Recent News

Figuring corporate estimated tax

The next quarterly estimated tax payment deadline is June 17 for individuals and businesses, so it’s a good time to review the rules for computing corporate federal estimated payments. You want your business to pay the minimum amount of estimated tax without triggering the penalty for underpayment of estimated tax. Four possible options The required installment of estimated tax that a corporation must pay to avoid a penalty is the lowest amount determined under one of the following four methods: Current year method. Under this option, a corporation can avoid the estimated tax underpayment penalty by paying 25% of the tax...

Inflation enhances the 2025 amounts for Health Savings Accounts

The IRS recently released guidance providing the 2025 inflation-adjusted amounts for Health Savings Accounts (HSAs). These amounts are adjusted each year, based on inflation, and the adjustments are announced earlier in the year than other inflation-adjusted amounts, which allows employers to get ready for the next year. Fundamentals of HSAs An HSA is a trust created or organized exclusively for the purpose of paying the qualified medical expenses of an account beneficiary. An HSA can only be established for the benefit of an eligible individual who is covered under a high-deductible health plan (HDHP). In addition, a participant can’t be...

Timelines: 3 ways business owners should look at succession planning

Business owners are rightly urged to develop succession plans so their companies will pass on to the next generation, or another iteration of ownership, in a manner that best ensures continued success. Ideally, the succession plan you develop for your company will play out over a long period that allows everyone plenty of time to adjust to the changes involved. But, as many business owners learned during the pandemic, life comes at you fast. That’s why succession planning should best be viewed from three separate but parallel timelines: 1. Long term. If you have many years to work with, use...

Tax tips when buying the assets of a business

After experiencing a downturn in 2023, merger and acquisition activity in several sectors is rebounding in 2024. If you’re buying a business, you want the best results possible after taxes. You can potentially structure the purchase in two ways: Buy the assets of the business, or Buy the seller’s entity ownership interest if the target business is operated as a corporation, partnership or LLC. In this article, we’re going to focus on buying assets. Asset purchase tax basics You must allocate the total purchase price to the specific assets acquired. The amount allocated to each asset becomes the initial tax...

Businesses must face the reality of cyberattacks and continue fighting back

With each passing year, as networked technology becomes more and more integral to how companies do business, a simple yet grim reality comes further into focus: The cyberattacks will continue. In fact, many experts are now urging business owners and their leadership teams to view malicious cyberactivity as more of a certainty than a possibility. Why? Because it seems to be happening to just about every company in one way or another. A 2023 study by U.K.-based software and hardware company Sophos found that, of 3,000 business leaders surveyed across 14 countries (including 500 in the United States), a whopping 94%...

8 key features of a customer dispute resolution process for businesses

No matter how carefully and congenially you run your business, customer disputes will likely happen from time to time. Some of the complaints may be people looking to negotiate a discount, “game the system” or even outright defraud you. But others could be legitimate complaints arising from mistakes on your company’s part, technological glitches or, perhaps worst of all, fraudulent actions by a third party. Whatever the case may be, you can protect your business’s reputation and even strengthen its brand by creating and maintaining an effective customer dispute resolution process that includes eight key features: 1. Easily accessible channels of communication. Post...