We are dedicated to keeping clients abreast of the latest developments and tax-saving strategies. This section includes a library of hundreds of timely articles about business, taxes, finances, trends and the like. The articles are categorized by subject matter, which can be accessed from the links. Click on your topic of interest and find a wealth of information.

BUSINESS TOPICS

This section includes frequently encountered topics relating to small businesses. It discusses business deductions, how to avoid underpayment penalties, 1099s and much more.

New Employee Hiring Incentives: The “Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act of 2010,” more commonly referred to as the “Hire” Act, was passed by Congress and recently signed into law by the President. The Act provides employers with incentives to hire unemployed...
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Tax Credits for Small Employers Offering Health Coverage: The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act provides a tax credit for an eligible small employer (ESE) for nonelective contributions to purchase health insurance for its employees. The term "nonelective contribution" means an employer contribution...
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What Happens When I Default on a Business Loan?: What does it mean to default on a loan?A loan default is the failure to meet the financial obligations indicated in the loan agreement that is signed by you and your lender. Often, a loan default translates into the business owner's inability to pay their...
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When 1099s Must Be Filed: If you use independent contractors to perform services for your business or rental and you pay them $600 or more for the year, you are required to issue them a Form 1099 at the end of the year to avoid facing the loss of the deduction for their labor...
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Avoiding Underpayment Penalties: Congress considers our tax system as a "pay-as-you-go" system. To facilitate that concept, the government has provided several means of assisting taxpayers in meeting the "pay-as-you-go" requirement. These include: Payroll withholding for employers;...
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Looking for Business Tax Deductions? Look No Further Than Your Business Vehicle!: With all the recent changes in the tax laws and regulations, the options for deducting the business use of a vehicle are both numerous and generous. In fact, there are so many options that some can easily be overlooked. Note: When a vehicle is used both...
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Mixing Business With Pleasure: It is not coincidental that most conventions are held in resort areas during the spring through early fall months. Convention planners know quite well that convention timing and location is the key to its success. If planned properly, attendees can deduct...
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Self-Employed Education Twists: Self-employed taxpayers should consider their options carefully when it comes to applying tax benefits for their own education tuition and expenses. Tax law provides multiple ways to benefit from the educational expenses and one may provide more benefit...
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Employing a Family Member: Another way to reduce the overall family tax bill is by employing family members to work in your business by shifting income to them and providing them with employment benefits. Employing your Spouse. Reasonable wages paid to your spouse entitles...
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Health Insurance for the Self-Employed: Becoming self-employed means leaving the comfort of affordable and easily obtainable health insurance. The following tips may save you some of the frustration you may encounter as a self-employed individual in the market for health insurance.Do your homework....
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Health Savings Accounts Offer Tax Breaks: A Health Savings Account (HSA) is a trust account into which tax-deductible contributions can be made by qualified taxpayers who have high deductible medical insurance plans. Income earned on the HSA balance is tax-free. The funds from these accounts...
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Using Home Equity for Business Needs: Small business owners frequently find it difficult to obtain financing for their businesses without pledging personal assets. With home mortgage interest rates at historic lows, tapping into your home equity is a tempting alternative, but one with tax...
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Thinking About Incorporating?: The decision on whether or not to incorporate involves a number of complicated issues. All too often, taxpayers make unwise decisions based on misconceptions of tax benefits available to corporate entities. It is not uncommon at social gatherings to overhear...
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Protecting Yourself Against "Internet Viruses": As the Internet grows in popularity, your chances of receiving a virus over the Internet increases as your volume of transmission increases. Don't let the fear of acquiring a virus inhibit your use of this fast-growing and valuable technology. Established...
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Which is Best - Keogh or SEP?: Retirement plans available to a self-employed individual vary from the very fundamental to the complex variety, which require the services of professional pension plan administrators. Among the plans available are the Keogh, SEP, and Defined Benefit and...
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Leave Your Business to Your Family - Not the Government: Successfully passing a family business to the family upon death of the owner is not an easy task. Most business owners fail to realize the importance of a sound business succession plan. As a result, only about half of all family businesses are transferred...
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Lodging Expense Requires Substantiation: Self-employed individuals who pay for lodging expenses while away from home on business can deduct these lodging expenses only if they are substantiated in full (record of time, place, amount, and business purpose, plus paid bills or receipts). The expenses...
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Luxury Car Rules May Limit Vehicle Write-Offs: Unfortunately, if you deduct actual expenses for business use of your car, you probably find your write-offs for depreciation restricted due to so-called luxury car limitations. And most any cars (including trucks or vans) fit the IRS definition of a...
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Keep Track of Meal & Entertainment Expenses: When looking for deductions to add to your taxes, don’t overlook your meal and entertainment expenses. These types of expenses must be “ordinary” and “necessary” to your business or trade and must be “directly related...
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Start-Up and Organizational Costs: Business owners – especially those operating small businesses – may be helped by a recent tax law change allowing them to deduct up to $5,000 of the start-up expenses in the first year of the business’ operation. This is in lieu of amortizing...
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Special Rules for Business Use of SUVs: Many of today’s sport utility vehicles that are more than 6,000 pounds in gross weight are not subject to the luxury auto rules. Owners using these vehicles for business are able to utilize both the Sec 179 expense deduction and regular depreciation....
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Preparing for an Unexpected Disaster: The recent hurricanes, tsunamis, and terrorist attacks make it clear that even smaller companies are not immune to an unexpected loss. What can you do to prepare and minimize your risk to ensure that such a disaster won’t run you out of business?Unplanned...
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When Business Property Must Be Depreciated: Whenever property is purchased for business use in a business and that property has a useful life of more than one year, its cost must be deducted over its useful life. This accounting procedure is referred to as depreciation. The number of years the...
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Do You Need a Business Plan?: Business plans are used primarily for raising capital and guiding growth. Not everyone who starts and runs a business begins with a business plan, but it certainly helps to have one. If you are seeking funding from a venture capitalist, bank, or other...
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Is It a Business or Hobby?: In general, taxpayers may deduct ordinary and necessary expenses for conducting a trade or business. An ordinary expense is an expense that is common and accepted in the taxpayer’s trade or business. A necessary expense is one that is appropriate...
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Don’t Overlook Form 8594 When Buying or Selling a Business: Most businesses are made up of different types of assets, and those assets get different treatment for tax purposes. How those items are identified at the time of the sale/purchase can have a significant tax impact on both the buyer and the seller. A...
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Are Big-Name Customers Good for Your Business?: When prospecting for new customers, it is usually very positive to note that most businesses already have one or more "big-name" customers in their stable. The prospect will likely believe that the large company chose them based on their superior products...
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Planning - The Key to Business Success: It takes careful planning to keep a business successful. What many family business owners fail to realize is that a succession plan is a necessity, not an option. There are many ways to hand down the business to the next generation, but your main objective...
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Self-Employed Pension Plan Contribution Limits: Tax laws provide for plans that allow self-employed individuals to establish retirement plans for themselves and their employees, if they have any. Those most frequently encountered are the SEP (Simplified Employee Pension) and Keogh Profit Sharing Plans....
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Starting Up a Pension Plan – You May Get a Tax Credit!: If you are considering establishing a qualified pension plan for your business, you may be entitled to the “small employer pension start-up credit.” Eligible small employers that adopt a new plan, such as a 401(k), SIMPLE plan, or simplified...
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Spouses May Elect Out of Partnership Rules: Included in the Small Business and Work Opportunity Act of 2007 is a provision that allows a husband and wife who file a joint return to elect out of the partnership rules. Thus, a joint venture between them is not treated as a partnership for tax purposes....
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Employee or Independent Contractor?: If you are a small business owner, whether you hire people as independent contractors or as employees will impact the amount of taxes you withhold from their paychecks, as well as how much and what types of taxes you pay. Furthermore, it will affect...
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Are Employee Background Checks Right for You?: In a world where 30% of applicants give false or misleading information about their backgrounds, adding employee background checks to the hiring process is the employer’s first line of defense in hiring good people, and possibly avoiding negligent...
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Watch Out For Payroll Outsourcing Hazards: In a recent tax court case, an employer (and not the employer’s payroll service provider) was ultimately held responsible for the payment of income tax withholding and the employee and employer portions of the Social Security and Medicare taxes....
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Employer’s Federal Recordkeeping Requirements: Under IRS regulations, employment tax records must be maintained for at least four years after the later of the due date of the tax for the return period to which the records relate, or the date the tax is paid. The records should include the following...
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Employee Incentive Awards are Taxable Fringes: If you, as an employer, provide incentives as a way to award top-performing employees for extraordinary accomplishments, you need to keep in mind that they are considered taxable fringe benefits. Thus, awards such as merchandise or a vacation trip are...
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Reasonable Compensation: The two primary ways of taking money out of a corporation is as compensation for work or as a dividend; each has different tax consequences. Salaries and bonuses are deductible by the corporation and taxable to the recipient employee, whereas dividends...
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Tax Law Expands and Extends the Work Opportunity Tax Credit: Employers can qualify for a tax credit known as the work opportunity tax credit (WOTC) that is worth as much as $2,400 for each eligible employee (higher amounts for certain veterans and others special categories). The credit is available on an elective...
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Domestic Production Deduction: The domestic production deduction was created to encourage manufacturing and production within the U.S., and at times is confusing, but it provides a beneficial business deduction equal to 6% of the lesser of net income from qualified production activities...
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Can You Write Off a Bad Debt?: Most small businesses have receivables that cannot be collected. These receivables can be from the sale of products, providing services to customers, or a combination of the two. Whether or not a bad debt deduction will apply generally depends upon which...
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Unique Expense Issues: During the year, we encounter a variety of questions regarding what expenses are legitimate for business purposes. Below are three questions that we are frequently asked, along with the answers.Q1 – If a company sponsors an amateur sports team by...
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Marketing and Advertising Expenses: Although marketing and advertising is generally thought of in terms of print ads, flyers and radio and television advertising, they also can include marketing that is intended to portray your business positively. Such marketing creates a long-term potential...
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Home Office Expenses of a Small Business Organized as a Corporation: Many entrepreneurs and professionals have found it convenient and cost-effective to set up their office or practice in an area in their home. There is no commute time or overhead expenses, and they don’t have to worry about paying someone else office...
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Law Allows Faster Write-Off of Business Assets for 2010: Section 179 Expensing – Code Section 179 allows taxpayers to elect to treat the cost of Section 179 property as an expense deduction for the tax year in which the Section 179 property is placed in service, instead of having to capitalize the expense...
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