• Security Notice

    Security Notice

    NONE OF OUR SERVERS OR THOSE OF OUR VENDORS WERE AFFECTED BY “HEARTBLEED”. You’ve probably heard about the Security Alert regarding “HEARTBLEED”, the code exploit that manipulates OPENSSL. Heartbleed is a catastrophic bug in OpenSSL, a software library of great significance, used by almost everyone (except Microsoft) for their SSL/TLS code. Without going into any…

  • April Is Here!

    April Is Here!

    This is a snapshot of our schedule this past Saturday. No evening appointments on Saturdays, but as you can see, we had no openings. If you have not yet scheduled an appointment, please don’t delay. These last few weeks are our busiest and most hectic time. If you need to file an extension give us…

  • Shared Responsibility Payment

    Starting January 2014, you and your family must either have health insurance coverage throughout the year, qualify for an exemption from coverage, or make a payment when you file your 2014 federal income tax return in 2015. Many people already have qualifying health insurance coverage and do not need to do anything more than maintain…

  • Health Insurance on W-2

    Health Insurance on W-2

    You may be wondering if you have to report the value of your employer-sponsored health insurance coverage, which may appear on your W-2, Wage and Tax Statement when you file your 2013 federal income tax return. The health care law requires certain employers to report the cost of coverage under an employer-sponsored group health plan. The…

  • News From Cook & Co.

    News From Cook & Co.

    Since launching our secure internet portal two years ago, more and more clients have elected to receive their “keep copies” of tax returns electronically. As a result, we are ordering the over-sized big red envelopes by the hundreds now instead of thousands. For those taxpayers that must send a check to the federal or state…

  • Health Insurance Premium Tax Credit

    Starting in 2014, if you get your health insurance coverage through the Health Insurance Marketplace, you may be eligible for the premium tax credit. This tax credit can help make purchasing health insurance coverage more affordable for people with moderate incomes. The open enrollment period to purchase health insurance coverage for 2014 through the Marketplace…

  • Currency Exchange Rates

    To convert from foreign currency to U.S. dollars, divide the foreign currency amount by the applicable yearly average exchange rate in the table below. To convert from U.S. dollars to foreign currency, multiply the U.S. dollar amount by the applicable yearly average exchange rate in the table below. Click image to enlarge

  • 2014 Begins with More Returns Filed

    Tax filings this year, so far have outpaced 2013 by 2.5 percent. Refunds are up this year as well, on average by about 18%. The average refund is approximately $3,317.   Correction: The Average Refund has been $3,374. 

  • We Will Open Today

    We expect to open later this morning (by noon). All morning appointments have been rescheduled to afternoon or later so employees, do not rush to get here. Clients, if you have an appointment this afternoon we anticipate being ready and prepared. Freezing temperatures are predicted to return after midnight (Friday morning) so it appears that…