Client Resources Menu
Click the link above to send us documents via your secure client portal.
Please contact Sarah Hess for assistance or questions.
Brush Bernard LLP is is excited to announce your new client portal through Financial Cents! This portal is designed to make it easy for us to share information and communicate seamlessly.
Your portal allows you to upload information, access files, and ask questions, all without having to download an app or create a username or password.
This keeps all of our communication and your information in one easy-to-access and secure place.
When you need to access the portal, you will receive an email notification from one of the Brush Bernard staff members.
What are your next steps?
- Watch this short tutorial video on how you will access and use the portal.
- Bookmark https://app.financial-cents.com/client-portal/ so you can access the portal on demand (without the email notification) when needed.
Pay Invoices Online
Click this link to send us an email requesting an online payment.
Please provide your full name (and business name, if applicable) and your invoice number in the email.
After you send the email, you will receive a secure link that you can use to pay your invoice(s) online.
Note: A convenience fee of 3.1% will be added to all credit card payments. ACH transfers will continue to be free of charge.
Tax Center
Click below to track your refund(s) and/or make your tax payments electronically:
Request for Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) and Certification
Employee’s Withholding Certificate
IRS Tax Withholding Estimator for W4
Use this form to determine employee’s federal income tax withholding.
Employers engaged in a trade or business who pay compensation.
Employment Eligibility Verification. All employees must complete this form at time of hire for the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
IRS Forms, Instructions and Publications Search
IRS – Apply for an Employer Identification Number (EIN)
Social Security Administration
U.S. Small Business Administration
CA Employment Development Dept
CDTFA – CA Find a Sales & Use Tax Rate
CA Authorize Online Account Access
Fill this out to allow your CPA to discuss your taxes with the FTB.
Sonoma County Business Property Department
IRS – Search for Forms, Instructions and Publications
California – Search for Forms, Instructions and Publications
Record Retention
Storing tax records: How long is long enough?
Federal law requires you to maintain copies of your tax returns and supporting documents for three years. This is called the “three-year law” and leads many people to believe they’re safe provided they retain their documents for this period.
However, if the IRS believes you have significantly underreported your income (by 25 percent or more), or believes there may be indication of fraud, it may go back six years in an audit. To be safe, use the following guidelines.
Create a Backup Set of Records and Store Them Electronically. Keeping a backup set of records – including, for example, bank statements, tax returns, insurance policies, etc. – is easier than ever now that many financial institutions provide statements and documents electronically, and much financial information is available on the Internet.
Even if the original records are provided only on paper, they can be scanned and converted to a digital format. Once the documents are in electronic form, taxpayers can download them to a backup storage device, such as an external hard drive, or burn them onto a CD or DVD (don’t forget to label it).
You might also consider online backup, which is the only way to ensure that data is fully protected. With online backup, files are stored in another region of the country, so that if a hurricane or other natural disaster occurs, documents remain safe.
Caution: Identity theft is a serious threat in today’s world, and it is important to take every precaution to avoid it. After it is no longer necessary to retain your tax records, financial statements, or any other documents with your personal information, you should dispose of these records by shredding them and not disposing of them by merely throwing them away in the trash.
- Correspondence with Customers and Vendors
- Duplicate Deposit Slips
- Purchase Orders (other than Purchasing Department copy)
- Receiving Sheets
- Requisitions
- Stenographer’s Notebooks
- Stockroom Withdrawal Forms
- Employee Personnel Records (after termination)
- Employment Applications
- Expired Insurance Policies
- General Correspondence
- Internal Audit Reports
- Internal Reports
- Petty Cash Vouchers
- Physical Inventory Tags
- Savings Bond Registration Records of Employees
- Timecards For Hourly Employees
- Accident Reports, Claims
- Accounts Payable Ledgers and Schedules
- Accounts Receivable Ledgers and Schedules
- Bank Statements and Reconciliations
- Cancelled Checks
- Cancelled Stock and Bond Certificates
- Employment Tax Records
- Expense Analysis and Expense Distribution Schedules
- Expired Contracts, Leases
- Expired Option Records
- Inventories of Products, Materials, Supplies
- Invoices to Customers
- Notes Receivable Ledgers, Schedules
- Payroll Records and Summaries, including payment to pensioners
- Plant Cost Ledgers
- Purchasing Department Copies of Purchase Orders
- Sales Records
- Subsidiary Ledgers
- Time Books
- Travel and Entertainment Records
- Vouchers for Payments to Vendors, Employees, etc.
- Voucher Register, Schedules
While federal guidelines do not require you to keep tax records “forever,” in many cases there will be other reasons you’ll want to retain these documents indefinitely.
- Audit Reports from CPAs/Accountants
- Cancelled Checks for Important Payments (especially tax payments)
- Cash Books, Charts of Accounts
- Contracts, Leases Currently in Effect
- Corporate Documents (incorporation, charter, by-laws, etc.)
- Documents substantiating fixed asset additions
- Deeds
- Depreciation Schedules
- Financial Statements (Year End)
- General and Private Ledgers, Year End Trial Balances
- Insurance Records, Current Accident Reports, Claims, Policies
- Investment Trade Confirmations
- IRS Revenue Agents’ Reports
- Journals
- Legal Records, Correspondence and Other Important Matters
- Minute Books of Directors and Stockholders
- Mortgages, Bills of Sale
- Property Appraisals by Outside Appraisers
- Property Records
- Retirement and Pension Records
- Tax Returns and Worksheets
- Trademark and Patent Registrations
- Bank Statements
- Paycheck Stubs (reconcile with W-2)
- Canceled checks
- Monthly and quarterly mutual fund and retirement contribution statements (reconcile with year-end statement)
- Credit Card Statements
- Medical Bills (in case of insurance disputes)
- Utility Records
- Expired Insurance Policies
- Supporting Documents for Tax Returns
- Accident Reports and Claims
- Medical Bills (if tax-related)
- Property Records / Improvement Receipts
- Sales Receipts
- Wage Garnishments
- Other Tax-Related Bills
- CPA Audit Reports
- Legal Records
- Important Correspondence
- Income Tax Returns
- Income Tax Payment Checks
- Investment Trade Confirmations
- Retirement and Pension Records
- Car Records (keep until the car is sold)
- Credit Card Receipts (keep with your credit card statement)
- Insurance Policies (keep for the life of the policy)
- Mortgages / Deeds / Leases (keep 6 years beyond the agreement)
- Pay Stubs (keep until reconciled with your W-2)
- Property Records / improvement receipts (keep until property sold)
- Sales Receipts (keep for life of the warranty)
- Stock and Bond Records (keep for 6 years beyond selling)
- Warranties and Instructions (keep for the life of the product)
- Other Bills (keep until payment is verified on the next bill)
- Depreciation Schedules and Other Capital Asset Records (keep for 3 years after the tax life of the asset)