What if disaster strikes your business? An estimated 25% of businesses don’t reopen after a major disaster strikes.* Having a business continuity plan can help improve your odds of recovering. The basic plan The strategy behind a business continuity (or disaster recovery) plan is straightforward: Identify the various risks that could disrupt your business, look […]
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Getting a Handle on Payment Issues
Most small business owners love what they do. But that’s not to say things can’t get a little difficult, especially when customers don’t pay their bills on time. Even one or two slow-pay or no-pay customers can be enough to throw your company’s finances off. Understanding what might be going on with your customers and […]
How to Follow the Rules when Writing off Bad Debts
In any economic environment, businesses typically have a percentage of customers who don’t pay their invoices. Here are some tax guidelines. Cut Your Loss If a customer or client owes your business money you can’t collect, you might be able to claim a bad debt deduction on your business return. You must be able to […]
Staying One Step Ahead of Tax Issues
The last thing you need as a small business owner is to have to spend time unraveling tax problems you could have avoided. There are many tax issues that can trip up small business owners — here are a few. Mixing Business and Personal Keeping your personal bank and credit card accounts separate from your […]
What to do When Checks go Unclaimed
Maybe it was lost, or got tossed out. Maybe the dog ate it. While it may be hard to understand how payroll checks can go uncashed, it happens. Unclaimed wages (and other property, such as commission checks, shareholder dividends, checks to vendors, and unredeemed gift cards) create problems for businesses — and revenue opportunities for […]
What You Need to Know about IRAs and Taxes
Tax deferral is a key benefit of investing in a traditional individual retirement account (IRA). But the tax law doesn’t allow indefinite tax deferral. Starting at age 70½, IRA owners must withdraw a minimum amount — called a required minimum distribution, or RMD — every year. All funds withdrawn from a traditional IRA are taxed […]