A great deal of attention is paid to individual tax identity theft — when a taxpayer’s personal information (including Social Security number) is used to fraudulently obtain a refund or commit other crimes. But businesses can also be victims of tax identity theft. Significant consequences Business tax...
Are you thinking about turning a business trip into a family vacation this summer? This can be a great way to fund a portion of your vacation costs. But if you’re not careful, you could lose the tax benefits of business travel. Reasonable and necessary Generally, if...
If you’ve built up a large estate and are eager to share your wealth with your children, you may be concerned about their ability to handle it. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to help ensure they won’t blow through their inheritance at a...
Businesses fail for many reasons — dysfunctional management, insufficient working capital, insurmountable competition. Why they succeed, on the other hand, is often easily explained. Regardless of size and sector, most healthy companies share the following three characteristics when it comes to their financials: 1. Ample revenue You’ve...
Auditors reconsider the “going concern” assumption every time they audit your financial statements. When your company’s long-term viability is doubtful, it may cause the auditor to issue a qualified audit opinion. Depending on the level of uncertainty and the underlying reasons, a qualified opinion could...
If you have incomplete or missing records and get audited by the IRS, your business will likely lose out on valuable deductions. Here are two recent U.S. Tax Court cases that help illustrate the rules for documenting deductions. Case 1: Insufficient records In the first case, the...
It’s common for parents, grandparents and others to make gifts to minors and college students. Perhaps you want to help fund education expenses or simply remove assets from your taxable estate. Or maybe you’re hoping to shift income into a lower tax bracket. Whatever the...
It’s natural that your estate planning efforts focus on big-ticket items, such as real estate, business interests, retirement assets and brokerage accounts. But don’t ignore the “small stuff,” like artwork, jewelry, furniture, antiques, clothing and collectibles. These items may not be as insignificant as you...
When looking to manage benefits costs, employers have many ideas to consider. One in particular is whether and how to offer health care insurance to their employees’ spouses. The Affordable Care Act doesn’t require spousal coverage. It only requires coverage for dependent children. But many employees...
Both public and private companies can elect to use “pushdown” accounting when there’s a merger, acquisition or other change-in-control event. What does this mean — and when might this alternative reporting method be advantageous? Understanding your options Pushdown accounting refers to the practice of adjusting an acquired...