Realities for Children is needing help to collect winter gear & new toys for local children who have been abused, neglected or are at-risk.  New toys that are needed: Books Games Puzzles Sporting Goods Dolls Learning tools Stuffed animals etc. Winter gear that is needed: Hats Scarves Gloves Jackets Boots etc. The drive is going [...]

Retirement plans are valuable tools that can provide tax benefits to both business owners and employees. If your company has a retirement plan, you should review it at least annually with your tax and financial advisors to make sure that it is still a good fit for the company and that it is still accomplishing [...]

Realities for Children is needing help to collect school supplies for 400 of the children that they are sending Back To School again this year. Supplies that are needed are 200 backpacks suitable for grades K-8, Paper, Folders, Binders, Notebooks, Pens, Pencils & Colored pencils, Highlighters, Crayons, Makers, Glue, Tape, Scissors, Rulers, Erasers, Pencils Boxes, [...]

Independent Contractor or Employee? It is important for business owners to determine whether the individuals performing services for them are employees or independent contractors. The IRS recently has been cracking down on what they consider to be improper classifications, and can hold a business owner liable for employment taxes and penalties on payments to independent [...]

Accountable Plan for Employee Reimbursements If your business reimburses employees for business expenses, then we strongly suggest that you set up an accountable plan for these reimbursements. If the IRS were to question the expense reimbursement payments your business makes to employees and determine them to be compensation rather than expense reimbursement, they could require [...]

Tax season is over!  For most people this means that they are not going to think about their taxes again until the following year.  While we at Shaw & Associates totally understand why most people think this way, it is important to understand that many tax planning opportunities can be lost if you do not [...]

The IRS has created a new web-based payment system called “IRS Direct Pay.” This system allows tax bills or estimated tax payments to be made directly from a taxpayers checking or savings account without incurring any processing fees. The IRS Direct Pay is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and also offers [...]

What about you?  Are you financially literate?  Do you have a spending budget?  What about a savings budget?  If so, do you actually meet your goals?  Do you know your “number”, which is the amount you need to save per month to meet your retirement lifestyle goals?  Is your debt under control?  Do you have [...]

It is never too early to start teaching children about finances, and we all know by now that the American education system is not teaching children what they need to know to become fiscally responsible adults.  So, that means this really is the caregivers’ (and other role models’) job.  There are many ways to help [...]

According to the website 360financialliteracy.com, which is a site produced by the American Institute of CPA’s, “Financial education is a lifelong endeavor-from children learning about the value of money to adults understanding how to reach a secure retirement.”  We whole-heartedly agree with this statement.  Why is this such a big deal?  According to the most [...]