Quite a Career & Still Going… On November 1, 1952 Robert E. Marple began practicing in public accounting. On November 19th, 1954 he was issued his Certified Public Accountant’s license from the Washington State Board of Accountancy. That is over 60 years in practice, which is quite a career!

Bob’s Washington State CPA certificate number is 1253. Board of Accountancy records indicate certificate number 15 was issued in the year 1922 so 1238 certificates were issued in 32 years (1922 to Bob’s November 1954 certificate issuance). Board of Accountancy records also indicate the most recent CPA certificate number issued is 33182.

It is not clear who has had the longest career in public accounting (you find some interesting information by Googling this), but it is clear Bob is in a very elite group. What’s equally amazing is Bob continues to work full-time in the firm he founded.

A graduate of Washington State University (it was Washington State College at the time), Bob recently returned to WSU to visit his granddaughter Katie, who is attending WSU as a freshman. “Things have changed a bit since I was last in Pullman,” Bob shared. The same is true about the practice of public accounting.

We would like to wish all of our clients and their families the very best for this holiday season!

Marple & Marple, CPA’s2014 Holiday Greetings!

100 N. Fruitland Street Suite C

Kennewick, WA 99336

Phone: (509) 586-4194 Fax: (509) 582-5091

www.marplecpa.com

Bob Marple Steve Marple

Bob Marple Jr. Kent Toyoda

Rosalie Willers Kyle Edberg

Teresa Kesler Carol Guthrie

Ginette Houchin Tim McCall

WSU vs. Arizona

Photo by: Bob Marple Sr Possible Early WSU Game

Time flies, it’s up to you to be the navigator.

Robert Orben

Remote Controls & Federal Tax Law          By Robert D. Marple  

I recently purchased a replacement DVD player for playing audio CD’s and movies. The device came with a remote control. I looked with amazement at this little device. After some reflection (common with accountants interested in technology), there do seem to be similarities between this remote control and our country’s federal tax laws.

The remote control and our federal tax laws both have simple purposes. You can describe their purposes in one sentence. The remote control’s primary purpose is to remotely control the playing of a disc while the primary purpose of our federal tax law is to raise revenue.

Now simplicity is another matter and both the remote control and our federal tax laws fail miserably in this context. There are 45 separate buttons on my new remote control. There are over 70,000 pages of tax code and millions of pages of regulations, judicial opinions, rulings, procedures, and explanatory articles.

All of the features on the remote control were likely added with good (though misguided) intentions and possibly the same could be said about our federal tax laws.

Looking specifically at tax laws it is clear the system is broken. Simplification is needed but I am not holding my breath. We hear if Congress does not take action on the extenders prior to their upcoming break, it may be February or early March before returns can be filed.

If you don’t distinguish yourself from the crowd, you’ll just be the crowd.

Mark Jusbasche

Photo by: Bob Marple Jr

Photo by: Bob Marple Jr

Tax Planning Opportunities & The Extenders

With about a month left in 2014 there is remaining time for tax planning. Yearend planning is made difficult this year by the inability of Congress to address expiring tax law provisions.

There are 55 tax provisions within the Internal Revenue Code that expired as of January 1st, 2014. A summary of these expiring provisions is available from the website of The Joint Committee on Taxation with the title JCX-3-13 (Google JCX-3-13 and you will get the link).

There are a number of minor provisions but some expiring provisions are of significance including: sales tax deduction, IRA gifts, tax credit for research and experimentation, bonus depreciation, expanded Section 179 depreciation, among others.

Personal tax planning tips for consideration include: • Realize stock losses to offset gains • Consider deferring income, if possible • Consider making donations to qualified charities • Consider gifting of appreciated stock as part of your donation giving • Open an IRA (determine eligibility) • If you are marrying or divorcing, evaluate your tax situation • Ensure you have taken your required minimum distributions • Fund available retirement plans • Consider a Health Savings Account • Reevaluate your estimated payments to avoid interest charges • Bunching of your itemized deductions • Watch mutual fund purchases at yearend to avoid taxable dividends

Business tax planning tips for consideration include: • Realize stocks losses to offset gains • Consider deferring income • Consider prepaying expenses if cash basis • Evaluate equipment purchases prior to yearend • Consider starting a retirement plan

Donation Recordkeeping  

Making donations to qualified charities can provide tax benefit for those who itemize their deductions (and it’s a nice thing to do). The IRS has become increasingly aggressive on their interpretation of the law and the records they request for substantiation in audit. (The phrase, “no good deed goes unpunished,” comes to mind)

To help ensure your donation is deductible, follow the recordkeeping guidelines below. We also have detailed handouts and summaries to help explain these guidelines in further detail.

• Determine if the charity is a qualified charity • Retain cancelled checks or bank records & charge slips for all donations • Do not make donations in cash • Obtain qualified receipts prior to the time you file your return

A qualified receipt will include: the name and address of the charity, name of the individual making the donation, amount of the donation, date the donation was made, and if any goods or services were received in exchange for the donation. (If goods or services were received, a good-faith estimate for the value of the goods or services should be provided)

Special recordkeeping is required for non-cash donations and for those made by payroll deduction.

Painting by: Winona Sleater

Marple & Marple Data Security Issues & Planned

Changes

Our office has put a lot of thought into data protection and security and we

have implemented policies and procedures to protect our client and

firm’s data. We are still very concerned about protection of our data.

For data backup, we have a multi-

stage backup procedure using both the cloud and physical drives allowing us to restore any day up to the last 30.

E-mail is one of two major ways malware gets in to a network. We are

currently evaluating a network policy change for our firm that

would prohibit e-mail attachments and hyperlinks with all incoming e-mail. We will continue to allow e-mail attachments through April 15th of 2015

but encourage the use of our free portals during this interim period.

Business Data Security & Protection  

Security breaches now happen all of the time with personal data compromised on a daily basis. It is very easy to become

complacent and take the attitude it just is the way it is. It is not the time for the deer

in the headlights look.

In addition to data breaches for purposes of ID theft there is also the threat of a new malware known as ransomware. Your files are locked by malware and

remained locked until you pay a ransom. This malware has already made its way

into the Tri-Cities.

There are still steps that can and should be taken to protect confidential data and

circumvent malware. Data must be protected both physically and logically.

Data is physically protected by its location, controlled access, locks, security systems, and controlled

timely destruction of data no longer needed.

Data is logically protected by controlled access using secure passwords, protective policies and procedures, encryption,

firewalls, virus & malware detection, keeping operating

systems updated, and isolation from outside data storage sources such as USB drives and outside

computing devices.

A last but important piece of overall data security is backup. Your home and business should have a well thought out backup

plan that is properly implemented and routinely tested.

Action will destroy your procrastination. Og Mandino

Affordable Care Act aka Obamacare

Whether you like it or not, more provisions of this Act are becoming effective. A couple of observations; certain income tax returns will be more complex to prepare, the law itself is complex (the amended compilation is 995 pages long), some will pay fines for not obtaining health insurance, and individuals will need to provide their return preparers with additional information.

Our tax software provider is providing yearend continuing education and their classes have filled fast and they have added others. (See our “Tax Software Update” article.) A significant portion of Thomson’s update class reviewed additional reporting that will be required on individual’s 2014 income tax returns.

Each taxpayer will fall into one of the following categories:

• Has the minimum essential health care coverage • Is exempt from the requirement to have the minimum essential health care coverage • Has to pay a penalty for not having the minimum essential health care coverage

Individuals may be eligible for a tax credit to help pay for this essential health care coverage and the credit may have been taken in advance during 2014. If an individual has taken more credit than they ultimately were allowed, they may owe an additional amount with the filing of their 2014 income tax return. The amount a taxpayer owes will be capped and vary depending on income and filing status.

Forms for completing this reporting are in draft mode

or being finalized. There are currently no instructions yet released for completing these forms.

The word retire no longer means “not work.” It means “choose my work” and

“choose what I do with my time.” Marti Bartletta

The biggest quality in successful people is an impatience with negative thinking.

Edward McCabe

Tax Software Update & Other Technology News

Our tax software vendor has made significant updates and enhancements to our tax return preparation software for 2014 returns.

Updates include the addition of organizers for businesses, estates, and trusts. This enhancement was just released and we are evaluating how to best utilize the new organizers.

The IRS has approved electronic signatures and Thomson will be offering the use of a 3rd party service provider to electronically sign your return.

We have been working with the Thomson portals for three years and working with web delivery of individual organizers and individual tax returns for two years. We are gaining knowledge and experience with this service offering and plan expansion in the future.

With the same theme of saving our clients time, we are currently

working with the Microsoft Lync videoconferencing service/software. This is a videoconferencing software along the lines of an enhanced Skype. We are able to videoconference and share content with our clients from their office or remote location without the need to travel to our office.

We are currently working with the new Microsoft Surface Pro 3 and our initial review reflects a very capable device. We will have more tax software and technology updates to follow, on our office blog.

If you are wise, laugh. Marcus Valerius Martialis

Photo by: Bob Marple Jr

Photo by: Kyle Edberg