Add cash management to your list of business goals for 2016. Commitment to effective practices and techniques can be the key to keeping your business operating on a sound footing. Some tips: Reduce lag time. Reducing the time between sending out invoices and receiving payment may take the form of giving incentive discounts to customers who pay early. On the expense side, aim for just-in-time inventory to reduce holding costs.
Business. Starting January 1, the standard mileage rate for driving a vehicle for business purposes is set at 54 cents per mile. That’s down from 57.5 cents in 2015. Medical and moving. The rate for medical and moving mileage decreases from last year’s 23 cents a mile to 19 cents a mile. Charity. The general rate for charitable driving remains at 14 cents a mile.
In mid-December, Congress renewed a long list of tax breaks known as “extenders” that have been expiring on an annual basis. This year many of the rules are retroactive to the beginning of 2015, and you can benefit from them as you prepare your 2015 federal income tax return. In addition, the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act of 2015, which was signed into law on December 18, 2015, makes some of the rules effective through
Did you know that 47% of people over age 85 are affected by Alzheimer’s disease? The numbers are high enough that any older person planning for their estate should consider the possibility that they may become intellectually incapacitated at some point. Of course, a critical step in planning for incapacity is having a durable power of attorney document in place that allows someone to handle your financial affairs if you’re no longer able to do so.
When actress Audrey Hepburn died in 1993, she owned a storage locker containing memorabilia of her career – costumes, photos, awards, scripts, posters and the like. In her will, she directed that the contents be divided equally between her two sons. But some 22 years later, the two sons (who had different fathers) still can’t agree on how to divide the goods. The older son, who is now in his mid-fifties, has filed a lawsuit and
IRS officials have been indicating for a few months now that they’re about to start cracking down on certain estate planning techniques that have been popular in recent years. But ironically, this might actually help a number of clients to save on their taxes. The issue involves family limited partnerships and LLCs. A technique that many wealthy people have used in the past is to create a family business structure of this type, and then give
A trustee has two important duties – managing the assets in the trust, and distributing them to the beneficiaries according to the donor’s wishes. But it can be hard to find one person who can do both things well. An aunt or uncle might be the perfect person to know how to distribute assets to family members, but might not have a lot of financial acumen. An investment advisor might be very skilled at growing the
When many people hear the words “asset protection,” they think of billionaires with Swiss bank accounts and offshore tax havens. But in reality, asset protection is for everyone. It’s simply a series of basic techniques you can use to help ensure that the wealth you’ve accumulated stays with you and your heirs, and not someone else. Hard-earned wealth can quickly disappear as a result of a lawsuit, a business going under, or a similar event. Asset
Many businesses have a buyout agreement that says that if one owner retires or resigns, the others can buy out his or her interest at a certain price. These agreements are a smart idea for retaining control of a company. But you should keep in mind that they can sometimes be used in ways you wouldn’t expect.
If you provide bonuses, awards, gifts or prizes to employees or customers, it’s important to understand the tax consequences. It’s particularly important if the recipient is going to have to pay a tax – you’ll want them to understand this fact from the start, so they don’t get an unpleasant surprise later. In general, any gifts made by a company to an employee are considered wages. They’re subject to both employment tax and income tax, and
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