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Here’s to the spark of laborers everywhere who power it all🔋!

We’ll be closed Labor Day to honor them, and re-open Tuesday to further our mission helping power the creativity of entrepreneurs 🏄🏻‍♂️

Auto-generated description: A welder is at work with a message celebrating Labor Day and workers, accompanied by the elementsCPA logo.

Maryland Comptroller reports MD Tax Connect portal is back up-and-running as of yesterday

You may recall the system was offline for a couple weeks while the Individual Tax sections of the website were added (and the old iFile platform retired) –

But everything (including the Business Tax sections) is now back up-and-running (including ability to send quarterly estimated taxes)

Business book recommend: “Zero to One” by Peter Thiel

Described by some as ‘the best book on starting a business’, the cover reads:

Doing what someone else already knows how to do takes the world from 1 to n, adding more of something familiar. But when you do something new, you go from 0 to 1.

Definitely a philosophy we espouse here at ElementsCPA working with entrepreneurs – The way we put it: “There are as many business models as there are entrepreneurs."

Check out this read if you’re looking for practical insights or fresh inspiration!

Status Update: Alcides is out this week on a well-deserved vacation, returning after Labor Day – So Adrian and Apeksha are holding down the office support.

Feel free to email/ call with any questions as usual, and note there may be a small lag as we cover all the bases helping our customers! 🙂

This graphic highlights a particular approach to crafting your business –

Instead of starting with “what we can do” and trying to sell that …

It focuses on starting with “how we hope to make a difference” and from there, backing into:

  • Playing field

  • Value prop/ Competitive advantage

  • Capabilities needed

  • Systems required

The instinct for many business owners is to put the cart before the horse, but this graphic gets right how to reverse engineer a company that flourishes in the marketplace.

Reminder: Maryland’s new Family & Medical Leave (FAMLI) requirement goes into effect Jan 1, 2027 –>

Register for this small biz webinar from the Comptroller’s Office to learn:

  • What FAMLI is and who it serves

  • Employer responsibilities and contributions

  • Benefits available to eligible Maryland workers

  • Key dates and implementation updates

  • Resources to help your business prepare

Additional details also available via MD’s FAMLI website.

UPDATE on FinCEN Beneficial Ownership (BOI) Reporting kerfuffle from last year ->

As of Aug 11, the Beneficial Ownership Information reporting is officially no longer required for domestic companies – And related information previously submitted will be deleted

For additional info, see the official Dept. of Treasury Press Release and the JofA analysis

Xero Bank Feeds are simplifying ->

A big impact: Credit cards whose transactions came in separately under Parent and Child credit card feeds, will now be ONE feed – yay! 🎉

To accomplish, you’ll need to:

  1. Re-activate affected existing feeds, and

  2. Turn off old “child” credit card feeds to avoid transaction duplication

Read more about the change on Xero Central

Xero just released more granular User Permissions->

For example: If you want a team member just to create Invoices, or run Sales Report, or not see bank balances, or not see company financials – You can do that very easily!

Added to the fact that Xero comes with unlimited users at no cost, this is a powerful tool!

Check out more details, and of course just reach out to our Design Team if you’d like to see how this can be put to work for your company!

IRS announces expanded Business Tax Account (BTA) features –>

Growing from the Individual Tax Accounts that were launched around the COVID era, BTAs have now been around a couple years and are starting to get quite useful, such as to:

  • Make IRS payments & view payment history

  • Request a ‘tax compliance check’

  • Download transcripts of income, payroll, & excise tax returns on file

  • View certain IRS notices received

  • And more being added

For additional details, check out the related IRS Press Release and the IRS BTA info page.

Happy 250th Birthday America!!! 🎉🎆🥳

We’ll be closed today (Friday) in honor of our nation’s semiquincentennial, then back on Monday to continue helping power the creativity of the entrepreneurs we collaborate with! ⚡ > 🔌 > 🎨 > 🖼

Auto-generated description: Fireworks light up the night sky above the Washington Monument and the U.S. Capitol with a caption that reads, Happy Birthday America!!

Maryland Comptroller is doing a major upgrade launch for Individual Taxpayers this August ->

As a result, essentially no individual tax filings or payments will be accepted via the old website in August and no business returns will be accepted from Aug 21-31

The Individual Tax functions of the Maryland Tax Connect website are expected to go live on Sep 1

Additional details available on this MTC Individual Info page

From recent release by Xero:

I’m thrilled to announce that Xero and Anthropic are entering a multi-year partnership that will bring Claude’s AI directly into Xero — and Xero’s financial data and tools directly into Claude.ai …

JAX, powered by Claude’s advanced reasoning, will perform essential tasks like proactively analysing your revenue and profit performance, tracking real-time cash flow, and identifying unpaid invoices, then recommending the actions you should take …

And if you’re working inside Claude.ai, you’ll be able to bring your Xero financial data with you.

Looking forward to AI helping small business owners get their arms around their finances and inform decisions for next changes! More in this Xero blog post.

Been wanting to get started on the Xero online accounting platform but need a jump start?

Act now and get 80% off the first 3 months!

Just let our team know and we’re happy to get you started! 🖥️ 📲 ⚡

Maryland business owners will recognize the state’s new tax portal as of a year ago: Maryland Tax Connect

For many, there’s been challenges getting ‘fluent’ in how to use the platform – If this is you, we heartily recommend signing up for the state’s webinar on Mar 24 providing hands-on walkthroughs

From the webinar description: “Learn how to register, file returns, make payments, and manage your business tax account more efficiently. “

More details and a sign-up link available here!

Wouldn’t be easier to just pay your company’s bills direct in your accounting software?

With Xero bill payments powered by Melio, you can do just that –

And for a very reasonable price: $0.50 per ACH and $1.50 per mailed check – you can barely get a stamp for that nowadays! (much less check stock and envelopes)

To learn more just reach out to our Design Team!

UPDATE on DC tax law snafu: The President signed the Congressional Joint Resolution overturning DC Council’s de-coupling from certain provisions of the OBBBA

What’s next? – DC hasn’t released a response since the signing, but indications are that we’re looking at least months for DC’s tax forms and systems to be re-written. In a letter written by the DC CFO prior to the Congressional vote, he indicated the DC tax filing season could even find itself extended into the fall.

We’ll continue to monitor updates as they’re available, but it seems pretty safe to say that DC returns will not be following a normal April 15 filing pattern this year.

A number of customers have asked about Trump Accounts during Tax Interviews so far this year –>

Couple tips:

  • They become available starting July 5 this year

  • You can proactively ‘opt in’ by using Form 4547 when you file your 2025 taxes

Check out the new official Trump Accounts website for new info and to sign-up for updates as they become available