Blogging Beyond the Numbers

Has your business invested in any capital assets in 2019, or are you considering adding any depreciable assets in the current year? The good news is the Section 179 depreciation deduction for business property is back for 2019 as an effective tax savings strategy. The election has long provided a tax windfall to businesses, enabling them to claim immediate deductions for qualified assets, instead of taking...

Institutional knowledge. What your staff knows is one of the most valuable intangible assets of every organization. It’s often taken for granted and losing it is costly, frustrating, and inefficient. The concept of business continuity is more than having a disaster recovery plan for natural disasters or technology failure. It should also include personnel transitions, which are much more common. How ...

After the stress of busy season, we sometimes forget in the heat of the summer that there are still important tax-related deadlines that occur. Below are some of the common deadlines that hit during the heart of the summer months (3rd quarter of 2019).  Businesses can face penalties and interest if they fail to file and meet these deadlines. July 31 Form 941 for the second quarter of 2019: You ...

It’s not just businesses that can deduct vehicle-related expenses. Individuals can also deduct them on their tax returns in certain circumstances. Unfortunately, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) might reduce the deduction in comparison to what could have been claimed on prior years’ tax returns. For 2017, miles driven for business, moving, medical and charitable purposes were deductible depending on...

Be aware of March 15th! If you have historically struggled to remember the due date of your tax return, this year will be no different. The new due date for calendar year pass-through entities (partnerships and S Corporations) is March 15th. When did this change happen? Until the 2016 tax year, partnerships shared the April 15th deadline with individual taxpayers. One of the primary reasons for movin...

The IRS announced that it will waive the estimated tax penalty for Farmers and Fisherman if they file their 2018 income tax return and pay the tax due by April 15, 2019 instead of the normal due date of March 1.  Wisconsin announced it will follow the IRS extension.  For more information on this last minute extension, please contact us. ...

Commercial buildings and improvements are generally depreciated over 39 years.  Depreciation means that you can deduct a portion of the building and improvement cost every year over the building’s depreciation period (1/39 every year).   That may seem like a long time but there are special tax breaks that allow depreciation deductions to be taken more quickly for certain real estate investments. Some ...

So you’re in charge or your company’s retirement plan… what does this mean for you? The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) protects your plan’s assets by subjecting those in charge of the plan with fiduciary responsibilities. Plan fiduciaries may include plan trustees, plan administrators, and members of a plan’s investment committee. Your primary responsibility as the fiduciary i...

Even though the government is currently shut down, that won’t stop the upcoming 2018 income tax filing season.  Business owners may, therefore, want to shift their focus to assessing whether they’ll likely owe taxes or get a refund when they file their returns this spring. With the biggest tax law change since 1986 —the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) — generally going into effect beginning in 2018, m...

On Friday, December 14, Governor Scott Walker signed legislation that allows S corporations to elect to be taxed at the entity level for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2018, and partnerships and LLCs elected to be treated as partnerships to elect to be taxed at the entity level for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2019.  These entities are commonly referred to as pass-through ...