Business Planning

  • IRS Publishes One-Page Guide to Exemptions to the Health Coverage Requirements of the ACA

    This provides information for taxpayers who qualify for and may claim exemption from minimum essential coverage so that they do not need to make individual shared responsibility payments when they file their federal tax returns. The Congressional Budget Office and Congress’s Joint Committee on Taxation estimated in a report they released last week that nearly…

  • Tax Payments Top the One Million Mark with New IRS Direct Pay

    IRS Issue Number:    IR-2014-89 Tax Payments Top the One Million Mark with New IRS Direct Pay; Free Online System Makes it Easy for People to Pay Their Federal Taxes Washington — With more than one million tax payments already processed this year through IRS Direct Pay, the Internal Revenue Service today encouraged anyone facing upcoming tax…

  • Accounting and Tax Prep Among the 15 Most Profitable Industries

     The 15 Industries with the Highest Net Profit Margin – Last 12 Months Based on an analysis of the financial statements of privately-held companies, Sageworks, a financial information company, ranked all industries by net profit margin over the last 12 months and found that accounting services topped the list, with a net profit margin averaging…

  • Drake Hosted

    In the effort to survive and thrive in today’s highly competitive business environment, accounting firms have looked to the integration of applications to provide the greater efficiencies their clients demand. These efficiencies include a reduction in IT costs, automatic backup, and the ability to respond rapidly to changes in laws and regulations as key indicators…

  • Annual Federal Tax Refresher (AFTR) Course Now Available

    Drake now offers everything you need to earn your Record of Completion through the IRS’s voluntary Annual Filing Season Program (AFSP). You can complete the Annual Federal Tax Refresher (AFTR) course and all the other training needed to satisfy the continuing education requirements of the AFSP through Drake’s e-Training Center, DrakeETC.com. To register for the…

  • Drake Update Schools…

    It’s been an active year of change for tax preparers, with a new voluntary certification program for tax preparers, the effects of the Affordable Care Act, and substantial other changes to tax laws. To keep pace with these changes, Drake Software recommends that you attend one of our annual update schools. In addition to the…

  • IRS Releases Draft Versions of New Affordable Care Act Forms

    As a tax software company, we get excited when the IRS releases a new form for the upcoming season.  Forms drive our development cycle, and the earlier we can get our hands on them, the better. The Affordable Care Act forms have created heightened anticipation this year, and when the draft versions were finally posted…

  • Drake Supports Tax Preparers in Spanish

    This article is available en Español   While the English language is the most common spoken at home in the United States (by roughly 85 percent of households, according to the most recent census data), there are six other languages spoken in this country by more than 1 million people each.  Of these, the one most…

  • Part I: Representation- Questions from the IRS

    © Ben A. Tallman EA  If you think about the characteristics and skills that separate Circular 230 Practitioners from the rest of the tax industry; representation is near the top of the list.  Even if you are not credentialed, you still have the right to represent your client in the initial examination or audit of…

  • Meet Phil Drake

    Founder, President & CEO of Drake Software,  Shares His Thoughts About The Tax Industry,  Technology, And Business.      What is the biggest challenge facing the tax professional today?  Compliance, compliance with the EIC rules, compliance with the Due Diligence Rules, compliance with the ACA (coming up). Those used to be the responsibility of the…