Category: Small Business
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We are victims of our own choices
In the category ‘You can’t make this stuff up’ – I overheard this conversation yesterday at the Millvillle New Jersey Planet Fitness while travelling away from home. I made special effort to remember it word for word. The short discussion was between two middle-aged white people, one male one female, with an appreciable but typical tattoo-to-tooth ratio…
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Ten easy and inexpensive employee benefit upgrades
Popular small business employee benefits that can be added within one day for less than $100 Small business owners often struggle to find affordable and manageable employee benefits for themselves and their employees. Here are 10 employee benefits that can be set up in a half hour at a cost less than $100. Health insurance…
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Two week reminder for corporate tax filing deadline
The March 15, 2016 deadline for filing most corporate tax returns is approaching quickly. To avoid penalties either the tax return or a request for an extension must be filed on or before that date. In either case, taxes due must be paid by that date to avoid extra penalties and interest, If your 2015…
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ERISA is still king per US Supreme Court
Comments on Vermont Green Mountain Care Board v. Liberty Mutual Insurance Company and what it means to small practitioners in the employee benefits field Yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on a case involving conflicting state and federal law surrounding operation of an employee benefit plan administrator. In a relatively easy 6-2 decision the Court sided with Liberty…
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My data management plan
It seems that my small business clients face a perfect storm of unimaginable and varied types of losses on a regular basis. I’ve personally suffered floods, thefts, head injury with amnesia, extended power outages, problems with fluctuating voltages, many hard disk failures, two unexplained SSD drive failures, Microsoft unannounced account cancellation, hacking attacks, human error, etc.…
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Promotional rate for new individual tax return preparation
Promotional rate for new individual clients: $195. Ask for the “introductory rate” before we prepare your tax engagement agreement. This rate may not be available late in the tax season. Includes: Form 1040 with standard deduction One state tax return Discussion of tax-reducing strategies E-filing with proof of acceptance Return of original documents Additional tax schedules are…
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Time to look ahead for work after tax season
Updating the resume and setting minimal earnings requirements Looking ahead to the end of tax season I became concerned with my lack of future work projects. So I updated my online resume and sent out a few inquiries. I also updated a cover letter to go with the resume that is not published online and,…
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“Pay half” tax preparation offer draws public discussion
H&R Block has caused commotion within the tax preparation industry last week with its “pay half” offer for new clients. Likewise, Intuit has annoyed some with its TurboTax advertisements suggesting that tax preparation is a simple do-it-yourself project. The TurboTax “It doesn’t take a genius” ad campaign belies the decades of training that tax professionals…
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The cheapest, easiest accounting system
With all of the amazing features of online accounting systems offered at price of $10 per month*, it is difficult to understand why some people prefer to continue using paper log books or spreadsheets for their accounting records. Yet I have several clients who keep records on spreadsheets. This works well for small businesses with…