WILLIAM H. HINTON & COMPANY

Accounting Services

Providing financial information to our clients in a timely and accurate manner is a commitment that we feel cannot be compromised. Meaningful, well-organized financial records ensure that your business operations will run more efficiently on a daily basis. Our firm provides a full range of cost effective accounting services including the following:

• Compilation and Review Financial Statement opinions
  
  
• Business tax return preparation (Sales & Use/Business Property)
  
  
• Personal financial statements
  
  
• Tax Planning Strategies & Changes For The Year 2011
  • Major 2011 Tax Year Changes
    1. Exemptions & Deduction
    2. Social Security
    3. Education Deductions
    4. Official per-mile rate for business use of a car
    5. health-insurance deduction for self-employed
    6. Long-term-care premiums
    7. Regular IRAs
    8. Required Minimum Distributions (RMD)
    9. Estate Tax
  • Harvest Your Losers
• Max Out Your Retirement Accounts
• Donate to Your Favorite Charity
• Give appreciated Stock to Your Kids
• Rebalance Investments With Taxes In Mind
• Postpone income until 2011 and accelerate deductions into 2010 (more Info)

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Business Entity Selection

Choosing the form of entity of your business (e.g. "S" corporation, sole proprietor, limited liability company…) is a crucial decision that can have longstanding tax implications, positive or negative. We can assist you in evaluating the pros and cons of each entity type to help you determine the most advantageous form of business for your company.

Buying & Selling a Business

Purchasing or sale of a business properly is a critical step in the process of buying or selling a business. Let us help you structure the purchase to decrease your tax payout.

Business Succession Planning

Effective transition of your business to your successors is critical to ensure its continued success once you decide to remove yourself from the company's operations. With a solid background in tax and financial planning, we are fully qualified to assist you in developing a strategically sound plan.

Consulting Services

We gauge our worth by the personal and business successes of our clients. We can help your business identify areas negatively affecting profitability and growth and develop solutions that are practical and efficient. The following is just a few of the areas in which we provide consulting services:

• Accounting, Tax, Retirement and Financial Planning implementation
  
  
• Entity selection
  
  
• Business capital gains & loss valuations
  
  
• Buying/selling a business
  
  
• Estate, trust & gift planning

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Debt & Financing Services

Debt management and the evaluation of financing options are issues that an experienced professional deals with every day. Let us use our experience to assist you in secure financing for your personal or business needs to a more manageable level.

Employee Benefit Plans

The accounting and tax issues involved with employer-provided benefit plans can be overwhelming. We can assist with the development, implementation and administration of your employee benefit plan

Estate, Trust, Pension, & Profit Planning

Effective estate, trust, and gift planning facilitates the orderly transfer of assets to your beneficiaries, provides security for your surviving spouse, and can reduce or eliminate the tax due on the transfer of your business and other assets.

Qualified retirement plans (e.g. defined-contribution or defined benefit plans, Keoghs, SEPs…) can provide significant tax advantages for closely held businesses and self-employed individuals.

Financial Statements

We can assist you in the preparation of your financial statements in accordance with professional standards, but express no opinion or any other form of assurance on the underlying information included in them. The financial statements produced can be a useful tool for management for making financial decisions.

International Taxation

We have experience with the taxation of U.S. residents working abroad and foreign citizens working in the United State therefore we can assist you to implement a tax strategy.

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Investment Review

We can help you develop an investment portfolio allocation that takes into consideration the impact of risk and market fluctuations, while minimizing taxes. Successful implementation and periodic review of your financial plan will ensure financial independence during your working years and throughout your retirement years.

Pension & Profit Sharing Plans

Qualified retirement plans (e.g. defined-contribution or defined benefit plans, Keoghs, SEPs…) can provide significant tax advantages for closely held businesses and self-employed individuals. Our qualified staff can assist you in evaluating the type of pension plan that will best serve the retirement needs of you and your employees.

Real Estate Tax Planning

Whenever real estate changes hands, tax consequences emerge. Capital gains and recapture of depreciation are the two primary tax considerations, which could result in taxation up to one-third of the profit on the sale of the property. With the drastic boom of real estate values in recent years the seller may end up paying out large amounts in taxes. Let us help you reduce the amount of your taxes with smart planning and preparation so you can retain more of your hard earned revenue.

Retirement Planning

Successful implementation and periodic review of your financial plan will ensure financial independence during your working years and through your retirement years.

Social Security Bulletin News Letter

Over this past year I have received many inquiries and questions, regarding Social Security benefits. When should I apply? Should I continue working? Should I take benefits early? Will Social Security be around in the future? What about my spouse's benefits?

The Social Security system is very complicated and covers many entitlement programs including Retirement, Disability, and Medical Care Benefits. In this writing I am focusing primarily on retirement benefits.

A Taxpayer who pays into the Social Security System is generally eligible for reduced benefits at age 62, (approximately 80% of full benefits) and full benefits at age 66. A taxpayer receiving reduced benefits between the ages of 62 and 66 can work and make up to $14,160 before they loose benefits. There is no limit to the income one can make after turning age 66. A taxpayer can wait until age 70 before applying for benefits. Benefits are required to be paid once a taxpayer reaches age 70. If one waits to 70 before applying for benefits their benefits increase 8% per year for a 32% greater benefit than they would receive at age 66. A taxpayer's spouse is entitled to benefits based on their work record or 50% of their spouse’s benefits (whichever is greater).

Loophole #1:

This strategy works for either married or single earners. Let's say that you have been receiving benefits since you were 62, and you are now approaching age 70, and your benefits are now $1500 per month. You could dramatically increase your benefits by what is called the "do-over" strategy. You could opt to pay back the cumulative benefits you received and then reapply for benefits at age 70. This would increase your monthly benefit by 56% or bring your monthly benefit to $2340. This is an increase of $840 per month or $10,080 per year. Each persons pay back cost would be different but in this example it would be approximately $100,000. Obviously the downside is that you would need to have the cash to payback the benefits and you would need to live about 10 years to break even. The upsides are as follows:

• The additional $10,080 per year is about a 10% return on your investment.
• If you were to purchase an annuity in the market place for the same monthly benefit the cost would be about 35% to 40% greater and it probably would not be adjusted for inflation as Social Security benefits are.
• This becomes a really great deal for a married couple because the Spouse's 50% benefit is also increased and the full increase is realized by the surviving spouse so in affect you have received a "joint annuity" from the government. The benefits are even greater for a taxpayer who has a younger spouse.

Loophole #2:

This strategy works for married earners and is called "File and Suspend". The taxpayer reaches full retirement age at 66, but desires to continue to work, and his spouse is at least 62. The taxpayer applies for Social Security benefits, which allows the spouse to collect 50% of the taxpayer benefits. The taxpayer than applies to suspend his benefits but the spouse can still collect spouse benefits based on the taxpayers work record. The taxpayer than waits until 70 to apply for benefits, which will be 32% greater than the entitlement at age 66. Once the taxpayer reapplies for the higher benefit the spouse’s benefit will be readjusted to 50% of the higher amount. This loophole works best for either single-earner couples or couples in which one spouse has made a lot more money than the other.

Loophole #3:

You have to be married for this loophole to work. Let's assume that you are both approximately the same age, the husband is the major earner, but the wife qualifies for her own Social Security Benefits through either part time work or a lower paying job. At age 62 the wife becomes eligible and applies for benefits. When the husband reaches 66 he becomes eligible for benefits, but instead of applying against his work record he applies for a spouse benefit against his wife's work record (50% of her benefits) and defers applying against his work record until age 70. This maneuver will increase the husbands benefits by 32%and once he is eligible on his work record the wife is than able to step-up her benefits to the higher payout (50% of husbands benefit). If the husband should predecease the wife, her benefits will increase to 100% of the husbands benefits for her lifetime.

SOUNDS CONFUSING, HERE'S A SUMMARY:

First the wife files and the husband gets a spouse benefit... Then, a few years down the road, the husband files and the wife gets a spouse benefit. So first the couple is collecting based on the wife's benefits... Then they're collecting based on the husband's benefits.

There are many more loopholes and scenarios to consider as everyone has a slightly different set of facts and needs. You should be aware that the decision to apply for Social Security is an important one as there are many options.

REMEMBER: Collecting Social Security is a right you have earned through your labor. You have paid into this fund and it is your right to maximize your benefits.

Tax Services and Preparation Planning

Tax planning and preparation form a winning combination for our successful individual and business clients. Whether you are an individual or a multi-tiered partnership, our experienced staff can develop tax strategies that take advantage of new tax laws and legislation.

We prefer to take a proactive vs. reactive approach to tax services. By keeping current on new tax laws and legislation, we are knowledgeable and identify tax planning key opportunities that minimize both your current and future tax liabilities. We provide our individual and business clients with the taxation and financial planning expertise and knowledge that they deserve throughout the year. Tax services offered include but are not limited to:

• Tax planning & return preparation
  • Individuals
  • Corporations
  • Partnerships
  • LLCs/LLPs
  • Estates, trusts & gift
  • Not-for-profit organizations
    
    
• Taxing authority representation
  
  
• Divorce and support issues
  
  
• Tax effects of buying/selling a business

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