LGT's Profit Sense

Starting in 2020, the Comptroller is changing its policy relating to the taxability of medical billing services.  While insurance services have always been subject to Texas sales tax, the Comptroller previously took the position that medical billing services happen before any insurance claims are submitted, and therefore are not taxable insurance services.  Effective January 1, 2020, the Comptroller will be taking the opposite position – preparation of a claim is an inherent part of the insurance claim process and medical billing services to prepare a medical insurance claim are taxable insurance services.

A personal casualty loss results from the damage, destruction, or loss of your property from any sudden, unusual, or unexpected event such as a flood, hurricane, tornado, fire, earthquake, or volcanic eruption. It does not include the loss from normal wear and tear and/or progressive deterioration.

My name is Lee Ann Collins, managing partner at Lane Gorman Trubitt, and this job is keeping me up at night.

It is tough to watch the Dallas Cowboys lose another game and not question what is going wrong. The Cowboys' roster has talent through the roof of Jerry Jones' multi-million dollar stadium, a coaching staff with numerous accolades, and a clear desire to win, yet they seem to fall short in big games. While watching this week's game, it made me wonder about the extensive game plan the coach formulated to try to win. With any big game approaching, it always proves more fruitful and much less stressful to have a plan in place to achieve a positive end result. Just like a coach prepares for a game, it is critical to have a plan in place for the financial aspect of your life to be victorious by accomplishing your goals.

Financial statements are an essential part of understanding the operating results for every contractor. Between the balance sheet, income statement, and statement of cash flows, financial statements can provide a large amount of data, but that data is only a snapshot of the results for a specified period (typically a month or year). How can you leverage this data to provide you with some key financial ratios or key performance indicators (KPIs)?

My name is Lee Ann Collins, managing partner at Lane Gorman Trubitt, the top-ranked accounting firm in Dallas in 2019 according to Inside Public Accounting and this job is keeping me up at night.

In February 2016, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued Accounting Standards Update 2016-02, Leases (Topic 842), which made significant changes to lease accounting. These new rules are in effect for private companies with fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2019, in other words, 2020 for companies with a calendar year end. While publicly traded business entities are already using the new standard, it’s worth noting that there has been strong support from the AICPA to delay the implementation date at least one year, meaning that private business entities with a calendar year-end would not have to adopt the new standard until 2021, though any potential delays are still pending. The FASB discussed this delay in their July 17, 2019 board meeting, with an exposure draft being released on August 15, 2019. Exposure drafts have a comment period of 30 days, which ended September 16, 2019; therefore we are currently awaiting the results of that comment period.

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It’s not uncommon for dealerships to receive large sums of cash as payment for vehicles. As you may know, your dealership is generally required to file a special form with the IRS to report cash transactions of more than $10,000. This article will review the requirements and provide different scenarios where a dealer may or may not be subject to filing IRS Form 8300.

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The Tax Cuts and Jobs (TCJA) has many effects and the impacts felt vary from business to business, depending on the nature of the business as well the structure. Manufacturers and distributors will most likely be impacted by a lower tax rate if they are a corporation or an individual (if they have stake in a pass-through entity). They will also be impacted by the changes in alternative minimum tax (AMT), as well as the expansion of IRS Sec. 179 and bonus depreciation for the first year.