Please go home: The problem businesses face with presenteeism
What keeps business owners up at night? Many would say sluggish productivity or escalating expenses. An employee coming to work every day usually doesn’t make the list. But a staff member who never takes a day off can cause problems by showing up sick, distracted or too stressed out to be effective. There’s a name […]
Fair value reporting: What it means to the FASB and you
In 2002, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), as part of its move toward international financial reporting convergence, began to transition from the principle of historic cost to fair value reporting. Fair value estimates are now used to report such assets as derivatives, nonpublic entity securities, certain long-lived assets, and acquired goodwill and other intangibles. […]
Do you qualify for a moving expense deduction?
Tax impact of investor vs. trader status
If you invest, whether you’re considered an investor or a trader can have a significant impact on your tax bill. Do you know the difference? Investors Most people who trade stocks are classified as investors for tax purposes. This means any net gains are treated as capital gains rather than ordinary income. That’s good if […]
How does a “charitable IRA rollover” in 2016 affect your taxes?
Last year a break valued by many charitably inclined retirees was made permanent: the charitable IRA rollover. If you’re age 70½ or older, you can make direct contributions — up to $100,000 annually — from your IRA to qualified charitable organizations without owing any income tax on the distributions. Satisfy your RMD A charitable IRA […]
Streamline your sales staff’s workflow
Do you know how much time your salespeople spend actually selling? In many cases, sales reps spend too much time doing reporting, administrative tasks and other nonsales responsibilities assigned to them. If you can streamline your sales staff’s workflow to keep them better focused on selling, your profitability may benefit. Emphasize strengths To get started, […]
How can your business make the most of the cloud?
Like many companies, yours probably stores at least some of its business files, documents and information in “the cloud.” This is the widely used term referring to the seemingly infinite data storage capacity of the Internet. Using the cloud generally means lower IT costs, because you don’t have to deploy a lot of expensive hardware […]
The Strain on Social Security
Lower gas costs = lower business driving tax deductions
This year, the optional standard mileage rate used to calculate the deductible costs of operating an automobile for business went down. The reason? Compared with last year, the cost of driving is less because gas prices are lower. Two options If you use a vehicle for business, you can generally deduct the actual expenses attributable […]
Help retain employees with tax-free fringe benefits
One way your business can find and keep valuable employees is to offer an attractive compensation package. Fringe benefits are an important incentive — especially those that are tax-free. Here’s a rundown of some common perks and their tax implications. • Medical coverage. If you maintain a health care plan for employees, coverage under the […]
