Year after year, health care and medical insurance costs outpace inflation. It’s little wonder, therefore, that business owners and employees are scrambling for ways to curtail health care expenses. One option worth considering is a health savings account or HSA. * How HSAs work. An HSA works in tandem with a high-deductible health plan (HDHP). To qualify as an HDHP,...
Although the employer mandate for providing health insurance coverage to workers under the “Affordable Care Act” (ACA) was postponed for one year – until January 1, 2015 – the rules for individuals remain in place, at least for the foreseeable future. What are your main rights and responsibilities under the ACA? Here’s a brief summary. Essentially, unless you are already...
Tags: Health care law
Category: Taxes
Did you know that this year you can give gifts of up to $14,000 to as many individuals as you want without being liable for gift tax? Normally, any gift you make counts towards your lifetime exemption from gift and estate taxes. That’s so you don’t just give away your estate shortly before death to avoid estate taxes. But each...
Tags: Expiring tax provision
Category: Taxes
The Treasury Department and IRS recently announed a ruling issued that same sex couples legally married in jurisdictions that recognize their marriages will be treated as married for Federal tax purposes. Consequently, legally married same sex couples generally must file their 2013 Federal income tax return using either the married filing separateley or jointly options. The use of filing as...
Tags: same sex marriages.
Category: Taxes
The end of a year and the start of another are always busy times for companies. You’re trying to get business off to a good start in the new year, you’re trying to close the books on the prior year, and you have to prepare and file 1099 forms by the end of January. Every trade or business must file...
Tags: 1099 reporting
Category: Taxes
If you are trying to finance a new business venture, you might want to check into an online option known as “crowdfunding.” In simplest terms, crowdfunding means many people give you money to fund your project in exchange for a reward such as a free copy of your product or a small stake in your new business. As you explore...
Tags: Crowdfunding
Category: Taxes
Our professional standards require that the Firm be independantly reviewed by another CPA firm every three years. This is known as a peer review. We are also a reviewing firm and have perfomed over a thousand reviews of other CPA firms from around the country since our inception in 1991 but it is still good to see that our firm...
Tags: peer review report
Category: Peer Reviews
Fringe benefits are important to your employees. Wage levels often don’t differ much between companies, so the fringes you offer can be an important factor in hiring and retaining workers. Major fringe benefits such as health insurance are expensive. But if you’re willing to be creative, you can design other attractive benefits at low or no cost. Often these benefits...
Tags: Low ccost benefits
Category: Taxes
“Normal” retirement age is not a fixed number. For social security purposes, the “full” retirement age threshold ranges from 65 to 67, depending on your birth date. However, you can elect to start receiving lower payments as early as age 62, or you can maximize your benefits by forgoing them until you’re 70. Once you reach age 70, there’s no...
Tags: delaying retirement
Category: Taxes
Want to lower your 2013 tax bill? The time for action is running out, so consider these tax-savers now. * You can choose to deduct sales taxes instead of local and state income taxes. If you’re planning big ticket purchases (like a car or a boat), buy before year-end to beef up your deductible amount of sales tax. * If...
Tags: tax cutting moves for 2013
Category: Taxes