Nervous about tax season? Prepare to have those fears soothed as Layla Kashani and Justin Cohen from CBIS Datatax join us to unravel the complexities of the financial world. Revel in Layla's journey from her California roots through a globe-trotting career that ultimately planted her at the forefront of an accounting firm that blends tradition with cutting-edge practices. We'll lead you through the maze of tax deductions, maximizing your benefits, and the critical role financial literacy plays across all aspects of business. For anyone juggling spreadsheets and receipts, this conversation promises a lifeline to clearer waters.
Tax time can be a storm of stress and paperwork, but we've got the strategies to help you navigate through it. Discover how CBIS Datatax's expertise can ease the panic of missing documents, negotiate with the IRS, and provide insights into claiming unexpected deductions from Southern California's December 2022 rains. While the tax world turns, our episode doesn’t forget to celebrate the joy of life beyond the ledgers, from snow skiing escapades to animal advocacy. Whether you're facing an audit or simply figuring out what to deduct, let our discussion be your guide to a smoother financial season.
When it comes to securing your financial future, including your furry friends', choosing the right accountant is akin to finding a treasure map. Our chat with Layla and Justin goes beyond crunching numbers; it's about forming connections with professionals who value both your bank account and your pet's well-being. We discuss estate and tax planning for your animal companions and how tools like QuickBooks make managing finances a breeze. If you've ever wondered how to select an accountant that aligns with your personal and financial goals, this episode is your compass to making informed choices. Join us and transform your approach to taxes and financial planning, starting now.
Get a hold of CBIS Datatax:
CBIS Datatax - Since 1998
(818) 563 3700
Email: office@cbisdatatax.com
Website: www.cbisdatatax.com
201 N. Hollywood Way Suite #112
Burbank, CA 91505
*Now offering discounts for all individual and business clients!*
Nervous about tax season? Prepare to have those fears soothed as Layla Kashani and Justin Cohen from CBIS Datatax join us to unravel the complexities of the financial world. Revel in Layla's journey from her California roots through a globe-trotting career that ultimately planted her at the forefront of an accounting firm that blends tradition with cutting-edge practices. We'll lead you through the maze of tax deductions, maximizing your benefits, and the critical role financial literacy plays across all aspects of business. For anyone juggling spreadsheets and receipts, this conversation promises a lifeline to clearer waters.
Tax time can be a storm of stress and paperwork, but we've got the strategies to help you navigate through it. Discover how CBIS Datatax's expertise can ease the panic of missing documents, negotiate with the IRS, and provide insights into claiming unexpected deductions from Southern California's December 2022 rains. While the tax world turns, our episode doesn’t forget to celebrate the joy of life beyond the ledgers, from snow skiing escapades to animal advocacy. Whether you're facing an audit or simply figuring out what to deduct, let our discussion be your guide to a smoother financial season.
When it comes to securing your financial future, including your furry friends', choosing the right accountant is akin to finding a treasure map. Our chat with Layla and Justin goes beyond crunching numbers; it's about forming connections with professionals who value both your bank account and your pet's well-being. We discuss estate and tax planning for your animal companions and how tools like QuickBooks make managing finances a breeze. If you've ever wondered how to select an accountant that aligns with your personal and financial goals, this episode is your compass to making informed choices. Join us and transform your approach to taxes and financial planning, starting now.
Get a hold of CBIS Datatax:
CBIS Datatax - Since 1998
(818) 563 3700
Email: office@cbisdatatax.com
Website: www.cbisdatatax.com
201 N. Hollywood Way Suite #112
Burbank, CA 91505
*Now offering discounts for all individual and business clients!*
From deep in the Burbank Media District. It's time for another edition of my Burbank talks, presented by the staff of my Burbank. Now let's see what's on today's agenda as we join our program. Hello Burbank, greg Sherwood here with you once again, and today we're doing our Burbank business showcase, or spotlight, I should say I'm sorry, and because of the time of year it is.
Speaker 1:And then I have a nasty word for you taxes, a Nasty word if there's ever was one we all. That's the word that nobody wants to talk about, that's the word nobody wants to say and that's the word nobody wants to hear. Actually, nobody wants to hear IRS, but we'll get into all that in a second. So I thought what we would do would be to talk to an accountant as we come into Tax season, because it's something we all have to deal with. And thinking well, who do we talk with? I said, wait a second.
Speaker 1:Why don't we use the accounting firm that my Burbank uses? Because it's the one I trust and and they do great work for us and it's something that you know, you think hard about and everything else. In fact, I've given them access to our books, every. They know more about my business than I probably do so. I thought we'd bring them in today and the service we use is called CBIS data tax and and they're located here in Burbank and, as you know how I am about doing business in Burbank always and keeping our you know, not only literally our tax money in Burbank, but I think it's important that we use a Burbank business whenever possible. So they are in Burbank and and very accessible. It was it today. Okay, we have here we go. I know I'm gonna let Lila Castani that's pretty good.
Speaker 2:I like a sonny Is that I do pretty good. He did pretty well.
Speaker 1:Okay, lila cast on me. I'm sorry, I was so worried for the last name. I First name, so is that okay?
Speaker 2:No problem.
Speaker 1:Okay, fantastic. And also with her is a Justin Cohen. Justin, how are you doing Good? How about yourself. Oh, you know what I love doing this? I love to, I love bringing the information to people. Good, because, and I say once again, this is something that I think people are needed really to Pay attention to, I agree. So, lila, let's talk first. Let's talk about your backstory a little bit. Let's talk about you know where you're from and what got you. You know where you went to school and and what's got you into the accounting.
Speaker 2:No problem. Well, I, I guess I should say I am from California. I was actually born in the Valley, so just kind of over the hill here in Glendale.
Speaker 2:We don't hold that against you don't hold that against me you know, grew up in the area and you know family moved down to San Diego, so probably I spent some time down there, went to undergrad down at UC San Diego, so native California, kept going in college but then I went off to grad school. That's where I go. I'm masters in finance and accounting at Georgetown University. So I went back East and so, let's just say, fast forward number of years I've been working in finance and for different corporations, operations around the nation and then travel the world.
Speaker 2:But I always had my eye on owning an accounting firm and so number of years ago I started looking, especially in California and my own accountant who's been doing my taxes since my first job as age 16 was CBIS do tax and Unfortunately, the owner passed away in 2022 and that's where I had the opportunity to make an offer and work with the family the survivors it's arriving family the wife and daughter and purchase the firm. We made an arrangement and we decided we got to keep the legacy going, because CBIS data tax has existed in LA since 1981 and has been in Burbank at that exact location where we are on 201 North Hollywood Way, since 1998 on the corner Hollywood in Alameda.
Speaker 2:That's right, that's right, so I'm like building there.
Speaker 1:I'm pretty sure yeah incredible legacy there.
Speaker 2:So that's how I ended up with this firm and we've been running it and you know I've got got new staff in that we had to obviously get some more accountants in and that that means you're busy.
Speaker 1:That's good. Let's go back real fast. So you traveled all over the world. Huh yeah, where were some of the places that you really enjoyed going to?
Speaker 2:Oh well, I've enjoyed everywhere. I had a family that my father worked around Europe a lot in Austria and London and Germany and so I knew those places and so I've spent a lot of time going back into Europe Seeing the old haunts of where my father we used to have homes in Düsseldorf and be jealous in London.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I'm always been kind of a travel bug. Add that kind of tie over to Europe, even though I'm from native California. So it was kind of a nice. He was away a lot, by the way, my father, so six months out of the year He'd be traveling, but that did probably plant the seed with me. So I really enjoy Europe. Say what you will, it's, it's a different nation, different kind of culture compared to the US. But For one thing I learned is if you ever want to go somewhere and eat and it's not lunchtime, the restaurants will be closed.
Speaker 1:So it is not like the United States you know 24 hours or more more restaurants here Actually now closing between like two and five day afternoon, things like that. And I'm finding and I've also heard and I've never been, and it's the old bucket list when I get the two new knees I am going to make it to Europe. But I've also heard you don't tip in other countries, that you do that. Is he only tip country really tipping?
Speaker 2:That is true. They do love Americans when we come over there, because we don't know that, so we're tipping on top. But yeah, they're. They're set their service workers in the industry. They have full salaries, they don't live off the tips like here, and so they've incorporated about a 20% kind of service. It's in the bill. So you, whatever, if the bill says 98 Dollars, their euros, that's there. There's a tip already built in. But if you want to round up to 100, you can, and people, the people that do, they do appreciate that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I would, you know, if somebody really did a great job for me even now I don't, you know. I look at the tip with the Taxes, I double it and then if they do another good job, I might not double that, but another 50% above that also. You know so. You know, because I know that. You know you're preaching. People do things for you.
Speaker 2:They go other way right, that's right it is different they do love Americans when we go over there, because we don't we? Don't know that we're tipping 20% on top, and so they get very happy I can imagine.
Speaker 1:So, oh, american, yes, my center, my table, please. What else do you need?
Speaker 3:Are you sure?
Speaker 2:That's right.
Speaker 1:Okay, so you see, you're looking for an accounting firm to buy, and you found you found the CBIS CBIS data taxes. This does not roll off my tongue that well, Karen Burbank. How did you find them, though? What brought you to them that you wanted to get involved with them? What was the thing that brought you to them?
Speaker 2:Well, when data tax was founded by two brothers, actually two accountants, cpas, back in the, like I said, 1981 in Los Angeles, my father was a client, and so when I took my first job at 16, and I think my first job was in a one hour Photoshop, if people even know what that is anymore where I worked Photo mat. Yes, I worked in the dark room because I was one of the few that knew how to actually print.
Speaker 1:You didn't work in the parking lot at a store or something.
Speaker 2:No, I was actually in the dark room doing custom images, prints like black and white, like the classic way, through all the processing which nobody really knows anymore. But that was my first job.
Speaker 1:I was in the Dechtrol and the Wash. There you go, there you go. You have to stop. We used to do all that. We actually have a dark room here back in the day and you had to run back and soup your pictures and check the negatives out and print what you could find and then to run off to the newspaper to get them published. So that was like a six hour thing, compared to now where it's 20 seconds later. You have to Wi-Fi it off your phone to somebody. That's right.
Speaker 2:So my first job obviously I got a W2. So I had to somehow figure out text and my father introduced me to his accountant and so literally from teenage to now I've been using data tax and even though those two brothers, as they retired and then handed off to other accountants, the legacy was there, which is what I thought was so brilliant about the way data tax CBIS, data tax has been running is that they kept handing it off. There was a continuity. So even if the accountants were coming and going, it was a continuous. I mean, when I took over we had files in there from 20 years ago. So that was an advantage that I don't think you get if you just buy any form Right.
Speaker 1:And it's important that you also save the name. You didn't change the name too, so you had that continuity also.
Speaker 2:Same name, same location, and we also have the same clients. Some of the clients we have have been there for 40 years, so and that's impressive.
Speaker 1:That alone speaks volumes, yeah, so let me ask you the first question here that you know. So, what sets CBIS data tax apart from other accounting firms? What do you think is the thing that really sets you apart that you know? You really tout the people.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, the first thing I want to say is we're not your father's accountant, so don't think of the little traditional little guy sitting behind a desk that's kind of like with a bunch of receipts and a shoebox in front of them. You know we've modernized. Okay, we are modernized just like others. We have, you know, capability to work from home, so our accountants can always get into our servers. We've locked everything down and, by the way, I don't put anything on the cloud. I think other firms do. I don't trust the cloud.
Speaker 2:That office has always been a paper based office anyway. So modernizing it was a trick because I own the own server. We back up internally and we don't share that data out. So that's a difference. I think we don't have portals on a website where people can like shoot their files through. We don't trust those. I'm not saying they don't work. I know there's very good software out there, but in our firm we've decided we're not going to take that risk and we prefer it's more like hand it over to us or scan it or there's other secure ways to get us your data. The other thing that we're different is we're around year round. We're not one of these H&R blocks that are pop ups for the, for the, for the season. They're in malls and they're there and they're ready to do your tax, because they'll be gone when you get that IRS letter. Who's going to help you? And so we're. We're there 12 months out of the year. You can always find us. So that's a differentiator as well.
Speaker 1:Well, I know it's important for us. You know my, my, my bourbon. Because you have a question or something comes up, you want to be able to know who, you who to talk to and be able to talk to them whenever you need to talk to them, right?
Speaker 1:Yeah, and as far as it's so easy to use, you guys, we use QuickBooks, the, the pro, the online, and you guys are plugged right into that, right? So I don't have to go and put together all these records and hold it, bring all these things over and this and oh, you guys just plug right into my QuickBooks and pull whatever data you need out of there, which I think is for me. I'm very time saving, you know, right.
Speaker 2:And having a legacy type of business, the way CBIS, data taxes and, by the way, we don't know what CBIS stands for. There's no one alive today.
Speaker 1:I was going to ask it down the line. I was trying to figure out what the CBIS really stands for.
Speaker 2:I think Justin has an idea for it. We were going to run a contest to guess and kind of find one of our oldest clients to tell us what the real answer is. What do you?
Speaker 1:think Justin.
Speaker 3:Oh God, I don't have it written in front of me, I think. I think it was written, as you know. Uh yeah, client building income services or certified business income services.
Speaker 1:I'm sure it's got to have some deep down. I mean, now you're the marketing guy, correct? Yeah, I would think you're gonna get. That's how you need to-.
Speaker 3:I know I'm trying to figure out what it means. Yeah, but we're definitely not that's your homework.
Speaker 2:We're not gonna remove her, we're gonna keep her because it's part of that legacy.
Speaker 1:Well, absolutely yeah, people might already know it by that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean the original guy's daughter. I met her the other day. She was in getting her taxes done by one of our accountants, so I thought that was pretty funny.
Speaker 2:But she didn't know what it said for either.
Speaker 3:They don't know yeah, exactly, she had no idea.
Speaker 2:Even the wife doesn't know, but there's no one alive that knows, but one of our oldest clients. They might know, but we're gonna run a contest, maybe on Instagram, and see if anyone can guess and they'll win a prize.
Speaker 1:The problem I have there is that your older clients are probably not on Instagram, though. Exactly After a prize, send them actually a letter in the mail. You'll snail mail, you know.
Speaker 3:Right. Believe it or not, we've definitely been getting some you know those younger generation clients for sure more recently as well. So definitely that's been helping, you know, the tax firm stay young and fresh as well.
Speaker 1:Oh, absolutely Okay. So let me, you know, a lot of people think you know what. I don't really need an accountant. You know I can do my own taxes or I can use the old H&R block or the you know Turbo tax. Oh, it's free, you push a button or something. And I learned a long time ago, when I first started doing my taxes when I was younger, that yeah, that might be great to a simple form, but if you need to deduct something and let me tell you what everybody needs to deduct something you don't really do that. On those free tax things, you know you need somebody who actually understands how detections work. So how do you convince them to let a professional accounting firm handle their taxes?
Speaker 2:I know Justin has a story about like why you should not assume just because you have one simple W2. So why don't you tell your personal experience?
Speaker 3:Well, yeah, I mean, I, you know, before working in a tax firm, I think I usually just I did use Turbo tax in general, just because it was easy, convenient, thought I was young and I didn't. You know, I just have a W2. What else do I need? Right, I don't have anything special. So I was using Turbo tax and then, once I started working in a tax firm and kind of getting all the information and overhearing the accountants talk with their clients like you know, how much gas did you spend, how many car wash did you get? You can deduct all of that stuff X, y and Z, you know, depending on situations, of course, especially with. You know health expenses, medication expenses, insurance as well. You know Turbo tax and H&R block they're not breaking down those services for you and asking you know how much are you spending on this throughout the year with a personal accountant? They are going line by line how much in medications did you spend, how much in procedures, surgeries, if applicable? So in the long run it's more thorough and you're getting more information back.
Speaker 1:And I think that's really important too, because you know, you don't realize all the little things that there are out there and all those little deductions, like you say, like vehicles and things like that alone, you know. And you know, back in the day I used to actually just claim zero on my you know, 10, 90, 90, those, those, those. So they just take the most money out and I'd get the most money back that way when I'd file. But I probably left a lot of money in the government's hands because I didn't, you know, not realizing that I could have probably gotten even double the return back and return back, you know, because I would have known deductions and stuff. So yeah, I agree, I think we have an accounting firm. I mean, I couldn't live without one now.
Speaker 2:Well, clearly, if you have a complicated tax situation then you probably can't do them on your own very successfully. But I love Justin's story because he's live. He's saying look, before I came here I did it kind of myself online for free. But then I realized wait a minute, I'm giving money away. And there is a statistic out there people probably pay 30% more in tax than they need to. And that's just kind of a blank here on a number and I think 30 or money should be in your pocket. There's nothing wrong with trying to get the deductions correctly and when you're doing it yourself also, those softwares are probably not prompting you in the same way with the same kind of questions. I know they're getting better and we love AI and AI is getting smarter, but it's still not replacing an accountant that's finding the loopholes and the kind of the connections connecting the dots of your taxes. I mean, I'll speak to for me also.
Speaker 2:When I was 16, I think that very first job in the one hour photo, my accountant which was CBI estate tax, by the way back then he says let's set you up and say you're kind of like a salesperson and now we can deduct everything. And suddenly I said but I just have this 1W2 and he goes no, you bought a newspaper, that's part of your marketing strategy. You went out for coffee with someone and discussed the one hour photo. You're like, that's a meeting that you had, that's entertainment, that's a deduction. And I couldn't even believe what he was saying to me. He said it's all legal. He said it's just people don't know it. So even that one. So ever since I was set up as, say, a sales professional, I could deduct my cell phone, my, you know, pulling up a car with gas, I'm making sales calls. You know, you buy a magazine, newspaper on the run. It really does add up over the years.
Speaker 1:Well, that's exactly what I was going to say. And is that every job you have, there are deductions in that job that are possible. I just think, oh, I just worked this little job. Like I say, I'm a salesman or something, right, I work at McDonald's. Well, you know, you still have to get to McDonald's, you have to get home, you might have to, you know, wear certain clothes on certain days or whatever it's going to be. I mean, all that stuff is part of business, which is part of taxes and, let's face it, it comes to deductions. Why shouldn't we get the same advantages that GE gets, where you know they have a multi-billion dollar company and don't pay any taxes, basically because they have good accountants. That's right. So why shouldn't we have good accountants too? That's why every person should have one.
Speaker 2:Exactly. And if you start one early in life, like you're just out of college, you just got your first job, that is when you need one to start with, because you're not always going to be just the one W-2. You will one day buy a car, and then you're going to buy a house and maybe you'll get married, and you need someone, or at least a firm, that's following that with you and advising you throughout the year, throughout the years, throughout the decade. That's the importance of having a legacy.
Speaker 1:And you're back at your education. What's your education? Again, you have a master's in Master's in finance. Master's in finance. Okay, which you know, that's a lot of yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean believe me. And what got you?
Speaker 1:What got you going into finance, like because I mean, that's kind of a dry subject, you know it's not the sexy subject and all that, but it's a very necessary thing. But what got you to get your interest really into that where, okay, I want to get into school, I want to actually get a master's in that. Now, what drove you to that?
Speaker 2:Well, I was always very good with numbers. I think I studied mathematics in university, so that was one of my majors and then went off and statistics and kind of. When I went off to business school you could go down the marketing route or you could do the finance track and I thought and I think I was right that if I take a marketing job I can probably do it without any education and figure out right. But if I take a finance job, no one's going to hire me unless I've been trained already. Nobody trains you on the job to do finance.
Speaker 2:And I knew that every business in the world has a financial arm to it. They all. That's why they exist to make money. Marketing side you can learn. You know you can't learn every product in school, but you can learn financial techniques. So I picked the finance realm one. I'm good at numbers, I like them and I felt that was a skill I need to learn in school so that when I get out there I can already apply it. Whereas marketing, I figured yeah, I'll take a class here and there and then I'll figure it out as I go. And then I hired a marketing guy.
Speaker 1:That's what I got Justin, who went that other route.
Speaker 2:Justin's the guy that's doing my marketing. See, that's what the finance did for me. He told me to go hire someone.
Speaker 3:And I also couldn't do numbers to save my life, so that was out of the question for me.
Speaker 1:You know, everybody's got their thing in life, you know, and it's nice when you can find something you enjoy doing, because, yeah, you can call it a job, but how much of a job really is it when you enjoy getting up and doing what you do Exactly, and that's kind of like. You know, my break is not a huge moneymaker. We're not the, you know, we're not the NBC or something, but we do enough to get by and I enjoy it every day. I enjoy, you know, I enjoy the news business. What's going to happen next? I don't know. You know it's not the same thing every day. It can be all easy. This is something new. Right now we're doing, you know, and I'm learning.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's better than getting up every day and driving going into the work, going into the office to work.
Speaker 1:True, take care. Let's talk about some of the Problems, most common problems, that people have when it comes to tax season. What are some of the common problems you think that people have when it comes to just filing and things like that? Even with an accountant, you know, knowing what information to to provide, I'm sure you guys probably do a good job of you asking for things, to kind of knowing the background of the business and knowing what they should ask for. But what are some of the things that people I mean you're also talking about you know insurance things and interest on loans and things like that you know which are people don't really allow that might be detectable to a point.
Speaker 2:Now I would say that probably. Well clearly, nobody's like rushing to us to get their taxes done. We've got some of our clients that are very much the early early performers, so they're booking it early Fab, as soon as the tax season is a worry able to file there in the door because they just want to get it out of the way. Chances are they have a refund coming so they want to file it as soon as possible. So those are the ones that come in right away. But I would say the challenges are for most of our clients and probably most people out there is first of all like they got to dig up all the papers and like, especially if they're very complex and they've invested in other things, they don't have the papers from those companies so they can't get filed. So they feel this building up stress of like I don't have everything yet how can I file? And that again is where an accountant can help because we can piece, mail it so we can look at, say, last year and say, for example, oh, you're missing one particular 1099 investment. You had some stock last year but I don't see it this year. And then that's when that you start panicking and going oh my God, I don't know where it is, I don't know how to get it, and we just say don't worry about it, we will estimate it. Did you buy anymore? Did you sell any? Let's just estimate it and then we know how to do that for you. So there's some cases where you may not be able to find the actual piece of paper or receipt. We will be able to look at your past and be able to kind of adjust your taxes to reflect it in a in a way that won't get flagged because it's reasonable, right. So that takes some pressure off people that are panicking about that.
Speaker 2:There's also people that panic over payments, right, like they're going to owe money, and that's another reason that they're they're mentally not ready, because the minute they file they think they have to write that check. Now, of course, the IRS gives you until April 15th. Do you actually make your payment? I mean that doesn't sound like a lot of time if you think about it. But there's also things you can do. I mean we know some people have huge tax bills. You might even have back taxes, and that's again where I think CBIS, data tax. We do really well with our clients to advocate for them to try to find a way, a solution. Give them some advice so that they can find a way to do. I have to pay it all at once. Can I get on a payment plan? We can help guide them through that too, cause there's a lot of angst around owing money to the.
Speaker 1:IRS, absolutely, you know. And kind of brings you up to my next question is I think people are afraid of the IRS. Okay, should they be afraid of the IRS, and and what? What kind of comments do they have? Cause they have you as an accountant? But but you know, let's face it, most people are worried about oh, are they going to audit me, are they going to come after me? Are they going to? You know, cause they look at the IRS with a long arm that has no, you know, they're not nice people, you know, even though they probably are nice people, but they have that reputation for being cutthroats.
Speaker 2:Well, what is interesting is, if you look at the IRS Instagram account and they do have one it's very colorful and playful and almost childlike in quality.
Speaker 3:It is very childlike.
Speaker 2:And and makes you feel like that's not at all what I think it is. When you pick up the phone and call them and it is funny, they are trying to change her image. It doesn't help by saying they just hired 80,000 agents, that they're all going to be armed, right, what does that mean? Like an IRS agent has a gun, I mean, what are we talking about here? And so I think that scared the public quite a bit. But honestly, the IRS and the federal government is, is it? They serve us, right? We're the taxpayers, so they serve us, and so you can negotiate a lot of positions with them, and there's just ways to call them and speak to them and get help and tell them your situation, where they're not going to just come down and say too bad, too sad, you owe the money. It doesn't always work that way, but you need to know how to do it, and I think that's again when, if you have an account and this is your partner, they can help advise you.
Speaker 1:So if that does happen, do you guys go down with your, your client, and and kind of help him through the situation? Or you know what, what basically happens with that? You know, let's say, I got called in for a. You know they want to go through my records tomorrow. Okay, what, what, what, what? My first thing is I'm panicking, okay. And the second thing is how do I do this? You know, and I mean so, you walk the person through it, you go with them. What's? What's the whole procedure?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I will say the simplest kinds that before you get down to the full audit. So you're describing, but you're probably going to get a letter and the letter is going to say they question something, some aspect of your return. And that's the first point where you got to call your accountant and say all right, what do I do here? I mean I'll give a personal story that I made a big deductions of charity donations of a bunch of stuff that I gave away anything that plugged in, like equipment, refrigerators, whatever it was a big like an apartment dump. And three years later I got a letter where they questioned the value of that because they said we don't believe the Salvation Army receipt or whatever that would list all the stuff. When we put a value and I thought, oh my God, I don't know where those I don't have receipts for that refrigerator from three years plus ago to prove the value.
Speaker 2:So the accountant and by the way it was CBIS data tax said oh, no, no, no, no, no, you don't give them any receipts. If you give them one receipt, they're going to ask for every receipt. He said we need to establish lifestyle, that you buy expensive stuff. And I go how do I do that and he goes well, find a page of one of your AmEx bills that looks like you shopped at some high end stores like Saxford Avenue or something. And he goes and then mark out all the other stuff, just highlight a couple of those and just make it any random page from that time period and mail that back to them and say I buy good stuff and handwrite it and mail it back. And, sure enough, they wrote me a letter, took about three months. They said we've closed the matter.
Speaker 2:So sometimes you can do something simple. I would have never thought to do that, but my accountant said let's try it, because the worst case is they come back and say, no, we need receipts and we got to go digging. The chances are it's not going to be worth their effort. They're chasing 20,000, 30,000. That's really not worth their effort all the time. I'm not trying to tell you not to pay, but they're questioning evidence of something that you know is true and it's just a pain, right. So they're going to finally realize you know what this isn't worth going after, because she's probably is going to be able to prove it. Let's just let it go and that's where an accountant can help you, advise you so you don't get into this panic and do things that might make the matter worse.
Speaker 1:You said one thing that I had never realized Now, okay, so we paid our taxes in 2000 and 23, and now we're in 2024. And when we pay taxes again, I think, okay, 2023. That's, that's history, you said. Three years later, you got you got the letter.
Speaker 1:That's right. So I'm kind of shocked that it took three years for somebody to go through that, return and look at it and then come back at you. So how long do they have to that you have to be in a situation like that where all of a sudden I mean is it 10 years later or something, or what is there? Is there a cutoff period?
Speaker 2:Well, generally, you've probably heard the rule to keep your sales. Probably sorry, keep your tax forms for seven years. You've probably heard that kind of figure. Keep them on hand for seven years. So, yes, seven years is the document you should hold on to stuff, including all your evidence for that return for seven years. But technically, the IRS can chase you for 10 years so, but once you go past that 10 year mark, they don't go after it anymore. So we've even had cases or clients that, for example, could not afford to pay and they just they weren't working or they didn't have any income, and literally the 10 year mark comes and that's it, it's over. They've never paid the IRS the money that they couldn't afford in the first place, for whatever reason. And so I mean that is the good news. Now, criminally, that's not true, they can. They can go as far back as they wish for a criminal investigation, but for just simple, we recalculated and we believe you owe some more. That's only for 10 years, but, yeah, it will take years for them to contact you.
Speaker 1:by the way, but I had had no idea. And now, once again that's why I love this show I learned things too, you know. Hopefully our listeners are learning right now that the long arm of the law is also a many year arm of the law.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:What about? Are there any? Of course, we all know that they're constantly changing tax rules, tax laws, tax everything that Congress is passing new deductions and everything else, and and I have to do before the 31st of January or something in that area. So what are the new kind of tax laws that you are kind of dealing with? Or you're trying to tell your clients, hey, this Get you know, we need to get this going for you because it's something good for you. Is there anything that we should be in the lookout for that you know about?
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's one that I do want to talk about. It says kind of unusual and it's very interesting, especially for Southern California, and that the federal government has allowed Any kind of repair or maintenance work that you did due to the rains that happened actually way back in 2022 we're talking December 22 You're now allowed to. You can deduct those as an expense, as a repair, as opposed to just saying it's a disaster declaration repair. It's just a straight repair. So, for example, if you did any gardening last summer, or are you planning new trees because you had some tree damage or some bushes, or you had rain damage in some walls, all that is now deductible this year and it's an exception.
Speaker 2:It's not normal that we can do this. And, of course, you can sort of fold in all your yard work and maintenance work because you probably had to clean up quite a bit from the storms and it doesn't matter if it happened late last year or even into this year. You can still save those receipts and deduct those. And that's an unusual one. We haven't had that in the past how far can somebody go back?
Speaker 1:and and he ducked something. I mean is, if they can go back and look at your returns for 10 years. I mean, if in four years from now I found saying oh, you know what, I never deducted that Can I still do a retroactive thing or something?
Speaker 2:Yeah, you could.
Speaker 2:It's called filing an amendment and you can go back three years, unfortunately, like they can go back to the ten years, but you know they have their yeah, you can only go back three years to adjust and, as I said, if you think you paid 30% more, just like most Americans pay more in tax, unfortunately you can only go back three years to try to correct it.
Speaker 2:But that's also in your favor a little bit, because if they do question you on, say, some kind of deduction, you just by what you just said I probably forgot some things. They will worry about that because if you come back and say not only do I have all the deductions that I said I did, but I actually found some more, they have to give you credit back for that. So if they come after you and you find even more In your favor on a year that they questioned, then now they owe you money because now they're investigating. So that could go back beyond the three years. So that's something to think about. If you hold back on some of your expenses and you forgot about them and it's too late to amend, well, if they do question it now, you could bring it up and claim it.
Speaker 1:That'll teach them a lesson.
Speaker 2:That's right, that's why they don't really mess with it, only messing with the ones unless they're sure right absolutely Well.
Speaker 1:Okay, before we we end up here, you guys are accountants and then all I mean you know a marketing and accounting I should say and and the public perceptions, accountants don't have any fun in their lives. I just kind of that's all I do. They go in and they do numbers all day and they go home. But what are some things you like to do, what? What are your, what your interests you know outside of the office, you know. What do you like to do what, what, what gets you excited about life?
Speaker 2:Well, what's not fair is even after today and when work ends, we're going to a Toluca Lake Chamber of Commerce event right in our building. It's like a networking happy hour thing, so we're gonna be doing that right after work for fun. But Well, I personally I like to snow ski, so downhill ski, that's kind of one of my sports that I love.
Speaker 1:Which is our round, you the mammoth round here, or Where's your favorite place to go skiing?
Speaker 2:Well I love, well I'll ski anywhere in the States, like Utah, colorado. I like Park City, deer Valley. I have a place in Montana, so go to a big sky up there, and of course, local skiing here is great too. So you have to do the drive here somehow, like Driving in the mountains is not easy here, something that I think California hasn't gotten quite gotten right about how to get to the ski resorts here.
Speaker 1:Well, it was comes in transportation. I think California's got a lot of things right here, you know. Actually, we're gonna have a big hub of Burbank coming up about Transportation in the next couple months. Here they want to take all the lanes yeah, they want to make all of them to one lane instead of two Lane. So that's coming that, but that's a whole different, whole different podcasts and stuff, so skiing anything else.
Speaker 2:I feel like, well, no, I just enjoy. I enjoy traveling. I travel a lot, so that's that's why I'm jealous.
Speaker 1:I am so jealous. I love to go places and it's just never it's hard for me to get away. But I just loved to. You know, every time gone somewhere and ten years later I was like I went there and yeah, oh, that looks too million. I loved. You know the reminisce about that.
Speaker 2:I do that, so I guess I'll throw out. I'm going to a conference in Dublin coming up soon, so and while I'm there I'm gonna hop over to Scotland and see a friend over there and then I will also go to the Formula one in Monaco. So those are my like travel things coming up in the next couple months.
Speaker 3:Oh, just you know yeah the formula things.
Speaker 1:Yeah, formula, I'm a huge Formula one fan. I'm here, yeah, actually we've got a we're in Australia this weekend, oh it's, and I hear that's actually one of the places of the bucket list places to go to, besides now, las Vegas too, for Formula one, yeah, but uh, so, justin, what about you? What? What I mean, what I know marketing is, could be dry sometimes. What's your, what's your fun?
Speaker 3:place Definitely strong passion for animals in general. Spend a lot of time with my own animals and then doing a lot of what kind of animals you have have a dog? Yeah, a little terrier she uh what's her name? Scarlet yeah, she just turned nine. Oh, she's getting up there. I feel like I got her, like yesterday. Um, yeah, she's, she's the best girl. So we spend a lot of time together Outdoors, a lot, um, you know, on some road trips together as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I've had a dog my entire life and I think there's great companions and it's just. It always takes a piece out of you every time you have to move on from one. But you know what? I'm always have it, I my dog. I lost my dog in in um um April and it was during the pandemic, and I got Dodger in June. I just tried to get one right away. You know it was very hard back then because all the pounds were closed, yep, so it was very hard to get a dog back then.
Speaker 3:But I mean, I've always had a dog since I was a child, and then there was like a couple months we did it and it was just the weirdest thing ever, absolutely.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a lot, yeah, it's a companionship, exactly, absolutely. Oh, fantastic, any pets for you, well?
Speaker 2:I'm a cat person, so I always had a cat. I mean, we had dogs but they were for guarding, you know, guard dogs, and so they were not allowed in the house, I think, but the cat was, and so we always had a cat and I had a cat myself until a few years ago it passed away just from old age. It was very sad and I just couldn't bring myself together and I just couldn't go through that.
Speaker 1:So it's tough, but cats have personalities too.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, my cat was, and yeah, he was great. He lost an eye to cancer at some point, so we started calling him the pirate kitty, Because it was as if he didn't even notice. You know, after the surgery he just like kept going around.
Speaker 1:He didn't have to wear a patch then.
Speaker 2:No, but I think we did put some on for some photos. But yeah, so it's just hard to lose an animal, so I don't blame you to get one right away.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's always the funny thing I've got with a new pet and you know. But I never forget the old ones. You know, they're always. You know I've got my pictures and everything else and great memories and every dog I had has his different personality, you know, so you get to learn about them Very true.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I might want to get my last cat pet when I know I'll die first and then I'll make sure my taxes and estate is all set up to take care of that cat.
Speaker 3:There you go.
Speaker 2:That's another reason why I now can set up the estate with my tax summary. So like it's all correct, you know, so the cat will Let me ask you a little fast about that too.
Speaker 1:When people are doing, you know wheels and you know when they, what do we call them? Trust, trust and trust. Let me trust. Do you consult with people about that, also for their taxes and how to set that up? And I mean, is that something that if they're considering to do that, they should come and see you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we do individual taxes, business, corporate estates and trusts. Yeah, so definitely let us know. If it starts to hit something where you might need legal advice, that's okay too, because we can get you in touch with the right lawyers to set that up. But on the tax side, yes, we can advise you to make it the most optimized strategy for you.
Speaker 1:You know, you don't know. It comes up in conversation, do you?
Speaker 2:No, those are difficult ones, but they again. That's another reason why you want to count on, you can trust that you can have those kind of you're not going to talk to your spouse about it because it's difficult, right, but you can come into your account and have a private conversation about I want to set up a living trust, or I want to do this and I want to keep my children whole if I pass or if something happens, and that's exactly where we can advise.
Speaker 1:And that's. That's kind of what an accountant account is not a memory of family, but they're also somebody who you can trust and be with and know what they're there for you. It's like a good insurance agent. You know there's certain people in your lives that in certain businesses that you can count on, that you can always be able to ask a question. So I can see the advantage of having you know a good accountant and you've lived here in Burbank. In fact, even if you don't live here in Burbank, you know doing the CBIS data tax is a good thing. It's going to teach you as a person and not as a, not as a. You're always just another client and please, you're on hold now for 10 minutes until I get you to find you somebody. I hate that, you know, and every time I send an email or talk to you, immediate response, you know. So I mean as a client, I'm extremely happy.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, we're there for you 12 months out of the year, and especially for newer clients as well. We're offering, you know, tons of discounts for new folks coming in, whether that be business, individual bookkeeping as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I see you guys deal with the QuickBooks, which I kind of recommend now because it makes our life a lot easier here and I'm sure it makes your guys' life easier too.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, yeah. Something that we can just say is that you definitely choose your dentists, your doctors. You don't just go to the first one, right? They have personality, fit and accountants are the same. So you don't just stay with your accountant simply because you've been with him. If you're at all discredited or you think there might be more, why you stay? You would never do that with your health, so why do you do it with your wealth? And right now we are offering actually just for anyone out there, since tax deadlines coming up, we're offering free extensions at our firm too. So you come on in and we'll file that for you for free.
Speaker 1:So an extension, I think what goes through October.
Speaker 2:October 15th, right? So if you're not ready to file, you're getting panicked and you want to enjoy your summer a little bit, then that's the smartest thing to do, and we'll do that for you for free. Just give us a call or come by, send us an email and we'll arrange that for you. We can even do that over the phone.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and picking an account is very as you were saying that. I remember a story of somebody once said to me. They said the first person you loved you didn't marry very rarely at least. So you looked around a bit. Well, the same thing I mean you're not going to just because you call one accountant does not mean that's going to be your. You need to look around, you need to ask questions. And what questions did somebody call? What are the questions that they should ask you that would set them at ease?
Speaker 2:Well, I think that you want to ask any accountant like what types of clients have you dealt with? How difficult or how simple are they? Have you set up new business type things? Can you handle schedule Cs, like the things that that when they tell us their lifestyle, they should ask the accountant have you had clients like this before? Because experience is valuable in this business. I mean nothing against a brand new CPA and we need more CPAs. By the way, we need more young people to think about this industry, because we're losing a lot.
Speaker 2:Many CPAs are retiring and we're losing them, but you do want to ask for some experience, so they should have five to 10 or more years of experience doing this. You might want to ask them have you ever dealt with letters from the IRS? Have you helped clients through that? Because that's also an indication. Do they just do it and let you go, or do they stick around and say oh yeah, we follow up all the time that you want to hear an accountant say that. And the last bit, it's really going to be about personality. You're going to be giving them your. You know these are information that some people have. Some couples come in their husband's sitting in the car while the wife comes in. They don't even know.
Speaker 1:You have to feel that level of trust.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because sometimes it's even husband and wife. They don't share the data, with each other filing separately, and they don't even want the other to know. And that's where they count also the personality. You have to trust them and feel comfortable.
Speaker 1:I agree Well, layla Cassiani Cassiani.
Speaker 2:Cassiani, I'm working on that.
Speaker 1:you know, I was perfect you did really well.
Speaker 2:I'm working.
Speaker 1:And Justin Cohen Yep, okay, from a TBS data tax. And if anybody would like to reach out to them, okay, and talk to them about their specials and what they got going and all that, we're going to put links to them in the bottom of our description here. So if you're watching on YouTube, go to the bottom, and if you're listening to them with the podcast platforms, we put a description out too. I'm not sure how you get that, but if anything, go, get on your computer at home and just type in CBIS data tax into your browser and they have a nice little web page that comes up, and I think the first thing that comes up is their current specialty have to entice you in. So, but once again, I recommend them.
Speaker 1:My Bromake uses them, I just take it somebody, and that's why I brought them in. I thought it's an important thing that nobody likes to talk about, but it's something that we should all be involved with. You know, it's like healthcare and all those things. You really want to talk about it, but it's a necessity to have it, okay, well, I thank you very much for both coming in today.
Speaker 3:Yeah, thank you, I enjoyed it. I enjoyed it as well, thank you.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Tate it.
Speaker 1:Once again, Craig Sherwood from my Bromake Talks with our Burbank Business Spotlight and we will be glad to talk to you again next time. Thanks a lot for listening.