Category Archives: Raleigh CPA Firm

NC Medicaid Compliance Update

by Rachel Owens

North Carolina requires program-specific reporting of facilities/homes based on their license. For many facilities this is not a new requirement, however, for adult care, mental health and dual-licensed facilities this is only required every other year.  This year is an on year.  Compliance with these state requirements fulfill the mandate enforced by the North Carolina General Assembly under General Statute 131 D-4.1-4.3 through the Office of the Controller.  Facilities that do not receive funds through State/County Special Assistance are exempt, but all others must complete a cost report.  The deadline for which, is just a few short months away – September 30, 2019!

What report is my facility required to file?

Requirements of the statute vary depending on the license and the number of beds in the facility.  Facilities with 6 beds or less are required to prepare a cost report only.  Facilities with 7 or more beds must complete a cost report and have agreed-upon-procedures performed by an independent CPA.  The larger facilities with 31 beds or more have additional requirements for their cost report this year.

There are many factors to consider to determine exactly what is expected of each facility and what period is to be reported.  The repercussions of non-compliance of these requirements are suspended admissions or worse!  The OOC office anticipates releasing updated cost report information and agreed-upon-procedures in the next few weeks.  The healthcare industry continues to be an ever-changing environment and we continue to be on the look out for additional information as the deadline approaches.  We would be happy to answer any questions you have and would appreciate the opportunity to serve your organization.

 

Financial statements tell your business’s story, inside and out

Ask many entrepreneurs and small business owners to show you their financial statements and they’ll likely open a laptop and show you their bookkeeping software. Although tracking financial transactions is critical, spreadsheets aren’t financial statements.

In short, financial statements are detailed and carefully organized reports about the financial activities and overall position of a business. As any company evolves, it will likely encounter an increasing need to properly generate these reports to build credibility with outside parties, such as investors and lenders, and to make well-informed strategic decisions.

These are the typical components of financial statements:

Income statement. Also known as a profit and loss statement, the income statement shows revenues and expenses for a specified period. To help show which parts of the business are profitable (or not), it should carefully match revenues and expenses.

Balance sheet. This provides a snapshot of a company’s assets and liabilities. Assets are items of value, such as cash, accounts receivable, equipment and intellectual property. Liabilities are debts, such as accounts payable, payroll and lines of credit. The balance sheet also states the company’s net worth, which is calculated by subtracting total liabilities from total assets.

Cash flow statement. This shows how much cash a company generates for a particular period, which is a good indicator of how easily it can pay its bills. The statement details the net increase or decrease in cash as a result of operations, investment activities (such as property or equipment sales or purchases) and financing activities (such as taking out or repaying a loan).

Retained earnings/equity statement. Not always included, this statement shows how much a company’s net worth grew during a specified period. If the business is a corporation, the statement details what percentage of profits for that period the company distributed as dividends to its shareholders and what percentage it retained internally.

Notes to financial statements. Many if not most financial statements contain a supplementary report to provide additional details about the other sections. Some of these notes may take the form of disclosures that are required under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles — the most widely used set of accounting rules and standards. Others might include supporting calculations or written clarifications.

Financial statements tell the ongoing narrative of your company’s finances and profitability. Without them, you really can’t tell anyone — including yourself — precisely how well you’re doing. We can help you generate these reports to the highest standards and then use them to your best advantage.

© 2019

Holding a fundraising auction? Make sure your nonprofit is tax-compliant

Auctions have long been lucrative fundraising events for not-for-profits. But these events come with some tax compliance responsibilities.

Acknowledging item donations

If you auction off merchandise or services donated to your charity, you should provide written acknowledgments to the donors of the auctioned items valued at $250 or more. You won’t incur a penalty for failing to acknowledge the donation, but the donor can’t claim a deduction without substantiation, which could hurt your ability to obtain donations in the future.

Written statements should include your organization’s name and a description — but not the value — of the donated item. (It’s the donor’s responsibility to substantiate the donated auction item’s value.) Also indicate the value of any goods or services provided to the donor in return.

Other rules

Donors of services or the use of property may be surprised to learn that their donations aren’t tax-deductible. Alert these donors before they make their pledges. Also inform donors of property such as artwork that tax law generally limits their deduction to their tax basis in the property (typically what they paid for it).

If you receive an auction item valued at greater than $500 — and within three years sell the property — you must file Form 8282, “Donee Information Return,” and provide a copy to the original donor. Form 8282 must be filed within 125 days of the sale.

Substantiation for winning bidders

A contribution made by a donor who also receives substantial goods and services in exchange — such as the item won in the auction — is known as a quid pro quo contribution. To take a charitable deduction, winning bidders at a charitable auction must be able to show that they knew the value of the item was less than the amount paid. So provide bidders with a good faith estimate of the fair market value of each available item before the auction and state that only the amount paid in excess is deductible as a charitable donation.

In addition, your nonprofit is required to provide a written disclosure statement to any donor who makes a payment of more than $75 that’s partly a contribution and partly for goods and services received. The failure to provide the disclosures can result in penalties of $10 per contribution, not to exceed $5,000 per auction.

Plan ahead

If you plan to hold a fundraising auction, don’t wait until the last minute to think about tax compliance. Contact us: We can help.

© 2018

A midyear review should go beyond financials


Every year is a journey for a business. You begin with a set of objectives for the months ahead, probably encounter a few bumps along the way and, hopefully, reach your destination with some success and a few lessons learned.

The middle of the year is the perfect time to stop for a breather. A midyear review can help you and your management team determine which objectives are still “meetable” and which one’s may need tweaking or perhaps even elimination.

Naturally, this will involve looking at your financials. There are various metrics that can tell you whether your cash flow is strong and debt load manageable, and if your profitability goals are within reach. But don’t stop there.

3 key areas

Here are three other key areas of your business to review at midyear:

1. HR. Your people are your most valuable asset. So, how is your employee turnover rate trending compared with last year or previous years? High employee turnover could be a sign of underlying problems, such as poor training, lax management or low employee morale.

2. Sales and marketing. Are you meeting your monthly goals for new sales, in terms of both sales volume and number of new customers? Are you generating an adequate return on investment (ROI) for your marketing dollars? If you can’t answer this last question, enhance your tracking of existing marketing efforts so you can gauge marketing ROI going forward.

3. Production. If you manufacture products, what’s your unit reject rate so far this year? Or if yours is a service business, how satisfied are your customers with the level of service being provided? Again, you may need to tighten up your methods of tracking product quality or measuring customer satisfaction to meet this year’s strategic goals.

Necessary adjustments

Don’t wait to the end of the year to assess the progress of your 2018 strategic plan. Conduct a midyear review and get the information you need to make any adjustments necessary to help ensure success. Let us know how we can help.

©2018

Audit Manager Announcement


Langdon & Company LLP is pleased to announce the promotion of Rebecca Lunn to audit manager.  Rebecca joined Langdon & Company LLP in 2014 and has over seven years of public accounting experience including work for Cherry Bekaert LLP in their Raleigh, NC office.  She is a graduate of Elon University with a Bachelor of Science and North Carolina State University with a Masters of Science in Accounting. 

Rebecca provides audit and attest services to clients primarily in the nonprofit, healthcare and small business industries.  She is an active member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the North Carolina Association of Certified Public Accountants, and the Young Professional Network of the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce.

Join us in congratulating Rebecca!

 

 

Does your nonprofit properly report donations?


Your not-for-profit probably already ensures that donors receive a receipt with information about claiming a charitable contribution deduction on their tax return. But your obligations may go further than that. For noncash donations, you might have responsibilities related to certain tax forms.

Form 8283 for donors

When filing their tax returns, donors must attach Section A of Form 8283, “Noncash Charitable Contributions,” if the amount of their deduction for all noncash gifts is more than $500. Only when a single noncash contribution is greater than $5,000 does the donor need to complete Section B, which must be signed by an official of the organization receiving the donation or another person designated by that official. When you return a Schedule B to a donor, the donor should provide you with a full copy of Form 8283.

Donors usually must obtain an appraisal for donated property over $5,000. However, your official’s signature on Section B doesn’t represent concurrence with the appraised value of a donation. It merely acknowledges receipt of the described property on the date specified on the form.

Form 8282 for nonprofits

Your organization generally needs to file Form 8282, “Donee Information Return,” with the IRS if you sell, exchange or otherwise dispose of a donated item within three years of receiving the donation. File the form within 125 days of the disposition unless:

• The item was valued at $500 or less at the time of the original donation, or

• The item was consumed or distributed without compensation in furtherance of your exempt purpose. For example, a relief organization that distributes donated medical supplies while aiding disaster victims isn’t required to file Form 8282.

You also must provide a copy of Form 8282 to the donor. When a donated item is transferred from one nonprofit to another within three years, the transferring organization must provide the successor with its name, address and tax identification number, a copy of the Form 8283 it received from the original donor, and a copy of the Form 8282 within 15 days after filing with the IRS.

Avoidable consequences

Failing to file required forms can lead to IRS penalties. While your organization may be excused if you show the failure was due to reasonable cause, your donor still stands to lose the tax deduction — a result neither of you want. Contact us if you have questions.

© 2018

Do your employees a favor and remind them about their W-4s


Employees don’t always fill out their W-4 forms accurately. For example, some may wrongly write “exempt” on the withholding portion of the form to ensure that no federal or state tax is withheld. Others may be inadvertently underwithholding because of recent tax law changes.

Although the employees themselves are liable for improperly completing their W-4s, you can do them a favor by reminding them of possible mistakes. After all, the IRS may eventually come calling on your organization if someone appears to be underwithholding.

Key questions

Here are some questions to ask when determining whether an employee can legitimately claim to be exempt from withholding:

Did the employee have a tax liability in the previous year? If the employee received a refund of all federal income tax paid (or had a right to a refund), he or she may be able to claim exempt status, depending on the answer to the next question.

Does the employee expect to have a tax liability this year? To legitimately claim to be exempt, the employee must be able to state that he or she had no tax liability last year and doesn’t expect to have a tax liability this year.

Also, an “exempt” W-4 is valid for only one year and expires in February of the following year. If your payroll includes employees who claim to be exempt, require them to fill out new W-4 forms annually.

TCJA impact

Because of the many changes wrought by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), and as you’re likely aware, earlier this year the IRS issued new withholding tables — and withholding amounts have generally dropped. The new tables are intended to work with current W-4 forms. However, just because you’re correctly following the withholding tables for an employee doesn’t mean the employee isn’t having too little (or too much) tax withheld.

Remind all employees that they should use the new IRS calculator (available at irs.gov) to determine whether the appropriate amount is being withheld. If it isn’t, they should submit a new W-4 to you to adjust their withholding. Employees who may be at risk for underwithholding include those who itemize deductions, who hold multiple jobs, or who have dependents age 17 or older.

More changes ahead

IRS Form W-4 is currently in a bit of a state of flux. A new version of the form is expected for 2019 that more clearly reflects the TCJA’s provisions. Some of the applicable rules for filing the form could change along with it. Our firm can keep you apprised of the latest news affecting W-4s and help you gather and verify the right information.

© 2018

Knowing whether income is sponsorship or advertising


Many not-for-profits supplement their usual income-producing activities with sponsorships or advertising programs. Although you’re allowed to receive such payments, they’re subject to unrelated business income tax (UBIT) unless the activities are substantially related to your organization’s tax-exempt purpose or qualify for another exemption. So it’s important to understand the possible tax implications of income from sponsorships and advertising.

What is sponsorship?

Qualified sponsorship payments are made by a person (a sponsor) engaged in a trade or business with no arrangement to receive, or expectation of receiving, any substantial benefit from the nonprofit in return for the payment. Sponsorship dollars aren’t taxed. The IRS allows exempt organizations to use information that’s an established part of a sponsor’s identity, such as logos, slogans, locations, telephone numbers and URLs.

There are some exceptions. For example, if the payment amount is contingent upon the level of attendance at an event, broadcast ratings or other factors indicating the quantity of public exposure received, the IRS doesn’t consider it a sponsorship.

Providing facilities, services or other privileges to a sponsor — such as complimentary tickets or admission to golf tournaments — doesn’t automatically disallow a payment from being a qualified sponsorship payment. Generally, if the privileges provided aren’t what the IRS considers a “substantial benefit” or if providing them is a related business activity, the payments won’t be subject to UBIT. But when services or privileges provided by an exempt organization to a sponsor are deemed to be substantial, part or all of the sponsorship payment may be taxable.

What is advertising?

Payment for advertising a sponsor’s products or services is considered unrelated business income, so it’s subject to tax. According to the IRS, advertising includes:

• Messages containing qualitative or comparative language, price information or other indications of value, • Endorsements, and • Inducements to buy, sell or use products or services.

Activities often are misclassified as advertising. Using logos or slogans that are an established part of a sponsor’s identity is not, by itself, advertising. And if your nonprofit distributes or displays a sponsor’s product at an event, whether for free or remuneration, it’s considered use or acknowledgment, not advertising.

Complex rules

The rules pertaining to qualified sponsorships, advertising and unrelated business income are complex and contain numerous exceptions and situation-specific determinations. Contact us with questions.

© 2018