Category: Small Business
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A ‘systems’ approach to business improvement
Looking for ways to improve your business? It can be overwhelming when you are in the middle of day-to-day operations. Business advisers suggest looking at a business as just a combination of systems. Then looking at each system separately can lead to opportunities to learn more and make improvements. I’m a strong advocate of the…
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Small business employee benefits under the Tax Cut and Jobs Act
This is the one version of an opening to a group of articles that I am preparing for specific industry or professional groups in my area of concentration: small business employee benefits planning. This version is for CPAs but other versions of the article will be appropriate for small business audiences. In the final weeks…
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Ways to improve response to email
This blog post was written after a week where I felt that responses to my warm emails (people I know or at least am a ‘contact’) and online messages. The tips are compiled from multiple sources. Use numbers. Keep it short. Use bullet points Use the word “because” Speak to value Make a clear ask Offer…
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How do you feel about 2018? (Nine reasons I’m feeling pretty good)
One of the tax writers I like to follow said today that she is “super worried about 2018”. I asked her what are her largest worries. While waiting for the response I thought about the same question and decide that I feel a lot better about 2018 than I did about 2017 at this time…
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How to address the 2018 increase in small business corporation taxes
Effective January 1, 2018 the corporate tax rate for the first $50,000 of earned income jumps from 15% to 21%. That 6 percent increase translates to an additional $3,000 federal income tax due for 2018 for a small corporation. Thousands of small businesses are affected. Some are understandably irate that a tax law called the…
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Break free from Philadelphia tax notices
If you have no tax filing obligation with the City of Philadelphia but they continue to send your business the filing requirement notices anyway then you need to file a “Change Form“. In some cases you might even need to file the form a couple of times. The trigger for a tax filing is a…
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3 Small Business Accounting Predictions for 2018
1) The best accounting talent will work remotely. 2) Automation and artificial intelligence will continue to take over bookkeeping functions. 3) Multi-factor authentication will become mainstream for financial and accounting data. (these concepts adopted from an article in CPApracticeadvisor)
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The ‘dumbing down’ of the accounting industry
I’ve become more concerned with the ‘dumbing down’ of sectors of the accounting industry. Hardly a day goes by when I’m not solicited with advertisements about how to become a millionaire running an accounting practice without any accounting skills. Likewise my online group for tax advisers and planners is swamped with requests from people who…
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Adjusting payroll taxes for 2018
Once all the political commotion over tax reform settles, what most people care about is “Is my paycheck going up or down?” The problem is complicated by politicians promising a big tax cut on the television news and through social media channels while accountants warn that some people will likely pay more. The end result…