Monthly Archives February 2017

Learn the IRS Red Flags That Can Trigger an Audit

What triggers an IRS tax audit? While the IRS isn’t about to publish a list, there are a number of items that are known to raise the IRS’s interest in a return. What are your chances of being audited? For individuals, it depends on your income. In fiscal year 2013, returns reporting income of under $200,000 stood a 0.88 percent chance of an audit. Those with incomes of $200,000 and more had a 3.26 percent chance. And if your income was $1 million or more, you had a 10.85 percent chance. While audit rates were generally down in 2013 from
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Categories: Newsletter and Updates.

How S Corporations Can Save on Federal Employment Taxes

If you own an unincorporated small business, you may be getting fed up with high self-employment (SE) tax bills. One way to lower your SE tax liability is to convert your business to an S corporation. SE Tax Basics Sole proprietorship income as well as partnership income that flows through to partners (except certain limited partners) is subject to SE tax. These rules also apply to single-member limited liability companies (LLCs) that are treated as sole proprietorships for federal tax purposes and multimember LLCs that are treated as partnerships for federal tax purposes. For 2017, the maximum federal SE tax
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Categories: Newsletter and Updates.

Factoring Uncertainty into the Value of Your Business

Businesses currently face numerous uncertainties in the marketplace. As President Trump and Republican congressional leaders work toward fulfilling their campaign promises, tax laws could substantially change, the estate tax could be repealed, and various laws and regulations (including the Dodd-Frank and Affordable Care Acts) could be repealed or revised. Interest rates and inflation could both rise. Economic relationships with other countries could also change. Some of these changes could be good for your business, while others could have negative effects on the value of your business. History Lesson Business valuation professionals are no strangers to dealing with market uncertainties —
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Categories: Newsletter and Updates.

Leverage Benefits to Recruit and Retain Talent

It’s a lot more efficient to retain good employees than to find and hire new ones. The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) recently asked its members how they are adapting their employee benefit programs to avoid losing quality workers. Two-thirds of respondents in the study represent employers with fewer than 500 employees. SHRM’s “Strategic Benefits” study set the stage by asking employers how many are having a tough time retaining highly skilled employees. Fully 37% reported that this is a problem for them — up from 27% only four years ago. That challenge was more acute among self-described “high-tech”
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Categories: Newsletter and Updates.

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 you fail to take timely distributions. Unfortunately, taking RMDs also will cause you to report additional taxable income on your federal income tax return. This will increase your federal income tax liability and possibly your state income tax liability, if applicable. Here are the rules
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Categories: Newsletter and Updates.

Can a Creditor Go After Non-Probate Assets?

When someone dies, one of the first questions that close relatives usually have is whether they are personally responsible to pay the credit card bills of the decedent. They may even start getting telephone calls from creditors asking them to pay outstanding balances. Close relatives may also want to know: Who is responsible for paying the mortgage of the decedent? If they are entitled to inherit money, can they take their share regardless of the creditor? This article will discuss estate debt issues and the more specific issue of whether a creditor has a right to attach non-probate assets of
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Categories: Newsletter and Updates.