While the logo colors of Zinner & Co. are blue and silver 51 weeks of the year, purple was the weeklong preference from March 21- 26. Purple Day is an annual international celebration to create awareness and support for epilepsy and related seizure disorders. What began as a small initiative in 2008 by a young girl in Nova Scotia is now supported annually on March 26^th by people in countries around the world.

“We are thrilled to participate in this annual event. In addition to our deep-rooted spirit of philanthropy, we also work to help others outside the firm learn about and better understand this chronic disorder,” said Partner Sue Krantz, CPA. 

Epilepsy affects about 2.3 million adults and 467,000 children 0-17 years of age in the United States, more than Parkinson's disease, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis and muscular dystrophy combined. Of the major chronic medical conditions, epilepsy is among the least understood even though 1 in 3 adults knows someone with the disorder.

“Employees have been very creative with their show of support.
In addition to the office adorned with purple flowers and decorations, many made a donation to wear purple clothing throughout the week; some went as far as having purple nail polish, purple glasses and purple tennis shoes,” Krantz added.

"Our Firm  brought in lunch from California Pizza Kitchen on the day where they donated a portion of their sales back to the Epilepsy Association." The week concluded with a purple-themed basket raffle and purple snacks and treats. 

As part of the continued crackdown on refund fraud and identity theft, the Internal Revenue Service today released the Top 10 Identity Theft Prosecutions for Fiscal Year 2015. These prosecutions are part of the wide-ranging strategy to combat refund fraud and assist taxpayers through detection, prevention and resolving identity theft cases in a timely manner.

If you are a family that has privately hired a household employee to provide childcare, senior care, etc., in your home,  there’s a relatively low chance that you'll know what aspects of household employment have changed from 2015 to 2016. The good news is that most of the changes are relatively minor, but here are five topics you should be aware of:

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently announced that it is changing the website it uses to collect information from IRS Form 990-N filers. The Form 990-N is a very brief annual filing that smaller tax-exempt organizations are able to utilize in place of submitting the lengthier Form 990-EZ or Form 990. Many state, regional, and local affiliates and chapters of national nonprofit organizations qualify to submit the 990-N.

The Form 990-N submission website will change as of February 29, 2016. All nonprofit organizations submitting Form 990-N should consider filing by February 28, 2016 in order to use the old submission website. Starting February 29, 2016, in order to file the Form 990-N, all nonprofits will be required to complete a one-time registration and file Form 990-N submissions through the IRS’s website at www.irs.gov.

Who Must File the Form 990-N

The Form 990-N is a short, 8-question filing that must be filed by organizations whose annual gross receipts are normally $50,000 or less. An organization meets this criterion if it:

Published in OSCPA Takeaways, Mar. 10, 2016
By Jennifer Rieman, CAE, manager, public relations

Clients. Culture. Community. 
It's not about the work we do; it's about the people we serve. 

So, you are feeling pretty good about that lingering debt that has finally been stamped "paid in full." 

Maybe you have refinanced, modified a loan or emptied the piggy bank to clear last year's credit card frenzy that left you with a bothersome monthly payment, accruing fees and a high interest rate.  But, is it all that simple? Will debt cancellation bu ok "as is" or are there other considerations to factor?

As recommended and published by the IRS, below, find a few of most common situations that you should be aware of surrounding debt cancellation and income. 

 The following is an article published March 2, 2016, by Michael Cohn of Accounting Today.