Mike, Asselya, and I just returned from the annual Thomson Reuters Users’ Conference in Dallas, Texas. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Thomson, they supply our tax software, as well as our virtual File Cabinet, financial statement software, and firm management software. While we were there, we participated in various lectures, trainings, and discussions with CPA’s from firms around the country. Mike had the opportunity to speak with Jon Baron, Managing Director at Thomson Reuters about our firm and the way we are working to merge accounting and tax with technology. Jon confirmed that we are on the cutting edge of technology in the accounting profession with our Eyenalyze website. He was very impressed that we have been able to make such strides given our small, but hardworking staff.
Asselya attended a 2013 Individual Tax Update class and a 2013 Business Tax Update class, which provided some information that should be applicable to many, if not all of our clients. As some of you may have heard, the individual tax rates will be increased from 25%, 28%, 33%, and 35% to 28%, 31%, 36%, and 39.6%. On the corporate side, many of the changes for 2013 will be regarding depreciation. The useful life for Leasehold Improvements has been increased from 15 years to 39 years. Bonus depreciation was reduced to 50% in 2012, and will be completely gone by 2013. Section 179 expense will be reduced to $25,000 in 2013 from $139,000. Any large purchases should be made before the end of 2012 rather than in 2013, if at all possible, to take advantage of the more generous depreciation deductions in 2012.
One of the classes I took was on managing your firm’s online presence, so be on the lookout for more blog posts and new ways to interact with us online in the coming weeks!