Three clients, who joined the Team Whalen Fan Club during the firm’s busy season from February through April, were winners in recent prize drawings open to Fan Club members. Dick and Rhea Hames, owners of R2J and R&E Joint Venture, (pictured) won an autographed football of all of the members of Team Whalen. Holly Richert of United Window won a $50 restaurant gift card.
The idea for a Fan Club came from a client as a way to involve clients and friends in the firm’s team-building activities during the 2013 busy season. This year’s activities, designed to reinforce Whalen’s commitment to excellence, teamwork and five-star client service, related to football. The primary objective of Whalen Warrior team members was to have a winning result for every client.
The firm thanks everyone who participated in our unique Fan Club. The Whalen team works hard to earn the trust and confidence of clients, and we appreciate clients who tell others about their special relationship with our firm.
Pictured above: Richard Crabtree accepts the award from Patrick Pruett, President of The Rainmaker Alliances
Whalen Partner Richard Crabtree is known for providing Five-Star service to clients. Recently he was recognized by a national organization for consistently serving fellow members with the same high level of quality service.
At the annual symposium in June of Enterprise Worldwide (EW), an alliance of independent accounting firms working together to provide the best possible service to clients on a worldwide basis, Richard won the organization’s 2013 Brand Ambassador Award. The award is presented to the individual who gains tremendous benefit from his or her interaction with CPAs and other professionals in the EW network and gives even more back through consistently serving fellow members with Five-Star client service.
Enterprise Worldwide provides a pool of knowledge and experience that is available to member firms whenever needed. Through meetings, conferences, workshops and networking, Whalen’s partners are continually learning information and exchanging ideas.
Membership in EW enables our firm to provide the best possible service to our clients by utilizing the expertise of the professional staff of member EW firms with national and international resources for the benefit of our clients.
Whalen has been the recipient of four other national awards presented by Enterprise Worldwide.
The awards recognize the firm’s focus on providing Five-Star service to clients and for the quality and commitment of the firm’s management and support staff in ensuring oustanding service to clients and colleagues.
In 2010 Linda Nay, the firm’s administrator and associate director since 2008, was selected as the Top Firm Administrator among Enterprise Worldwide’s member accounting firms. The firm also won the national award for top marketing initiative.
The following year Tracy Ceritelli was recognized as the Top Director of First Impressions, an award honoring an individual who is an integral team member and excels at creating a Five-Star client service experience for everyone with whom he or she comes into contact. The firm also won the Five-Star Service Award.
When you sell your principal residence, you can exclude up to $250,000 ($500,000 for joint filers) of gain if you meet certain tests. Gain that qualifies for exclusion also is excluded from the new 3.8% Medicare contribution tax.
Losses on the sale of your home aren’t deductible. But if part of it is rented or used exclusively for your business, the loss attributable to that portion is deductible, subject to various limitations.
Because a second home is ineligible for the gain exclusion, consider converting it to rental use before selling. It can be considered a business asset, and you may be able to defer tax on any gains through an installment sale or a Section 1031 exchange. Or you may be able to deduct a loss, but only to the extent attributable to a decline in value after the conversion.
If you’re thinking about putting your home on the market, please contact us to learn more about the potential tax consequences of a sale.
Whalen & Company’s partners and staff are continuously striving to provide five-star service to our clients. That’s why we were really excited to learn recently that Luke Askins, help desk manager at My Service Depot, has been nominated as the Outstanding Customer Service Manager in the small business category in Columbus CEO Magazine’s new Customer Service Awards recognition program.
Luke, who has been with My Service Depot for five years, oversees the work of the company’s eight technical support agents. He is responsible for their training and managing customer service needs.
Luke was among those nominated by magazine readers in March and April. Their reasons: He gladly takes as much time as customers need to feel comfortable learning and using their new software program. He always speaks to customers with a smile. Answers questions by phone, email, chat and voicemail.
To help Luke win this honor, click here. Voting ends June 17.
My Service Depot, owned by Skip Stringfield, has been building software for the service industry for nearly 20 years. Its flagship product, Smart Service, is tightly coupled with QuickBooks.
82% of clients surveyed favor legislation that would establish a uniform definition of income along with related rules and regulations across all Ohio municipalities.
Respondents to The Whalen Poll on Ohio’s municipal income tax structure overwhelmingly favor a proposal to provide more uniformity and consistency to the tax system across all of the state’s cities and believe the change needs to take place now.
The poll, administered between May 21 and May 29 to business clients of Whalen & Company, CPAs, is the second poll the firm has conducted this year on business issues facing our clients. The first, in March, dealt with Governor Kasich’s proposed state budget for 2013-15 and tax reform measures. Results are sent to state legislators, statewide office holders and business leaders.
Eighty-two percent of those participating in the poll support proposed legislation in the Ohio House to establish a uniform definition of income along with related rules and regulations. More than two-thirds of the respondents favor immediate action.
Half of the respondents were business owners whose employees perform work in multiple locations and must pay the city income tax of their employees where the work is done. One third of these respondents indicated they file employee income tax in 14 to 19 cities with an additional 7 percent citing 20 or more cities. Nearly half file in two to three cities.
Sixty-four percent of the respondents find the complexity of the municipal income tax structure burdensome for taxpayers. Respondents were split on their views regarding the administration of the tax by cities. Thirty-eight percent felt the it was generally consistent while an equal number of respondents cited an inconsistency in the administration of the tax.
Half of the respondents felt the costs of complying with the state’s current municipal income tax structure are too high. On the other hand, 25 percent believe these costs are about right.
Furthermore, 54 percent of those taking part in the poll think the city income tax system puts Ohio at an economic disadvantage when compared to other states.
Thirty-two percent of the respondents have 50 or more employees, and 25 percent employ 20 to 49. About 25 percent have fewer than 10 employees.
Three clients, who joined the Team Whalen Fan Club during the firm’s busy season from February through April, were winners in recent prize drawings open to Fan Club members. Dick and Rhea Hames, owners of R2J and R&E Joint Venture, (pictured) won an autographed football of all of the members of Team Whalen. Holly Richert of United Window won a $50 restaurant gift card.
