggest rival locally.

“I’d still maintain that MYOB’s focus is on a hybrid model. We were talking about what is true cloud, that discussion is still as valid as it was 12 months ago,” Ridd says. “The thing that I’m enjoying seeing is customers becoming much more informed. They’re asking, why do you need to download software?”

Sholto Macpherson – Editor and Publisher for Digital First.  Click here to visit.

Sholto is a journalist, presenter and public speaker with 14 years’ experience writing about IT for enterprise and consumer audiences. He has written for many publications including the IT section of The Australian and IT business magazine CRN Australia. Sholto is a passionate advocate of cloud computing and its potential to transform small businesses.

Xero defends its position on customer numbers

Peter Dinham for IT Wire writes: Accounting software company Xero has rebutted suggestions from competitor MYOB that non-paying customers are included in its roster of more than 400,000 customers.

Xero CEO Chris Ridd said today that "every single one of Xero's more than 158,000 Australian customers - and our more than 400,000 customers globally - are fully paying and any suggestions that we have any non-paying customers are simply incorrect.”

“The same can't be said of some of our rivals. Analyst estimates that we have a smaller percentage of business ledger customers are also incorrect.

“All of Xero's customers are also truly on the cloud, accessible anywhere, not simply syncing a backup file to a server online," Ridd concluded.

Xero yesterday announced that it had reached a milestone, with 400,000 small business customers now operating on its cloud platform globally, and that this year it had processed NZ$250 billion of transactions and 95 million invoices.

[snip].  The article continues at IT Wire,click here to continue reading...

5 Ways to Shrink Your Tax Footprint / Consider careful asset location, selling losers (and winners), and using the specific-share identification method.

MorningStar.com writes: As dedicated savers know, there are times when investing through a taxable account--rather than an IRA, 401(k), or 529 college-savings plan--is inevitable. Perhaps you have the high-class problem of having maxed out all of your available tax-sheltered vehicles: If you want to put additional money away, stashing it in a taxable brokerage account or mutual fund is your only option. 

Alternatively, there may be times when you're saving for a goal that's close at hand. In that case, it doesn't make sense to lock up your money in a retirement account, where you'll usually pay taxes and a penalty to pull it out before retirement.

Saving in a taxable account can, at times, even be desirable. By holding assets with varying types of tax treatment--some tax-deferred (Traditional IRAs and 401(k)s), some Roth, and some taxable--you'll exert more control over your tax bill in retirement. Although you'll pay taxes on distributions from Traditional IRAs and 401(k)s in retirement, taxable-account distributions may be taxed at the lower capital gains rate, and Roth distributions will be tax-free. 

Sure, holding some types of investments in a taxable account has the potential to lead to a big tax bill. For example,  T. Rowe Price High-Yield (PRHYX) shareholders have surrendered nearly 2.5 percentage points of their returns to taxes during the past five- and 10-year periods. That's an outgrowth of the fact that high-income investors will be taxed on bond income at a rate of close to 40%. 

But investing in a taxable account needn't jack up your tax bill. Just as you might aim to reduce your energy-usage footprint by taking public transport and turning down the thermostat, you can reduce the tax footprint of your taxable accounts by employing a few simple strategies.

Strategy 1: Watch What You Put Inside of Them

One of the keys to making sure your taxable accounts aren't generating excessive income and capital gains, on which you'll owe taxes even though you haven't sold a share, is to be careful about what types of assets you hold inside them. Reserve high-turnover equity funds and high-income bond funds for IRAs and 401(k)s, where they can generate income and capital gains distributions all year long and you won't pay a dime in taxes. 

For the long-term component of your taxable accounts, focus on index-equity funds and individual stocks. The former tend to generate few taxable capital gains distributions. Meanwhile, individual stocks enable you--rather than a fund manager--to decide when to realize a capital gain. Tax-managed funds can also be worthwhile in categories that aren't necessarily tax-efficient, such as in the small-cap sector, where managers sometimes have to sell their winners to stay within their prospectus' market-cap parameters.

For the shorter-term portion of your portfolio, consider holding municipal-bond funds, the income from which is typically free of federal, and in some cases state, taxes.

Strategy 2: Limit Your Own Trading

Giving due attention to asset location will help limit unwanted taxable distributions. But you have to do your part on an ongoing basis, too. That means that once you have your taxable portfolio plan up and running, plan to trade infrequently, if at all. The goal is to avoid realizing unnecessary capital gains, especially short-term ones, which are taxed as ordinary income. It helps if your holdings are well-diversified, low-maintenance core holdings like index funds and U.S. blue-chip stocks; that way you're not likely to be confronted with star manager drama, questions about a company's financial health, or performance that is dramatically worse than the broad market's. 

Strategy 3: Sell Your Losers

Even as you want to exercise patience with the holdings in your taxable portfolio, it's still a good strategy to periodically scout around for positions that have dropped in value. You can use those losses to offset capital gains elsewhere in your portfolio or, if your losses exceed your capital gains, to offset ordinary income. You can even rebuy the same security--provided you wait more than 30 days after the sale--and still take the tax loss. After a five-plus year runup in the equity market, losing stock positions are few and far between in many portfolios right now, but tax-loss selling can provide a rare silver lining in lousy markets. 

Strategy 4: Step Right Up, at No Charge

In a related vein, investors who are in the 15% tax bracket and below should consider selling their winners right now. That's because they currently pay no tax on long-term capital gains. If these investors' securities have appreciated beyond their purchase prices and they've held them longer than a year, they can sell their winning holdings and rebuy them straightaway. In the process, they'll have reset their cost basis in their holdings to the new, higher levels. Thus, if they eventually do enter a higher capital gains tax bracket, they'll be paying tax on the difference between the higher purchase price and the sale price.

Strategy 5: Be Specific About Cost Basis

Another way to limit your tax footprint is to use the specific-share identification method for reporting your cost basis on your investments. At the most basic level, cost basis is simply the amount you've paid for an asset. The difference between your cost basis and the price at which you sell that asset is used to determine the amount of capital gains tax you owe on the transaction. 

Investors can use various methods for determining their cost basis, and they must specify with their providers which method they'd like to employ. (Fund companies and brokerage firms are now legally required to track their clients' cost basis and report this information to the Internal Revenue Service.) The most flexible method--and the one that gives investors the most latitude to keep their tax bills down--is what's called the specific-share identification method. The basic idea is that you can pick and choose which block of shares you'd like to sell. For example, say you've purchased a stock at several intervals across a number of years. If a batch of newly purchased shares drops sharply in price, you can tell your brokerage firm to sell that group, thereby taking a tax loss, while leaving your other, highly appreciated shares intact. This article provides more detail on the various cost-basis methods.

2014 Year-End Tax Planning Guide: 2015 Preview

Moss Adams LLP writes: On October 30, 2014, the IRS issued its cost-of-living adjustments for 2015. In a nutshell, with inflation remaining in check, many amounts will increase only slightly, and some will stay at 2014 levels. Adjustments relate to individual income taxes, the alternative minimum tax, education- and child-related tax breaks, retirement plans, and gift and estate taxes. As you implement your 2014 year-end tax planning strategies, be sure to take these 2015 adjustments into account. Being aware of the changes now may guide the financial moves you make (or don’t make) in the new year.

INDIVIDUAL INCOME TAXES

Tax brackets will widen and personal exemptions will increase slightly for 2015.

Tax-bracket thresholds increase for each filing status, but because they’re based on percentages, they increase more significantly for the higher brackets. For example, the top threshold for the 10 percent bracket increases by $150 to $300 depending on filing status, but the top threshold for the 35 percent bracket increases by $3,625 to $7,250, again, depending on filing status.

The personal and dependency exemption increases by only $50 (to $4,000) for 2015 and is subject to a phaseout. The 2015 phaseout reduces these exemptions by 2 percent for each $2,500 (or portion thereof) by which a taxpayer’s adjusted gross income (AGI) exceeds the applicable threshold (or, for single filers, by 2 percent of each $1,250).

For 2015 the phaseout starting points increase by between $2,425 and $4,850, making the starting AGI thresholds $258,250 (for singles), $284,050 (for heads of household), $309,900 (for joint filers), and $154,950 (for separate filers). The exemption phases out completely at $380,750 (for singles), $406,550 (for heads of households), $432,400 (for joint filers), and $216,200 (for separate filers).

Your AGI also may affect some of your itemized deductions. An AGI-based limit reduces certain otherwise allowable deductions by 3 percent of the amount by which a taxpayer’s AGI exceeds the applicable threshold (not to exceed 80 percent of otherwise allowable deductions). For 2015 the thresholds are $309,900 for joint filers (up from $305,050), $284,050 for heads of household (up from $279,650), $258,250 for singles (up from $254,200), and $154,950 for separate filers (up from $152,525).

ALTERNATIVE MINIMUM TAX

The alternative minimum tax (AMT) is a separate tax system that limits some deductions, doesn’t permit others, and treats certain income items differently. If your AMT liability is greater than your regular tax liability, you must pay the AMT instead.

As with the ordinary tax brackets, the AMT brackets are annually indexed for inflation. For 2015, the threshold for the 28 percent bracket increased by $2,900 for all filing statuses except married filing separately, which increased by half that amount.

The AMT exemptions and exemption phaseouts are also indexed. The exemption amounts for 2015 are $53,600 for singles and heads of households and $83,400 for joint filers—increases of $800 and $1,300, respectively, over 2014 amounts. The inflation-adjusted phaseout ranges for 2015 are $119,200–$333,600 (for singles and heads of households) and $158,900–$492,500 (for joint filers). Amounts for separate filers are half those for joint filers.

EDUCATION- AND CHILD-RELATED TAX BREAKS

The maximum benefits of various education- and child-related breaks generally remain the same for 2015. But most of these breaks are also limited based on the taxpayer’s modified adjusted gross income (MAGI). Taxpayers whose MAGI is within the applicable phaseout range are eligible for a partial break; breaks are eliminated for those whose MAGIs exceed the top of the range.

The MAGI phaseout ranges generally remain the same or increase modestly for 2015, depending on the break. For example:

• The American Opportunity Tax Credit. The MAGI phaseout ranges remain the same for 2015: $160,000–$180,000 for joint filers and $80,000–$90,000 for other filers. This education credit delivers a maximum benefit of $2,500 per eligible student.
• The Lifetime Learning Credit. The MAGI phaseout ranges increase for 2015; they’re $110,000–$130,000 for joint filers and $55,000–$65,000 for other filers. This education credit delivers a maximum benefit of up $2,000 for joint filers and $1,000 for others.
• The adoption credit. The MAGI phaseout ranges for this credit also increase in 2015 to $201,010–$241,010 for joint, head-of-household, and single filers (a $3,130 increase). The maximum credit increases by $210, to $13,400 for 2015.

Note that married couples filing separately generally aren’t eligible for these credits.

These are only a few of the education- and child-related breaks that may benefit you. Keep in mind that if your MAGI is too high for you to qualify for a break for your child’s education, your child might still be eligible.

RETIREMENT PLANS

Many retirement-plan-related limits increase slightly in 2015; thus, you may have opportunities to increase your contributions and your retirement savings:

Your MAGI may reduce or even eliminate your ability to take advantage of IRAs. Fortunately, IRA-related MAGI phaseout range limits all will increase for 2015.

Traditional IRAs

MAGI phaseout ranges apply to the deductibility of contributions if the taxpayer (or his or her spouse) participates in an employer-sponsored retirement plan.

• For married taxpayers filing jointly, the phaseout range is specific to each spouse based on whether he or she is a participant in an employer-sponsored plan:
  • For a spouse who participates, the 2015 phaseout range limits are $98,000–$118,000 (a $2,000 increase).
  • For a spouse who doesn’t participate, the 2015 phaseout range limits are $183,000–$193,000 (also a $2,000 increase).
• For single and head-of-household taxpayers participating in an employer-sponsored plan, the 2015 phaseout range limits are $61,000–$71,000 (a $1,000 increase from 2014).

Taxpayers with MAGI within the applicable range can deduct a partial contribution; those with MAGI exceeding the applicable range can’t deduct any IRA contributions. But a taxpayer whose deduction is reduced or eliminated can still make nondeductible traditional IRA contributions. The $5,500 contribution limit (plus $1,000 catch-up, if applicable, and reduced by any Roth IRA contributions) still applies. Nondeductible traditional IRA contributions may be beneficial if your MAGI is also too high for you to contribute (or fully contribute) to a Roth IRA.

Roth IRAs

Whether you participate in an employer-sponsored plan doesn’t affect your ability to contribute to a Roth IRA, but MAGI limits may reduce or eliminate your ability to contribute:

• For married taxpayers filing jointly, the 2015 phaseout range limits are $183,000–$193,000 (a $2,000 increase).
• For single and head-of-household taxpayers, the 2015 phaseout range limits are $116,000–$131,000 (also a $2,000 increase).

You can make a partial contribution if your MAGI falls within the applicable range, but you can’t make any contribution if it exceeds the top of the range. Note that married taxpayers filing separately are subject to much lower phaseout ranges for both traditional and Roth IRAs.

GIFT AND ESTATE TAXES

The unified gift and estate tax exemption and the generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax exemption are both adjusted annually for inflation. For 2015 the amount is $5.43 million (up from $5.34 million for 2014).

The annual gift tax exclusion remains at $14,000 for 2015. It’s adjusted only in $1,000 increments, so it typically increases only every few years. It increased to $14,000 in 2013, so it might go up again for 2016. 

Bitcoin outfit Sembro Development launches dedicated tax accounting products

Bitcoin start-up, Sembro Development, is proud to announce the launch of its dedicated tax sector referred to as SembroTax (sembrotax.com). The initial launch will consist of three Bitcoin automated accounting software products: Individual, Small Business, and Bitcoin Business on December 15, 2014.

Each product downloads directly to the user’s desktop and is optimized for specific entities ranging from “The day-trader” to small businesses which accept the majority of their revenue in the form of fiat but have recently decided or wish to start accepting Bitcoin as an alternative payment to Bitcoin businesses that are primarily new start-ups that receive a majority of their revenue in the form of Bitcoin.

Using Blockchain Technologies derived from the Bitcoin protocol these products not only facilitate the documentation of gains and/or losses through an automated process for tax-reporting purposes but also provide essential financial calculations that vary by product but each includes: Easy set-up and configuration, identification of internal vs. external account transfers, ability to break data down by individual wallet or view combined while also supporting 21 currencies, and is available worldwide. (For more detailed information about each product and its features please visit sembrotax.com)
How exactly does it work? Each instance of the software pulls data in real-time from the Bitcoin blockchain, runs calculations, and re-organizes that information to display on a front-end interface in a matter of seconds (refer to the diagram below for process overview).  New users must simply input their wallet addresses upon launching the software for the first time and then it will automatically record all buys, sells, and transfers in the transaction ledger which can be easily exported into an excel spreadsheet and given to an accountant or tax specialist to reconcile any discrepancies or report year end gains/losses. 

Since this software works in retrospect and pulls transactions dating back to Bitcoin’s inception in 2009, we believe the demand for these products will surge as the U.S. enters its tax season and both individuals and businesses realize their need for a more detailed past transaction history to comply with IRS standards, and our software provides just that in a matter of seconds. 
“What puts our product ahead of the competition”, says Sembro Development President, Ian Worrall, “Is that we developed an infrastructure that only requires a one-time setup which takes less than 10 minutes, requires no importing of data from exchanges, is available globally, provides flexibility to constantly changing regulations, offers more functionality than the competition, and above all, will save tax-payers worldwide time and money.”  And he assures us that this is only the beginning. 

But why is this important? The IRS ruled that virtual currency is treated as property, making price fluctuations in Bitcoin subject to capital gains taxes, which can be cumbersome. For example, on August 31, 2014 the price of Bitcoin reached a low of $475.17 and a high of $502.54, marking a price swing of $27.37. With Bitcoin’s user base and volatility increasing, these fluctuations are likely to continue, if not exacerbate, and all of them will be taxed. 

Now, all Bitcoin users must keep records of all Bitcoin purchases, sells, and transactions, including the time, date, and US dollar value at the time of the transaction to keep up with tax liability. The IRS reserves the right to impose penalties on any individuals or businesses that treated a virtual currency transaction differently than as stated by the IRS in Notice 2014-21. That means the IRS can back tax all Bitcoin transactions past, present, and future.
For the average Bitcoin trader and user, keeping records of all transactions is time consuming and difficult. Since the virtual currency’s inception in January 2009, thousands upon thousands of transactions have been made. Most of which are now subject to taxing via the IRS as the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the IRS can go back up to 3 years to audit an individual.

Sembro Development created this line of products to save Bitcoin users, traders, and businesses the time and energy required to research and record all of their Bitcoin transactions and the relative fiat value.

With Sembro Development’s recently launched SembroTax sector, mobile gaming, research and analytical tools, and DAC exploration, this software start-up is quickly gaining traction in the emerging Virtual Currency industry.  Keep an eye on this company as Bitcoin continues being adopted and check out their newest line of products at sembrotax.com. 

*By the editors at altcointoday.com and interview with Sembro Development President, Ian Worrall

MYOB again questions rival Xero’s customer claims

Peter Dinham for IT Wire writes: The numbers game continues unabated in the hotly contested cloud accounting software market, with the two major players – MYOB and Xero – in a battle for market supremacy and a share of voice, in the ANZ regional market.

MYOB CEO Tim Reed has once again questioned the reported customer numbers of fast growing rival Xero, saying claimed customer numbers released today by Xero, are not directly comparable to MYOB's customer base.

Xero (ASX:XRO) today reported that another customer milestone had been reached, with over 400,000 small businesses now operating on its cloud accounting software platform.

"They include practice ledgers used by accountants and not available to SMEs," Reed says, reiterating what he said in October when Xero last released customer numbers – “they are simply non-paying customers of accountants using Xero”.

Reed also cites a Macquarie research paper published in July this year which he says estimated that 50-60% of Xero’s reported ledgers are business ledgers, comparable to the MYOB cloud solutions.

Regardless of Xero’s claimed customer acquisitions, Reed is bullish about MYOB’s performance and its market leadership position.

“Following our half yearly results where we announced a record performance for MYOB, we shared achievement of rapid growth to 100,000 cloud accounting subscribers within two years of launch of our flagship AccountRight cloud accounting solution, and we have been growing rapidly since we made that announcement in September,” Reed says today. [snip].  The article continues @ IT Wire,com, click here to continue reading....
 

JAPAN / Freee is crowned the king of cloud accounting in Japan...and nd it’s not even close

TechInAsia for VonDroid.com writes:  Skirmishes are breaking out in certain industries for Japanese startups. Everyone wants to be number one but getting the top spot is easier said than done. Competition is fierce, like the see-saw between Gunosy and Smartnews for the nation’s news app supremacy. Over in the world of accounting software for businesses, a new study shows that Freee is the leader, and may not be letting go of that title anytime soon.

According to a report from Digital in Fact, 41 percent of the representative sample of businesspeople use Freee. MoneyForward is usually cited as Freee’s main rival but they lag far behind with 9.7 percent market share.

Despite the big gap, both companies – and new competitors – have plenty of room to grow. Cloud-based accounting only makes up five percent of the accounting services used by local companies. The rest use installed software.

The news, which is sure to empower Freee salespeople trying to hit their year-end targets, helps explain why investors decided to pour an additional US$6 million into the firm after giving it US$8 million just five months earlier.

It’s good to be on top but Freee’s competitors are not going anywhere. Aside from MoneyForward, Accounting SaaS just closed a US$6.6 million funding round.

Use our Search Engine and type the  "FREEE" to learn about 

Japan's cloud accounting leader Freee.

JT Quigley for TechInAsia writes on "Money Forward":

For this startup, dominance of Japan’s $3.7 trillion personal finance market is not enough

Are people obsessed with money? No. People are obsessed with disposable income. Disposable income is the cash in your pocket after all legally required payments for things like taxes and pension have been deducted from your salary. Disposable income gets you dinner and drinks with friends, extra savings in your bank account, a new TV… or even a chance to re-create the hedonism of The Wolf of Wall Street in the comforts of your own home. With so many options, it is no wonder that planning how to use disposable income is a national pastime the world over. Money Forward founder and CEO, Yosuke Tsuji, created his company to make the process as easy as possible. Judging by the company’s strong user growth – rapidly approaching one million user accounts – he’s on his way to succeeding.

Capturing market share

Established in December 2012, Money Forward entered a growing market. According to OECD figures, Japan’s national disposable income was on an upswing, hitting US$3.7 trillion in 2012. The company seeks to become a one-stop shop for any individual wishing to track and plan their finances. It does this by creating partnerships with approximately 1,400 financial institutions in Japan. Users can then link their financial accounts (banks, credit cards, securities, Coiney, etc.) to their Money Forward account and see the full glory, or sobering reality, of their financial health. Once the user’s financial accounts are linked, any changes to their savings or securities will be pushed to Money Forward where they can be fully analyzed.

Data analysis is another area where Money Forward creates value. As Tsuji explains,
“You can simulate your data from the past six months into the next three years… the customers can see the best card from their data.”

Command one market, conquer the next

The service provides near total-coverage for all financial institutions in Japan. With 1,400 out of 1,585 financial institutions in the Money Forward fold, even users who have never stepped foot inside of a mega-bank can enjoy top-class service and benefits. The message certainly seems to have gotten out, as the company’s free app for Android was rated the number one finance app for 2013 by Google Play. iOS users are also flocking to the service on iPhone and iPad. In total, Money Forward expects to announce the acquisition of its one millionth user this summer. Tsuji asserted that this milestone will cement the company’s top position in Japan as measured by user accounts.

Despite the company’s success as a personal finance management system, it also started offering enterprise services in January 2014. It currently offers a cloud accounting service covering tax accounting. Tsuji’s rationale for this strategy is that traditional face-to-face accounting services are destined to be digitized. He noted that, “Microsoft Outlook was replaced by Gmail and local servers were replaced by Amazon Web Server database, so accounting services, accounting systems will be replaced by a cloud system.” Tsuji’s aim is high – to turn Money Forward into the number one cloud service for business. Though the functionality is currently limited to just accounting, additional enterprise-focused services for invoices, salary payment, and expense reports are expected to be released in the coming months.

The new services dovetail perfectly Tsuji’s ultimate goal. He says, “I want to make the world [without] manual input. Just connect everything.” Competition in this market is fierce and its burgeoning rival Freee is making strong inroads as well. Seeing if Money Forward has the ability to replicate its success in its intended enterprise expansion bears watching as 2014 progresses.

XERO: 7.8% growth in 71 days projecting to 47% annual growth / Jan-Apr Spiking & Tax Year Seasonality

Kind of interesting...over at ShareTrader.co.nz, investors took another view toward Xero's growth announcement of 400,000 clients worldwide.

 Originally Posted by Casino 

The announcement may not be as good as you think.

"Yeah I was thinking the announcement [400,000 customers] wasn't that good, although it's hard to judge the annual sales patterns for Xero when they only announce sales figures about 6 times per year. 

It looks like they sell a lot more in Jan-Apr than at other times of the year and it also looks like sales depend on when the tax year falls in various countries. 

The last figures they announced were for 30 Sept which was 371,000. That gives 7.8% growth in 71 days which projects to 47% annual growth. Not impressed by that but it's hard to draw a trend from a short period of time that may not be indicative of the full year."  - ShareTrader Comment
_____

Click here to read the thread (and this kind of interesting scribbling of notes from the Xero U.S. Partner Update on 12/10/14).

New Standard Mileage Rates Now Available; Business Rate to Rise in 2015 / calculate the deductible costs of operating an automobile for business, charitable, medical or moving purposes.

The Internal Revenue Service today issued the 2015 optional standard mileage rates used to calculate the deductible costs of operating an automobile for business, charitable, medical or moving purposes.

Beginning on Jan. 1, 2015, the standard mileage rates for the use of a car, van, pickup or panel truck will be:

• 57.5 cents per mile for business miles driven, up from 56 cents in 2014
• 23 cents per mile driven for medical or moving purposes, down half a cent from 2014 
• 14 cents per mile driven in service of charitable organizations

The standard mileage rate for business is based on an annual study of the fixed and variable costs of operating an automobile, including depreciation, insurance, repairs, tires, maintenance, gas and oil. The rate for medical and moving purposes is based on the variable costs, such as gas and oil. The charitable rate is set by law.

Taxpayers always have the option of claiming deductions based on the actual costs of using a vehicle rather than the standard mileage rates.

A taxpayer may not use the business standard mileage rate for a vehicle after claiming accelerated depreciation, including the Section 179 expense deduction, on that vehicle. Likewise, the standard rate is not available to fleet owners (more than four vehicles used simultaneously). Details on these and other special rules are in Revenue Procedure 2010-51, the instructions to Form 1040 and various online IRS publications including Publication 17, Your Federal Income Tax.

Besides the standard mileage rates, Notice 2014-79, posted today on IRS.gov, also includes the basis reduction amounts for those choosing the business standard mileage rate, as well as the maximum standard automobile cost   that may be used in computing an allowance under  a fixed and variable rate plan.

IRS Revises 2014 Form 1042 Instructions For Withholding On U.S. Source Payments

Form 1042, Revised Instructions

The IRS has updated the 2014 instructions for Form 1042, Annual Withholding Tax Return for U.S. Source Income of Foreign Persons, to provide additional guidance under Chapter 3, withholding on U.S. payments to foreign persons, and Chapter 4, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). The updates follow the IRS’s previous release of final Form 1042 for 2014 plus instructions.

ExactCPA COMMENT The 2014 version of Form 1042 reflects the requirements of FATCA and must be filed by taxpayers in 2015 to report withholding for 2014. The revised instructions incorporate changes and additions needed for reporting on the form.

Background

FATCA requires foreign financial institutions (FFIs) to identify their accounts that have U.S. owners and to provide information on the accounts. U.S. financial institutions that make payments to FFIs and to other entities maintaining foreign account must withhold 30 percent of the payments if the entity does not comply with FATCA.

Form 1042 is filed by withholding agents and other intermediaries who receive, control, dispose of or pay a withholdable payment.

Updates

The updates, dated November 13, 2014, supplement or replace specified sections of the instructions, as follows:

• Escrow procedure: a withholding agent that withheld tax during calendar year 2014 but was not required to deposit the tax with the IRS should not report the amount as a liability or an amount withheld. The amount should be reported in a future year when the withholding agent must deposit the tax with the IRS.
• Escrow procedures: these are used to reduce the amount withheld from income paid to a beneficial owner during the calendar year or a subsequent year.
• Reimbursement procedure: The withholding agent repays the beneficial owner an amount overwithheld, using its own funds for the repayment, and reimbursing itself by reducing the amount of a subsequent tax deposit.
• Reporting on lines 63a through 63e (withholdings, reimbursements, and taxes assumed by the withholding agent);
• Reporting on lines 64b and 64c (total net tax liability under Chapters 3 and 4, respectively); and
• A QSL (qualified securities lender) engaged in borrowing U.S. securities and lending them to unrelated customers, and claiming a credit forward.

LedgerPal Raises the Bar for Web Based Accounting Software

The LedgerPal accounting software covers all aspects of bookkeeping, including inventory requirements for corporations and even businesses. Starting in 2009, the founders Rob Lunan and Ian Hall conceptualized the software after years of development and planning. The entire software was created from scratch and is not based upon any other current accounting software known today.

Based on the “secure cloud”, LedgerPal offers easy to access content that users are finding extremely helpful. Being able to be accessed from any point within the world or time of day adds additional ease of user friendliness. Not to mention, that since the software is based on a secure cloud, user information is continuously backed up automatically, adding to the advanced software features. LedgerPal has became an easy to use accounting software that virtually any business located anywhere around the world can utilize.

One of the main focus features that LedgerPal provides is that users may access LedgerPal from multiple devices and they can have multiple users. There are many capabilities within LedgerPal that is allowing users to utilize their services for a full range of all-in-one complete services. Ready to learn more about LedgerPal? Visit them online at http://www.ledgerpal.com

About company:

When you sign up for LedgerPal™ you get the world’s best suite of online accounting tools at your fingertips. There is nothing to install or upgrade – EVER! Everything is backed up automatically and it works fast from any computer browser or smart phone.

Contact:
LedgerPal™ Inc.
PO Box 1044
Kemptville, ON K0G 1J0
Canada
Fax: 613-258-1943
ds@ledgerpal.com
http://www.ledgerpal.com

Grow Inc., a cloud-based software service, today announced its launch out of beta / pulls data from sources like Quickbooks, Salesforce, Dropbox and integrates all the data into one easily accessible dashboard

Grow Inc., a cloud-based software service, today announced its launch out of beta, providing entrepreneurs with customizable business intelligence (BI) dashboards to help track key metrics in real-time. Grow comes with a library of pre-built KPIs and customers can populate charts, tables and graphs with data imported from their own spreadsheets and third-party integrations like QuickBooks, MailChimp, Salesforce, Twitter, Instagram and many more. Try it free at http://www.grow.com.

Additionally, the Provo-based company announced it has raised $1.5 million in Seed funding from Kickstart Seed Fund, Pelion Ventures, and Aaron Skonnard of Pluralsight among others.

"Grow has a compelling value proposition for small and medium businesses," said Gavin Christensen, managing partner at Kickstart Seed Fund. "Grow gives growing companies the best of both worlds: an elegant user interface that brings internal and external metrics together in a single view, combined with a flexible pricing model that works for entrepreneurs."

By focusing on serving companies that have between 10 and 200 employees, Grow is able to reach a previously underserved market that until now, did not have an efficient, easy and affordable tool that allowed SMBs to see all of their key metrics one place. In an effort to truly meet the needs of any small business, Grow can also create custom integrations for any internal data source or external application with a public API.

"Spreadsheets and other business intelligence dashboards don't work for entrepreneurs," said Rob Nelson, founder and CEO at Grow. "Spreadsheets are always out of date and enterprise dashboard products are too expensive and difficult to implement. Grow fills this gap."

Rob founded Grow from frustrations with the inefficiencies of reporting with Excel spreadsheets, and the myriad of ad hoc tools SMBs typically try to employ for reporting. Rob had built basic business dashboards in Excel to track KPIs, but the data took so long to collect, the dashboard was often out of date.

"Grow gives us a simple way to keep our key metrics front and center -- and we didn't have to spend a bunch of development cycles building out a custom solution. Our whole team rallies around the metrics we track in Grow and it focuses our work every day." said Nate Quigley, founder and CEO of Chatbooks, Inc.

With Grow's software, entrepreneurs can distill the information they need from blocks of data and share that data with team members, in real-time. Key features include:

• Simple Set Up: Grow's BI dashboard is easy-to-use, users can select the metrics they need from Grow's library of services, drag in their own data sources or spreadsheets, and then customize the dashboard and move things where they want them -- all in a matter of minutes
• SaaS Integrations: Grow pulls data from sources like Quickbooks, Salesforce, Dropbox and more, and integrates all the data into one easily accessible dashboard
• Private and Secure: All data is transmitted over the Internet via SSL encryption; any data imported is behind Grow's secure firewall, so users never have to open a port
• Pre-Built KPIs and Metrics: Grow has built 100+ pre-built metric templates so users can easily drag and drop the data they want into their dashboard
• Social Listening: Grow provides simple analytics to help interpret social data alongside financial metrics

Starting today, Grow is available to all SMBs and those interested can sign up for a 14-day free trial. Pricing ranges from 1 user/$39 a month to 100 users/$899 a month and is broken down into four tiers: Starter/1 dashboard, Business/5 dashboards, Professional/25 dashboards and Enterprise/unlimited dashboards.

About Grow, Inc.

Grow is a cloud-based software service that gives entrepreneurs beautiful business dashboards that track their key metrics, inspire their teams and make better decisions. Grow's library of data connections allows you to build a real-time dashboard in minutes, not months. Only Grow gives small businesses a simple way to see all of their key performance indicators (KPIs) in one place -- both internal data from spreadsheets and databases, and data from third-party apps like QuickBooks, Salesforce and Zendesk. Knowing the score helps leaders gain confidence and teams perform at a higher level because they know what it will take to win. For more information about Grow, visit http://www.grow.com.

Tax Tips: Ouch, I just received an audit notice

Barry Dolowich for the Monterey Herald writes: Q We just received a notice from the Internal Revenue Service stating that they are auditing our 2011 income tax return, a return that we prepared using purchased software. Are there any benefits for hiring a professional to represent us or should we just handle it ourselves?

A You have my condolences. Being subjected to an IRS audit is never a pleasant experience. However, the experience is not nearly as stressful as most taxpayers believe. Generally, a disallowance of deductions by the IRS may cost you some money, but you will not be going to jail!

The IRS audit notice will usually isolate a specific area or areas of your tax return to be audited. If the issues are clearly “black and white,” it may be perfectly fine for you to represent yourself at the audit. For example, if the IRS is questioning your charitable contributions and you have all the supporting cancelled checks and receipts, you should not have a problem.

If it is in the “gray” area and technical issues then I strongly recommend professional representation during the audit. An example of a gray area issue may be in the business use of your auto or business meals and entertainment. Technical issues may include dealing with hobby loss rules, home office deduction, depreciation, etc.

Some of the advantages of using professional representation to handle your audit are as follows:

• Overall stress reduction. Allowing an experienced professional to handle and deal with the revenue agent will certainly alleviate stress. In most cases, you will never even have to speak to an agent or attend any meetings.

• Avoid “foot-in-mouth” disease. I have heard many war stories of taxpayers who could not stop talking during an audit and consequently, led an agent down a path he had no intention of traveling.

• When responding to direct questions, a taxpayer representative can use phrases like “I believe that …” or “My understanding is …” However, a taxpayer will have to generally answer “yes” or “no” to the same questions. A representative can possibly avoid or divert a sensitive issue without lying, whereas the taxpayer may be committing fraud by lying.

• Over the years, a number of agents have told me that they prefer to deal with representatives rather than the taxpayer. Dealing with a representative is much less stressful for the agent than dealing with a hysterical taxpayer.

• An experienced representative and an IRS agent generally speak the same language. Since both deal with the technical aspects of taxation on a daily basis, it is much easier for a positive rapport to be established quickly.

• Often times, the audit boils down to a negotiating process. An experienced representative is usually skilled in the art of negotiation.

You may be represented by a certified public accountant, attorney, enrolled agent or any person permitted to practice before the IRS.

Xero not short on chutzpah / Deutsche Bank NZ affiliate Craigs Investment Partners notes the incumbents are growing “as least as fast” as Xero in the cloud.

Tim Boreham for the Australian writes: IT must be something in that wholesome New Zealand milk, because the trans-Tasman “cloud” accounting software house, Xero, has never been short on chutzpah when it comes to growth prospects.

But when will it actually turn a quid?

Ahead of the key selling season in the UK, the US and NZ, Xero (XRO) today reported it had hit the 400,000 subscriber level, compared with 371,000 in October and 284,000 in May.

Seven years ago it had none.

“Support from both customers and partners has been humbling and exciting,’’ gushed CEO Rod Drury. “Together we have established Xero as one of the leading platforms on which to connect, collaborate and conduct their business.’’

Xero, indeed has come from the clouds with its purpose-built cloud offering, which caught traditional rivals such as MYOB, Sage and Intuit napping.

They appear to have been prodded awake.

In a note this week, Deutsche Bank NZ affiliate Craigs Investment Partners notes the incumbents are growing “as least as fast” as Xero in the cloud. “Xero’s marketing spend is tracking higher than our prior expectations and the overall picture is one of increasing competition.’’

In particular, Intuit’s cloud customer growth was 29 times greater than Xero’s, while Sage reported slightly higher growth than Xero in the UK.

In Australia, Xero’s biggest market, MYOB’s cloud growth was on par with Xero’s. So all round, the accounting software game has become a slugathon for the hearts and wallets of SMEs and their advisers.

Xero reported a net loss of $NZ24.5m on revenue of $NZ55.8m in the half year to September 2014, having spent $NZ38.3m on sales and marketing.

While revenue increased 80 per cent, gross margin was flat at 68 per cent.

Craigs foresees heavy losses for at least the next three years.

With the exception of First NZ Capital, five out of six brokers covering Xero rate the stock as a sell (or similar).

To a large degree, reality has already bitten given the stock hit $42 a share in March this year.

We last had Xero as a sell at $29 in May. While the current valuation looks more palatable, we’ll avoid this one pending next year’s mooted $2.5-3 billion MYOB listing.