June 6th, 2009 by Doeren Mayhew

Saving for college is always difficult and is even more so during the current economic downturn. One of the most popular college savings plans are so called “529 plans.” The IRS recently announced that participants in 529 plans will be able to change their investments more often in 2009 than in past years. The IRS will allow a change in investment strategy twice in 2009. This is good news for 529 plan participants, especially those who may otherwise be locked into a mix of investments that has turned out to be more speculative than initially contemplated.

Tax-Free Distribution A 529 plan is qualified tuition program. By contributing to a 529 plan, taxpayers contribute to an account established for paying a student’s educational expenses. Eligible educational expenses may include the costs of tuition, books, and fees at eligible institutions, such as colleges, vocational schools, and other ostsecondary institutions.

Contributions to 529 plans are not tax-deductible. However, earnings are tax-free, and distributions used to pay the beneficiary’s qualified education xpenses are tax-free.

A 529 plan should not be confused with a Coverdell Educational Savings Account (Coverdell ESA). The latter is also a savings account for education expenses that offers tax-free distributions. Funds saved in a Coverdell ESA can be used for elementary and secondary school expenses as well as college costs.

Investment Decisions Generally, participants in 529 plans must select only from among broadbased investment strategies designed exclusively by the program. Additionally, the IRS has traditionally permitted a change in investment strategy only once a year.

In response to the economic slowdown and the turmoil in the financial markets, the IRS will allow investments in a 529 plan to be changed during 2009 on a more regular basis. A 529 plan will not violate the investment restriction if it permits a change in the investment strategy more than once in calendar year 2009, as well as upon a change in the designated beneficiary of the account.

Accounting, College, education, Investment, IRS, savings, school, tax, tuition

May 6th, 2009 by Cheryl L. True

Accounting software like QuickBook 2008 is something that businesses will need at some point of time. This is because good software can help track important areas in a company like costs, sales, and payroll. When your company grows, these tasks will be too tedious for you to do it manually. This is when accounting software comes in handy.

However, not all businesses need accounting software. If your total company size is less than 10 people, you probably can do without. In this article, let me share with you some tips so that you will know whether you really need to buy accounting software:

The first thing that you need to consider before buying one is to identify what do you need it for. Do you need it for tracking and issuing payroll? Most accounting software perform basic functions such as payroll tracking, accounts receivable and payable, etc. So do spend some time to identify the needs of your business before buying one.

Next thing to consider is that when you buy accounting software, will it really save you cost and time? If your total company size is less than 10, maybe it makes more sense for you to do by using some free tools like Excel Sheet to track the numbers. If you have an accounting staff, you need to calculate how much will you save in staff cost after you have purchased the software? These are some of the questions that you need to answer first before buying one.

If you have decided to buy one, the next step is to choose the right accounting software to buy. One thing to note is to find out is there any support available from the software vendor? Are there courses available to teach your staff to use the software? If the software vendor does not have training courses, find out from them if they have training materials like whitepapers and videos that you can access online for learning.

When your business grows, you definitely need accounting software with more features like QuickBooks 2008. So find out from the vendor whether the software is able to be upgraded when needed. You will not want to spend a huge sum of money to buy new software when your business needs to upgrade it.

Watch your business no matter where you are. Manage everything with ease with our free online accounting service. Go to quickbook 2008.

Accounting, Finance