News

Sometimes, our clients, due to unexpected expenses, have made withdrawals from their retirement accounts before reaching the minimum age of 59 ½. This leaves them vulnerable to income tax and a 10% early withdrawal penalty on the amount withdrawn. While we strongly recommend that people not access their retirement accounts early, there are a few […]

There is a lot of information to absorb about the Affordable Health Care Act. Here are a few pieces of information that you may find helpful. Taxpayers with incomes that fall between 100% & 400% of the federal poverty level, and who do not receive their insurance at work, may be eligible for a tax […]

Scott Edwards, managing partner of Edwards, Faust & Smith has been appointed to the New England Peer Review Board (NEPR.) NEPR was founded in 1989 by Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and Rhode Island to provide a professional and efficient method for monitoring peer reviews. It includes rotating volunteer CPAs from the four participating states as […]

The State of Maine has a 5 year look-back window for gifts when considering your eligibility for MaineCare. If you make gifts to your family within 5 years of needing MaineCare to pay for nursing care, you will be assessed a penalty for the amount of the gifts. The penalty is not monetary – it […]

EFS’ new server was not something we were looking forward to purchasing.  It is an expensive proposition and creates down time and a lot of tweaking as we get it up and running. However, the new server brought us a significant boost in computing speed and a new level of off-site accessibility.  As part of […]

As the IRS finds itself more and more stretched, the likelihood of an audit may decrease.  However, there are a number of “red flags” which can draw the IRS attention to your return. Here are some of the items which gain their attention. Claiming 100% business use of a vehicle Large Schedule C deductions for […]

Lily and Hilary recently spoke at one of the monthly senior luncheons sponsored by the Waldo Y. Lily discussed required minimum distributions; Hilary discussed Gift Tax Returns and the State Look Back Window. Nearly 100 attended the luncheon. Hilary and Lily are available to speak should you have a group interested in tax issues.

There is no shortage of phone and email scams these days. Often times, scammers pretend to be the IRS. The IRS only communicates by U.S. mail.

On January 14, EFS co-hosted Bangor Greendrinks with the Maine Science Festival. It was the most successful GREENDRINKS to date with over 100 attending. Greg Edwards of EFS is the current chairman of Bangor Greendrinks. The organization highlights local businesses with sustainable business practices.

Almost weekly, we read in the paper or hear on the news about another Maine business being hurt by employee theft. Sometimes the losses are well over $50,000. No business can make themselves exempt from such losses, but there are steps that can be taken and controls put into place that will reduce your exposure […]

To assist our clients with their finances, EFS offered tax planning utilizing our new planning software this past summer and fall. The package included two meetings and a report summarizing the results. Several of our clients used this service. Although we cannot discount the consultations during tax season, it is still available.

In order to have adequate time to prepare your return properly, we must receive your information early enough to allow us to input and analyze your data and have a partner review your return so that we may provide you with the best results for your tax situation.Therefore, we ask that you have all 1040 information […]