In This Issue...

1. From the President
2. CSTC Academy
3. June Events
4. Good News is Always Welcome - AB1140 Update
5. CSTC Annual Business Meeting
6. CSTC Member of the Year
7. Welcome New CSTC Members
8. Legislative Advocacy
9. News from the IRS
10. Join CSTC!

CSTC Member Benefits

CSTC members have access to benefits such as free payroll processing services for your tax practice, and the opportunity to earn new revenue through their flexible partnership options.

CSTC is pleased to include the VeriFyle ProTM premium secure online document and message sharing service at no cost to CSTC members!

Wolters Kluwer: Discounts on Tax, Accounting & Audit Resources, Software, Information & Services. 

 CSTC members receive the TaxBook WebLibrary at a special price

Other Member Benefits Include:

$ Savings on all Society Educational Events

$ Savings on Contact, Correspondence & Self Study Education

$ Savings with member specialty CSTC Connects (previouslyYellow Pages) list

$ Savings with E & O Insurance, plus specialty coverage relevant to your profession

$ Online CSTC Find-a-Tax Consultant search to help promote your business!

$ CSTC Member Listserv

Office Depot has partnered with us to provide exclusive savings in-store and online, plus fantastic additional benefits. This program is all about providing preferred pricing to our clubs, and the savings extend to almost every item.

Savings include 20% to 55% off item office supply core list, 20% to 55% off retail on cleaning  & break room items, 10% off branded; 20% off private brand  ink & toner core list, Average 10% off  retail on 200 technology core items, Free next-day shipping on orders of $50 or more, and SIGNIFICANT savings on copy & print. Become a CSTC member to sign up for our Office Depot Small Business Savings Program, administered by Excelerate America.

We are a professional full-service tax advisory firm in San Diego. Our goal is to provide a level of service for our clients that will exceed expectations in every possible way. We strive to offer a diverse level of services to meet the needs of the diverse community we have been working in for more than 30 years.

TaxMama's® EA Exam Course prepares tax professionals to do so much more than just pass the IRS' Special Enrollment Examination. This is an in-depth course that teaches tax law from the ground up. It explains how tax returns work, with examples of basic 1040s, Schedule Cs, 1065s, 1120s, and 1120Ss; you learn tax law, tax research, client representation for audits, appeals and collections. 

If you are interested in buying or selling a practice, contact us today! ATB is operated by Enrolled Agents ensuring a complete understanding of our profession. Please give us a call at (855) 428-2225 or visit us online at www.ATBCAL.com for more information and to view our current listings.
CA DRE 02002824

CSTC Mission

CSTC advances professionalism within the tax industry by:

• Providing quality education

• Creating networking opportunities

• Advocating professional standards

From the President

Please click the above image to watch the President's message

INTO THE UNKNOWN.

Emmie, Adi, and Layla, my three granddaughters, all love Elsa the ice queen from the Disney Frozen movies. They especially love Elsa’s big song from Frozen 2 called “Into The Unknown”. The song gives Elsa the courage to face her fear of the unknown so she can unite the creatures and the people and save their homeland. To do so, she had to push forward through unknown territory, deal with grumpy people and scary beings, and unite them all for a fantastic end result. 

At the car wash on Saturday, Adi was with me singing “Into The Unknown” and it got me thinking how much of what we do takes us into the unknown. For her, driving through the car wash was exciting, dark, and adventurous, but she knew the end result would be a clean truck for grandpa. 

CSTC has gone through huge changes over the past 4 years as we have struggled to keep up with rapid changes in our industry by streamlining and automating processes and changing the way we do business. It has been a great adventure “into the unknown” and the results are really looking good. Then in March, our world exploded with the Covid-19 pandemic and we wondered how CSTC would survive. It quickly started looking like things would never be the same. We needed to figure out what to do and do it fast. We quickly figured out how to do Zoom webinars and many chapters have enjoyed success in putting them together. Now our wonderful Executive Director Jenn Baker can host the Webinar and provide full tech support. It’s great! 

We are still pushing forward into the unknown, but we can face our fears and make it a positive experience.

LET’S ANALYZE WHAT WE HAVE LEARNED FROM OUR COVID-19 EXPERIENCE SO FAR:

WHAT’S BEEN GOOD:

• In-depth discussion of CSTC’s future
• Forced to get online and provide online education
• Compelled to learn how to communicate in new ways

WHAT WE HAVE LEARNED:

• The value of being together
• The importance of staying connected
• We can do a lot of things remotely
• Technology can be our friend 

WHAT WE MISS: 

• Being together
• Dinner meetings

WHAT WE CAN LET GO OF:

• Certain things we have “always done”
• Certain live meetings
• Things we thought were critical that just aren’t 

RETURN TO NORMAL?

Whether or not we will ever return to “normal” is unknown. Will things go back the way they were in February, or will we establish a new normal? It seems pretty clear that we will need to establish a new normal. What will our new normal look like?

For CSTC, I believe the new “normal” will be a more exciting system of education offerings with the convenience of online classes and live classes and perhaps hybrid meetings with some attending in person and others online. Our new normal will have more “virtual” meetings and fewer in-person meetings. I believe that through technology we will be able to access tax professionals in the more remote corners of our state and also those who struggle to get to dinner meetings due to distance or disability. We will be able to share our classes, programs, and activities with everyone. Our new “normal” will include the ability to reach out to every tax professional regardless of where they live or what physical assessment they have. I am looking forward to everything our new normal offers us!

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

This term as your President has been incredible! I have really appreciated all the love and support I have received from all of you great and supportive members. Thank you! Our dedicated CSTC leadership team and the Board of Directors and Regional Directors have worked tirelessly to move forward in furtherance of our mission to “improve the tax industry one professional at a time” and their hard work has paid off. Our chapters are stronger than ever and are committed to making meetings informative and exciting. Working with Jenn Baker and our executive management team at Group Concepts has been a joy. Their energy and can-do attitude is awesome. Every task we have asked them to do for us has been professionally handled.

Additionally, I have grown personally and professionally from serving on the Board of Directors. I am inspired by the board members’ examples of hard work and dedication to family, friends, and CSTC. I would like to thank each of them for inspiring me to work hard and be a better person.

THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING!

Gary Quackenbush, CSTC President

CSTC Academy

Welcome to the CSTC Academy. The Academy offers 80 hours of CE through 31 online courses beginning June 9, 2020. All sessions satisfy the continuing education requirements for EAs, OTRPs, CTECs, CPAs, and attorneys. Sessions are offered every Tuesday and Thursday, beginning at 8:30 am Pacific Time.  

The CSTC Academy is offering the 2020 Symposium Package in addition to individual sessions. The 2020 Symposium package allows you to register for ALL sessions at under $7 per CE hour. We hope you agree that this is a deal too good to pass up!

We will begin the sessions with a deep dive on COVID-19 tax relief, followed by sessions on net operating losses, representation, QBI, business entities, AB-5, trusts, California tax, SECURE Act, practice management and more!

We encourage you to explore our exceptional lineup of topics and speakers and give CSTC priority access to meeting your continuing education needs for 2020.

Click here to learn more!

Click here to learn more and register! 

June Virtual Chapter Events

June 3, 2020

Topic: Taking the Mystery Out of Payroll Protection Program Forgiveness and the New 941 Payroll Reporting
San Francisco Bay Chapter Virtual Meeting
2 Federal Tax Law Hours

June 10, 2020

Topic: Code Breakers: Tax Research for the 21st Century
Orange County Chapter Virtual Meeting
2 Federal Tax Law Hours

June 18, 2020

Topic: Understanding Recent Updates of the Due Diligence Penalty 
San Diego Chapter Virtual Meeting
2 Federal Tax Law Hours

Click here to view the CSTC calendar.

Good News Is Always Welcome

I called CTEC on May 27th to ask about the status of AB-1140. CTEC says when they called the state they were told the Senate was “not moving forward on AB-1140.” So basically, the bill has died… good news for the California preparer!

(I took a precautionary step and sent a letter against AB-1140 to my Senator, Mike Morrell, just in case someone tries to resurrect AB-1140.)

My sincerest thanks to all CSTC members who joined Society over the past year in writing their assemblyman, senator, and any other state officials you may have contacted. Our combined efforts – along with the efforts of other professional organizations – has shown that we CAN make a difference. Kudos to you all!

Respectfully submitted,
Jen Horton, EA, Society 2nd VP Membership 

CSTC Annual Business Meeting

Please join the California Society of Tax Consultants for the Annual Business Meeting on June 24, 2020 at 3:00 PM. This will be a virtual event via Zoom. The purpose of the Annual Business Meeting is for members to receive a report of the activities of the current year and install the new 2020-2021 Board of Directors. CSTC will also be honoring the CSTC Member of the Year, CSTC Chapter of the Year, and thank the leadership for their exemplary efforts in making our Society great. Please click the link below to register! 

CSTC Member of the Year Nomination

The Member of the Year Award is CSTC’s highest honor and acknowledges an outstanding individual for their extraordinary efforts in helping their fellow tax professionals by supporting CSTC. Individuals are nominated by other CSTC members, and a panel of judges then selects the final recipient. The Award will be presented at the CSTC Annual Meeting on June 24, 2020 via Zoom.

Each chapter is encouraged to nominate at least one, but no more than two members from their chapter. Nominations may also be made by any member-at-large.

Click here to fill out the online Member of the Year nomination form.

The deadline to fill out the form is June 12, 2020. 

Welcome New CSTC Members!

Please help us in joining our newest CSTC Members!

Charles Copeland
Greater Long Beach Chapter

Rodrigo Espiritu
San Francisco Bay Chapter

Jorge Gomez
Inland Empire Chapter

Glenys Groome
San Diego North County Chapter

Elizabeth Hambridge
Sacramento Chapter

Terri Jacobson
San Diego East County Chapter

Gerie Johnson
Sacramento Chapter

Ivan Lamptey
Sacramento Chapter

Tiffany Muir
Inland Empire Chapter

Steve Pedrazzi
Central Valley Chapter

Legislative Advocacy

CSTC has been the leading Association in supporting legislation to provide protection for our profession, to support our profession, and to enhance our profession. CSTC continuously leads our industry through legislative advocacy, educational opportunities, and professional inclusion.

CSTC works closely with a Legislative Consultant to keep an eye on important bills that would affect taxpayers and small business owners.

Please click here to view the bills that CSTC is currently monitoring.

Join the California Society of Tax Consultants!

Click here to fill out an online application.

CSTC advances professionalism within the tax industry by:

• Providing quality education
• Creating networking opportunities
• Advocating professional standards

California Society of Tax Consultants | 320 Pine Ave, Suite #1050, Long Beach, CA 90802
Phone (949) 715-4192 | [email protected]