We're often asked by our clients how long they need to keep their accounting and tax records. The answer we have to give is "it depends." What it depends on are the documents in question. While it is suggested that tax returns be retained permanently, other less critical records can be disposed of at certain points in the future safely. This can get very confusing as the periods of retention widely vary from document to document.

Fortunately, the Massachusetts Society of CPAs, Inc. has put together an excellent document retention guide. It does not constitute legal authority but it does a nice job of organizing and giving guidance on the retention period of most of the documents that a business may have. Please review the guidelines, and if you have any questions, please feel free to contact one of the Team at Rodman & Rodman.

You'll notice in the title that I have ignored the question of whether you should upgrade your QuickBooks or not. You absolutely should upgrade your version of QuickBooks regularly. Hopefully, you'll stay current but you should try to stay no more than one year behind the current version. At Rodman & Rodman we only support 2 years of QuickBooks programs. It would be impossible for us to support our clients on multiple versions of the software. The confusion between the differing capabilities between the different versions is challenging enough when it is 2 years. So assuming you ARE going to upgrade, when should that be?

Like any program, QuickBooks releases new versions, and they have bugs. Though the program is tested extensively before being released, Intuit cannot possibly anticipate every use, or for that matter misuse, of the product. Patches are commonplace for a period of time. It is for that reason that we recommend you wait two months before ordering or picking up your upgrade to 2007. This would mean waiting until approximately mid-December, 2006. There are some exciting changes coming with the 2007 version, including the integration of Google in some interesting ways. Just be patient. Let Intuit get the bugs out first. Email me at kathy@rodmancpa.com if you have any questions.

Rodman & Rodman is excited to present part 2 of the Fall Seminar Series. This seminar will provide our clients and friends specific and simple steps to to generate more sales and stronger referrals that lead to sales. The seminar is titled "Ten Commitments To Win More Business". The seminar will be led by Jim Ayraud, President and CEO of Next Level, Inc. Jim will be providing a no-nonsense, straight- talk presentation aimed at improving your sales effectiveness and performance. The event begins with a continental breakfast at 7:30a.m. The presentation begins promptly at 8:00a.m. and will conclude at 9:00a.m. This event will be held in the Rodman & Rodman conference room.

Next Level, Inc. is a Franklin, Massachusetts-based sales and strategy firm. Many of the team members here at Rodman & Rodman have received sales training from Jim and his team and give it our highest recommendation. This is an event you do not want to miss! You must reserve a seat by calling Jen Reading at Rodman & Rodman. Space is extremely limited so call today!

The federal government has been promoting through legislation in recent years incentives for people to save for their retirement. I want to focus on an opportunity that one such incentive provides: The Credit for Qualified Retirement Savings Contributions. This credit was intended to encourage low-income taxpayers to contribute to their retirement. Unfortunately most low income people can not afford to consider retirement. However, for those of you who intend to provide financial assistance to your adult children this credit may provide an interesting opportunity. This credit is based on a varying percentage of the retirement contribution. The maximum credit is $1,000. The retirement contributions can be made to IRAs, Roth IRAs. SIMPLE plans, 401(k) plans, 403(b) plans and others. The credit phases out entirely for adjusted gross income in excess of $25,000 if filing single and $50,000 if filing married joint. As an example, let's say your recent college graduate son has taken a job as a social worker in an impoverished part of the country with an annual salary of $15,000. If he were to contribute $1,600 to an IRA, Roth IRA, etc. he could be entitled to an $800 credit, offsetting almost all of his tax liability. He effectively would have received a 50% return on investment (in the form of a refund or reduced tax liability) from this retirement contribution.
Please note that the contribution cannot be made on behalf of full-time students or any individual for whom the parents are claiming a dependency deduction on their tax return as well as any individual who is not 18 years of age by the close of the tax year in which the contribution is made.

If you are a parent of a young adult who you think may benefit from this strategy, please feel free to give me a call or email me at karl@rodmancpa.com. and we'll determine if this strategy would be effective.