Tips from March 12, 2010 The Small Business tips today discuss employee taxes. If you have employees for your business, a variety of taxes will be withheld from their income. Remind your employees of the taxes upon hiring. Some taxes withheld from employees' pay are: Social Security, FICA, Medicare, and federal and state income taxes. Employees aren't the only ones who have taxes taken out. Businesses and employers must match the FICA and Medicare taxes and pay them along with employees. Don't forget those who are out of work! Businesses are required to pay federal and state unemployment taxes.  Daily Overview: Taxes withheld from employers and employee salaries go towards different organizations. Keep this in mind, and look for returns when you file taxes. [Read Full Article]

Tax time for small businesses is typically very stressful. With the April 15 deadline approaching, now is the time (if you haven't already) to get started on preparing your taxes. While researching for this week's tax tips and blog, I came across many tax tips that I didn't know about. Check out my Top 10 Tax Tips! File Your Tax Return for Free - The IRS Free File program provides free federal income tax preparation and electronic filing for eligible taxpayers through a partnership between the IRS and the Free File Alliance LLC, a group of private sector tax software companies. Free tax preparation and filing via online software is available to anyone with a 2009 Adjusted Gross Income of $57,000 or less. If that’s you, head to the IRS website and choose from a list of approved tax preparers, and get started. If you aren’t sure which preparer to use, ans... [Read Full Article]

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]

Tips from March 8, 2010 The Small Business tips today discuss tax deductions for small businesses. Business Travel – Deduct your transportation, accommodations, and business-related expenses from your taxes. Combining business and pleasure? Only deduct costs that are business related as long as more than half of your trip is dedicated towards work. Equipment – Need new machines, equipment, or other necessary supplies to keep your business running? Deduct these necessities from your business taxes. Rent – Keeping your business under a roof comes at a cost. Deduct your cost for rent to lower your taxable income. Salaries – What you pay your employees is a necessary expense for your business. Keep records of your employee salaries, and changes throughout the year, and deduct these expenses. Daily Overview: “Ordinary and necessary” expenses for your business can be deducted from y... [Read Full Article]

Government & PoliticsSmall Business Incentives Face a Hard Road in CongressPresident Obama’s incentives for small business to create jobs appear to be foundering at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue. Those proposals — tax credits for hiring and investment and initiatives to spur lending to small firms — all face strong resistance, and not all of it comes from the Senate. Each chamber has embraced separate elements of the administration’s agenda, and, for the moment, none of those elements overlap.Government & PoliticsU.S. Salary-Increase Budgets Hit 25-Year LowChanges to salary structures... [Read Full Article]

According to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), "Small firms with fewer than 500 employees represent 99.9 percent of the 29.6 million businesses" in the United States.  Conversely, large businesses numbered only 18,000 as of 2006.  Small businesses and the self-employed truly are the backbone of America.   With tax season fast approaching, make sure your small business is well prepared for April 15th by downloading the 2010 IRS tax calendar for small businesses and the self-employed.  (Click the below picture to download this handy small business resource in convenient PDF form).   [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]

Management and Operations Marketing Lowdown: Five Steps To Better Retail Displays A recent poll asked average Americans which of their five senses they would least be willing to lose. The result? Overwhelmingly, the eyes have it. But before we can learn anything with our eyes, we must be interested enough to look. Our attention must be captured. ManageSmarter.com Management and OperationsManaging the Direct Marketing Supply ChainA direct marketing offer can reach its potential customers through print mailings, e-mail blasts, Website offerings, television advertising, Internet... [Read Full Article]