Category: Small Business
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Simplify the business of life
This blog title is a slogan used by the world’s most popular personal and small business software maker. For my purposes as an adviser, I’m using it here to refer to the accounting for essential financial transactions between an employer and employee: payroll, taxes and employee benefits. Small businesses have wide latitude in some areas of…
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Three changes to small business health plans for 2019
Small business employers who choose to offer health benefits to employees will find more options available in 2019 under rules proposed late last year for adaptation this year. The IRS and Treasury Department clarified that employers who meet other conditions will be allowed to offer reimbursement of individual health insurance on a tax-free basis. These…
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Five economic forecasts for small business in 2019
A decade ago I probably would have said that there is little value to a small business adviser in attempting macroeconomic and political forecasts. But over this most recent decade I’ve watched shifting macroeconomic conditions wipe out over two million dollars of personal net worth and put one of my businesses into idle for over…
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Small business payroll fees for 2019
I’m sending this email message to my smallest business payroll clients: In planning for 2019 services, I’ve noticed that payroll processing fees have risen sharply for me. This seems to be an industry trend apparently related to spreading out the cost of state and local tax compliance issues for some companies but doesn’t otherwise affect…
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Employee vs. Independent Contractor: protecting the small business employer
The question of independent contractor or an employee has long been a concern to small businesses. The IRS has changed its guidance significantly over the decades of my career. The most current IRS guidance is perhaps the most complex and subject to interpretation. In the small business world, classification as an independent contractor often result…
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Support for NJ minimum wage bill
Update: Thanks to all who supported this effort over the last several years. The $15 minimum wage proposal is now law in New Jersey. I took time this morning to write to the nine members of the NJ Assembly Labor Committee plus our own two Assemblymen and a local Chamber of Commerce that opposes the…
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How to upgrade your small business payroll in 3 easy steps
How to upgrade your small business payroll in 3 easy steps: Download and sign service agreement from tonynovak.com/payroll. If you have prior payroll this year, get a copy of the Year-To-Date reports. Upload these to the secure portal here. THAT’S IT! We’ll take it from there. At lease one phone call will be necessary to…
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Full small business service payroll now available at $30.00 per week
Update for 2022: prices are increased for most services but the concepts remain the same. Update: Independent accountants (like us) purchase these payroll processing services under a wholesale arrangement at a lower price and then add an amount to cover our own services. The end result is that it that pricing of payroll services is…
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Use of trade name triggers 24% backup withholding
A nonprofit company received notice from the IRS that it is to withhold 24% of the total on future payments to one of its major vendors as “backup withholding. Neither the vendor nor the nonprofit was happy with this burden! It turns out that even though the Taxpayer Identification Number was correct on the Form…
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What to expect when outsourcing small business payroll
I often mention to small business owners that one of the easy and surefire ways a small business can get improved level of service, save time and save money is to set up an outsourced payroll service. These are remote services; there is no need to be close to your business. Small businesses can easily…