Category Archives: International
Pay a Per Diem for Employee Business Travel?
Each year, Americans take more than 40 million domestic, long-distance business trips.
While the ordinary and necessary costs of business travel are generally deductible for federal tax purposes by employee or employer, substantiating the deductions can involve a lot of detailed recordkeeping on the part of the business traveler!
As an alternative to tracking actual expenses for business travel, many employers choose to pay their employees a per diem, or daily fixed amount, to cover lodging, meals, and incidental expenses.
The IRS-approved per-diem (continue reading…)
Posted in Accounting Services, Business Consulting Services, Closely Held + Family Business Practice, Distribution + Light Manufacturing Group, Emerging Businesses + Turnarounds, Hospitality, Restaurant + Lodging Group, International, Not-for-Profit Practice, Professional Practices Group, Real Estate Group, Retail Group, Tax Services, Technology Group
Tagged Business Tax, Compensation, Operations
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Working Abroad?
English teachers, college students, employees of the overseas offices of American companies: All told, more than four million U.S. citizens live and work abroad at any one time.
Many of them are blissfully unaware of the tax implications of this choice.
Americans and permanent U.S. residents are subject to the federal income tax, regardless of where they live or where the income is earned. Whether you live and work in the U.S. or overseas, you must file a U. S. federal income (continue reading…)
Posted in Closely Held + Family Business Practice, Distribution + Light Manufacturing Group, Emerging Businesses + Turnarounds, High Net Worth Practice, Hospitality, Restaurant + Lodging Group, International, Professional Practices Group, Real Estate Group, Retail Group, Tax Services
Tagged Business Tax, Compensation, Home Ownership, Investments, Operations, Personal Finances, Personal Tax, Tax Credits + Incentives
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Need a Valuation for Your Business?
Valuing a privately held business is a complex–and generally expensive–proposition. So, why bother?
Lauren Donnelly didn’t think her company needed a valuation. Then she turned 55 and began to consider succession plans and exit strategies. That same year, she briefly separated from her husband and, as a result, decided to update her estate plan. Her company also landed a major new client, which meant she needed a significant inflow of capital for new equipment to fund growth.
Succession planning, estate planning, divorce, (continue reading…)
Posted in Accounting Services, Business Consulting Services, Closely Held + Family Business Practice, Distribution + Light Manufacturing Group, Emerging Businesses + Turnarounds, Hospitality, Restaurant + Lodging Group, International, Personal Wealth Planning Services, Professional Practices Group, Real Estate Group, Retail Group, Tax Services, Technology Group
Tagged Estate + Gift, Investments, Personal Finances, Succession + Exit Planning, Wealth Planning
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Affected by the Federal Tax Regulations on Deferred Compensation?
Discounted stock options and stock appreciation rights. Bonus plans. Severance agreements. Phantom stock. Partnership interests. Certain executive retirement plans… What do they all have in common?
The answer is that they all involve arrangements by which the compensation of an employee, contractor, or director is (or can be) paid out later than it is actually earned. In other words, they’re potentially forms of nonqualified deferred compensation, subject to newly issued federal tax regulations under §409A of the Internal Revenue Code.
Although the (continue reading…)
Posted in Closely Held + Family Business Practice, Distribution + Light Manufacturing Group, Emerging Businesses + Turnarounds, Employee Benefit Plans, High Net Worth Practice, Hospitality, Restaurant + Lodging Group, International, Not-for-Profit Practice, Professional Practices Group, Real Estate Group, Retail Group, Tax Services, Technology Group
Tagged Business Tax, Compensation, Legislation, Personal Tax, Wealth Planning
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Up on the New Small Business and Work Opportunity Tax Act of 2007?
Change is a constant. Of late, it’s nowhere more obvious than in the federal tax rules.
As part of last week’s Iraq war supplemental spending legislation, Congress raised the federal minimum wage and, to mitigate the impact on small business, included nearly $5 billion in tax incentives. Then, to offset the cost of this tax relief, the legislation also includes a number of revenue enhancers.
This Small Business and Work Opportunity Tax Act of 2007 was signed by President Bush on May (continue reading…)
Posted in Closely Held + Family Business Practice, Distribution + Light Manufacturing Group, Emerging Businesses + Turnarounds, High Net Worth Practice, Hospitality, Restaurant + Lodging Group, International, Personal Wealth Planning Services, Professional Practices Group, Real Estate Group, Retail Group, Tax Services, Technology Group
Tagged AMT, Business Tax, Legislation, Personal Finances, Personal Tax, Tax Credits + Incentives
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Up on the New Sales and Use Tax Rules?
Sometimes you have to give a little to get a little.
Want to ease the burden of complying with state sales and use taxes? Like the idea of simplifying and modernizing their administration?
Then you’ll probably favor the new tax legislation signed into law by Governor Gregoire on March 22.
The new rules, which take effect July 1, 2008, ensure that our state’s sales and use tax rules conform with the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement (SSUTA) that has already been adopted (continue reading…)
Posted in Closely Held + Family Business Practice, Distribution + Light Manufacturing Group, Emerging Businesses + Turnarounds, Hospitality, Restaurant + Lodging Group, International, Professional Practices Group, Real Estate Group, Retail Group, Tax Services, Technology Group
Tagged Legislation, State + Local Tax
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Falling for One of the “Dirty Dozen” Tax Schemes?
We all know that what sounds too good to be true very likely is.
Maybe it’s the complexity of our federal tax code, or simply the fact that no one actually likes paying taxes. But, somehow, it’s all too easy to forget that too-good-to-be-true maxim when it comes to filing our tax returns.
We’re all potentially susceptible to the so-called expert with a new approach. Unfortunately, in many cases, the aggressive new approach is a thinly disguised scam.
Recently, the IRS issued its (continue reading…)
Posted in Business Consulting Services, Closely Held + Family Business Practice, Distribution + Light Manufacturing Group, Emerging Businesses + Turnarounds, High Net Worth Practice, Hospitality, Restaurant + Lodging Group, International, Not-for-Profit Practice, Professional Practices Group, Real Estate Group, Retail Group, Tax Services, Technology Group
Tagged Business Tax, Compensation, Estate + Gift, IRS, Personal Finances, Personal Tax, Tax Credits + Incentives
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Use Your Home for Business?
Work from home? If so, you’re not alone — over 20 million people do. And while many of them are employees, others are self-employed. In fact, it’s estimated that every 11 seconds someone starts a home-based business, and home-based businesses create something like 8,500 new jobs each day.
If you use your home for business, you may be able to deduct a portion of certain business-related expenses on your federal income tax return, whether or not you are self-employed. But not (continue reading…)
Posted in Business Consulting Services, Closely Held + Family Business Practice, Distribution + Light Manufacturing Group, Emerging Businesses + Turnarounds, Hospitality, Restaurant + Lodging Group, International, Professional Practices Group, Real Estate Group, Retail Group, Tax Services, Technology Group
Tagged Home Ownership, Personal Finances, Personal Tax
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Up on the Year-end Strategies and Deadlines for Your Pension Plan?
They say there’s no time like the present. But in the face of detailed and complex new pension plan provisions, it’s certainly tempting to procrastinate.
However, if you are an employer with a defined benefit or defined contribution plan—which includes 401(k), 403(b), profit sharing, and money purchase pension plans—a combination of new IRS regulations and the Pension Protection Act of 2006 have increased the importance of year-end planning this year.
The Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA) and new IRS regulations include (continue reading…)
Posted in Business Consulting Services, Closely Held + Family Business Practice, Distribution + Light Manufacturing Group, Emerging Businesses + Turnarounds, Employee Benefit Plans, High Net Worth Practice, Hospitality, Restaurant + Lodging Group, International, Not-for-Profit Practice, Personal Wealth Planning Services, Professional Practices Group, Real Estate Group, Retail Group, Technology Group
Tagged Operations, Personal Finances, Personal Tax, Retirement Planning, Wealth Planning
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Are Your Technology Investments Serving You Well?
Your best salesperson just completed a major sale to your most important client. And because your inventory data is weeks old, your best salesperson just sold a lot of inventory you no longer have!
True story. Sometimes the answer to my question is soooo obvious!
However for many businesses—and perhaps the majority of small, privately owned businesses—the answer to the question is not obvious at all. Instead, less-visible-but-no-less-important problems or missed opportunities cost the business money and efficiency, increase risk, reduce growth (continue reading…)
Posted in Business Consulting Services, Closely Held + Family Business Practice, Distribution + Light Manufacturing Group, Emerging Businesses + Turnarounds, Employee Benefit Plans, High Net Worth Practice, Hospitality, Restaurant + Lodging Group, Hosted Accounting + Technology Services, International, Not-for-Profit Practice, Professional Practices Group, Real Estate Group, Retail Group
Tagged Hardware/Software Systems, Operations
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