Now that Thanksgiving has passed, you can no longer deny the coming approach of the end of the year. Even if you are one of those who find it ridiculous when stores get stocked with Christmas goodies before Halloween, they are now appropriate.

That also means there is not much time to make some moves to affect your final 2016 tax picture. Even though it may feel late, there are some things you can do to make a significant difference. Of course, in the spirit of the season it should be noted that one of these is making charitable contributions. There are others, though, and if you would like to discuss them, please don’t hesitate to contact us for an end-of-year tax planning session.

I know that most of you who read that are making a mental calculation to the middle of April and figure this is something you do not have to worry about yet. I get that, and it is certainly possible that not worrying until a few months into the new year has not hurt you in the past. As a tax preparer, though, I assure you that those who pay attention to these matters before the calendar (and government) deems it necessary do better with their finances.

This is not strictly a tax issue, either, and may be even more of a bookkeeping and record-retaining one. Even if you are an individual who has most of your tax matters taken care of through your paychecks and W2, there are still some things you will want to know, and some documents you will want to have handy, come tax time. Some simple due diligence will keep you on top of such things so that there is NO worry come tax time.

If you have been keeping on top of things along the way, there can be little extra work in having your taxes prepared. And sure, there again are many people who feel no time crunch when gathering a few documents when tax time comes, even if they paid no attention to their financial picture during the year. Yes, this results in a legal tax return, but I can almost guarantee that some tax benefit is being missed with that strategy. It is simply unavoidable when you let financial transactions (and their documentation) become an afterthought.

This can be minor for that type of individual mentioned above, but every year I see businesses that run in the same manner. I completely understand how this happens - business owners do not go into business to keep close track of their finances, they start because their interests lie elsewhere. And if I am pretty sure most individuals are missing out on something by being lax with their finances, what is being missed out on is MUCH higher when it comes to running a business.

Again, I know these are things that very few want to keep in the front of their minds. More mindfulness, though, only leads to positive outcomes. So if implementing some new bookkeeping or record-retention strategies is something else that this time of year is making you think about, please contact us about that, as well. 

I am sitting down to write this on the week of Thanksgiving, one of those weeks when no one is all that intent on working that much. And although I can guarantee that there will be multiple times this week when I am thinking more about pie than finances, my work never travels too far from my mind.

In the spirit of this week, that is something for which I am thankful. I realize how lucky I am to love my job, and a huge part of that is YOU.

I am thankful for the clients with whom I work. Sure, this is obvious in the fact that having these clients allows me to run my business and pay my bills. My job would not be nearly as fulfilling if this was all you were to me, though.

I have been lucky to have the clients I have because of who they are. After all, most people who use my services do it because they do not want to spend their time doing their bookkeeping, payroll, taxes, finances, what have you. They put their efforts elsewhere, and that is what makes their businesses great – they are linking their passion to their profession.

That means that I get to learn from my clients. Since my passions lie elsewhere, every new client offers an opportunity to teach me something, gives me a chance to enrich my world. For that I am thankful and I thank you for it. 

Beyond that, I have even been lucky enough to have clients that I call friends. 

Our work can dominate our lives too much (ask anyone who knows me about that come March and April). Our work can also thrill us, though, sometimes to the point where it doesn’t feel like work. Unfortunately, as with everything in life, the negative bits can feel heavier and outweigh the positive even if the count of good things vastly outnumbers the bad.

This is a time of year to remember such things, and I hope you will forgive my reflections. If you are so keen on reading my words that you miss the tax and finance talk, I promise I will return with more next week. (Also forgive me then for insisting earlier that your passions must lie outside the accounting realm, you clearly have some love there, too).

Finally, here is a simple wish that you have things in your life to be thankful for beyond the workplace and that you have some time with friends and family to reflect upon them this week. Happy Thanksgiving!

One may still question just how tax returns got linked with health care, but they did and that means that I occasionally have to talk about it. That occasion is now as Open Enrollment started at healthcare.gov on November 1.

By now, most are aware that the Affordable Care Act/Obamacare requires United States residents to have health care coverage or face financial penalties. One may also question whether the government should be involved in such areas, but they are and we occasionally have to talk about it.

The enrollment period is open until December 15, but you should not wait that long to make a move if you need to sign up for insurance. Giving yourself time to fill out all the information that is required and figure out what your potential plan(s) will involve can only be a positive.

Then again, being in the tax industry, I know that many people like to procrastinate until the absolute last moments (and beyond), so I would assume the web traffic on December 15 to still be rather heavy.

The tax implications of the ACA still are not completely understood by everyone as they remain fairly new in the grand scheme of tax law. This can be especially true for those who worked for companies that offered health insurance, but then moved on and had to seek coverage elsewhere.

So if you have some of these questions (and actually want to address them before it is too late), then do not hesitate to give us a call. We can help you see how your health coverage decisions will affect your financial picture through 2017.

And if you have any final questions (for it is starting to get late to address these as well) about your picture for 2016, then please also feel free to contact us with those, as well.

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I would really prefer to leave much of the political talk surrounding the recent presidential election behind, but it is important. Thankfully, some of the social media furor has quieted since last week and many are starting to gain perspective on the situation.

I also do not like to bank too much on future predictions, but it is clear that once Donald Trump assumes the presidency there are going to some tax code changes for 2017. We cannot know exactly what new rules are going to be enacted, but some educated guesses can be made.

If this is something you are concerned about, this Forbes article by Tony Nitti gives an extensive look into what Trump’s proposed tax plan would mean. So although I will not propose any strategy here that I feel everyone should follow (for there is rarely anything that universal), there are some theories one could posit about future tax years that could lead to moves you want to make by the end of the year.

So if this is something else you would like to discuss, again please do not hesitate to contact us, for we are always here to help you with all tax decisions.   

So Election Day has passed, we are all still here and I do not want to tempt fate, but as far as I know no asteroids (named Trump or Clinton) have reached Earth and wiped out life as we know it.

It was a contentious time, arguably the most divisive presidential election any of us remember. The battles continued through the final day, unsurprisingly really considering the drama the entire election season brought.

A lawsuit filed in Nevada, attempts to keep polls open late in North Carolina, early voting, calling states, and back-and-forth Florida all led to an eventual concession.

That means that many people woke today who are not happy with the result and worried about the future. First, I would like to say this is at least better than having a drawn-out contested battle. If that is you, though, and if some of your worries are financial- and tax-based, remember that we are here to help you through it all.

I am by no means laying claim to any psychic abilities (if I had them, this probably wouldn’t be my chosen profession), but I do lay claim to enough tax knowledge to help you strategize for the future and hopefully leave you feeling better about it.

The election cycle was a time when many of us were pushed farther apart from others. Hopefully now we can start moving back together. For keep in mind that many people woke today pleased with the outcome, and I cannot believe their pleasure derives from the evil they are eager to unleash.

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With all that being said, I wanted to offer a little bit of a humorous diversion. Granted, it is still in the tax realm (and its Halloween subject matter is slightly dated), but maybe there is still enough candy kicking around your home that you still need help figuring out what to do with it.

So let Forbes writer Kelly Phillips Erb give you “13 Uses for Leftover Halloween Candy & the Resulting Tax Consequences.”

Or maybe just eat some of that candy yourself and let the sugar rush carry you through the day.  Just don’t use the same tactic for the next four years.

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Or maybe you are such huge fans of my tax and financial commentary that you do not want me to go an entire article without mentioning something from that world. So here is a quick note for you business owners out there:

Be aware that deadlines for filing W2s has moved up for 2017 (the 2016 reporting year). You were already required to provide them to employees by January 31, but this year you are also required to submit them to the Social Security Administration and IRS by that date.

This new deadline will also apply to 1099-MISC forms if you are reporting amounts in Box 7 (Nonemployee Compensation), which are the majority of these forms. If you aren’t reporting amounts in Box 7, then the deadline is still February 28 for paper filing and March 31 if you are doing so electronically.

Of course, this all assumes the world still exists on those dates. I would place my bet on us still hanging around, though. 

The number of actual CFOs we work with in our day-to-day tasks here is minimal. So I would not usually pay the strictest attention to many articles that come my way concerning their day-to-day tasks. My attention was caught, however, by a recent headline that asked “What Keeps CFOs Up at Night?”

Assuming that I am not the only one drawn in by the questioning title, here is the list of answers that the article offers:

·        The U.S. election and economic uncertainty

·        Executing growth plans

·        Business model changes

·        Elevating your role

·        Building finance talent pipeline

·        Harnessing technology

·        Cybersecurity risks

·        Capital allocation

·        Activist shareholders

What struck me about the list is how similar it is to concerns I hear from my clients. Granted, my clients tend to come from smaller companies that do not have as many (or any) shareholder concerns, but the rest are issues that scale across businesses no matter their size.

Starting right at the top of the list, I have written enough in this space over the last month or two that I cannot deny how campaign rhetoric has pushed tax, finance and economic talk to the forefront of many minds. At the same time, however, I also counsel everyone to not put too much fear into those thoughts. There are definite differences between the candidates, but nothing so drastic as to create the apocalypse that some are foretelling.

At the same time, however, this is not to say that it does no good to pay some attention to what certain outcomes could mean for your business. One should never only be reactive, after all, and being proactive will keep you ahead of changes before it is too late to take action.

In fact, much of the rest of the list speaks to this point. Having an executable growth plan and being open to changing your business model will keep you from becoming irrelevant – and this should include being ready to embrace new technologies. Even trying to ensure that you have a pipeline of talent behind you is just another form of ensuring future success.

Maybe then this isn’t so much what keeps CFOs up at night, but what keeps all business people up at night. But wait, why is everyone being kept awake anyway?

All of these concerns are valid, but as long as they are being addressed, they should not be lingering issues that feel dire and dangerous. As a CFO, there should be people working with you who can help you address these issues proactively. You should also be willing to change in ways to maintain relevance. As a small business owner, one should strive to carve out some time every day to address these larger business concerns and also look toward maintaining relevance.

Granted, for some people there is simply not the time to handle all these things by yourself (there is a reason that the CFOs have those underlings after all, and it is not just for the pleasure of power). That does not, however, mean they should be ignored. Seeking help to ensure profitability and long-term success simply makes sense. And one of the best parts of our job here is providing services to businesses to help them allay some of those concerns. Granted, we cannot help with all of them (we are certainly not employee-hiring specialists, for example), but we are always happy to do what we can and refer you to others if we know they can do what we cannot.

Remember that you are not alone in your concerns and worries and that you should not tackle them alone. Accepting some help to do so may even help you sleep at night. Who knew that was yet another service we could offer?