Even before COVID-19 took over the country (and the world), working entirely from home was becoming more fashionable by the minute. This has highlighted the utility of the home office write-off, which is available to employees by the state of California. However, this blog will focus on using the federal home office deduction for business owners, as well as reducing your audit risk when using the deduction. What Read More
What the Netflix Series Tiger King Can Teach You About Estate Planning-Part 1
Anyone who has seen the hit Netflix documentary Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness can attest that it’s one of the most outlandish stories to come out in a year full of outlandish stories. And while Tiger King’s sordid tale of big cats, murder-for-hire, polygamy, and a missing millionaire may seem too outrageous to have any relevance to your own life, the series actually sheds light on a number of critical Read More
COVID-19 Highlights Critical Need for Advance Health Care Directives—Part 2
In the first part of this blog series, we discussed the vital importance of having updated Advance Health Care Directives in place in light of COVID-19. In this post, we’ll look at several additional provisions you should consider adding to your Directives to address potential contingencies related to the pandemic. With new cases of COVID-19 currently surging in dozens of states, doctors across the country are Read More
PPP Loan Forgiveness and Tax Consequences
Now that many business owners have hopefully seen Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) approvals and funds hit their bank accounts, you may be wondering how to ensure the loan is forgiven and what the tax consequences will be. We’ve got some of your answers. Recently, some business owners were surprised to find out that payments for payroll, and other expenses paid using PPP money, will not be tax deductible. It Read More
Appealing Your Commercial Property Tax Bill
The past few months have presented a great amount of uncertainty in the real estate markets due to coronavirus. While the residential real estate market has picked up somewhat, many commercial properties are struggling to sustain or regain their values. Fortunately, there is a way you can use this decline-in-market value cycle to your advantage: by appealing your commercial property’s tax bill with the County Read More
How (and Why) to Keep Your Business Records Up to Date
This article talks about the importance of keeping meticulous records of everything your business does. It may be a little late for you to apply these practices to your 2019 business taxes, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get your upcoming records up to date as soon as possible and do better moving forward. Good record-keeping definitely isn’t the flashiest or most exciting part of your business. In fact, it can Read More
COVID-19 Highlights Critical Need for Advance Health Care Directives—Part 1
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to ravage the country, doctors across the nation are joining lawyers in urging Americans to create the proper estate planning documents, so medical providers can better coordinate their care should they become hospitalized with the virus. The most critical planning tools for this purpose are Advance Health Care Directives that describe your wishes for medical treatment and Read More
5 Estate Planning Must-Dos if You’re Getting Divorced—Part 2
Because getting divorced can be overwhelming on so many different levels, updating your estate plan often takes a back seat to other seemingly more-pressing priorities. But failing to update your plan for divorce can have potentially tragic consequences, some of which you may have never even considered before. In Part 1 of this blog post, we reviewed a couple “must-do’s” if you’re getting divorced, and we’ll review a Read More
All in the Family: Wise Tax-Saving Strategies
There is a certain allure that family-owned businesses have in this country - “mom-and-pop” stores are still an important part of the local, state, and national companies. One of the defining features of these Main Street businesses is the fact that family members, often across several generations, often keep these small businesses running. Recent changes to the federal tax code (the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017) Read More
Do You Actually Own The Work You Pay Contractors To Produce?
While hiring independent contractors (ICs) offers a range of valuable benefits in terms of cost savings and convenience, it also opens your business up to some unique legal and financial complications. This is particularly true when it comes to your company’s intellectual property (IP). Unlike employees, with whom you generally own automatic copyrights to everything they produce while working for you, ICs typically Read More
