Longer life expectancies and rising health care costs make saving for retirement more important than ever before. A Health Savings Account (HSA) can be a powerful tool for financing health care expenses while supplementing your other retirement savings vehicles. And it offers estate planning benefits to boot. What’s an HSA? An HSA is a tax-advantaged … Read More
Author: Smeriglio Associates LLC
IRS: Social Security Wage Base Increase
The Social Security “wage base” is projected to rise to $141,900 in 2021. So says the Social Security Administration Office of the Chief Actuary (OCA). The 2020 level is $137,700. The wage base is the maximum amount of earnings that are subject to Social Security tax each year. Both the employer and the employee pay … Read More
Marketing is a game of adjustments
In business, a failure to evolve may lead to failure. One way to keep your company rolling is to regularly adjust how you market products or services to customers and prospects. A marketing strategy shouldn’t be a knee-jerk reaction to some enticing rumor or hot trend. Rather, it needs to be a carefully calculated effort … Read More
IRS: Updated FAQs
The IRS has updated a series of FAQs related to the federal income tax return filing and payment deadlines in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. These FAQs update information about expanded taxpayer relief measures provided since the original FAQs were issued on March 23, 2020. Specifically, a new FAQ asks the question whether a … Read More
2020 – 04/27 – IRS: Form 941 Deadline
Employers still have to file Form 941. Earlier this month, the IRS extended the deadline for filing many tax returns and other actions with due dates that would otherwise have been between April 1, 2020 and July 15, 2020. However, it didn’t extend the due date for filing Form 941 for the first quarter of … Read More
IRS: U.S. Presence Modified for Disrupted Travelers
Tax relief is announced for disrupted travelers who’ve been forced to remain in the U.S. due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). IRS Revenue Procedure 2020-20 provides that up to 60 consecutive calendar days of U.S. presence, presumed to arise from such travel disruptions, won’t be counted to determine U.S. tax residency and whether a person … Read More
How’s your buy-sell agreement doing these days?
Most companies wouldn’t go into business without some basic types of insurance in place, such as property coverage and a liability policy. For a company with more than one owner, there’s an additional type of risk-management arrangement that needs to be established: a buy-sell agreement. If your business has yet to create one, you should … Read More
U.S. Senate – Replenish Paycheck Protection and Hospital Expense
The U.S. Senate has passed a $484 billion bill that will expand small business aid and provide needed funds for hospitals and novel coronavirus (COVID-19) testing. Specifically, the deal allocates $310 billion to replenish the Paycheck Protection Program, the lending program aimed at helping small businesses cover their payrolls during the COVID-19 pandemic. Initial funding … Read More
Matching gifts double the impact of donors’ contributions
A majority of large U.S. companies offer matching gift programs to boost the impact of their employees’ charitable gifts. Double the Donation estimates that $2 to $3 billion is donated through matching gift programs every year. At the same time, between $4 and $7 billion in matching gift funds goes unclaimed annually. Is your not-for-profit doing everything it can to claim … Read More
2020 – 04/21 – U.S. Senate Budget Committee – CARES Act Adding $1.8 Trillion to Deficit
What might the price tag for the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act be? In a letter to the U.S. Senate Budget Committee, the Congressional Budget Office and the Joint Committee on Taxation estimated that the CARES Act will add more than $1.8 trillion to the federal deficit in the period of 2020-2030. … Read More