Q-1:

Subject: Thank you from San Diego

 

My Dad has been in the hospital at age 87 for 3 months now, having already had some Dementia, and about a month ago, my mother had a nervous breakdown, partly from the guilt of dumping all the financial stuff onto me (120 miles away).  Dad never wanted to let me help and learn, Mom never DID learn, but now, luckily I have a flexible tennis teaching career and can start to learn.

I think one of the biggest shocks was discovering from our meeting with the accountants that they file 5 tax returns, and chose not to dissolve a corporation (C?) that was formed only to handle the sale of my father's business 2 or 3 years ago. This is so far out of my league.

I very much appreciate your website on S and C Corporations, and I have also found some online articles on LLCs, since Mom and Dad have two of them for their two rental properties.

It could very well be that the accountants are not overdoing it with Mom and Dad, since you write about "smoothing" out income by using corporate entities.

Are there any books, etc. that I can get, or more websites for me to learn? I was considering an 11-week course (3 hours/wk) at Univ. Calif. San Diego's Extension School, called "Taxation of Business Entities," but that might be overkill for me.

Very appreciatively,

A-1:

You or whoever is in charge of the finances shouldn't have to guess why your accountants do things a certain way.  Ask them and they should be able to explain their rationale.

In regard to education, it depends on what your goal is.  Do you want to be a professional internal accountant, independent bookkeeper or tax preparer; or do you just want to learn for learning sake?

Kerry Kerstetter

Q-2:

Thanks very much, Kerry, for your help.  I just want to learn for learning sake, so that I can better ascertain excessive versus excellent work by

accountants, lawyers, etc.  You are correct that I should just ask accountants their rationale.

        You are sure contributing well to the world with all that you do.

Thanks from all of us! 

A-2:

While most accountants and attorneys do generally have good reasons for originally setting things up, it is very easy to just let things go on as is while circumstances change.  Having them reevaluate everything every five years or so, or after major developments (deaths, marriages, divorces, etc)  would be a wise move to see if any modifications need to be made.

If you don't need any actual degrees or formal credentials, sitting through a college course that is most likely several years behind the times would be a big waste of time.  You would be better off buying and reading the reference books that we tax pros use, such as The TaxBook and the QuickFinder ones, as I mentioned in this recent post.

There are also several companies that provide both self study and live one and two day seminars on tax and accounting topics, such as the company I taught for several years ago, Gear-Up. They would be much more up to date and a much better value for your time than a long drawn out college class.

Good luck.  I hope this helps.

Kerry Kerstetter

Follow-Up:

You are a very kind, generous person, Kerry.  The information you have given me is invaluable ("priceless!"), and I cannot thank you enough.  I will

follow all of your advice, including going to the websites below.  A seminar would be good, too. 

 

- posted by Kerry M. Kerstetter, MBA~CPA~ATP~ATA @ 3/08/2006 12:42:00 PM Send this post: