Tax Services & Tax Preparation and Planning by Long Schaefer

COVID-19 Update for Businesses and Families

Dear clients,

In order to comply with the Ohio Health Department Order & CDC social distancing recommendations, we are closing our offices to the public effective March 23rd, until further notice. Rest assured that our established protocols and available technology will allow us to provide the same level of service and quality you expect from LongSchaefer during this time.

As a reminder, you can upload your tax documents anytime from anywhere to your client portal at Tax Caddy or the Secure Send under Resources on www.longschaefer.com .

Your return can be reviewed, signed and submitted via Tax Caddy or reviewed at the NetClient Portal login located at the bottom of the above website home page. We can also email password protected PDF’s for your review. We need signed Form 8879’s returned before we can e-file tax returns and this can be accommodated through Tax Caddy with their compliant process or providing manually signed copies by secure send, fax or mail.

If you are unable to access the client portal options, you can mail or drop off your documents at our office (they will be quarantined 24 hours).

Meetings we coordinate will be scheduled and held virtually through Zoom or by telephone, and your account team member(s) will reach out to you to determine which method works best for you. In-person meetings cannot be accommodated at this time per our understanding of the health department order.

As a reminder, the federal tax filing and payment deadline has been extended to July 15 (we are awaiting clarity from the States & Localities but assume they will do the same). If you’re anticipating a refund (and even if you’re not), please continue to submit your documents timely and we will continue production towards filing as soon as practical.

For questions regarding your client portal or tax info, call the office at (513) 245-0300. For questions regarding your account, contact your account professional via email or at the office number.

The health and wellbeing of our clients and employees is top of mind, and we are here to assist with any questions or concerns you have regarding your account or business going forward.

Sincerely,

Michael W. Long CPA/PFS

President

Long, Schaefer & Company, Inc.

Long Schaefer Financial Advisors, LLC

Quickbooks: Financial Accounting Made Easy

You can purchase the most recent version of QuickBooks at a savings of up to 20% by clicking on the QuickBooks graphic directly below this paragraph.

QuickBooks Simple Start

QuickBooks Simple Start organizes your financial accounting all in one place, so everything is easy to find. It simplifies all your accounting tasks and presents the information you need exactly the way you need it. And now it’s easier to use and more flexible than ever!

Start saving time right away!

Now, easier to use and more flexible, QuickBooks Basic makes managing your small business finances faster and easier than ever. Now, you can access the improved Help & Support Center from more places… and type your question in plain English.

You can schedule automated data backups onto more types of media, including CD-ROMs (Windows XP only). You get more flexibility when printing forms. And you can create a budget more easily.

Want more options for customizing your forms? A way to create a budget instantly and automatically? Want to flow information from QuickBooks into other business applications-and vice versa? Then take a look at QuickBooks Pro. And if you want all that, plus planning tools to help you achieve better results, check out QuickBooks Premier.

Key Advantages

Track of your sales and expenses automatically as you create receipts or invoices, and make deposits.
Includes everything you need to organize customer information, pay your bills and prepare for tax time.
Simple to set up, learn, and use.
Keeps you organized, efficient, accurate.
New customization option lets you create professional-looking estimates and invoices with a few keystrokes.
Find any transaction fast. Get totals automatically without writing formulas or doing math.

QuickBooks Pro

Advanced tools that increase your productivity and help you look more professional

QuickBooks Pro offers advanced, yet easy-to-use tools for small businesses that want to manage their finances more effectively and efficiently. In addition to all the features of QuickBooks Basic, it offers more power and flexibility.

For instance, it automates job costing and time tracking. It allows you to create multiple estimates per job. It gives you over 100 forms templates and lots of control over the look and content of your forms. It lets you create a monthly budget with just one click of your mouse.

QuickBooks Pro can save you time by letting you share your customer, vendor, inventory and financial data with more than 100 popular business applications, including Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook, and ACT!

Order the Pro Edition 5-User Pack, and you can give as many as 5 networked users access to your company’s QuickBooks file at the same time.

Key Advantages

More than 100 timesaving form templates
Powerful forms customization options
Creates a budget with one click
Shares data with more than 100 business software applications
Tracks job cost, tracks time and allows multiple estimates per job
Allows up to 5 simultaneous users (5-User Pack only; requires local area network)
Lets you assign custom price levels to different customers

QuickBooks Premier

Achieve better results!

An exciting recent addition to the QuickBooks family, QuickBooks Premier is designed for businesses who want to manage their finances and improve the long-term performance of their business.

It offers a comprehensive set of tools that include everything in QuickBooks Pro, plus advanced tools and features that help you take your business further. It helps you quickly and easily create a business plan to help you get loans or financing.

QuickBooks Premier also includes a sophisticated analysis tool that actually measures your financial performance against averages for your industry and make expert recommendations to help you improve it.

Key Advantages

New management and planning tools help you achieve better results
Builds a business plan and forecast based on your finances
Analyzes your finances and makes expert recommendations
Tracks sales orders
Tracks components and finished goods for more accurate inventory management
Flexibility to work from home or the road via the Internet
Easy upgrade automatically transfers your existing QuickBooks data

QuickBooks Retail: Point of Sale

QuickBooks Point of Sale software for retailers makes it faster and easier to track sales, inventory and customer information. It turns an ordinary PC into a cash register.

QuickBooks Point of Sale software gives you the convenience you want with the control you need to manage and analyze your business.

Key Advantages

Rings up sales like a cash register. Stores sales, inventory and customer information for better reporting and decision-making.
Tracks inventory, so you know what inventory you have on hand without doing a manual count.
Stores customer information, including name, contact information and items purchased.
Never enter sales information into QuickBooks Financial Software again!
Works with Intuit-tested point of sale hardware – receipt printer, cash drawer, bar code scanner and credit card swipe.

QuickBooks Point of Sale software lets you easily transfer summarized sales data to QuickBooks Pro or Premier (bought separately), so you’ll never have to re-enter sales information into QuickBooks Financial Software again.

Get the Complete Solution
When you buy QuickBooks Point of Sale software, you can also purchase the Intuit-tested hardware package, which includes a receipt printer, cash drawer, bar code scanner and credit card swipe.

QuickBooks Premier: Contractors Edition

Custom Built For Contractors

Introducing QuickBooks Premier: Contractor Edition, a first-ever addition to the existing QuickBooks family of products used by more than 350,000 contractors.

Premier: Contractor Edition is custom-built for contractors. It simplifies the work of running your contracting business-from paying bills to estimating, invoicing, and job costing – so you can manage your business more effectively and free yourself for the work that makes a difference to your customers.

It lets you create more accurate and complete estimates, with change orders, and instantly see where you are making money and where you are losing money.

With customized set-up help, a custom contractor menu and navigator, and customizable forms templates, there’s never been an easier way to take charge of your contracting business.

Key Advantages

Custom job-costing reports let you see which jobs are making money-and which are not.
Track change orders and get client approvals in writing.
Nine reports specialized for contractors keep you on top of your business.
Contractor Menu and Navigator give you one-click access to your key contractor activities and reports.
Contractor-customized help and tips to help you get more from QuickBooks.
More than 100 new form designs and more customization options.
Automatically converts your existing QuickBooks files.
Works like other QuickBooks products, so you can be assured it’s fast and easy-to-use.
Includes everything in QuickBooks Pro and Premier.

QuickBooks Premier: Professional Services Edition

QuickBooks Professional Services Edition is an all-in-one solution recommended for consulting, engineering, architecture, law, graphic design firms, and many other types of small businesses. QuickBooks: Professional Services makes it faster and easier to manage projects, clients, and to automate invoicing without giving up flexibility.

QuickBooks: Professional Services software gives you the convenience you want, with the control you need to manage and analyze your business.

Key Advantages

Create and track invoices in QuickBooks, then send the data to Word documents that look just like those you used to create manually. No need to retype any information.
Get instant access to contact information, balances and transaction histories for any client, all in one window.
Set multiple hourly billing rate levels for your employee, client or service, and apply them to invoices any way you choose.
Gain insight into your business with 17 Professional Services reports, including reports that keep you on top of your projects and show where you’re making or losing money.
Streamline financial tasks by turning estimates or proposals into invoices with one click, and emailing them as PDF files.

QuickBooks Premier: Manufacturing and Wholesale Edition

QuickBooks Manufacturing and Wholesale Edition is an all-in-one solution recommended for manufacturers and wholesalers. QuickBooks Manufacturing and Wholesale Edition makes it faster and easier to create Bills of Materials, create customized pricing levels, track inventory, sales orders, etc.

QuickBooks Manufacturing and Wholesale Edition software gives you the convenience you want, with the control you need to manage and analyze your business.

Key Advantages

Create Bills of Material to easily track assembled products and their associated costs including both material and non-material costs.
11 Manufacturing and Wholesale reports show where you where you’re making money and where you aren’t. See which items are on your shelves, and which out-of-stocks are costing you sales.
Price your products more profitably with tools that let you create up to 100 pricing levels per item.
The new Sales Order Fulfillment Worksheet shows all your open sales orders. And, it helps you select the orders to ship based on the criteria that are important to you.
The new, simplified QuickBooks Home Page gives you instant access to bills, bank accounts, customer and vendor data, and reports. Pay bills, print checks and track expenses with ease.

Start fast and get help when you need it. Manufacturing and Wholesale Edition includes a chart of accounts customized for manufacturers and wholesalers and built-in tutorials on topics like inventory management. Plus, get FREE QuickBooks callback support for 30 days following registration.

QuickBooks Premier: Nonprofit Edition

QuickBooks Nonprofit Edition is an all-in-one solution recommended to help nonprofits easily show accountability to the Board of Directors. QuickBooks Nonprofit Edition is recommended if your work involves charity, religious, human service, arts, education, or other tax-exempt groups.

Key Advantages

Nonprofit Edition organizes your financial information the way your Board of Directors, donors, and the IRS want to see it.
Automatically track your organization’s finances with the Nonprofit Chart of Accounts as you enter donations, fund programs, and pay bills. Plus, create a budget automatically.
Finish basic accounting tasks faster. Get direct access to bills, bank accounts, pledges, donations, vendors, and reports from the new simplified Home Page.
Streamline donation processing and fundraising. Turn pledge forms into thank you letters and receipts with just a few clicks. See contact information, pledge status and contribution history for any donor at a glance in the new Customer Center.
Generate any of the 8 nonprofit-specific reports with one click.

Start fast and get help when you need it, with in-product Help focused on nonprofit-specific issues, built-in tutorials and FREE QuickBooks callback support for 30 days following registration.

QuickBooks Online Edition

QuickBooks Online Edition is an online version of QuickBooks, but instead of installing it on your computer, you access and manage your data through a secure, encrypted Internet connection. Once you’re setup, your data resides on QuickBooks remote servers.

Key Advantages

Access your financial data anywhere, any time. Update your financial records, run reports, and track income and expenses from your home, office, on the road, or anywhere you can access an Internet-connected PC.
Grant access to multiple users. Give employees and your accountant limited access so they can update timesheets, sales, expenses or review the books. No need to invest in a network.
Maintain total control of your data. Decide who has access, what they can see and what transactions they can make.
Protect your data from facility disasters and hardware failures with automatic daily backups and offsite data storage.
Manage financial tasks easily online. Track expenses, write checks, invoice customers, and more.

Quickbooks online is ideal for companies with multiple locations or who have financial or other staff who telecommute frequently.

Estate Planning

Planning what happens to your estate when you’re gone can seem frustrating and intimidating without the qualified help of a financial planning service.

You may feel that you’re too young to care about estate planning. Or, perhaps the reminder of death makes you uncomfortable. You might be tempted to put the whole thing off, assuming that it will just take care of itself. In all cases, estate planning ends up saving your family lots of time, heartache and money.

LongSchaefer can help.

Every estate planning situation is different. In order to help you, we want to know you, your unique situation, and the nature of your relationships. We offer discussion, recommendations, and useful research tools to make your planning simple, efficient, and worry-free. We are available throughout the estate planning process for further discussion regarding questions, change of circumstances, and alternatives. At every step, we’ll be there with you.

We help you…

Clearly define your estate planning goals.
Organize and create your estate planning team (experts on tax & finance) if you need one.
Evaluate and recommend estate planning options.
Prepare, organize, and review your estate planning documents including current wills, trusts, health care, and power of attorney.
Decrease the problems and expenses associated with probate.
Lessen taxes at time of death.
Arrange for management of your estate in the event you are incapacitated.
Draft a working plan for conserving and effectively managing your estate after death.
Transfer the assets of your estate to heirs the way you want.
Organize fair and adequate liquidation of estate to cover taxes and other expenses.
Amend your plan as needed.

You also get help with…

Living Wills and Trusts.
Lifetime Family Wealth Transfers.
Family partnerships and other business relationships.
Leaving money to charities.
Preparation for estate and trust tax problems.

The hassles and red tape associated with estate planning can be daunting, but you don’t need to do it alone. Our team is waiting to assist you through every step of the process.

Offer in Compromise Consulting

Did you know that you can settle your debt with the IRS for just pennies on the dollar with their Offer in Compromise program? The program allows taxpayers to settle with the IRS on tax debt that has been incorrectly assessed or for liabilities they cannot afford to pay.

The IRS Code states: “We will accept an Offer in Compromise when it is unlikely that we can collect the full amount owed and the amount you offer reasonably reflects the collection potential…” (Internal Revenue Code section 7122).

Often it is possible to fully and completely eliminate the taxes you owe—including all penalties and interest—at an enormous discount. There is no preset bottom limit that the IRS will accept to settle your debt especially if your offer is done “right.”

If done correctly your debt may be settled for only 5-15% of what you presently owe. The key is to determine the least amount that the IRS will accept from you before you make the offer. At Longschaefer, we can help!

Get Your IRS File

Did you know that you can obtain a copy of your IRS file? Most people would be surprised to learn how much the IRS knows about them. Obtaining a copy of your IRS file is critical in analyzing the options available to resolve your tax problems.

Requesting copies of your IRS file is best done by a professional at LongSchaefer who understands how to obtain them without raising any red flags as well as how to interpret the information in your file.

We can help you obtain a copy of your IRS file and analyze your options.

New Business Formation

Thinking of owning your own business?

Opening your own business is exciting and thrilling. It’s everything that comes after the excitement and thrill has worn off that dictates whether a small business will make it or not. It’s up to you to maintain and stretch out the “thrill and excitement” period forever.

A methodical plan of action is needed to fulfill your dream or goal of being your own boss and running a successful business. Success lies in the approach you choose to take. We help you avoid the common pitfalls that many new small business owners make when starting their new venture.

We help you…

Prepare an initial business plan to clarify your marketing, management, and financial plans.
Determine your start-up capital needs.
Identify sources of start-up capital and backup sources if needed.
Evaluate and quantify your borrowing power so you know how much money you can get your hands on if needed.
Select a business structure that best fits your needs by evaluating tax advantages, legal exposure, ease of operation and portability should you need to relocate.
Select the right accounting software by evaluating your budget, needs and hardware.
Prepare a Cash Flow Budget so you know exactly how much money you need to keep the business alive each month for the first few years. Unplanned cash requirements are always emotionally painful.
Establish billing and collection procedures to maximize your cash flow.
Establish procedures to monitor and control costs.
Setup a home office so you can maximize your tax deductions.
Prepare and file all required state and local licenses and permits.
Prepare and file your application for your Federal Employer Identification Number.
Provide payroll and payroll tax filing when you bring on your first employee.
Comply with employment laws so you don’t get hit with fines and unhappy employees.
Identify your business insurance needs.
Develop a solid Partnership Agreement. This is an extremely important document for all new partnerships and will help prevent a tremendous amount of financial and emotional problems down the road.

Let us help you succeed by getting your new business off to a good strong start.

IRS Seizures

Unlike the levy, which involves intangible assets such as your bank account, a seizure is the taking of physical assets, such as your home or car. Seizures usually happen in aggravated cases when someone ignores many requests by the IRS over a long period of time to pay their outstanding taxes.

A seizure should not be taken lightly. The IRS will ultimately pursue seizure of your physical assets. Don’t think they won’t. Many a newspaper or television show has reported citizens being forced out of their homes after it was sold at an IRS auction, often for as little as half its value.

When the IRS seizes your assets they want to quickly sell them at auction. They often get less than half your assets value, so they often seize everything you own including your home, cars, boats, jewelry, motorcycles, insurance polices, and even your retirement funds.

If you’ve received an IRS seizure notice, it’s time to act now!

IRS Payment Plan Consultation

If you don’t qualify for the IRS Offer In Compromise program, a Payment Plan may be the way to resolve your debt with the IRS. Setting up a payment plan with the IRS gives you a little more time to pay off your tax debts.

Unfortunately, penalties and interest will continue to be charged on your outstanding balance as you pay the debt off. You are required by law to pay the interest on your tax debt.

The good news is that there’s a chance that LongSchaefer can get your tax penalties removed.

Business Planning

Starting a business is by no means an easy endeavor. It takes a lot of business planning, hard work, and knowledge. Once you get your business off the ground, running it isn’t any easier. Eventually, you may even want to sell your business. If you want to start, run, and sell a business, you’ll need to have a plan in place. The financial aspects are some of the most important factors that go into starting, running, or selling a business. LongSchaefer can help with this.

Business Planning Guidance

Let LongSchaefer help you with the financial aspects of:

Starting A Business
Running Your Business
Growing Your Business
Securing Business Loans
Selling/Exiting Your Business

Contact LongSchaefer Today for More Information

Business planning is hard enough to do on your own. LongSchaefer has various services that can help you. Tax services for businesses, after the fact payroll services (PayOptions is our preferred live production payroll provider, contact us for an introduction), and small business accounting are just some of the ways we can help. Contact LongSchaefer today for more information about our services and to set up an appointment for your complimentary discovery meeting.

Financial Planning for Life Events

Financial Planning with LongSchaefer

LongSchaefer can help with financial planning for each of life’s biggest events:

Make sure you’re financially prepared for the following:

Getting Married
Becoming a Parent
Preparing for College
Developing a Financial Plan
Dealing with Your Bank
Improving Your Credit
Choosing A Professional
Buying Insurance
Getting a Loan
Planning For Retirement
Buying & Maintaining A Car
Buying & Selling A Home
Planning Your Estate
Making Charitable Contributions
Avoiding Scams
Getting Divorced or Becoming Widowed
Coping with Major Illness
Coping with Death of a Loved One
Improving Your Retirement
Handling Other Situations

Be Prepared for Life’s Biggest Moments

Being financially prepared can make life’s most important events less intimidating, so you can better enjoy your life and be more prepared for whatever happens. LongSchaefer offers free consultations to find what you need and show you that we can truly help. You can contact us here or give us a call at (513) 854-0217.

QuickTune-up

Overhaul your accounting system with a QuickBooks Tune-up.

Whether you need to prepare for tax time, a financial review or you just need to clean up some problem areas, you’ll be prepared with a QuickBooks Tune-up. In four (4) hours, a QuickBooks Professional Advisor will help you clean up and organize your bookkeeping system

Tune-up Topics:

Reviewing your transactions for the year
Cleaning up stray entries
Customizing reports
Balancing general ledger to subsidiary records
Additional personalized training

A QuickBooks Tune-up is a smart and affordable way to get a handle on your books. Accurate records allow you to make educated decisions for your business and will save you money!

Tax Preparation Guides for Individuals

Learn how to lower your taxes with these helpful tax saving strategies.

Tax Saving Strategies: A Helpful Checklist
Travel and Entertainment: Maximizing the Tax Benefits
The “Nanny Tax” Rules: What To Do If You Have Household Employees
Selling Your Home: How To Minimize the Tax On the Gain
The Deductibility of Points
Retirement Plan Distributions: When To Take Them
Retirement Plan Distributions: How To Take Them
Advanced Charity Techniques: Maximizing Your Deduction
Charitable Contributions of Property: Maximizing the Deduction
Charitable Contributions: How To Give Wisely

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are some common questions we hear about tax preparation and tax strategies.

Tax Saving Strategies: Frequently Asked Questions
Travel and Entertainment: Frequently Asked Questions
“Nanny Tax” Rules: Frequently Asked Questions
Tax Benefits of Higher Education: Frequently Asked Questions
Recordkeeping: Frequently Asked Questions
Charitable Contributions: Frequently Asked Questions
Charitable Deductions: Frequently Asked Questions

Tax Preparation Guides for Business Owners

This segment of financial guides is dedicated to strategic tax planning for business owners. Can you save more? We think so.

Tax Planning For Small Business Owners
7 Biggest Misconceptions Business Owners Have About Their Returns
Travel and Entertainment: Maximizing the Tax Benefits
7 Ways To Save Even More Income Taxes
The Home Office Deduction
Turn your Vacation Into a Tax Deduction
Form of Business Organization: Which Should You Choose?
Retirement Plan Options For Small Businesses
The “SIMPLE” Plan: A Retirement Plan for the Really Small Business

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are some common questions we receive about recordkeeping.

Recordkeeping: Frequently Asked Questions

Small Business Accounting

As a small business owner, you have more important things to do than to keep your own books. As part of our financial services, we take care of your books for you, so you can get back to the job of running your business and generating profits.

Each month or quarter we’ll do the following things for you…

Reconcile your bank account
Generate an income statement
Generate a balance sheet
Clean up your general ledger
Provide unlimited consultations

These tasks form the solid foundation of your small business accounting system. You can customize the package of financial services you receive by adding payroll, tax planning, tax preparation, or any of our other services.

Bank Reconciliation

Reconciling your business checking account each month allow us to keep your bank account, accounting, and taxes up-to-date.

Having us reconcile your account each month allows you to:

Identify lost checks, lost deposits, and unauthorized wire transactions.

Detect and prevent excess/unjustified bank charges and ensure transactions are posted correctly by your bank.

Detect and prevent embezzlement of funds from within your company.

Know how your business is doing. You can’t really know unless all accounts are reconciled and properly accounted for on your financial statement.

Manage your cash more effectively. Proper management of funds not only saves you money but also makes money for you.

Protect yourself. By timely reconciling and promptly objecting to your bank about any unauthorized, fraudulent or forged checks presented to your bank and paid by that bank, you can relieve your agency of responsibility for the shortfall and transfer the risk to the bank. This reason to reconcile alone should be enough. Crime exists.

Sleep Better. You will sleep more peacefully at night knowing your bank accounts are reconciled, in balance, and that all escrow funds, accounts, checks and disbursed funds are properly accounted for.

Income Statement

An income statement, otherwise known as a profit and loss statement, basically adds an itemized list of all your revenues and subtracts an itemized list of all your expenses to come up with a profit or loss for the period.

An income statement allows you to:

Track revenues and expenses so that you can determine the operating performance of your business.

Determine what areas of your business are over-budget or under-budget.

Identify specific items that are causing unexpected expenditures. Like phone, fax, mail, or supply expenses.

Track dramatic increases in product returns or cost of goods sold as a percentage of sales.

Determine your income tax liability.

Balance Sheet

A balance sheet gives you a snapshot of your business’ financial condition at a specific moment in time.

A balance sheet helps you:

- quickly get a handle on the financial strength and capabilities of your business

- identify and analyze trends, particularly in the area of receivables and payables. For example, if your receivables cycle is lengthening, maybe you can collect your receivables more aggressively

determine if your business is in a position to expand

determine if your business can easily handle the normal financial ebbs and flows of revenues and expenses

determine if you need to take immediate steps to bolster cash reserves

- determine if your business has been slowing down payables to forestall an inevitable cash shortage

Providing a balance sheet along with income statements is one of the most basic financial services for reporting to potential lenders such as banks, investors, and vendors who are considering how much credit to grant you.

Maintaining a Clean General Ledger

The general ledger is the core of your company’s financial records. These records constitute the central “books” of your system. Since every transaction flows through the general ledger, a problem with your general ledger throws off all your books.

As part of our financial services, we review your general ledger system each month, which allows us to hunt down any discrepancies such as double billings or any unrecorded payments. Then we’ll fix the discrepancies so your books are always accurate and kept in tip-top shape.

Unlimited Consultations

We are always available to spend time with you so you fully understand how to interpret and utilize the financial services we provide. Our consultations are already included in our price, so please feel free to call us whenever you have a question or concern.

Retirement Plans

Evaluate Your Situation

As the first step in paving your financial future, you’ll need to evaluate your current situation. You can’t start saving for retirement plans if you’re still checking between the couch cushions for pizza money. Evaluating your financial situation in order to save for retirement plans entails a handful of things. You’ll want to take stock of your current assets. This is a quick but important step.

You’ll also want to assess your potential Social Security retirement benefits. This will require some honest estimations of your wages and where you see yourself in the coming years. One of the benefits of trusting Longschaefer’s financial planning services is that we help you consider a variety of situations. Over the years, we’ve learned that preparedness and an ability to anticipate potential outcomes can really help you in the long-run.

Considering retirement plans will also require that you determine what your living costs will be at the time of your retirement. Having some idea of what you will need to have saved away in order to comfortably accommodate your lifestyle is important. While you can find tools online to help you come up with this figure, consider visiting with a LongSchaefer financial advisor in one of our free consultations. We offer a level of experience and skill that you won’t find with an online calculator.

Choose a Plan

There are a variety of individual retirement plans available, which span from Traditional IRAs to employer-sponsored individual plans. Deciding what best suits your situation is another step which requires a lot of informed foresight. You’ll want a plan that ensures you’re able to live comfortably as you contribute, while also ensuring that you’ll be able to live comfortably in retirement. Longschaefer advises that you seek the help of a trained and educated financial advisor to figure out what kind of retirement plans will allow you to live the lifestyle you’ve earned.

Discuss Retirement Plans with LongSchaefer

Longschaefer offers free consultations because we trust that you’ll see the benefits of our knowledge and experience. Let us help you lay the foundation for your future–visit with a LongSchaefer financial advisor today. You can contact us here or give us a call at (513) 854-0217.

QuickAnswers

Never Hesitate to Ask a Question!

QuickBooks users are generally not stumped by the software, they are stumped by the accounting information necessary to complete the transactions. Quick access to correct information is essential to maintain the accuracy of your financial records.

Employees in your accounting department will find comfort in knowing an expert in QuickBooks is only an email or phone-call away. Email and telephone support prevents many wasted hours of aggravation and embarrassment.

How much does it cost? $20 per question.

Questions may be called in, left on voice mail, faxed or sent via email. A Certified Professional Advisor who specializes in working with QuickBooks will respond with a detailed solution to your problem or question, usually within 24 hours.

100% Money Back Guarantee: If we cannot adequately resolve your problem or question, your money will be refunded 100%, guaranteed.

QuickAnswers keeps your employees on task.

QuickBooks Training

Once QuickBooks is set up and working properly, we can train you or your employees to properly operate QuickBooks specifically for your business.

Why choose one-on-one attention instead of taking a class?

We come to your location.
We focus on the individual issues facing your business.
We will be there to answer your specific questions and concerns.
No need to spend time on features that don’t impact your business!

QuickBooks Setup

Although QuickBooks is designed for the layman to understand, the initial setup and installation must be done correctly in order for future information to be accurate.

All information necessary to setup manual accounting records is also necessary to setup and install QuickBooks on your desktop. This task is even more complicated if you switch from manual accounting operations to QuickBooks in the middle of the year.

Which accounting method will you use? What chart of accounts do you need for your business? How do you handle beginning balances?

A Quickbooks expert at LongSchaefer can easily answer all of these questions and complete the initial setup and Installation in a timely manner. In addition, your accounting employees receive training on the accounting software to enhance their performance.

How much does Quickbooks setup at LongSchaefer cost?

We first want to find out a little more about your business and your financial accounting records before we quote you an exact price. Rest assured that LongSchaefer works with many small business owners and our rates are designed to fit the budgets of our clients.

As with any accounting software program, installation and training take time – time taken away from managing your business. Here’s a short list of the services LongSchaefer provides during your QuickBooks setup:

Studying and evaluating your software and accounting needs
Recommending software and hardware requirements
Installing software, design and setup chart of accounts and entire accounting package including payroll, accounts receivable, inventory, accounts payable, etc.
Determining your QuickBooks starting date
Loading your chart of account and balances as of that starting date
Preparing of a list of the items that you sell to your customers, including services, inventory parts, non-inventory parts, other charges and sales taxes
Entering your outstanding accounts receivable and accounts payable details as of your starting date
Entering your ending statement bank balances and outstanding checks and deposits in transit as of your starting date
Printing a trial balance as of your starting date and comparing it to your trial balance from your old system
Entering your transactions since your starting date into QuickBooks.
Training client or client staff in use of software to meet their accounting, management, and tax needs

Ongoing Services at LongSchaefer

Following up training to ensure the client is “on the right track”
Reviewing client Quickbooks data monthly, quarterly, or annually to assist in tax preparation and management reports

Why QuickBooks

10 Reasons Why You Should Use QuickBooks

QuickBooks is the ideal business accounting software for small to mid-sized business owners. Here are 10 reasons why you should be using QuickBooks, available through LongSchaefer.

You save time on bookkeeping and paperwork because many of simple bookkeeping tasks are handled automatically making it easier to run your business.
You can easily generate the reports with the information you need, so you always know where your business stands. You instantly know whether you’re making money and whether your business is healthy.
You save money because QuickBooks is so affordable. You can use it to run a $5 million or a $25 million business for a few hundred bucks. Accounting software is truly one of the great bargains in business.
Your business can grow with QuickBooks. QuickBooks will help you design a business plan to use when trying to secure a small business loan or line of credit or to plan for the future. QuickBooks will create a projected balance sheet, profit and loss statement and statement of cash flows in the format recommended by the U.S. Small Business Administration.
You can customize QuickBooks to work the way you want. QuickBooks is specifically designed to be flexible and adaptable to a wide range of small businesses. To broaden its appeal, QuickBooks has recently added customized accounting packages for contractors, retailers, health care professionals, and non-profit organizations.
You can rest assured knowing that QuickBooks is a stable, reliable and proven product. Hundreds of thousands of small businesses throughout the world have chosen QuickBooks as their accounting software. You can’t go wrong with a software program with such an extensive installed user base.
You save typing time and errors by sharing data between QuickBooks and over 100 business applications. You can even share data with popular programs, such as Microsoft Excel, Word, Outlook and ACT.
You will get paid faster with QuickBooks online payments. E-mail an invoice or statement and with QuickBooks Online Billing, your customer can easily pay you with a credit card or bank account transfer. No more waiting for the check in the mail!
You can easily accept credit cards. With QuickBooks Merchant Account Service, you can accept credit cards with ease. QuickBooks Merchant Account Service is the only credit card acceptance service integrated with QuickBooks software, which means you don’t have to enter the same data twice. No additional software or hardware is required. Your customers can use Visa, MasterCard, or American Express.
You can pay your bills and handle your banking online. Setup your current bank account in QuickBooks, and you’re ready to pay your bills without licking envelopes, sticking stamps, or printing paper checks. Just write checks in QuickBooks as you normally would, then click a button and your participating bank does the rest! Pay anyone in the U.S. from your credit card companies to your pizza service. Online banking also lets you download your monthly statement from your participating bank directly into QuickBooks for easier reconciliation.

Non-Profit Organizations

As part of our range of financial services, LongSchaefer can help you set up and maintain your non-profit organization’s tax-exempt status by handling all the IRS reporting for you.

Each year the IRS requires most tax-exempt organizations to submit the Form 990 and its relations, which includes the following items:

Income Statement with very specific revenue and expense categories like donations, salaries, postage, rent, etc.
Balance Sheet with specific categories like cash, accounts receivable, accounts payable, etc.
Functional Expense Statement with all the expenses allocated to either program services, fundraising, or operations.
Individual Program Expense Statement that reports all of the expenses for each program or service like seminar programs or educational mailings.
Revenue Support Schedules that detail the organization’s sources of income in specific categories like charitable donations, membership fees, investment income.

The IRS uses these very specific revenue and expense classifications to determine if your organization will retain its tax-exempt status, so it’s imperative that you build your accounting system around these revenue and expense classifications.

Here’s what LongSchaefer will do for you:

Review and compile your financial statements.
Design, install, and maintain your accounting system.
Weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly payroll preparation.
Payroll tax preparation and deposits.
Provide training for your accounting personnel.
Complete and file your non-profit status application.
Provide training for your board on non-profit financial statement usage and effective budgeting practices.
Prepare and file the 990 and 990T tax forms.
Prepare your initial start-up documentation, including incorporation, federal employee identification number (FEIN), and payroll setup with federal and state agencies.
For churches, LongSchaefer prepares the pastoral housing allowance and other required benefit documentation to meet the complex dual status of ministers.

If you’re starting a new not-for-profit organization, LongSchaefer can help you prepare your organization’s 501(c)(3) application for tax-exempt status.

Here’s LongSchaefer needs from you:

Articles of Incorporation containing the Exempt Purpose Statement as described in IRS Code section 501(c)(3) and defined in Treasury Regulation 1.501(c)(3)-1 Paragraph d and the Dissolution Statement described in Treasury Regulation 1.501(c)(3)-1 Paragraph b subparagraph 4 (“Organizational Test”).
Employer Identification Number
By-laws of the Organization
Minutes of Board Meetings
Names, Addresses, and Resumes of Board Members
Names and addresses of all Active Members
Inventory of Assets like cash, furniture, equipment, property, pledges, etc.
Inventory of Liabilities like mortgages, accounts payable, loans, etc.
Rent/Lease Agreements and Contracts
Revenue and Expense Statements for the last four years, or as far back as possible if your organization has been in existence for less than four years.
Written Reason for Formation and History of the organization.
Organization Mission Statement or Statement of Faith or Beliefs for churches and other Religious Organizations.
Organization Activities, Operations and Programs Documentation including your statement of purpose & operations, food programs, fundraisers, flyers/brochures/pamphlets, etc.
Financial Support Documentation including all sources of revenue like contributions, tithes, offerings, fundraisers, etc.
Fund Raising Program Descriptions
IRS Processing/Filing Fee

Longschaefer is happy to prepare any of these items if you need help.

Succession Planning

If you own a family business, retirement isn’t simply a matter of deciding not to go into the office anymore. You’ve got some critical questions to answer like…

“What happens to the business when you’re no longer running it?” and
“Will you have enough money to retire?”

The family dynamic complicates the whole transition because of the relationships and emotions involved. Most people are not comfortable discussing topics such as aging, death, and financial affairs.

Comfortable or not, succession planning should be a priority for any family business considering that more than seven out of ten family-owned businesses fail to survive the transition from founder to second generation, typically falling prey either to estate taxes or family discord – or both.

Developing and implementing a well-designed succession plan is essential to the survival of a family business from one generation to the next.

We help you with these key issues –

Keeping it in the family. Are you going to pass the business on to your family or sell it to a third party? We help you weigh the advantages and disadvantages of each of these options.
Who’s going to run the business when you’re gone? Management and ownership are not one and the same. You may decide to transfer management of your business to just one of your children but transfer equal shares of business ownership to all your children, whether they’re actively involved in the business or not.
Minimizing the tax bite. The tax burden when transitioning a family business can be significant. The challenge is that a family business is not generally a liquid asset, but taxes are typically due when ownership is transferred.
Making it fair. Transferring family ownership often adds a tremendous amount of stress to individual family members. We talk with each of the family members to ensure that they feel they a getting an equitable and fair share of the pie.

What we do for you…

Once we understand how you feel about the key issues above, we begin constructing your succession plan focusing on these 5 issues…

Business Valuation
Business Restructuring
Tax Consequences
Retirement Projections
Tax Projections

Strategic Business Planning

A Strategic Business Plan is much more than a tool to obtain financing. If you still have all your plans and ideas locked up inside your head, preparing a strategic plan can help you clarify your company’s direction. It can ensure that your key leaders are all on the same page, and keeps both management and staff focused on the tasks at hand.

A Strategic Plan is often needed when…

Starting a new venture, product or service
Expanding a current organization, product or service
Buying a new business, product or service
Turning around a declining business

The Strategic Plan provides a blueprint, describing your company, its products, the competitive environment, management team, financial health, and business risks.

The plan allows you to…

Identify and describe the target customer profile, features, advantages and benefits of your new venture, product or service.
Justify that your plans are credible by fully researching the need being filled with your new venture.
Develop marketing plans including full descriptions of targeted promotional campaigns with implementation timelines. You also get to examine market conditions, the nature of your customers, as well as your competitors, sales potential, and projected results of your promotional campaigns.
Develop staffing plans including identifying the key players, skills, attitudes and expertise needed to build the venture.
Develop management plans including full descriptions of management systems and timelines for implementation.
Develop financial plans including projected startup costs, operating costs, revenue, profits, and break-even analysis for the first 3 to 5 years.
Projected financial plans allow you to effectively predict upcoming problems, or prevent them. In other words, the perspective gained through your Strategic Business Plan can make a significant contribution to your company’s success, and help you get the funding you require. In fact, most lending institutions and private investors will not even talk to you without a solid financial plan.
Identify building and equipment needs including vendors and cost estimates.
Formulate company milestones including timelines for upcoming products and services in development.

Remember: Failing to plan is planning to fail.

Let us help you develop a powerful Strategic Business Plan that drives your business to the level of success you deserve.

Bank Financing

If you need money to grow your business, you’ve more than likely considered a business loan as your means of financing. Getting a loan isn’t always easy, especially if you’re not prepared. Requesting a business loan without adequate preparation sends a clear message to the lender: High Risk! Therefore, it pays to be prepared and organized when approaching them for financing. Put your best foot forward by allowing LongSchaefer to prepare a winning loan proposal for you.

Our proposals have a high likelihood of success because they’re created from the lender’s perspective. Through bank financing services at LongSchaefer, you have a much better chance of getting the money you need because we know exactly what banks want to see. Even more importantly, we know how to prove to them that you’ll be able to pay them back.

What Our Loan Proposals Include

Here are some of the things LongSchaefer proposal services will include:

Executive Summary

We concisely state the purpose of the loan, the exact amount of money required, and offer an explanation of what the loan will be used for and why it’s needed. Lenders need to see clear goals and how the money will be spent to achieve those goals, otherwise they’ll be apprehensive about approving your loan.

Pro-forma Cash Budgets and Financial Statements

We use your data and underlying assumptions to prepare information that your banker can easily read and buy in to. This data can be overwhelming and time-consuming to properly put into a lender perspective, but our skilled professionals are up to the task.

Owners Personal Financial Statements

We make copies of the last 3 years of personal tax returns for the bank and identify the collateral being pledged as security for the loan.

Representation

We help substantiate your financial needs and position to your banker in person.

Contact LongSchaefer Today for More Information

The professionals at LongSchaefer have the knowledge and expertise needed to advise you on a number of matters. Although tax services are our specialty at LongSchaefer, we also offer a variety of business services. Take advantage of our expertise next time you’re in need of a loan for your business.

Part-Time CFO Services

Growing businesses often reach a point where they need professional financial advice but can’t afford a full-time CFO or controller. If you’re fortunate enough to be in this position, then we have the perfect solution for you. LongSchaefer’s Part-Time CFO service gives you a professional financial manager who works with you to help guide your business to success.

The cost of hiring a full-time CFO can range from $60,000 to over $100,000 per year plus bonuses and benefits. LongSchaefer Part-Time CFO services provide you with experienced support at a fraction of the cost. LongSchaefer can advise you on various financial situations, all without the hassle of hiring a full-time employee.

What You’ll Get With Our Part-Time CFO Services

More time to focus on new services, new customers and other core business issues. A growing business needs to put customer service at the top of their priorities, and our services allow you the time to do it.
Better understanding of the financial side of your business, so you have fewer surprises and more control over the money.
Improved decision-making capabilities from clearly seeing the hard and true numbers of your business.
A readily available sounding board to help you with those tough business decisions and to help you clarify your business plans.
The comfort of knowing that a professional is overseeing, protecting and constantly improving the financial side of your business.
A professional who establishes strong financial controls in your business to reduce employee theft and increase profits.
Training and managing your accounting staff.
Improved quality and timeliness of financial information.
Budget preparation and monitoring.
Profitability analysis by service or product line.
Tax saving strategies.
Trend analysis.
Assistance in defining long-range plans and the quantification of goals.
Cash management.
Liaison with bankers, attorneys, vendors, insurance agents, etc.
Assistance in obtaining financing from banks, including assistance with negotiations.
Review/negotiation of insurance policies.
Development of company accounting procedure manuals.
Analysis of equipment purchases, expansions, etc.
Mergers and acquisitions assistance.
Custom designed collection policies and procedures.

Contact LongSchaefer Today for More Information

LongSchaefer is happy to offer our expertise to our valued clients. The benefits of Part-Time CFO companies are numerous, and they can help make a real difference for your growing business.Part-Time CFO Services

Payroll Services

When it comes to paying employees, laws and the IRS have made the payroll function a time-consuming nightmare for the small business owner. Even if you own a larger scale business, the employees you’ve assigned to payroll could be performing other essential functions instead of putting time and effort into payroll functions.

Small business owners spend an average of eight hours a month performing payroll functions, and that number is even higher for large businesses. That’s at least 12 full days a year that could be spent generating sales, prospecting new business opportunities, improving products or services, or servicing customers. This doesn’t mean you should payroll fall by the wayside. It’s important to still do quality work when it comes to payroll functions. But it doesn’t have to be you doing the work.

After-the-Fact-Payroll Services

Let LongSchaefer take care of your payroll services. We have experienced professionals that are dedicated to customer service and satisfaction. We fully understand all the laws and the compliances that have to be made to the IRS. This means you don’t have to worry about your payroll services anymore. We will take your manually-prepared payroll records and other payroll information and post this information to our data files, so you get:

Worry-free IRS and state tax reporting as well as EFTPS tax deposits.
User-friendly and easy to understand monthly, quarterly, and annual payroll tax reports, including W-2, W-3, and 1099 forms.
Detailed reports on your employee’s vacation day, sick day, and personal day accruals.
Creation and filing of the required new hire reports
Your payroll records maintained in tip top shape.

Of course, our payroll services professionals will be available to answer any questions you might have, Monday-Friday, from 9-5. That means you have more knowledge, right at your fingertips.

Contact LongSchaefer Today

Don’t waste any more time and resources on your payroll. As a business owner, you have much more pressing things you could be attending to. That doesn’t mean payroll instant extremely important, but why not let the professionals handle it. When you choose LongSchaefer for your payroll services, you’re choosing the best. We tailor our services to meet the needs of your business, and with the time you save, enlisting our services is an easy decision to make.

Innocent Spouse Relief Tax Services

Did you know that you can get out of the tax debt due to the misdeeds or fraud committed by your spouse? Innocent Spouse Relief tax services at LongSchaefer were designed to alleviate unjust situations where one spouse was clearly the victim of fraud perpetrated by their spouse or ex-spouse.

If you qualify for Innocent Spouse Relief, you may not owe any tax.

Bankruptcy

Your back taxes, interest, and penalties can be wiped out by filing bankruptcy. If you qualify, bankruptcy can be the best financial planning solution to resolve your crushing tax problems.

Unfortunately, not everyone qualifies to wipe out their tax debt in bankruptcy. Certain rules have to be met first. If you file bankruptcy and don’t meet the rules, the IRS will still be in hot pursuit after your bankruptcy is over. Proper pre-bankruptcy planning is key to determining if bankruptcy is or can be a viable solution.

IRS Wage Garnishment

You received an IRS Notice of Intent to Levy 30 days ago and you forgot or ignored it. Now it’s Payday. Expecting a check, you open the envelope and find that the IRS has taken most of your money. What’s left is not enough to pay the rent, car payment, buy groceries, or pay the rest of the bills. This action will continue on every check due you, until the tax owed is paid in full.

Now you’re in big financial trouble. No matter how hard you plead with your employer they cannot give you your money. Once a wage garnishment is filed with your employer, your employer is required by law to collect a large percentage of each of your paychecks.

We are regularly retained to negotiate the release of IRS wage garnishments by arranging a payment plan. The payment plan negotiated by us is always more favorable than any IRS wage garnishment. It allows you to receive your whole paycheck without fears of future wage garnishments.

IRS Levies

Levies can really do a lot of damage and even ruin your life. A levy is the IRS’s way of getting your immediate attention. What they are saying is, we have tried to communicate with you but you have ignored us. Levies are used to seize your wages and whatever other assets you have. If you own it, they can take it. That includes checking accounts, autos, stocks, bonds, boats, paychecks, and even Social Security checks!

Imagine waking up one morning and finding all your bank accounts have been cleaned out. They will take every dime. If this amount did not cover what is owed, they’ll keep taking your money until you cover your tax liability. They know that levying your bank account will cause checks to bounce, alerting many people that you have tax problems. But they don’t care! Their sole objective is to collect the taxes owed. Period.

As bad as that is, a worse method is a wage levy (or garnishment). That’s when most of your pay check goes to the IRS, they don’t leave you enough to pay the bills, and most of your check goes to the IRS each and every week until the debt is paid.

If that doesn’t accomplish what they want, they’ll pull out all the stops. They’ll seize your assets, and sell them at auction. That includes everything you own; home, cars, boats, jewelry, motorcycles, insurance polices, retirement funds, anything of value.

We are often able to get those levies released and help you get out of this terrible situation. Our goal is to get you even with the IRS, with what you can afford, and let you start life anew.

IRS Liens

Federal Tax Liens can really make your life miserable! When your taxes are not paid the IRS establishes a lien against all of your assets (especially real estate). This gives the IRS the legal right to collect taxes from the sale of your assets, which includes just about everything you own.

The lien can be against you, your spouse, or your company. A lien against your company would seize your accounts receivables. At this point everything you own is just one short step away from becoming the property of the United States Government.

Liens filed against you by the IRS also show up on your credit report and often prevent you from opening a checking account or borrowing against any assets, like your home. The banks don’t want the extra work when the IRS comes in to take your money.

With a Federal Tax lien on your record you can’t get a reasonable loan to purchase a car. Think about paying 18-22% interest on a car that is already too expensive. You definitely cannot buy or sell any real estate. The list is endless.

Payroll Tax Problems

The IRS views failing to pay payroll taxes as the cardinal sin of tax delinquency because a large portion of the payroll taxes are your employees’ withholdings. Not paying your company’s payroll taxes is tantamount to stealing your employees’ money in the eyes of the IRS.

As a result, penalties for failing to pay your payroll taxes and filing your payroll tax returns on time are much more severe than other types of penalties. They can drastically multiply the amount you owe in a very short time.

If you are behind on paying payroll taxes for your company, WATCH OUT!!! The IRS is extremely aggressive pursuing collection of this type of tax. They would rather seize your business assets, close you down, sell your assets at auction, and put you out of business than allow you to continue amassing additional payroll tax liabilities.

If you are behind on your payroll taxes, DO NOT meet with the IRS on your own. How you answer their initial questions can determine whether you stay in business or not. It is critical you hire a professional representative who knows how the IRS operates.

Back Taxes Owed

You have filed your returns but didn’t have the money to pay what you owed. You may think, “Oh well, I will catch up next year.” Before you know it, you find yourself several years in arrears and suddenly you receive a notice from the IRS which states that you owe three or four times the original amount. This can be very overwhelming, but don’t panic. There are things you can do to fix this. LongSchaefer tax services are here to help.

What Can I Do About It?

It’s truly amazing how fast tax penalties and interest add up. If you didn’t have the money to pay your taxes before, it’s probably unlikely that you’ll have the money to pay your taxes and your back taxes now. You’re at a loss for what to do. Often, it seems like you only have a couple of choices. Either you can write a big fat check and pay the full amount, including interest and penalties, or you can just keep ignoring them while the penalties and interest keep piling up. Neither of these scenarios is ideal. So what can you do instead?

Your Best Option

Luckily, LongSchaefer offers tax services to help you get out of a bind with your back taxes. We have several options that will help you resolve them. Here at LongSchaefer, we can give you sound advice on dealing with your back tax issues. With our comprehensive tax services, we can help relieve your current tax issues and help you plan and prepare so you don’t get into similar situations in the future. Every tax situation is unique, so don’t go it alone. Let a tax professional help you navigate through it.

Contact LongSchaefer About Our Tax Services

If you’re struggling to pay your back taxes, don’t wait any longer. Choose LongSchaefer for all of your tax services. We can give you the advice and guidance to make your tax issues a thing of the past. We also offer tax filing, preparation, and much more. Get your taxes organized with LongSchaefer, and rest easy knowing you have a tax professional helping you through it. For more information about our tax services, contact us today at (513) 813-4957, or fill out the form below. A tax specialist will get back with you shortly.

It’s truly amazing how fast tax penalties and interest add up. Now you have a choice, you can write a big fat check and pay the full amount, including interest and penalties. Or you can just keep ignoring them while the penalties and interest keep piling up.

Unfiled Tax Returns

Every day the massive computer center at the IRS is getting more sophisticated, it’s just a matter of time before they catch up with you.

This is not a situation to take lightly, failing to file your tax returns is a criminal offense. If you do not file, you can be prosecuted and punished with potential jail time, one year for each year not filed. Why risk potentially losing your freedom for failing to file your tax returns?

Let us give you the peace of mind you deserve by helping you get in compliance with the law. If you voluntarily file your delinquent returns you’ll likely avoid further problems other than having to pay the interest and penalties.

If you wait for the IRS to file your returns for you, they are filed in the best interest of the government, usually with little or none of the deductions you are entitled to.

Before anything can be done to extract you from this predicament all the returns must be filed. You must be current. In most cases, you will likely owe taxes, interest, and penalties after the returns are filed. Once we see how much is owed, we’ll set a course of action to get you off the hook!

IRS Audit Representation

Nothing strikes fear in the hearts of people more than receiving an IRS Audit letter in the mail. Audits take significant time away from your business and family, requiring you to gather mounds of records substantiating each and every item reported on your tax return and develop a comprehensive understanding of tax law.

The IRS leaves no stone unturned in its mission to determine the accuracy of your tax return. If you don’t comply with the Auditors’ wishes, the IRS will recalculate your tax and send you home with a hefty tax bill as your parting gift.

Many taxpayers decide to handle a tax audit themselves, and discover they may have been “penny wise,” avoiding a representative’s fee, but “pound foolish,” because they received a substantial bill for a significant tax deficiency.

You see, IRS Auditors are trained to extract more information from you than you have a legal obligation to provide. IRS Auditors know that most people fear them and are ignorant of their rights. As a result, they know they can use that fear and ignorance to their advantage.

Rarely do our clients even have to talk with the IRS. We handle it all for you so that you need not take time off of your business or job to handle the bureaucracy and paperwork of the IRS. No lost wages or business. You simply forward notification of an audit to us and we handle it from A to Z.

Tax Planning at LongSchaefer

At LongSchaefer, we make it a priority to enhance our knowledge of current tax law, complex tax code, and new tax regulations to help you find ways to minimize taxes throughout the year. With our skills and expertise, we work to ensure that businesses and individuals pay the lowest amount of taxes allowable by law. We go beyond tax compliance and continuously look for ways to reduce your tax liability throughout the year, not just the end of the year.

At LongSchaefer, we recommend tax saving strategies that keep Uncle Sam out of your pocket and help you grow and preserve your assets. We find ways to reduce taxes in the following areas:

Your income, so you can enjoy more of your earnings
Your estate, so your family can enjoy your earnings
Your charitable gifts, so you can give more,
Your investments, so you can grow your wealth faster
Your retirement distributions, so you can retire on time

To make this possible, LongSchaefer implements a variety of tax savings strategies. Here are just a few of the tax savings strategies we use:

Split taxable income among family members or legal entities to get more income in lower tax brackets
Review overall financial situation for opportunities to defer tax or create tax-exempt income
Shift expenses and income from one year to the next to have them fall at lower tax rates
Find tax deductions by structuring your money to pay for the things you enjoy, like vacations

At LongSchaefer, we work for you, not the IRS. Through careful planning and legitimate tax strategies, our clients continuously reduce their tax liability and save more of their assets.

Tax Preparation

Why Hire a Tax Preparation Service?

According to a study by the US Government’s General Accounting Office, nearly 77% of taxpayers felt they benefited from using a professional tax preparation service. Tax professionals help you by doing all the heavy-lifting. They stay up-to-date on tax laws and IRS rules, guide you through filing instructions, and ensure you do not overlook any tax credits and deductibles. When you use LongSchaefer as your tax preparation service this tax season, you’ll receive the following benefits:

We will help you navigate complicated tax laws and IRS instructions
Our computer software will check and recheck your tax return to identify problems that the IRS may inspect closely
Our computer software will review the math to limit IRS contacts
Your tax return will be filed electronically for your convenience
Our staff will show you how to adjust your payroll withholding to get more money back each week
We will find potential deductions to limit your tax reliability next year

Tax preparation computer programs are becoming increasingly popular, but they cannot replace the assistance of an experienced tax professional. By working with a tax professional at LongSchaefer, you ensure that you’ve properly prepared your income tax return this year while setting yourself up for success next year.

Tax Returns for Small Business Owners

At LongSchaefer, we pride ourselves in assisting small business owners. Even if you have not kept up on your bookkeeping, we will help you prepare your bookkeeping for the year, create a full Schedule C, and prepare your personal income tax return. Additionally, LongSchaefer will set you up for future success by creating an easy-to-follow bookkeeping system that helps you to keep your books in the best shape for next year’s tax season.

LongSchaefer can help you:

Save enough for a comfortable retirement by identifying your retirement needs, analyzing your assets and sources of retirement income, reviewing estimated shortfalls, and identifying the best ways to save for retirement given your financial situation and risk tolerance.

Pay for your child’s college education by accurately estimating the amount of money you’ll need, analyzing your assets, reviewing estimated shortfalls and considering general alternatives and strategies to help address these potential shortfalls, and developing an optimal savings plan given your financial situation and risk tolerance.

Protect your family in case you become disabled by ensuring you have enough money in your emergency fund and analyzing your life, disability, health, home, and auto insurance coverage. We also review your will and various powers of attorney designed to take care of your affairs in the event you are incapacitated and can’t manage them yourself.

Achieve your investment goals by identifying the steps needed to help maximize your investment returns as well as the steps needed to help minimize your risk while trying to build increased predictability.

Leave a legacy for your heirs by maximizing the value of your estate by saving tax dollars, professional fees, and court costs. As well as minimizing the costs of probate, creditors, lawyers, and estate taxes, which can negatively impact the value of your estate. We also help you stay in control of your affairs by providing a road map for passing your estate on to your heirs.

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When You Need Guidance, Call LongSchaefer

"Each person has their own definition of success, our job is really to figure out what that is and help them achieve that."

- Ron Schaefer, CPA/PFS

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May 2020 COVID-19 Update