Month: February 2014
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A practical approach to bitcoin for regular people
Today I set up an account on Coinbase so that I can conduct transactions in bitcoin. If you don’t know what either of those terms means, there is probably no point in continuing to read further. But if you are aware of bitcoin and might have been wondering whether “regular people” should be involved, this…
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Review of my data backup plan: everyone should have one!
Everyone should have a data backup plan with built-in redundancy that anticipates human error and known risks. Those who do not, it seems to me, always eventually wind up losing data. I’ve lost important data over the years including legal and financial records and family digital photos so I feel like I’ve learned the hard…
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Turning Point for Success
“I found every single successful person I’ve ever spoken to had a turning point. The turning point was when they made a clear, specific unequivocal decision that they were going to achieve success. Some people make that decision at 15 and some people make it at 50, and most people never make it at all.”…
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Surviving spouses have a new tax saving tool
Summary of Rev.Proc. 2014-18 This revenue procedure provides a simplified method for certain taxpayers with spouse deceased in the last three years to obtain an extension of time under § 301.9100-3 of the Procedure and Administration Regulations to make a “portability” election under § 2010(c)(5)(A) of the Internal Revenue Code (Code), by which a decedent’s…
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R.I.P. Tony Novak
Updated 12/14/2017 to reflect another “Tony Novak”, a younger attorney with Larson King in Minnesota, occasionally appearing in searches, obviously not the attorney mentioned in my post below. I suppose that most of us have at least Googled our own name. Those of us who are involved in brand-building around a name as part of a…
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Relief to small businesses that use safe harbor provisions in their employee benefit plans
This excerpt by Cohen and Clark as printed in Employee Benefit News explains IRS’s new standard on softening of the allowance to suspend employer contributions to plans during difficult business conditions: “The final regulations modify the “substantial business hardship” standard for suspending or reducing safe harbor nonelective contributions, replacing that standard with an “operating at…
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Make your tax return filing a profitable project
A common question this time of year is “how much does it cost to have my tax return prepared?” But a good accountant specifically experienced in the tax planning allows the question to be turned around to say “How much will I save by having my tax return prepared?”. The bottom line: if tax prep…
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NFL players recite Declaration of Independence
glad to see NFL players recite excerpts from the Declaration of Independence. I am reminded of the strength of these words: “When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the…