Latest posts
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Setting Up a Health Savings Account for Your Small Business
Given the escalating cost of employee health care benefits, your business may be interested in providing some of these benefits through an employer-sponsored Health Savings Account (HSA). For eligible individuals, HSAs offer a tax-advantaged way to set aside funds (or have their employers do so) to meet future medical needs. Here are the key tax…
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Accelerate Depreciation Deductions With a Cost Segregation Study
Is your business depreciating over a 30-year period the entire cost of constructing the building that houses your operation? If so, you should consider a cost segregation study. It may allow you to accelerate depreciation deductions on certain items, thereby reducing taxes and boosting cash flow. And under current law, the potential benefits of a…
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Thinking About Converting From a C Corporation to an S Corporation?
The right entity choice can make a difference in the tax bill you owe for your business. Although S corporations can provide substantial tax advantages over C corporations in some circumstances, there are plenty of potentially expensive tax problems that you should assess before making the decision to convert from a C corporation to an…
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Small Businesses: Stay Clear of a Severe Payroll Tax Penalty
One of the most laborious tasks for small businesses is managing payroll. But it’s critical that you not only withhold the right amount of taxes from employees’ paychecks but also that you pay them over to the federal government on time. If you willfully fail to do so, you could personally be hit with the…
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Small Businesses: Get Ready for Your 1099-MISC Reporting Requirements
A month after the new year begins, your business may be required to comply with rules to report amounts paid to independent contractors, vendors and others. You may have to send 1099-MISC forms to those whom you pay nonemployee compensation, as well as file copies with the IRS. This task can be time consuming and…
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Engage Supporters With Your Nonprofit’s Annual Report
Some of your not-for-profit’s communications are of interest only to a select group of your supporters. But your organization’s annual report is for all stakeholders — donors, grantmakers, clients, volunteers, watchdog groups and the government. Some report elements are nonnegotiable, such as financial statements. But you also have plenty of creative license to make your…
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Need to Know: Give Your Nonprofit’s Board the Right Information
To properly fulfill their fiduciary duties, your not-for-profit’s board needs certain information. And it’s up to the executive director and managers to ensure they have it. This doesn’t mean you have to share every internal email, memo or phone message. Board members are busy and you don’t want to bog them down with superfluous reading…
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How the EU’s Data Protection Regulations Might Affect U.S. Nonprofits
Your not-for-profit may have paid little attention to the European Union’s (EU’s) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which took effect May 25, 2018. The GDPR revises standards for privacy rights, information security and compliance in the EU. Yet it might also apply to U.S.-based organizations, such as your not-for-profit. Big steps beyond GDPR requirements are…
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Accounting for Contributions and Grants is Now Easier
Accounting for contributions and grants has often proven complicated for not-for-profits, especially when they come with donor-imposed conditions. But 2018 guidance from the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) provided some much-needed clarification of earlier instructions. Provider factor Traditionally, nonprofits have taken varying approaches to characterizing grants and similar contracts as exchange transactions (also known as…
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Watch Out for Tax-Related Scams
“Thousands of people have lost millions of dollars and their personal information to tax scams,” according to the IRS. Criminals can contact victims through regular mail, telephone calls and email messages. Here are just two of the scams the tax agency has seen in recent months. Fake property liens. A tax bill is sent from…
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Use a Coverdell ESA to Help Pay College, Elementary and Secondary School Costs
There are several ways to save for your child’s or grandchild’s education, including with a Coverdell Education Savings Account (ESA). Although for federal tax purposes there’s no upfront deduction for contributions made to an ESA, the earnings on the contributions grow tax-free. In addition, no tax is due when the funds in the account are…
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Selling Securities by Year End? Avoid the Wash Sale Rule
If you’re planning to sell assets at a loss to offset gains that have been realized during the year, it’s important to be aware of the “wash sale” rule. How the rule works Under this rule, if you sell stock or securities for a loss and buy substantially identical stock or securities back within the…