Avoid these four estate planning deadly sins
According to literature, the “seven deadly sins” are lust, gluttony, greed, laziness, wrath, envy and pride. Although individuals may be guilty of these from time to time, other types of “sins” can be fatal to an estate plan if you’re not careful. Here are four transgressions to avoid.
Principles to guide your nonprofit’s relationship with donors
In 1993, a consortium of philanthropic organizations came up with the Donor Bill of Rights to guide not-for-profits in their interactions with financial supporters. For the most part, the basic principles remain valid.
Lessons of 2020: Change management
The year 2020 has taught businesses many lessons. The sudden onset of the COVID-19 pandemic followed by drastic changes to the economy have forced companies to alter the size of their workforces, restructure work environments and revise sales models — just to name a few challenges.
The importance of S corporation basis and distribution elections
S corporations can provide tax advantages over C corporations in the right circumstances. This is true if you expect that the business will incur losses in its early years because shareholders in a C corporation generally get no tax benefit from such losses.
Cutoffs: What counts in 2020 vs. 2021
As year end approaches, it’s a good idea for calendar-year entities to review the guidelines for recognizing revenue and expenses. There are specific rules regarding accounting cutoffs under U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP).
Only specific trusts are eligible to hold S corporation stock
S corporations must comply with several strict requirements or risk losing their tax-advantaged status. Among other things, they can have no more than 100 shareholders, no more than one class of stock and only certain types of shareholders.
Using footnotes to disclose your nonprofit’s financial information
Does anyone actually read footnotes? If they’re financial statement footnotes, the answer is usually “yes.” Footnotes can provide donors, governmental supporters and other stakeholders with critical information about your not-for-profit.
Taking distributions from a traditional IRA
Although planning is needed to help build the biggest possible nest egg in your traditional IRA (including a SEP-IRA and SIMPLE-IRA), it’s even more critical that you plan for withdrawals from these tax-deferred retirement vehicles.
Health Savings Accounts for your small business
Small business owners are well aware of the increasing cost of employee health care benefits. As a result, your business may be interested in providing some of these benefits through an employer-sponsored Health Savings Account (HSA). Or perhaps you already have an HSA.