Steven Feinberg, CPA's Blog (151)

Ask questions before going into business with your spouse.

Starting and running a business is rarely a safe or simple process, and doing so with one’s spouse creates an additional layer of complexity. Whether that complexity will have a positive or negative effect depends on several factors.

Here are some of the questions you need to discuss…

Everybody's got 'books', but how is your business performing?

I don't care what the size is. Every small business owner needs to have a measurement tool and be consistently measured against that tool.

It's one thing to know what your sales are. That's the easiest measure, but don't you want to at least go one step up from your competition? How about…

CNN recently reported on how the Federal government is cracking down on the California Pot industry.

More and more states are legalizing the use of…

Many people simply do not know when they should be

seeking help for their business,

so I'm just going to lay it out:

1. I am thinking about buying a business.
2. I'm frustrated about money. I'm not even sure how much I have or whether I can really afford to grow!
3. I want to understand my business better.
4. I am…

Oftentimes, I'll meet a new business owner who simply doesn't respect the power of the IRS.

Typically, the small business owners is just starting out. He or she figures that they don't really have the money or even the wherewithal to deal with paying their payroll taxes, and so they 'start' to get behind.

This can be a routine that starts innocently enough, but then just…

When I first meet with a prospective client I love to see what 'story' the tax returns are trying to tell.

Typically, I'll ask you what you understand your tax return to be, like whether you're a corporation, a partnership, an LLC, or whatever...

I'll even start asking you some of the hard questions like WHY you are what you are.

From here, I need to see the…

The very thought of an IRS audit is enough to make most business owners break into a cold sweat. But not all audits are created alike: There are several different types of tax audits, ranging from simple requests for a particular piece of information to comprehensive reviews that cover every aspect of a business.

• Correspondence Audit This is a…

What is the "Fiscal Cliff"?" With 2012 ending, is there anything that you can do in preparation for it?

"Fiscal cliff” is the popular shorthand term used to describe the situation that the U.S. government will face at the end of 2012.

Among the laws set to change at midnight on December 31, 2012, are the end of last year’s temporary payroll tax cuts…

What is the value of a business owner having a relationship with an accountant?

As business owners, we often build our own mental barriers to change, until something changes...

When I first met this one client, every time we talked, he would bring up his desire to offer health insurance to his employees. I would ask him about talking to his insurance…

So, you think your small business is too small to worry about breakeven sales?

Let's start with a simple ratio, and that's GROSS PROFIT. What is that?

I like to explain gross profit as the difference between your sales and your cost of sales. The key, from a management perspective, is determining just what expenses make up the Cost of Sales. My…

There are two TV programs that I watch regularly that are on my recommended list for any small business owner.

SHARK TANK

ABC’s Shark Tank has been a TV phenomenon spanning three seasons, with eight different angel investors from a variety of industries. These angel investors, also called “sharks”, battle it out for a chance to invest in promising…

The State of New Hampshire has made a few changes that could affect you if your business is required to file a New Hampshire Business Tax Return.

Under the new law, every business, whether you are a sole proprietor, LLC, partnership, S or C Corporation, would be required to file a Business Enterprise Tax return, if you have gross business…

There are numerous good articles about the research tax credit, but few of us actually take advantage of this credit.

Here, I'm going to explore when Software Development costs might be eligible for this credit, hopefully in a manner that's understandable to the typical business owner. Additionally, I'll focus…

Today, I picked up a new client. Yay me!

He had just bought a business that he was an employee of for the last 5 years.

It was a company that he felt he had founded, but was only an employee of. Basically the deal he agreed to was that he paid $1 for his…

In a recent report, the IRSsays they they are doing a very high percentage of audits of S Corporations with no changes being made.

Why is this important? Well, obviously we as taxpayers don't want the government spending time auditing taxpayers, putting them through the hassle of an…

As indicated in my last post with regard to the Health Care Reform, if you have less than 50 employees (full time equivalents), you are not required to offer health insurance to your employees.

This article will discuss what the penalties are for businesses with 50 or more employees as well as offer some planning tips. As before, this is a Cliff notes version and…

In my last post, we discussed the impact of the recent Health Care reform on it's effect on individuals. Here is my Cliff notes version of how it appears that it would affect employers.

1) If you have more than 1 employee (yourself being the one), and your business has gross revenue over $500,000,  you are required to give all employees notice on March 1, 2013…

I just finished a class on Health Care reform, and I wanted to share with you a few takeaways I got from it. Think of this as Health Insurance Reform for Dummies!

Here is what I got out of what mandates exist for individuals.

As an individual, beginning January 1, 2014,  you must have Health Care Insurance. The term used is 'minimum health insurance…

I have to share this story...This is one of those really positive experiences, and I wanted to shout it out.

In my office, we're not in the cloud yet. At least our computers aren't. We have a full Windows 2008 server that's kept in a…

Growing a small business means reinvesting profits back into the company, often with capital purchases. A common question I often hear is whether the company should lease equipment or buy it outright in order to receive the greatest financial benefit. Here are a few questions to help you determine which option may be right for you.

1. How long do you need to…