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32 | I NSIGH T • N o v e m b e r 2 0 15 w w w . i n s i g h t o n b u s i n e s s . c o m "We do not know about these extenders yet since they expired at the end of 2014, and we still do not know what is going to be the tax law for 2015," she says. Nonprofits For nonprofit businesses, tax planning can pose unique challenges. Heling says situations oen come up where nonprofits may have an income tax. e abbreviation is UBIT, which stands for Unrelated Business Income Tax. "An example of this would be when someone donates a parcel of land to the nonprofit and instead of building on that land, they decide to sell that land and get money," Heling says. "Now you potentially have capital gains from an unrelated business activity that you have to pay taxes on." From a tax planning standpoint, Heling says nonprofits don't end up with a lot of taxable situations, but can accrue some. "My best advice is they should be talking with tax professionals as well throughout the year, since this is becoming a specialty niche area," Heling says. e key to executing productive tax planning is communication. Heling says frequent communication with a tax professional is a great way to plan your taxes and to avoid any last-minute problems. "e best thing I can stress is to have the conversation with your accountant or tax planning person," Heling says. "You should have the conversation of 'here's where we are at for the year, and here's what we should be doing.'" Lillesand also says you need to look at multiple years when planning taxes, instead of just the current year to plan spending, income and other criteria that goes into tax planning. IF YOU'RE A CPA If becoming a CPA sets the standard in accounting, what represents The Standard Above™? With a network of nearly 8,000 members and a focus on the latest issues affecting you and your clients, the WICPA helps you shine among your peers and emerge as the best of the best. TO FIND A WICPA MEMBER, VISIT WICPA.ORG/FINDACPA QUESTIONS? • MEMBERSHIP'WICPA.ORG • 262.785.0445 IF YOU'RE LOOKING FOR A CPA Knowing that your accounting professional or CPA is an active member of the WICPA, you can rest assured that our continuing education requirements make them current on the best practices in the fi eld. They stand out among their peers and are leaders in the accounting community. © 2015 Wisconsin Institute of Certifi ed Public Accountants "Globally, you cannot look at 2015 alone, you have to look at more than one year to figure out what's best for the person, considering time value of money in regards to tax brackets. Just looking at one year could potentially give you a wrong answer," she says. "It's hard to do tax planning when you don't know what the tax law is going to be, which in turn, puts the IRS a few weeks behind since they have to update numerous forms." – Te r r i L i l l e s a n d, S c h e n c k S . C . t a x s h a re h o l d e r TAX PL ANNING