Author: Tony Novak
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Small Pennsylvania hospital story illustrates the need for reform
The worst of our healthcare system – and actually our entire economy – is illustrated in this news story of Ellwood City Hospital near Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. It is typical of smaller more rural hospital and health care facilities that historically relied on cash flow from wealthy nonprofit donors or government payments to keep its doors…
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Impact of the SECURE Act on business retirement plans
Ted Benna, called “the father of 401(k)s” was one of my first business mentors when I left Wall Street in 1997 and started my own firm serving small businesses in the Doylestown, Pennsylvania area. His comments today in ThinkAdviser on the impact of the new SECURE Act are ‘spot on’: • “Hopefully the operating efficiencies a…
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Why the changes to NJ S4202 ( employee vs contractor) are no big deal
Keep it simple: if you primarily provide your labor to someone for pay then you are an employee. If you run a licensed business, with typical business features like a business plan, advertising, business insurance, and pay business taxes then you likely work as an independent contractor. I’m aware that some people are making a…
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Technology opens the door to nonprofit success
Rapidly evolving business technology makes it easier, faster and less expensive for a nonprofit organization to pursue its goals. Technology can help spread the message, recruit new supporters and board members, expand the target audience and deepen communications within the stakeholder groups. But every new technology should be vetted for consideration of how it will…
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Small business sales tax update
I see evidence that some electronic payment processors are charging small business service providers even when no tax is due.
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Trump v. Vance Supreme Court case preview
Our matter-of-survival national crisis aside, this is an interesting legal case for Constitutional law hobbyists like me. To be clear, I blog on Supreme Court cases from time to time here as an interested hobbyist, not as an adviser and not meant to imply any level of expertise. Accounting Today did a great job of…
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Verizon Wireless cellular data throttling revisited
Today the news coverage of ATT’s $60 million fine for deliberately throttling cellular internet data raises new questions for me. I’ve covered the same issue with Verizon Wireless in detail here on my blog for years. The most recent blog post documenting the problem is here. Verizon Wireless admits to the practice of deliberate throttling.…
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A workers’ compensation insurance primer for small businesses
In the past many small businesses avoided carrying workers’ compensation insurance. In the future, more small firms will carry this insurance. This blog post is meant for small employers who are facing this issue for the first time. This is a big risk facing the smallest unsuspecting employers. What is changing? State laws have always…
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Accounting services engagement agreement – updated for 2020
This page is outdated. A more recent version is available: Sample accounting services engagement agreement 2021 Dear : Thank you for choosing me to help you with business services and accounting. This engagement agreement is meant to clarify the details of our work. Even though it is long, it is written in plain language for…
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IRS just got serious about cryptocurrency
The just-released draft copy of Form 1040 Schedule 1 that starts off with the question: “At any time during 2019, did you receive, sell, send, exchange, or otherwise acquire any financial interest in any virtual currency?” I’m sure much discussion will follow about the potential consequences of answering with a false negative. Responding with an affirmative,…