By Kim Flett and Beth Garner Employee benefits should be an important consideration for both buyers and sellers as they prepare for a merger or acquisition. Once the due diligence is completed and the transaction closes, however, there is still much work that needs to be done to ensure that the transition to the new benefits plan goes…
By Stuart Eisenberg and Marla Miller The IRS defines an opportunity zone as an “economically distressed community where new investments may be eligible for preferential tax treatment.” The Treasury has certified nearly 9,000 of these districts across all U.S. states and its territories, including the entire island of Puerto Rico. An opportunity zone designation has…
Small business owners looking to convert their organization to an employee-owned company may have an easier path thanks to a new law signed by President Donald Trump last year. Before the law was passed in August 2018, the rules surrounding loans backed by the Small Business Association (SBA) used to create Employee Stock Ownership Plans…
The new international lease accounting rules are causing some CFOs to reconstruct how they gauge corporate performance. Previous rules allowed some leases to be recorded in footnotes to financial statements. CFOs must now report leases on the balance sheet as assets and liabilities. Rather than recording lease payments as operating expenses, companies now need to…
The tax code places limits on the amounts that individuals can gift to others (as money or property) without paying taxes. This is meant to keep individuals from using gifts to avoid the estate tax that is imposed upon inherited assets. This can be a significant issue for family-operated businesses when the business owner dies;…
Although Congress, as part of the recent tax reform, promised to do away with the alternative minimum tax (AMT), it only did so for C corporations; as a result, the AMT still applies to individuals. Congress originally developed the AMT in 1969 as a means to prevent high-income individuals from using tax shelters to reduce…
One of the reasons we like QuickBooks is because it uses language and processes that are familiar to small businesspeople. Instead of using the term “accounts receivable,” it has a menu label that says Customers and menu items that use phrases like Create Invoices and Receive Payments. You would have to go into the Chart…
Individuals and small businesses should consider various ways of starting off on the right foot for the 2019 tax year. W-4 Updates – If you are employed, then your employer takes the information from your Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Form W-4 and applies it to the IRS’s withholding tables to determine the amount of income…
Contrary to what many believe, ESOPs can be a great option when considering a retirement or succession plan. Because of a large knowledge gap, many business owners forgo this option. This article discusses the benefits of ESOPs and how they can contribute to better business performance. To view this article, click HERE to access the…
If your 2018 federal return has already been filed and you are due a refund, you can check the status of your refund online. “Where’s My Refund?” is an interactive tool on the IRS website at IRS.gov. Whether you have opted for direct deposit into one account, split your refund among several accounts, or asked…