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Website & email are back online, whew!

We notified you on Monday that our firm's website and email were temporarily down. Happily, the situation has been resolved, and we are back online.

Emails sent to us between Thursday the 14th at 7pm and Tuesday the 19th at 5pm may not have been delivered. We don't want to miss your message, so if you have not received a response to an email you sent in that window, please resend it. Thank you!
We've officially moved out of uptown and are operating out of our new downtown offices. Rest assured we'll host an open house later this year. Once the boxes are unpacked, we are excited to show you around!
 
Our new physical and mailing address is:
842 Washington Street, #104
Port Townsend, WA  98368
Celebrating in our new lobby! L to R: Christine, Sarah, Megan, Lucianne, Kim & Shelly.

Introducing our new payment portal

You asked, and we heard you! The Business Guides is excited to now be accepting credit card payments through a new online payment portal. You may also authorize a one-time withdrawal from your bank account with the ECheck option. It's a convenient way to pay your invoice or your annual fixed price agreement.

Find the payment portal on our website, under the Client Portal tab. Click here to check it out!

We have partnered with CPACharge, the industry solution for accounting professionals, to ensure your data is protected with the highest security standards. We know you'd expect nothing less.

Tax extension data deadlines coming up

If you still need to get us 2021 tax data, please do so by the following dates, to ensure timely filing of your tax returns by the IRS extension deadlines. The first deadline is less than a month away!

> Monday, August 15th:  Data due for S Corps and Partnerships and their owners' personal returns
> Thursday, September 15th:  Data due for personal returns with only Schedule C and/or E businesses, or owners whose business return was previously filed

More about our 2022 due dates.
Log in to your SmartVault client portal and start uploading data.
Our intrepid admin assistant, Christine, departed Port Townsend this past weekend for Bar Harbor, Maine -- on her bicycle! Inspired by a novel she read early in the pandemic, Christine is taking three months to pedal the "northern tier route" across the United States. Here she is at the ferry dock, fully loaded and with her trademark grin. We wish her "bon bicyclette" on this adventure of a lifetime and look forward to her travel updates. 

BUSINESS NEWS ROUND-UP

IRS standard mileage rate increases 4 cents as of July 1st

In recognition of recent gasoline price increases, the IRS made a special adjustment to standard mileage rates for the second half of 2022. 

For the final 6 months of 2022, the standard mileage rate for business travel will be 62.5 cents per mile, up 4 cents from the rate effective at the start of the year. This new rate becomes effective July 1st. 

Mid-year increases in the optional mileage rates are rare; the last time the IRS made such an increase was in 2011. Read the press release.

Yes, this will be one more piece of tax data to track for 2022! Review your mileage tracking procedures now to ensure you can provide The Business Guides with total miles traveled from January-June, separate from total miles traveled from July-December. Whether it’s a notebook you stick in your glove compartment or a mobile phone app, pick a method to track your mileage that’s convenient for you.
 

Employee Retention Credit? Beware of phishing ~ not all businesses qualify

We have noticed an uptick in aggressive ERC marketing, including cold calls and emails saying your business is "pre-qualified," and offering to apply for your payroll tax credit for a hefty fee. 

Here is one headline: "Business owners get up to $26,000 per employee with the new employee retention tax credit...If your business has been affected by the pandemic you will qualify." We are not alone in calling this bogus and perhaps even fraudulent.

Determining whether a business qualifies involves many factors, including pandemic revenue drops, industry shutdowns, numbers of employees, and PPP loan allocation. 

The program ended at the end of September 2021, but you have three years to amend your payroll reports (941s) that have already been filed, and get the credit as a refund. There is time to make a thoughtful decision about applying for this credit, and we are happy to discuss your eligibility during the next year and a half. 

Curious about the ERC for your business? Start with this FAQ article(Note that owners' wages are not eligible for the ERC.) 
 

Washington State unemployment insurance payment addresses changed on July 1

As a result of a bank change, our state's unemployment insurance payment addresses for employers changed on July 1. Make sure you update any processes, forms, files or software with these new addresses for the Employment Security Department (ESD) for Washington State.

Not changing your payment address could result in:
  • A late payment penalty and interest.
  • Your payment not being delivered.

SOC code reporting required for Washington State unemployment insurance, starting Q4

A new Washington State law requiring employers to report SOC codes in their quarterly reports for unemployment insurance takes effect for Q4 2022.

Standard Occupational Classification system is a federal coding system classifying workers and jobs into occupational categories that helps government agencies and private businesses compare occupational data. Check out this resource page to find your employees' SOC codes.

Now through third quarter 2022: 
  • Continue using EAMS (online Employer Account Management Services) to submit your quarterly reports. 
  • Customers using our newer version of EAMS can use the new SOC code lookup tool to find the most accurate codes for each of your employees. 
  • Starting in mid-2022, customers will be upgraded to the newer version of EAMS, which can remember the SOC codes you entered last quarter. 
Starting fourth quarter 2022:
  • All employers required to report SOC codes.
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Copyright © 2022 The Business Guides. All rights reserved.
842 Washington St. #104, Port Townsend, WA  98368
Phone: (360) 385-6961

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The Business Guides · 842 Washington St. #104 · Port Townsend, WA 98368 · USA

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