Expectations of the ideal candidate include:

• Assist CPAs in preparing individual, corporate, partnership and fiduciary tax returns
• Correspond with clients as needed to address outstanding items
• Collaborate with staff members and CPAs as necessary

The ideal candidate will possess and exhibit:

• An accounting degree or professional experience in tax preparation
• Proficiency in Excel and QuickBooks; knowledge of Lacerte tax software is also ideal
• Necessary interpersonal skills for client contact
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills; ability to work independently
• Possess necessary interpersonal skills for client contact
• A pleasant personality and good sense of humor

Please contact: Hannah Brandt at email hidden; JavaScript is required | 831-423-3883

Here’s a look at the key elements of the package:

• Favorable income tax rates will be retained for two years (2011 and 2012), with a top tax of 35% on ordinary income and 15% on qualified dividends and long-term capital gains.
• Employees and self-employed workers get a reduction of two percentage points in Social Security tax in 2011, bringing the rate down from 6.2% to 4.2% for employees, and from 12.4% to 10.4% for the self-employed.
• A two-year Alternative Minimum Tax (“AMT”) “patch” for 2010 and 2011 provides a modest increase in AMT exemption amounts and allows personal nonrefundable credits to offset AMT as well as regular tax.
• Key tax credits for working families that were enacted or expanded in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 are retained. For example, the new law extends for two years: (a) the $1,000 child tax credit (and maintains its expanded refundability); and (b) the American Opportunity tax credit for higher education, and its partial refundability.
• Two crackdowns on deductions for higher-income people have been deferred. For 2011 and 2012, higher-income individuals will not face a reduction in their itemized deductions or a phaseout of personal exemptions.
• Businesses can write off 100% of their new equipment and machinery purchases in the placed-in-service year, effective for property placed in service after September 8, 2010 and through December 31, 2011. For property placed in service in 2012, the new law provides for 50% additional first-year depreciation.
• Many of the popular tax breaks that went off the books at the end of 2009 were retroactively reinstated for 2010 and extended through the end of 2011. Among many others, the retroactively reinstated and extended individual and business provisions include the election to take an itemized deduction for state and local general sales taxes instead of the itemized deduction for state and local income taxes; the $250 above-the-line deduction for certain expenses of elementary and secondary school teachers; and the research credit. The credit for making energy-saving improvements for a home has been extended for one year, through 2011.
• After a one-year hiatus, the estate tax will be reinstated for 2011 and 2012, with a top rate of 35% and a fair market value step-up in basis. The exemption amount will be $5 million per individual in 2011 and will be indexed to inflation in following years. Estates of individuals who died in 2010 may choose to follow either the 2010 or 2011 rules.

We hope this information is helpful. If you would like more details about these provisions or any other aspect of the new law, please do not hesitate to call us.

David is licensed as a CPA in California and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the California Society of Certified Public Accountants.

He graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Southern California with an emphasis in accounting.

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Many provisions in the bill are targeted to assist small business operations through additional tax deductions and tax credits or exclusions. A few of these tax-relief provisions are as follows:

• Increasing Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Section 179 allowance to a maximum of $500,000, phasing out at $2 million, for immediate write offs of capital investments in 2010 and 2011.
• Expanding the list of real property qualifying for immediate expensing. The list includes leasehold, retail and restaurant improvements.
• Extending the first-year 50% bonus depreciation for one more year on real property acquired and placed in service in 2010.
• Removing cell phones from the listed property category.
• Doubling the deduction for trade or business startup expenses from $5,000 to $10,000 for tax years beginning in 2010 and 2011.
• Extending carryback period for unused general business credits for eligible small businesses from one to five years.
• Allowing 100 percent exclusion of capital gains on investments in small business.
• Improving tax fairness by preventing small businesses from incurring large tax penalties.
• Permitting rollovers from elective deferral plans to Roth accounts.

The tax relief is expected to be fully paid for the revenue-raising provisions also contained in the law.

If you have any questions regarding the bill or how its various provisions may impact you and your business, please do not hesitate to contact us for a strategic business and tax planning meeting.

Grant is licensed as a CPA in California and is a member of the California Society of Certified Public Accountants.

Grant graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from UC Santa Cruz, and with a Certificate of Advanced Accounting Proficiency from Santa Clara University.  He is currently a graduate student in the Lucas Graduate School of Business at San Jose State University and expects to obtain his Master of Science in Taxation degree in 2013.

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Hannah is licensed as a CPA in California and is a member of the California Society of Certified Public Accountants.

She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from UC Santa Cruz, and with a Certificate of Advanced Accounting Proficiency from Santa Clara University.

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Steve is licensed as a CPA in California and is a member of the California Society of Certified Public Accountants.

Steve graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from San Jose State University.  He also holds an MBA from Golden Gate University.

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