Four basic principles of small business bookkeeping
a quick look at the most basic legal and operational principles of modern bookkeeping.
Category: Accounting
Update on new Bitcoin reporting requirement
This blog post uses “Bitcoin” in the title that actually could refer to all types of virtual currency. On December 23, 2020 the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) issued a notice of proposed rules that would require money service businesses (“MSBs”) to keep records and submit reports that verify the identity of customers involved in […]
January 2021 Paycheck Protection Program update
This information reposted from the Journal of Accountancy: The SBA and Treasury issued guidance late Wednesday night (1/6/2021) for the new PPP, which shares many of the same rules as the old PPP but also has some significant differences. The guidance came in the form of three documents: An 82-page interim final rule (IFR) called “Business Loan […]
4 new concerns for small business owners
(The short Facebook Live presentation of this topic is published at https://fb.watch/2Y8-AzhgVE/ ). Here’s where we are in the small business world today based on brand new developments in the past month. It does not inspire confidence for a smooth start to 2021: 1) SBA’s special priority small business PPP application acceptance processing period begins […]
My most popular blog posts are trending toward advisory topics
Over more than three decades I’ve published over 2,500 pieces of writing on topics related to small businesses. Most of them are compiled here on this web site. Now we call them blog posts. When I started we called them ‘columns’ or ‘articles’ in paper format. Some were republished in electronic format, others were not. […]
How to resolve a tax dispute
About one in four of us will receive notification from a tax collection authority about a missing payment or dispute in the amount of taxes due. Most of these are “mismatch” issues where the information that the tax authority has does not match the information on the tax returns that you filed. The mismatch may […]
Tooth Fairy Syndrome
Young children believe in fairy tales like the tooth fairy. Despite having no direct evidence of the tooth fairy’s existence, they believe what other children and adults tell them. They are told the false logic that the result they see (money under their pillow) is proof that the tooth fairy exists. We don’t fault young […]
Goodbye to the decade of disillusion
I am happy to say goodbye to the decade that lowered my expectations of the future of humanity. I had allowed past events to create the illusion that we were advancing beyond ignorance as the standard of society. Ten years ago I believed that more information would inevitably lead to enlightenment. That proved wrong. We […]
2021 plans
I won’t be saying “Happy New Year” today but I will be sharing my plans to make it a better year ahead. Hoping you do the same. There is strength in community. My plans to make 2021 a better year:1) Focus on improving the level of my personal communications that will lead to deeper relationships […]
Are small Paypal or Venmo payments reported to IRS?
Paypal and Venmo are clear in explaining their legal requirement to report to the IRS amounts over $20,000 or 200 transactions. But what about amounts under $20,000 and less than 200 transactions? The common questions are: “What if I don’t remember? How will the IRS even know?”. The key issue is that business taxpayers who […]