The Hammonton Gazette 11/27/19 Edition | Page 4

Alloy Academy offers year-end accounting advice Wednesday, November 27, 2019 • The Hammonton Gazette • Page 3 by Joseph F. Berenato G azette S taff W riter HaMMONtON—alloy Sil- verstein accountants and advi- sors held their monthly alloy academy on November 13 at 12 p.m. at Stockton University’s Kramer Hall. this month’s topic, “Gearing Up for Year-end,” featured Julie Strohlein, CPa, an associate part- ner at alloy Silverstein. Strohlein has more than 20 years of experi- ence in both public and private ac- counting. She received her B.S. in accounting from rutgers Univer- sity and is certified in the state of New Jersey. Strohlein serves on the firm’s individual tax, business tax and marketing committees and is instrumental to the firm’s train- ing program for onboarding new employees. She represents varied clientele including the medical, legal and real estate industries and trusts. Strohlein’s presentation focused on addressing common mistakes that small businesses make when they close their books for the year, and how they can begin the new year with a more streamlined process. “if you have more accurate books, you can make more accu- rate decisions. You may lower your accounting fees because your accountant has to do less at year- end,” Strohlein said. Of the many topics Strohlein discussed, one involved the threshold for writing off assets, which is now $2,500 per item. “Let’s pretend that we bought all the furniture in this room. i am certain that all these desks and ta- bles add up to more than $2,500 ... but we can expense it all, because no one thing is $2,500. this is pretty powerful,” Strohlein said. When a company makes such purchases, Strohlein suggests cre- ating a new expense account la- beled “de minimis assets,” which is for one-time purchases that are certainly allowable as expenses but are not recurring ones. “if i normally spend $4,000 a year in office supplies, i don’t want to put an extra $6,000 this year, because that would look re- Now carrying Blush by Hayley Paige and Maggie Sottero We carry gorgeous dresses by: One Sindoni Lane, Suite C, Hammonton (609) 270-7886 • www.meadowsbridalshop.com Hayley Paige, Maggie Sottero Casablanca, Mori Lee, and so much more! Black Friday and Small Business Saturday SAVINGS BLOWOUT 70% Off Jewelry Showcase Two Days Only Friday, November 29 Saturday, November 30 Also, shop an extensive selection of beautiful and unique certified diamond engagement rings! 121 S. White Horse Pike Across from McDonald’s *Prior sales excluded. Jewelry showcase only. Hammonton • (609) 561-6222 ally funny. So let’s make a sepa- rate account for de minimis assets, so this way, when we buy these one-time things that we don’t buy frequently—desks, tables, chairs—we have a place to put them without distorting our nor- mal, everyday expenses,” Strohlein said. Strohlein also focused on issu- ing irS form 1099s, which are re- quired for any non-corporate service provider that is paid $600 or more for the year via cash or a check. form 1099 is not issued to anyone paid with a credit card. “if you have somebody who plows snow from your parking lot, and he’s not incorporated, and he plows snow seven times and charges $100 each time, he needs to get a 1099 ... if you pay them on a credit card, even if they’re non-incorporated, it doesn’t mat- ter because the credit card com- pany will send them a statement at the end of the year,” Strohlein said. in order to issue a 1099, busi- nesses must have service providers fill out a form W-9. “in an ideal, perfect world, you would never pay anyone anything until you already have their W-9, which means you already know their legal name, their tax iD num- ber and whether or not they’re in- corporated. that’s in a perfect world, just like my house should be clean and my kids should put their laundry away, so it doesn’t really happen,” Strohlein said. Unfortunately, some companies are lax with their paperwork, and trying to get the proper informa- tion from service providers may prove difficult. Strohlein said there is another way, though. “if they won’t give you that in- formation, you’re supposed to withhold taxes. it’s called ‘backup withholding,’ just like you would do with somebody’s paycheck,” Strohlein said. alloy academy started as a se- ries of educational QuickBooks and accounting software work- shops and has evolved to cover more business planning topics to help today’s business owners. their next workshop, “Last Minute tax tactics,” will be held on Wednesday, December 11 at 12 p.m. at Stockton University’s Kramer Hall. Police news DRIVER, from Page 2 ing while under the influence of al- cohol (DWi), reckless driving, leaving the scene of an accident, failure to report an accident and unlicensed driver, friel said. K-9 Cpl. robert zbikowski was the investigating and arresting of- ficer, friel said. 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