Year-End Tax Planning Moves for Small Businesses
It’s hard to believe 2019 is almost over! It’s been a busy year in many sectors, often forcing small business owners to put tax planning on the back burner while they’ve tended to daily business operations. But procrastinate no longer. Consider the following moves to lower your 2019 business tax bill before ringing in the…
A Strategic Plan Should Also Include a Succession Plan
Many small businesses prepare — and regularly update — a strategic plan, but many overlook this important task. Whether your business falls into the “have” or a “have-not” category, a strategic plan can be an invaluable resource to help your company accomplish its ultimate objectives. And part of this process involves having a succession or…
Outsourcing: Eight Steps to Help Mitigate Risks
The outsourcing of business processes has helped numerous companies improve their financial performance, as well as increase customer satisfaction. In extreme circumstances, outsourcing can literally ensure a company’s survival. However, it can involve a number of risks. In order to determine if outsourcing makes sense for your organization, consider taking the following steps: Identify and…
Your Provisional Billing Rates
Do you have approved provisional billing rates for your interim billing and financing on your US government contracts? The contract clause in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 52.216-7, Allowable Cost and Payment, is included in your cost reimbursable contracts. Paragraph (e) of this clause provides that: Until final annual indirect cost rates are established for…
Attracting Donor-Advised Funds
The popularity of donor-advised funds (DAFs) has surged in recent years, and DAFs increasingly are considered vital to the success of not-for-profit organizations. If you haven’t already, you should learn about how DAFs work so that you can position your nonprofit to benefit from these charitable-giving vehicles. How DAFs are Managed Generally, DAF accounts are…
What States are Saying About Gender Pay Discrimination in Hiring
According to the American Bar Association (ABA) Gender-based wage discrimination remains a pernicious problem in the workplace despite enactment over 50 years ago of the Equal Pay Act (EPA), which made it illegal for employers to pay unequal wages to men and women in the same workplace who perform substantially equal work. Common explanations for…
Want to Boost Smaller Donations? Go Online
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) has had a dampening effect on charitable contributions, especially from low-to-moderate income donors. Under the TCJA, it’s more advantageous for many taxpayers to take the standard deduction than itemizing deductions as they might have in the past. Claiming the standard deduction means they receive no tax benefit for…
Working Capital: A Potential Valuation Sleeper
Working capital is sometimes overlooked in determining the value of a business. But it can have a material effect on value, so it’s important to remember. A business’s working capital equals the difference between its current assets and current liabilities. When the value of a business is determined under either the income or the market…
Inheriting Money? Considerations for Handling It
After receiving an inheritance, you need to determine how to incorporate those assets, whether stocks, bonds, real estate or some other asset, into your finances. Consider these points during the process: Determine what you will receive and when. Inheritances typically don’t come in the form of one check. You’re likely to receive the inheritance in…
Year-End Strategies to Reduce Adjusted Gross Income
Reducing your current-year adjusted gross income (AGI) is usually a tax-smart idea. Here are ten ways to reduce your AGI (and modified AGI) over the short and long run. Closeup on AGI AGI equals all taxable income items minus selected deductions for such items as deductible IRA and retirement plan contributions and alimony payments required…