Handling a Small Business Subcontracting Plan
If your U.S. government contract or subcontract contains requirements for a Small Business Subcontracting Plan, you have contractually agreed to maintain specific records for subcontracts resulting in an award of more than $150,000 when acquiring goods and services in performance of the contract. Any contractor receiving a contract for more than the simplified acquisition threshold…
Maintain a Healthy Cash Flow
In today’s economic environment, one major concern for businesses is maintaining a healthy cash flow. If your company is feeling the squeeze of a tight economy — and tight credit — its ability to manage cash flow is critical. Enterprises that successfully practice good cash management generally survive and prosper. Those that don’t are likely…
To Retain Top Talent, Adopt Total Compensation Statements
Do your workers understand the full extent of the contributions you make to their financial security? Employees understand the cash compensation they receive each payday. But studies show that few workers grasp just how much their employer pays into health insurance, pension plans, employer matches, group wellness plans, employee assistance plans and other costly workplace…
A Tax-Smart Strategy: Hire Your Spouse
If you are married and run your business as a sole proprietorship (or as a single-member LLC treated as a sole proprietorship for federal tax purposes), it can be a tax-smart move to hire your spouse as an employee. Then, provide most or all of his or her compensation in the form of payments from…
Cost Accounting Standards: Making a Solicitation Certification Choice
Are you making the correct selections for Cost Accounting Standards coverage when responding to U.S. government contract or subcontract requests for proposals (RFPs)? It is not uncommon to inadvertently make the wrong selections. The language in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) solicitation clause at FAR 52.230-1, Cost Accounting Standards Notices and Certification, does not, in…
Seniors: Consider These Tax Breaks When Filing for 2016
Are you an “experienced” taxpayer? Here are a couple of age-based tax breaks that seniors shouldn’t overlook when filing their 2016 returns. 1. Claim Your Rightful Medical Expense Deductions If you’re 65 years of age or older, you may have fallen into the habit of automatically claiming the standard deduction instead of itemizing your deductions….
Tax Consequences of Borrowing From a Retirement Plan
If you participate in a qualified retirement plan through your job or self employment — such as a 401(k), profit-sharing, or Keogh plan — you might be allowed to borrow from the account. (The borrowing option is not available for traditional IRAs, Roth IRAs, SEPs or SIMPLE-IRAs.) In the right circumstances, taking out a plan…
Hand Off Your Software Management
If your organization owns and manages its own software applications, you are likely aware of — and possibly fed up with — the huge costs involved in purchasing, installing, integrating and updating that technology. Fortunately, there’s an alternative that has become increasingly attractive to small and medium-sized businesses: Hiring someone else to do it all…
Defaulting on Retirement Plan Loans May Cause Taxable Distributions
In one decision, the U.S. Tax Court concluded that the IRS was correct in determining that a taxpayer who failed to make timely payments on loans from her employer’s qualified retirement plan defaulted on the loans and received deemed taxable distributions from the plan. As a result, the taxpayer owed federal income tax and the…
Remember RMDs This Tax Season
Did you know that, once you turn age 70½, you must start taking mandatory annual withdrawals from your traditional IRAs, including any simplified employee pension (SEP) accounts and SIMPLE IRAs that you set up as a small business owner? These mandatory IRA payouts are called required minimum distributions (RMDs). And there’s a stiff penalty if…