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For Small Businesses: IRS Raises Tangible Property Expensing Threshold to $2,500; Simplifies Filing and Recordkeeping IR-2015-133, Nov. 24, 2015 WASHINGTON —The Internal Revenue Service today simplified the paperwork and recordkeeping requirements for small businesses by raising from $500 to $2,500 the safe harbor threshold for deducting certain capital items. The change affects businesses that do not maintain an applicable financial statement (audited financial statement). It applies to amounts spent to acquire, produce or improve tangible property that would normally qualify as a capital item. The new $2,500 threshold applies to any such item substantiated by an invoice. As a result, small businesses will be able to immediately deduct many expenditures that would otherwise need to be spread over a period of years through annual depreciation deductions. “We received many thoughtful comments from taxpayers, their representatives and the professional tax community, said IRS Commissioner John Koskinen. “This important step simplifies taxes for small businesses, easing the recordkeeping and paperwork burden on small business owners and their tax preparers.“ Responding to a February comment request, the IRS received more than 150 letters from businesses and their representatives suggesting an increase in the threshold. Commenters noted that the existing $500 threshold was too low to effectively reduce administrative burden on small business. Moreover, the cost of many commonly expensed items such as tablet-style personal computers, smart phones, and machinery and equipment parts typically surpass the $500 threshold. As before, businesses can still claim otherwise deductible repair and maintenance costs, even if they exceed the $2,500 threshold. The new $2,500 threshold takes effect starting with tax year 2016. In addition, the IRS will provide audit protection to eligible businesses by not challenging use of the new $2,500 threshold in tax years prior to 2016. For taxpayers with an applicable financial statement, the de minimis or small-dollar threshold remains $5,000. Further details on this change can be found in Notice 2015-82, posted today on IRS.gov.

I use Medlin for payroll - it does the job well. I'd trust their accounting software if I needed it.

If you are looking for something dead simple, try ye olde One-Write System. One-Write I'd rather have a small client on a good paper system than a poorly-kept electronic system.

Woo hoo!!!! One would almost think that sanity was settling into Washington. I said "almost". But this certainly is a great move!

Way too soon to make any judgments about the program. Patience.... Patience.... Patience....

They may want to check with the local Health Department also. Had a client who did the same thing and was shut down by the Health Department for several weeks until their basement kitchen passed inspection.

Thanks for replies.

Thanks for the mentions! I suspect few, if any, of the others read this BB most every day...

Medlin software is simple, low cost, and VERY GOOD. Go to medlin.com and click on products. Medlin can not be used on a network, but for small clients, it probably won't matter.

Catherine & Randall, Thank you both. I have used the click on my name before but that didn't work yesterday-bad computer. I didn't know about the "activity streams" Terry

There are some posts on the ATX Board with error messages about having the wrong version of .Net Framework which is halting the installation. The strange thing is that according to the posters they have a newer version of .Net Framework than the error messages are specifying.

This is not the complete list. These are "New" in addition to last year.

Just finished the install via the download center on server first and workstation second. Installed without a hitch. Opened on the workstation without a hitch. Rolled over my personal return without a hitch - except it is way, way too early for any of the forms to be available - so I thought. Turns out quite a few forms ARE available - at least in draft mode. I have not had a chance to do anything in the program other than set it up. But so far so good. Not sure I have the same level of confidence in the payroll compliance module. I installed it on the server and attempted a netsetup on a workstation and got a message that a file could not be found. I installed the program directly on the workstation hoping that would install the requisite file. Tried the netsetup again and got a run time error. Tried to update forms first on the server and then on the workstation and it hangs at 51%on both of them. I guess I will have to call tech support next week. Let me re-emphasize, this has to do with the payroll compliance software. The tax software installed and updated without a hitch. Wait - taking Jack's advice, I let the forms update on the payroll compliance software hang at 51% instead of closing it out and it has now gone to over 70%. Patience is a good thing. None of us like it when it applies to us - but it IS a good thing. Happy Thanksgiving!

COPIED FROM IRS.GOV Where to File Your Taxes" (for Form 2553) If the corporation's principal business, office, or agency is located in Use the following IRS Center address or fax number Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin Department of the Treasury Internal Revenue Service Cincinnati, OH 45999 fax # 855-270-4081 (NEW) Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wyoming Department of the Treasury Internal Revenue Service Ogden, UT 84201 fax # 801-620-7116 Page Last Reviewed or Updated: 10-Nov-2015

In our office we use Dome accounting software for our small bookkeeping accounts. Works very well and for $59.95 it's very good. You can do do various companies with the software and puts out a very good report. Been using it for over 20 years. http://www.domeproductsonline.com/software/