Recent News

Home Office Tax Deductions

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many people are working from home. If you’re self-employed and run your business from your home or perform certain functions there, you might be able to claim deductions for home office expenses against your business income. There are two methods for claiming this tax break: the actual expenses method and the simplified method. Who Qualifies? In general, you qualify for home office deductions if part of your home is used “regularly and exclusively” as your principal place of business. If your home isn’t your principal place of business, you may still be able to deduct home...

PA Decennial Report

Have you received a postcard or letter from…. What is a Decennial Report?A Decennial Report is a report filed with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to allow a business to continue exclusive use of its name. When is a Decennial Report due?Decennial Reports are filed every ten years during the years ending with the numeral “1”. Therefore, Decennial Reports are due by December 31, 2021. Who is required to file a Decennial Report?Almost every entity that conducts business in Pennsylvania and wishes to continue exclusive use of its name is required to file unless the entity has made a new or...

The New Form 1099-NEC and the Revised 1099-MISC Are Due to Recipients Soon

There’s a new IRS form for business taxpayers that pay or receive certain types of nonemployee compensation and it must be furnished to most recipients by February 1, 2021. After sending the forms to recipients, taxpayers must file the forms with the IRS by March 1 (March 31 if filing electronically). The requirement begins with forms for tax year 2020. Payers must complete Form 1099-NEC, “Nonemployee Compensation,” to report any payment of $600 or more to a recipient. February 1 is also the deadline for furnishing Form 1099-MISC, “Miscellaneous Income,” to report certain other payments to recipients. If your business...

PPP Loans Have Reopened: Let’s Review the Tax Consequences

The Small Business Administration (SBA) announced that the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) reopened the week of January 11. If you’re fortunate to get a PPP loan to help during the COVID-19 crisis (or you received one last year), you may wonder about the tax consequences. Background on the Loans In March of 2020, the CARES Act became law. It authorized the SBA to make loans to qualified businesses under certain circumstances. The law established the PPP, which provided up to 24 weeks of cash-flow assistance through 100% federally guaranteed loans to eligible recipients. Taxpayers could apply to have the loans...

Assessing and Mitigating Key Person Risks

Auditing standards require a year-end risk assessment. One potential source of risk may be a small business’s reliance on the owner and other critical members of its management team. If a so-called “key person” unexpectedly becomes incapacitated or dies, it could disrupt day-to-day operations, alarm customers, lenders and suppliers, and drain working capital reserves. Common Among Small Businesses No one is indispensable. But filling the shoes of a founder, visionary or rainmaker who unexpectedly leaves a business is sometimes challenging. These risks are usually associated with small businesses, but they can also impact large multinationals.Consider the stock price fluctuations that...

New COVID-19 law makes favorable changes to “qualified improvement property”……

The law providing relief due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic contains a beneficial change in the tax rules for many improvements to interior parts of nonresidential buildings. This is referred to as qualified improvement property (QIP). You may recall that under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), any QIP placed in service after December 31, 2017 wasn’t considered to be eligible for 100% bonus depreciation. Therefore, the cost of QIP had to be deducted over a 39-year period rather than entirely in the year the QIP was placed in service. This was due to an inadvertent drafting mistake made...