Tips from March 10, 2010Are you collecting the maximum tax breaks from the stimulus law passed last year? Here are the 5 best business tax breaks. Bonus depreciation. Allows a business to deduct 50% of the cost of a new asset in the year it is placed in service. Section 179 expensing. A small business can elect to expense up to $250k of the cost of qualified assets. Net operating losses. Under the new law, most businesses can elect to carry back losses for up to 5 years, instead of the usual 2 years. Discharge of business debt. The stimulus law allows businesses to recognize discharge of indebtedness income over 5 years, rather than all in 2009. Exclusion of gain on the sale of qualified small business stock. Increased to 75% for any gain from a sale between Feb 09 and Jan 11. Daily Overview: Keep the 2009 stimulus law in mind when you are calculating your taxes this year.  Big thanks to... [Read Full Article]

Government and PoliticsWhat Obama Said About Small BusinessA short but prominent section of President Obama’s State of the Union focused on helping small businesses to create jobs. Here’s a look at what he said and what it means. BusinessWeek.comGovernment and PoliticsGlobal Workforce Report on Emerging Markets: The Backshoring MythDespite media hype about the recession driving jobs back to the U.S., the business case for outsourcing to the emerging markets remains overwhelming. Workforce.comGovernment and Politics [Read Full Article]

OK, everybody hates AIG. We get that. One of their business groups played a huge part in the financial crisis that is currently burning its way through the American economy and culture. We get that, too. The executives doing this signed contracts with the company that gave them bonuses for reaching certain figures. They did what they needed to do for those bonuses to kick in and the company was obligated to pay. Take away the outrage, look at it objectively, and that is what it all boils down to. These executives did what they were contractually obligated to do and, in return, so did AIG. The AIG Bailout Morass We could go on to discuss the fact that it was Congress and past administrations that made it possible for AIG to do what it did. We can talk about the bonuses paid to the executives and Fannie and Freddie (where is Barney Frank’s outrage over them?) and we can talk about Chris Dodd trying to slip in legislation that would have allowed the executives to kee... [Read Full Article]