Your Delinquent Tax Debt Can Now Result in Your Passport Getting Revoked

The Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act, H.R. 22, was passed by Congress on Thursday and signed into law by President Obama on Friday. This new law includes provisions (See SEC. 7345) that require the secretary of State to revoke, deny, or limit the passport of anyone deemed to have seriously delinquent tax debt. According to the Journal of Accountancy, "seriously delinquent tax debt is defined as an outstanding tax debt in excess of $50,000 (adjusted for inflation) for which a notice of lien or a levy has been filed, unless the individual is making timely payments under an agreement with the IRS or collection is suspended because a Collection Due Process hearing or innocent spouse relief has been requested or is pending."

Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act, H.R. 22, which Congress passed on Thursday - See more at: http://www.journalofaccountancy.com/news/2015/dec/third-party-tax-collection-provisions-201513492.html#sthash.01wkBgBW.dpuf

Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act, H.R. 22, which Congress passed on Thursday - See more at: http://www.journalofaccountancy.com/news/2015/dec/third-party-tax-collection-provisions-201513492.html#sthash.01wkBgBW.dpuf

Possible loss of passport will be included in notices the IRS sends to taxpayers to inform them of potential collection activities. Taxpayers will also be notified when the IRS sends a certification of serious delinquency to Treasury. That certification will then be sent to State Departments for use in determining whether to issue, renew, or revoke a taxpayer’s passport. Taxpayers are considered ineligible for a passport if their names appear on the certification lists. 

The new law also requires the IRS to enlist the assistance of third parties for debt collection actions on certain outstanding accounts (See SEC. 32102). In the past, the decreasing IRS budget might have hindered those efforts, so taxpayers may have had limited interaction with them about their debt. That will likely no longer be the case. The inactive tax receivables that are included in the new law's provisions are those that (1) have been removed from the IRS’s active inventory due to lack of resources or the inability to find the taxpayer; (2) for which more than one-third of the applicable limitation period has passed and no IRS employee has been assigned to collect the receivable; or (3) that have been assigned for collection, but more than 365 days have passed without interaction with taxpayers in order to collect on the debt.

Tax debts relating to pending or active offers in compromise or installment agreements as well as those under examination, litigation, criminal investigation, or levy or currently subject to a right of appeal are not to be included in the collection efforts under the new qualified tax collection contracts.

For questions about how this new law impacts your specific situation, please reach out to your Certified Public Accountant (CPA).

Making It Happen: Atlanta International Fashion Week

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Atlanta International Fashion Week (AIFW) appeared on the scene in 2007 as a result of Paula Whittle’s efforts. She is the Founder and Director of the annual event that has become a major staple to Atlanta, Georgia’s Arts and Culture community. Paula started her career as a radio personality and quickly moved through the ranks in different areas of the entertainment industry. She has gone from entertainment executive, to fashion mogul, to PR maven, to event extraordinaire, to marketing guru, to mother, teacher, visionary, and community leader and her clientele has included the likes of Sony, BET, VIBE, VH1, Virgin Records, SoSo Def, Rockmond Dunbar, R. Kelly, RHWOA Husband Peter Thomas and many more.

Paula came on the fashion scene initially as a modeling agent. She saw a void in the fashion community in Atlanta and wanted to create a platform for independent designers and independent models to showcase their talent and advance their careers. This is a platform that she sought to have on the same level as New York Fashion Week. Now that AIFW is in its 9^th year, that dream is becoming a reality. She has since been featured in both the Atlanta Tribune magazine and Encore HD magazine for her efforts.

FORBES Accounting & Consulting, Inc. CEO/President, Jeri M. Forbes, CPA CGMA sat down with Paula Whittle to discuss how she makes things happen for Atlanta International Fashion Week when it comes to negotiating deals with potential sponsors and strategic partners.

Atlanta: Becoming Home to Some "New Big Things"

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Atlanta, GA is among the top contenders in several categories, one of which is the Forbes list of best places for business and careers with many companies including automotive companies Kia, Porshe and Mercedes-Benz making Atlanta the home of their North American HeadQuarters. Georgia is number 3 in the United States and number 5 in the world for film production. With 40+ projects currently in production, the boost to the local economy has been quite a positive change for the residents that have been working on getting into the entertainment industry or that have a love for touring the sets. 

In a recent interview, Georgia Governor Nathan Deal discusses economic development and the film industry in Georgia. He stated that the film industry brought over $6 billion to the state. This is largely due to the huge tax credits offered to entice companies to produce film projects in Georgia. To encourage the use of Georgians as employees on these projects, the state is offering 100% scholarships to the state's technical colleges to train people to work on the sets of these projects.

In addition to the automotive and film additions to the area, Atlanta is also now home to the first woman CEO of a Fortune 500 company based in Georgia. Her name is Mary Laschinger and she runs Veritiv Corp, a company formed as a result of a merger between Unisource Worldwide and International Paper's xpedx division. The company has annual sales of over $9 billion and is located in Northpark Town Center. Atlanta beat out 3 other cities (Cincinnati, Dallas, and Charlotte, NC) because the city's airport with its MARTA connection, the ability to recruit people to the city, and the availability of the skilled and educated workforce.


With all of the great things to do and see and the many companies that provide moderate to high-salaried jobs to the residents to the area, is there any wonder why we see so many transplants from other areas?

TED Talk: Amanda Palmer and The Art of Asking

Musician and blogger Amanda Palmer explains “The Art of Asking” in her TED Talk filmed February 2013. Amanda became widely known for having the largest selling music crowdfunding project when nearly 25,000 fans pre-ordered her album Theatre is Evil for approximately $1.2 million via KickStarter.  When asked how she made people pay $1.2 million for her music, she answers that she didn’t make them…..she asked them.

Amanda began her career in the public eye right out of college as a street performer known as The Eight-Foot Bride by standing on the street with a hat laid out in front of her podium to get people to give her money. Although Amanda called this performance “her job”, she spoke of the people that would yell at her often to “Get a job!” as they passed her on the street. She also spoke fondly of the many others that she connected with during her time working on the street. Some she felt were lonely and just in need of human contact and for someone to actually SEE them. Amanda fell in love with that aspect and has continued her pursuit of that level of closeness with her fans by signing autographs, giving hugs, crowd-surfing, couch-surfing, etc. as she shares her music with the world.

Amanda has received flack for advocating piracy by giving away her music and encouraging people to share it. She was even publicly and bitterly criticized for additional crowdfunding efforts when she sought to crowdsource additional local backup musicians in each tour stop, offering to pay them in hugs, merchandise and beer. This hasn’t stopped her efforts because she feels that “In order for artists to survive and create, their audiences need to step up and directly support them”. With the promise of “constant communication” thru her Patreon profile, Amanda’s fans are doing just that by donating anywhere from $1 to $100 for each new item that she posts whether song, video, or a piece of writing. The Guardian reports the various offerings that Amanda will give her fans that support her with donations of differing amounts. Some of these offerings include photos and poetry, invitations to monthly webcasts with her, guest-list entry to all of her gigs and even hand drawn cards from Palmer herself.

Via the Internet and Social Media, Amanda Palmer (along with other popular artists) is helping change the concept of “celebrity” where fans are used to reaching to connect with their favorite stars from a distance in the crowd to now being able to interact and respond in seconds to posts. I personally find this to be an important trait because not everyone can afford to go to some of the expensive concerts in their city, if it’s big enough to draw celebrity performers there. Others can’t afford to travel to the bigger cities if they don’t live there and often can’t afford the merchandise that these celebrities sell or advertise. As a consumer, I think it’s great to random acts of silliness by Trey Songz or to almost feel as though I’m at one of the random vacation spots that Beyoncé goes to with her family. Although it could be looked at as risky by not having a firm price attached to Amanda’s products, “just asking” wouldn’t even leave an artist like Beyoncé or Madonna with light pockets because their individual followings are large enough where even $1 per person would still have them grossing more than 80% of the U.S citizens in a given year.

What do you think? How has “The Art of Asking” worked for you in your life?

Happy Father's Day!

We'd like to wish all of the fathers out there a happy and safe Father's Day weekend. Not everyone is blessed to still have their father around, so treasure yours while you still can. Peace and many blessings! :-)

Independent or Not? It DOES Matter!

1099 or W-2? That's the question. 

1099, is the answer given by the California labor commission on Tuesday in regards to whether or not Uber drivers are independent contractors or employees.  Uber has come to be known as the "next big thing" in transportation, often being a much more popular choice than taxi cabs or rental cars in some instances.  A passenger puts in their request and a "regular person" in a "regular car" shows up to pick you up to take you to your destination.  Although under the Uber name, some would feel that this "regular person" is no different than the independent taxi driver.  However, the CA labor commission doesn't think so.  Per Claire Zillman for Fortune, "The degree of control that Uber has over its drivers makes all the difference. Uber drivers must pass background and DMV checks, they must register their cars with Uber, and their cars must be less than 10 years old. Drivers’ passenger approval rating must not fall below a certain score. And Uber sets the price for each trip and the driver receives a non-negotiable service fee." While the ruling isn't final, this could be a major shift for the company worth almost $40 billion because that could mean paying minimum wage, employee expenses, and workplace benefits, back-dated and current. 

Why does that matter? 

For most states, an hourly employee starts to receive overtime pay of 1 1/2 times their pay once they work more than 40 hours. In the state of California, an employee earns 1 1/2 times their pay once they work more than 8 hours in a day, and 2 times their pay once they work more than 12 hours in a day. Those hours include the time that the employee is under the control of the employer, meaning all of the time that an employee is permitted to work, whether or not they are required to do so, per the Media Services site. Just think of all of the hours that an Uber driver can work since they typically choose when they want to work and where. That's great for the employee but not so great for Uber. If this ruling sticks, the best way out would be for Uber to let go of some of their control by loosening the requirements and ultimately pushing themselves back into the much wanted "company-independent contractor" space. 

I'm interested to see how this turns out.

What's the Deal With Entertainment Accounting?

I'm a fan of being entertained and sometimes I enjoy entertaining others. I also love accounting. Why not mix both worlds?

In the world of multi-million and multi-billion dollar project deals, accounting is an extremely important factor to make sure the artists, writers, producers, etc. get paid what they're due, but also to make sure that the media giants are profitable.....the giants that make everything possible for movies to make it to the big screen and for shows to make it to the small screen. I mean, if there's no money in it, why do it, right?

From the outside looking in, most regular people like you and I probably assume that all of the celebrities that we see all over social media and on our screens, both big and small, simply just have it made. But do they really? Maybe if they have a great team of attorneys and CPAs behind them.  A lot of people never stop to think about the relationships between the movie studios and the television networks. Let me tell you why this can be important if you are interested in entertainment. This is particularly true for a star actor of a TV show or a writer or studio head whose residual compensation is based on the profits of one of their major projects. If you're set to get 3 percent of past and future profits on that project based on a contract with the studio, and that studio happens to own a network that airs your project, the accounting can get pretty tricky. If you are a studio, you don't have to pay Why would you want to charge yourself a high dollar amount for the rights to air something? You wouldn't.....especially if that high dollar amount can result in income to a person that you don't particularly like. There are no politics in entertainment though, right? Wrong. In a 1995 Newsweek article, these types of issues and more were pointed out.

Since situations like those mentioned above can become quite volatile, the importance of accountants in film production companies and recording studios can be critical. Some of the functions that accountants can play in those environments include "distributing royalties, calculating, production costs and budgeting for concert tours" according to Monster writer, John Rossheim. For the opportunity to potentially work near their favorite entertainers, lots of "starry-eyed CPAs" have primarily flocked to Southern California, per Rossheim.  If you're a CPA that handles the personal finances of certain celebrities you might do things like help a client purchase an exotic sports car, sell a mansion, handle their investments, estate planning and even get into much more personal things. As a financial advisor, you're privy to so many aspects of a person's life that confidentiality is critical. Considering that fact, most business of this sort is generated by word of mouth according to Evan Bell, a NYC CPA in this article. He and other business managers charge most entertainers anywhere from 3 - 5 percent of their annual income.

Although everyone probably expects to hear of such "glitz and glam" in Los Angeles and New York, there are many states like Georgia, Louisiana, and even Connecticut, Michigan and Texas that are contenders in the race for revenue from film projects. This is primarily due to large tax credits and lower production costs, i.e. wages. According to the Georgia site, there are production incentives up to 30% available for grabs for qualifying productions. The increased demand has caused a shortage in available crew members in Georgia according to the Wall Street Journal. They quoted Georgia governor Nathan Deal saying, " Georgia cannot afford for another state to do to us what we are doing to Hollywood". His solution: create a state-run Georgia Film Academy as a partnership between the state's university and technical college systems. He has a great reason to put funding behind this film academy since the film industry generated an economic impact of $5.1 billion for the state in 2014 according to the Georgia site. They also mentioned that the Governor has even added training incentives to support getting eligible workers up to speed to be able to work on projects that come to the state. 

So if you're on the outside wondering how you can get in on the fun, what do you do? How do you go about entering this market with no real skills or connections? If you're in Georgia, parties interested in anything from crew calls to locations are advised to search the Georgia Sourcebook. If you want to stay informed about what's going on in the Atlanta film scene, check out CinemATL. Organizations such as Women In Film and Television Atlanta (WIFTA) and sites such as Reel Scout and this one that lists current projects in production are also great ones to start with. 

Goodbye to the King of Blues

This week the country lost another great musician. Blues legend B.B. King (born Riley B. King) died Thursday, May 14, 2015 in Las Vegas. He’d announced that he was in hospice care on May 1st. King was from my home state of Mississippi where he was born September 16, 1925 in Itta Bena, MS near Indianola where he will be laid to rest at his request in the upcoming week or so according to USA Today.  They announced that the public would be able to view the body at Palm South Jones Mortuary on Friday, May 22nd from 3-7pm in Las Vegas. 

In Mississippi, Blues and Soul music are just as popular as country music is in Nashville, TN. I grew up listening to my granddaddy “Bubba” and my uncles and aunts as they played lots of it around the house. They played such artists as Bobby “Blue” Bland, Bobby Womack, Al Green, The Staple Singers, Bobby Rush, Betty Wright, ZZ Hill, Shirley Brown and so many more. I’d learn the songs and sing along with my step-mother and her friends as we hung out on the porch, and I’d revel in the joy I’d see in their faces that good music brought to them. Unfortunately, as it is with most children, I started rejecting things that the adults were into as I became a teenager and later as a young adult. I didn’t have an appreciation for any of that music at the time although I knew the many, many levels that music can take a person to emotionally even back then. 

My cousins and others my age started embracing that same music even more as we all got older and they became to their children who our older adult family members were to us back in the day. I thought that it had everything to do with the fact that they were still in Mississippi, a place that I moved away from about 15 years ago. However, it wasn’t until recently that I opened my ears to music that’s not mainstream and one of the first artists that struck that old familiar feeling in me was Mr. B.B. King himself. The Thrill is Gone will always be one of his most popular and most memorable songs to me. It’s also the title of a blog post on his website requesting his fans to share their thoughts on the man and his music. Mr. King earned the title of “The King of Blues” many years ago and he wore it well up until his recent death. Recent work for Mr. King included his appearance in a commercial in the past several months with his famed guitar Lucille, the movie of his life, The Life of Riley that hit theaters in May 2014, and his steady round of shows on the road up until his health started declining last fall.

Riley B. King made a huge impact on the music of today and he’s touched fans around the world. He will be missed, but his legacy will live on through the music. R.I.P.

Who's In YOUR Five? The Top Five Wealthiest Artists in Hip-Hop 2015

While the ranking order of the filthy rich "Haves" matters very little to the "Have Nots" of the world, there are those of us that are envious and just a little curious to know how they do it and how they do it so well.  Forbes has published its 2015 list of the wealthiest hip-hop artists, and while there's very little surprise as to the people that top the list, most have to be a little surprised that Dr. Dre isn't King this year after that huge multi-billion dollar deal that he made with Apple. As in just about all things, financial or otherwise, taxes matter. Out of the $3 billion deal, Dre's cut of 25% dwindled to $500 million in cash after taxes. Ouch!! Of the overall deal, The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple paid for a portion of it with $400 million in equity which should be an incentive for Dre to stick around in his role as an Apple employee as part of the deal.

Here's the list in order of net worth:

1. P. Diddy ($735 million)
2. Dr. Dre ($700 million)
3. Jay-Z ($550 million)
4. 50 Cent ($155 million)
5. Birdman ($150 million)

View the full coverage on the Forbes Five to get details about the deals that made their positions possible.

Welcome!

Hi everyone!

Welcome to the "FORBES . . . Accounting for Entertainment" blog created by Forbes Accounting & Consulting, Inc. We seek to bring you hot Music, Film, TV, and other general content of interest. We will give you Accounting topics, Tax Planning and Preparation information and relevant material from the IRS and various state authorities. We also plan to try to keep you "In The Know" about things that could have a big financial impact for you and your business, as well as bring you tips on improving your productivity, company processes and a host of other things. If you find some useful or entertaining information, chances are you have friends and family members that could benefit too so share, share, share!! Thanks for tuning in!

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