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Update on depreciating business assets
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act liberalized the rules for depreciating business assets. However, the amounts change every year due to inflation adjustments. And due to high inflation, the adjustments for 2023 were big. Here are the numbers that small business owners need to...
Investment swings: What’s the tax impact?
If your investments have fluctuated wildly this year, you may have already recognized some significant gains and losses. But nothing is decided tax-wise until year end when the final results of your trades will reveal your 2023 tax situation. Here’s what you need to...
Plan now for year-end gifts with the gift tax annual exclusion
Now that Labor Day has passed, the holidays are just around the corner. Many people may want to make gifts of cash or stock to their loved ones. By properly using the annual exclusion, gifts to family members and loved ones can reduce the size of your taxable estate,...
4 best practices for effective strategic planning meetings
It’s not uncommon for employees to grumble about having to attend too many meetings. Sometimes they have a point; an excessive number of meetings can become a problem at some companies. However, there’s one kind of meeting that business owners and their leadership...
Could your business benefit from interim financial reporting?
When many business owners see the term “financial reporting,” they immediately think of their year-end financial statements. And, indeed, properly prepared financial statements generated at least once a year are critical. But engaging in other types of financial...
Reviewing and adjusting your marketing strategy
As summer slips away and fall shuffles forth, business owners and their leadership teams might want to take a look at the overall marketing strategy they’ve pursued this year. How’s yours doing? It may not be entirely too late to make some adjustments to ensure your...
Divorcing business owners should pay attention to the tax consequences
If you’re getting a divorce, you know the process is generally filled with stress. But if you’re a business owner, tax issues can complicate matters even more. Your business ownership interest is one of your biggest personal assets and in many cases, your marital...
Selling your home for a big profit? Here are the tax rules
Many homeowners across the country have seen their home values increase in recent years. According to the National Association of Realtors, the median price of existing homes sold in July of 2023 rose 1.9% over July of 2022 after a couple years of much higher...
Look carefully at three critical factors of succession planning
The day-to-day demands of running a business can make it difficult to think about the future. And by “future,” we’re not necessarily talking about how your tax liability will look at year-end or how you might grow the bottom line over the next five years. We’re...
The tax consequences of employer-provided life insurance
If your employer provides life insurance, you probably find it to be a desirable fringe benefit. However, if group term life insurance is part of your benefits package, and the coverage is higher than $50,000, there may be undesirable income tax implications. You’re...
Guaranteeing a loan to your corporation? There may be tax implications
Let’s say you decide to, or are asked to, guarantee a loan to your corporation. Before agreeing to act as a guarantor, endorser or indemnitor of a debt obligation of your closely held corporation, be aware of the possible tax implications. If your corporation defaults...
Cost containment: An important health care benefits objective for businesses
As the Fed continues to do battle with inflation, and with fears of a recession not quite going away, companies have been keeping a close eye on the costs of their health insurance and pharmacy coverage. If you’re facing higher costs for health care benefits this...
Planning ahead for 2024: Should your 401(k) help employees with emergencies?
The SECURE 2.0 law, which was enacted last year, contains wide-ranging changes to retirement plans. One provision in the law is that eligible employers will soon be able to provide more help to staff members facing emergencies. This will be done through what the law...
Disabled family members may be able to benefit from ABLE accounts
If you have family members with disabilities, there may be a tax-advantaged way to save for their needs — without having them lose eligibility for the government benefits to which they’re entitled. It can be done though an Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE)...
Can you deduct student loan interest on your tax return?
The federal student loan “pause” is coming to an end on August 31 after more than three years. If you have student loan debt, you may wonder whether you can deduct the interest you pay on your tax return. The answer may be yes, subject to certain limits. The deduction...
5 tips for more easily obtaining cyberinsurance
Every business should dedicate time and resources to cybersecurity. Hackers are out there, in many cases far across the globe, and they’re on the prowl for vulnerable companies. These criminals typically strike at random — doing damage to not only a business’s ability...
Should your business add a PTO buying feature to its cafeteria plan?
With the pandemic behind us and a red-hot summer in full swing, many of your company’s employees may be finally rediscovering the uninhibited joys of vacation. Your workers might be having so much fun, in fact, that they might highly value being able to buy even more...
The advantages of using an LLC for your small business
If you operate your small business as a sole proprietorship, you may have thought about forming a limited liability company (LLC) to protect your assets. Or maybe you’re launching a new business and want to know your options for setting it up. Here are the basics of...
Pocket a tax break for making energy-efficient home improvements
An estimated 190 million Americans have recently been under heat advisory alerts, according to the National Weather Service. That may have spurred you to think about making your home more energy efficient — and there’s a cool tax break that may apply. Thanks to the...
A tax-smart way to develop and sell appreciated land
Let’s say you own highly appreciated land that’s now ripe for development. If you subdivide it, develop the resulting parcels and sell them off for a hefty profit, it could trigger a large tax bill. In this scenario, the tax rules generally treat you as a real estate...