On February 1st we celebrated our 30th anniversary!! We thank you for helping make us a success and we will continue to work to earn your trust and deliver the highest quality service to you. Our firm was founded in 1980 by Stuart Kingsbery, CPA, J.D. and we enjoy an outstanding reputation in the business community. We pride ourselves on our commitment to being your trusted advisor and our employees respect that role with their commitment to our firm. We place a high value on attracting and retaining talented, quality staff members to work with you. Our employees have over 190 combined total years with the firm! Reminder that we are located at 1401 Pearl Street Mall, Suite 300, Boulder, CO 80302-5319. We are on the northeast corner of 14th and Pearl Streets on the third floor above The Cheesecake Factory, accessible by the elevator on the front of our building. We validate parking for your visit to our office at either the RTD structure at 14th and Walnut Streets,the City of Boulder lot at 15th and Pearl Streets or the lot behind our building accessible from 15th Street. As you browse through our website, you will see that we highlighted background information on our firm, staff members and our services, and also included useful resources such as informative articles (in our Newsletter section) and interactive financial calculators (in our Financial Tools section). We also included links to external Websites that we feel would be of interest to our clients and visitors (in our Internet Links section). Please feel free to Contact Us with any questions or comments you may have - we'd love to hear from you. Visit us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter!

Tax Tips Haiti Relief Donations Qualify for Immediate Tax Relief On Jan. 22, President Obama signed into law H.R. 4462, a bill that allows donors to accelerate the income tax benefits of charitable cash contributions for the relief of victims of the earthquake in Haiti. This law allows taxpayers to claim a charitable contribution deduction in tax year 2009 for donations made through Mar. 1, 2010, for the relief of victims in areas affected by the Jan. 12, 2010 earthquake in Haiti. Only cash contributions made to these charities after Jan. 11, 2010, and before March 1, 2010, are eligible. This includes contributions made by text message, check, credit card or debit card. Although the IRS has relaxed record keeping requirements taxpayers will still need documentation for donations prior to filing their tax return. Five Year NOL Carryback for Eligible Small Businesses: Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, eligible small businesses with net operating losses in 2008 can choose a three, four, or five year carryback period to get a refund of taxes paid instead of the usual two year carryback period. An eligible small business is a sole proprietorship, partnership, or S corporation that has average annual gross receipts (reduced by returns and allowances) of $15 million or less during the 3-year period ending with the tax year of the net operating loss. If you believe you qualify or would like more information on this provision, please contact your tax advisor. New Vehicle Tax Deduction: The new recovery act allows a special deduction for new cars, light trucks, motor homes and motorcycles purchased after February 17, 2009 and before 01/01/2010. A deduction is provided for state and local sales and excise taxes paid on these new vehicles. This deduction is available even if you do not itemize your deductions on schedule A. This deduction phases out completely for joint filers with income over $260,000 and for single filers with income over $135,000. This is available only on the 2009 tax return. Please contact your accountant for more information if you have purchased a new vehicle in 2009 and would like more information on this deduction. Energy Efficient Credits for Individuals: For 2009 and 2010, the energy tax credit for homeowners has been increased to 30% of the cost of the qualifying property. The maximum credit has been raised to $1,500. This credit was not in place for 2008. The standards are higher for the new credit for the property to qualify as energy-efficient. There are also several other credits available such as those for plug in electric vehicles, which provide for a credit of up to $2,500. Please contact your accountant for more information regarding these credits if you are planning to purchase energy saving property in your home or purchase a plug in electric vehicle.

Profile of Trusted Advisor: Laura Lewis Other than the actual "born" part, Laura exercises "Boulder Native" bragging rights. Her family moved from New Jersey when she was 3 months. Laura grew up at the base of NCAR on the greenbelt, the significance of which she wouldn't fully appreciate until much later in life. Laura participated in BVSD and graduated from Bear Creek Elementary, Baseline Jr. High, and Fairview High School. In 1987 she spread her wings and attended Brigham Young University where she spent 2 very painful semesters as an electrical engineering major (physics and computer programming almost killed her.) She switched her major to Accounting after the results of a career test placed Accounting at the top of the list. It didn't take long for Laura to develop a passion for debits, credits, T- accounts and Tax. She paused her education to serve an 18 month mission in Sweden for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, where she learned Swedish (a language that would prove critical in her career as a tax accountant - not). Laura graduated in 1992 with a B.A. in Accounting and an M.S. in Tax. She worked for Deloitte and Touche in Denver and R.G. Doty and Associates in Boulder until finding her home at Kingsbery in June 2001. She became a CPA in 1995 and not a day passes without gratitude for passing that test. Laura plays "Aunt Yah Yah" to her six nephews and two nieces. She simply can't get enough of them, and showers them with presents and treats. She loves to run, hike, bake, crochet, laugh, read, go to movies and spend time with her family. Laura's motto: "Life is uncertain, eat dessert first" means her coworkers are the frequent willing/ unwilling recipients of her baked goods. She is a current board member of Flatiron's Habitat for Humanity. She teaches music to children ages 3-12 each Sunday. She finds her job extremely challenging and fulfilling. "You can never get too comfortable because the tax law is always changing". Laura has expertise in individual, corporate, and partnership tax but does a bit of everything. She feels very lucky to work with such intelligent and down to earth coworkers. "We work hard, play hard, and laugh a lot".