Bookings vs. shippings: A sales flash report primer
Do bad sales months sneak up on you? Don’t forget the power of flash reports to display timely snapshots of critical data. For example, every workday, generate a flash report that shows total new orders taken (bookings) compared with total orders filled (shippings). After you’ve established the timeframes of bookings and shippings, assess your sales staff’s activity by displaying bookings and shippings by salesperson. Use the data to establish sales goals and track progress toward these objectives. For further information about flash reports, please contact us.
What businesses need to know about the tax treatment of bitcoin and other virtual currencies
Most small businesses aren’t yet accepting bitcoin or other virtual currency payments, but more and more larger businesses are. And the trend may trickle down to smaller businesses. What are the tax consequences? The IRS has yet to offer much guidance, but it has established that bitcoin should be treated as property, not currency, for federal income tax purposes. So businesses accepting bitcoin payments must report gross income based on the fair market value of the virtual currency when received, measured in equivalent U.S. dollars. Contact us to learn more.
Factor in state and local taxes when deciding where to live in retirement
Thinking about retiring to another state? Consider state and local taxes. A state that has no personal income tax may appear to be the best option. But if you don’t also factor in property, sales and estate taxes, you could be hit with unpleasant tax surprises. Also look at what types of income a state taxes. Some don’t tax wages but do tax interest and dividends. Others offer tax breaks for retirement plan and Social Security income. And keep in mind the TCJA’s new $10,000 limit on the federal deduction for state and local taxes. Contact us to learn more.
5 Reasons TrumpCare Will Cause A Home Care Boom
It’s no secret that the home care industry has been in a downward spiral for the past
decade, primarily due to declining reimbursements and audits, among other obstacles.
As a direct result, the number of providers has decreased, leading to larger and larger
companies that can take advantage of economies of scale. Despite these concerns,
demand has continued to rise as older citizens and people with disabilities want care in
their own homes.
Hospital Deals Accelerate in 2018
Hospital mergers and acquisitions accelerated during the first part of 2018, according to deal-tracking companies. Hospitals were involved in 25 transactions in the first quarter of 2018, which would translate to the highest annual rate since 2015, according to Irving Levin Associates.
Show me the money: transparency builds trust
Many providers still don’t offer the price transparency that 91 percent of healthcare consumers seek. Yet offering cost information upfront does not change most patients’ buying behaviors. Nearly half say they require the information for budget planning purposes. Only 11 percent use such information to shop around for a different provider.
New incentives for hospitals are improving quality of care for patients at home
A recent report from The Commonwealth Fund found the percentage of home-health patients who got better at walking or moving around, a key measure of quality of care, rose in every state from 2013 to 2016. The group, which tracks performance in health systems nationwide, also found that hospital readmission rates for elderly Medicare beneficiaries continued to fall in nearly half the states from 2012 to 2015.
Saving tax on restricted stock awards with the Sec. 83(b) election
If you receive restricted stock from your employer, you may have a tax-saving opportunity: the Section 83(b) election. Income recognition for restricted stock normally is deferred until the stock is vested or you sell it, when you pay taxes on the fair market value at your ordinary-income rate. But if you make the Sec. 83(b) election, you recognize ordinary income when you receive the stock. This converts future appreciation from ordinary income to long-term capital gains income taxed at lower rates. We can help determine whether the election makes sense for you.
Putting your child on your business’s payroll for the summer may make more tax sense than ever
For business owners with kids in high school or college, hiring them for the summer can provide many benefits. One is tax savings. By shifting business income to a child as wages for services performed, you can turn high-taxed income into tax-free or low-taxed income. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act’s near doubling of the standard deduction means your child can shelter more income from taxes. Changes to the “kiddie tax” make income shifting via earned income rather than unearned income even more appealing. Many rules apply; contact us to learn more.
US Factory Production Rose a Healthy 0.5 Percent in April
U.S. factories cranked out more appliances, computers and aircraft last month, lifting manufacturing production for only the second time in five months.