Greetings from the trenches,

Tax season is under way and we are getting used to electronic filing. The routine for us is a little different, we are finding that it is taking us a little more time, but I think in the end it will be a benefit for both you and I. It’s saving you a trip to the post office, processing your return faster and hopefully getting your refund to you much quicker than if you filed by paper.

This is the first of my semi-monthly newsletters. I hope you find the information useful. In addition I want to tell you about some great new additions to my website. On my home page you’ll find links to some tips that I hope you will find extremely useful.

Every week I will have a new tax tip. It will appear every Monday. This week’s tip deals with S corporations. In addition, each month I will have a business tip of the month and a financial tip of the month. This month the business tip has to do with the new health savings accounts (HSA) that are available. For some employers and employees these plans could have some great benefits.

This month’s financial tip deals with long-term financial health. I’m often asked about what to do to improve or control finances and these 5 ideas will be a good start.

You can find these tips at http://www.llhcpa.com. Please feel free to share this information with family and friends.

I’ve been asked recently my opinion about outsourcing. It has been a big topic of discussion in every industry. Outsourcing of tax preparation services were recently mentioned in a story on 60 Minutes. Although many tax preparers are using outsourcing, I am not, and have no intention of doing so.

First and foremost, I feel very fortunate that I have an incredible staff. I do not want to put their jobs at risk to save a few bucks by having some of their work done overseas. Maybe there is a small savings in having the work done out of the country, but I want to make sure that my employees have the opportunity to earn a decent wage to support themselves and their families.

Second, in my experience in calling various technical support lines recently, I have found that the people on the other end of the phone just don’t know the products that well. It’s obvious when you speak to someone overseas as opposed to someone who is in the States. This is only to say that the overseas personnel have not been doing the support long enough to know the real workings of the product.

Last, but not least, I do not feel comfortable about sending any of your personal information to another country. Once the information is over there, we do not have any control over what happens with it. There was recently a case where medical information was released by an employee overseas. I do not want that to happen to my clients information.

Finally, remember that the deadline to have your information to us in order to file by April 15th is March 25th. PLEASE complete the organizer before you send us your information or come in. It saves us an incredible amount of time and keeps your bill lower.

Till next time,

Linda