Get to Know Kristi Hahn, Tax Manager

Meet Kristi Hahn, who focuses on individual and trust tax returns at Orcutt & Company. This year marks her 8 th  tax season with us.

Keep reading to see what she enjoys the most about her role and who she looks up to for her outlook and resilience.
 
What do you enjoy about your role? Matching up all the numbers to help clients find a way to save money or to see a larger tax refund; that gives me a great sense of fulfillment. 
Coffee or tea? Coffee–only first thing in the morning though. 
 
What’s your favorite food? Italian, or anything my husband makes. He’s an amazing cook. 

What’s something clients might be surprised to learn about you? I’m a fairly decent golfer. 

How do you spend time outside of work? I enjoy exercise at the gym or just taking my Labrador Retriever for a hike. 
Who is someone you look up to? My mother. She is a two-time breast cancer survivor who lives every day with the mindset that her glass is always half full. 

What’s your favorite vacation destination? The Caribbean and Mexico where it is always warm and sunny! I just spent a week in Cabo. It was beautiful there.  
 
70s, 80s, 90s: Which decade do you love the most? The 80’s. Big hair, great music and movies. There is a reason why people are still to this day hosting 80’s parties. 
New Changes on Benefits Limits

Do you have a retirement plan for your employees?

Here are the contribution limits for the 2019 tax year to be aware of: For defined contribution plans—such as 401(k), 403(b) and 457 plans—the contribution limits have increased to $19,000, up $500 from last year. The catch-up contribution limit remains at an additional $6,000 for participants at least age 50.

Total contributions by an employee and employer rise from $55,000 to $56,000. SEP-IRAs, profit sharing and money purchase plans have the same limit increase to $56,000.

The elective contribution limit for a Simple IRA rises to $13,000, with employer non-elective contributions capped at 2% of compensation up to $280,000, up from $275,000. The $3,000 catch-up contribution remains the same.
The contribution limit for defined benefit pension plans increases to $225,000 from $220,000.
 
For tax year 2019, HSA contributions have also increased again. Employees can contribute up to $2,700 into their health flexible spending accounts.
 
Social Security income limits may require an adjustment on your part, too. The Social Security wage base is now up to $132,900 for 2019, up from $128,400.
 
Ask us if you have any other questions specific to you including salary and compensation limitations, which aren’t described here.
 

Have questions? We'd love to hear from you! Give us a call today: (513) 576-1989.
Not a Normal Tax Season for the IRS
So how did the government shutdown impact the IRS and how quickly will they be able to…well, recover?

To start, the IRS has indicated that there are millions of taxpayer letters that need to be looked at since they went unanswered during the shutdown.

At the same time, tax season has now started, so the shutdown has the IRS very behind on work this year!

From what we know, the IRS will be working steadily to recover from the backlog, and getting back to hiring and training for tax season. And, according to the Washington Post and Forbes, sources say it could take “at least a year” for the IRS to deal with the backlog and to return to normal operations.

Kelly Phillips Erb, a Senior Contributor at Forbes, broke down how that could be the case, explaining how the IRS reportedly has a backlog of 5 million unanswered pieces of mail.

Additionally, Erb reports how the IRS advised that its website would continue to operate normally during the shutdown. Despite that intention, taxpayers and tax professionals did see some lags, errors, and other issues with the site during the shutdown.

Combined with reports that they lost as much as 25 tech staffers per week during the shutdown, this may mean we need to have extra patience this tax season! And, meanwhile, it appears that the IRS will be playing catch-up.

Tips to Help You Improve Your Business’ Financial Health

Even with good intentions, this is the time of year in which some of us start to give up on our personal resolutions to become healthier…

Whether or not you’ve been successful at losing weight or eating healthier so far this year, you can still work on the financial health of your business.

Here are 5 tips to help you do just that:

Stay aware of your Adjusted Gross Income (AGI). Your AGI, or your Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI) can bring tax breaks, limitations, or have other implications on your taxes, so you want to keep an eye on it.

Be strategic about business expenditures. Whether it be depreciation, timing for purchases, or timing for claiming certain losses, be sure to sit down with us to go over ways we can help you reduce your taxable income this year and next. 

Take advantage of fringe benefit plans for employees. You may be able to setup or implement tax-free fringe benefits such as medical coverage, certain retirement plans, disability insurance, educational assistance, transportation benefits, and more. These can be appealing because it can reduce your taxable income.

Remember to reward or reinforce your key team members. An effective way to retain your top talent is to make sure they feel valued. Acknowledge their value through word and if appropriate, be open to increasing their compensation. That can help keep them as engaged as possible, and can reduce potential hiring and training costs in the future. Ask us if you’d like to learn other vehicles and ways to compensate and/or financially incentivize your top talent.

Set up a time to meet with us now. We want to help you throughout the year, but right now is another time you can be planning for the future. Meeting with us to go over these tax moves can help keep your company as healthy as possible. It can also potentially save you significant amounts of money. 


Have questions or want to set up an appointment with us? Give us a call today: (513) 576-1989.
Orcutt & Company, CPA's, Ltd.
936 State Route 28, Milford, OH 45150

This office does not conduct any securities business.
9624 Cincinnati-Columbus Road STE 201, Cincinnati, Ohio 45241

Securities offered through Registered Representatives of Cambridge Investment Research, Inc., a broker-dealer member FINRA/SIPC. Advisory services through Cambridge Investment Research Advisors, Inc., a Registered Investment Adviser. Cambridge and Orcutt & Company, CPAs, Ltd. are not affiliated.
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Orcutt & Company is a Dave Ramsey ELP
(Endorsed Local Provider).