Category: Small Business
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Still have W2s and 1099s to file?
Today is the day that your 2015 W2 and 1099 forms should be in the mail. This year (2015) the IRS penalties for non-filers is increased. For most small businesses this has become an automated online accounting service that hardly requires any additional effort. If you are reading this and still haven’t met this requirement,…
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20 Rules for Operating a Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA)
Update for 2018: Please see “2018: The year for a Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA)” Update December 10, 2017: I published an annotated copy of IRS proposed regulations for Qualified Small Employer Health Reimbursement Arrangements (QSEHRAs) that should be followed with 2018 QSEHRAs. It makes sense to view this as an additional option and not a replacement…
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More on health insurance without a social security number
Despite the convincing documentation that the federal government has produced – these sources that I cite over and over in my publications – a woman tonight insisted that health insurance companies require a social security number to enroll. Of course I can’t speak for every insurance company under every circumstance. But I can say that…
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Employers may be liable for uninsured Obamacare expenses
Is your small business at risk for failure to notify employees of health coverage options? The Affordable Care Act (ACA) became law in 2010 eventually became synonymous with the term “Obamacare”. The law brought so many changes to individuals, employers, health insurance companies and health care providers that it wouldn’t even be practical to attempt to summarize…
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How to maximize tax savings for business owners
This post is based on a consultation I had today that echos a very common business planning theme: A successful small business owner wishes to begin a retirement savings plan to make the most efficient use of the business’ profits. The goals are simple: Maximize the owner’s account contribution, Maximize tax savings (avoid current income taxation),…
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OnlineAdviser gets a makeover
As I reviewed my first year in business (2015) it was obvious that I had 3 distinct problems with the business model and my personal habits. It was not completely unexpected. I operate a different and largely untested type of accounting practice under the brand name OnlineAdviser that relies almost exclusively on online technologies. While I…
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New small business support network announcement
NEW FREELANCERS SUPPORT NETWORK IN FORMATION – I am forming a peer-to-peer freelancers support network that is intended to be a closed membership online group of self-employed people whose primary focus and commitment is to help each other in business by sharing information, advice and expertise on an ongoing basis as needed. The atmosphere is…
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Disaster Recovery as a Service for small businesses
Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) can be a cost effective insurance policy for small businesses. Instead of having to buy and maintain separate servers, SAN, storage, network, firewall, rack space, the business can store copies of data and backups of that data on remote cloud-based services. This offers redundant methods of recovery from a wide range…
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Top ten tax saving strategies for 2016
Our U.S. federal income tax law includes a number of built-in strategies available to reduce income tax liability. Your ability to legally reduce your own income tax bill depends on your level of understanding and utilization of the opportunities available in five key areas of financial planning: Source of income and the legal format of…