Month of October, 2008

The past few weeks have shown what happens when unbridled greed, a capitalistic economy and uncertain government regulations collide. The ripples will likely be felt for decades. If you have a small business, you might have already seen changes.

There are two times of stress for a business owner: not enough money and too much money. It reveals the true character of the people behind business. Unfortunately, the picture isn’t always pretty.

I came across a piece of legislation today that gave me a double-take. Introduced back in May (by Sen. Obama and two others, no less), this proposed Senate Bill would require incorporators to disclose all of the owners of each entity formed.

Well, it’s back to school and back to work time. And for many of us that means that it’s time to start cleaning out all the receipts we have stuck all over the car, purse, wallet, pockets, whatever handy spot you have.

In a perfect world, you will always pay for business expenses with a business check or a business credit card. And you’ll always for your personal expenses with a personal check, cash or a personal credit card. Most of us, though, get caught sometimes seeing something we need and not having the right card with us. And, yes, I’m a CPA, you’d think I would know better.

For once, the last minute add-ons into a Bill made sense! Or at least they did if you are a small business owner.

The AMT band-aid was extended for another year. I was just starting to gear up some AMT education through TaxLoopholes. If the band-aid had not been extended another 25 million taxpayers would have become subject to this tax. I’m glad the patch was extended through 12-31-08 (for 2008 tax year) but I do hope that they once and for all tackle the AMT issue.

We’ve been talking about single member LLCs (SMLLCs) for the past couple of days on the TaxLoopholes Forum. Because an SMLLC means one thing legally and something else from a tax perspective, it’s really easy for people to confuse the two.

I posted this a few weeks ago, but it’s so important I want to sound the alarm one more time.

There is a HUGE silver lining right now if the value of your pension plan has declined. If it’s at the bottom, or near the bottom, roll the pension into a Roth account. You’ll pay income tax based on the current value of the conversion. Then the money is sitting in a Roth and can grow TAX FREE.

There’s a great opportunity looming for pension investors. Learn the basics in this information-packed workshop by Diane Kennedy.

A poll this week said that the majority of Americans think we are heading toward another Great Depression. We all have seen the pictures of the soup lines, of the unemployed, shuffling from “no work here” sign to another and in my mind I always picture the winds of the Dust Bowl blowing too.

When you’re looking at rewarding a valuable employee the idea of giving him or her a piece of your company often comes up. It’s a quick, easy solution, that doesn’t necessarily mean you come out of pocket (at least initially). That can be great for a cash-strapped start up. But is it always a good idea?

I have clients right now who are having their best years ever. I know, that sounds completely impossible given the news you’re getting everyday. So, I started a project to find out WHY these businesses and their owners are doing so well. I found some amazing results. Over the next few weeks I’ll be sharing those results here and through Online Workshops as part of the First Class Lounge.