Many business owners spend most of their time developing strategic plans, overseeing day-to-day operations and, of course, putting out fires. Yet an underlying source of both opportunity and trouble can be human resources (HR).

Most retirement plan distributions are subject to income tax and may be subject to an additional penalty if you take an early withdrawal. What’s considered early? In general, it’s when participants take money out of a traditional IRA or other qualified retirement plan before age 59½. Such distributions are generally taxable and may be subject to a 10% penalty tax.

Every business wants to find them, but they sure don’t make it easy. We’re talking about cost cuts: clear and substantial ways to lower expenses, thereby strengthening cash flow and giving you a better shot at strong profitability.

The IRS announced it opened the 2023 individual income tax return filing season on January 23. That’s when the agency began accepting and processing 2022 tax year returns. Even if you typically don’t file until much closer to the mid-April deadline (or you file for an extension), consider filing earlier this year. The reason is you can potentially protect yourself from tax identity theft.

Many small businesses start out as “lean enterprises,” with costs kept to a minimum to lower risks and maximize cash flow. But there comes a point in the evolution of many companies — particularly in a tight job market — when investing money in employee benefits becomes advisable, if not downright mandatory.

Workplace retirement plans were also affected by the recently passed SECURE Act 2.0, which is where we start back up with part two of our SECURE Act 2.0 blog series.

There are some major changes rolling out in the next few years related to many types of retirement accounts, courtesy of what is known as the SECURE Act 2.0. The first of the legislation will roll-out in fiscal year 2023, although the full impact may not be felt until 2033 when the last of these changes goes into effect. The SECURE Act 2.0 will be a game-changer that will affect employer and employee plans, as well as individual retirement account (IRA) owners and beneficiaries.

The Employee Retention Credit (ERC) was a valuable tax credit that helped employers that kept workers on staff during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. While the credit is no longer available, eligible employers that haven’t yet claimed it might still be able to do so by filing amended payroll returns for tax years 2020 and 2021.

A new year has arrived. For many businesses, this means employees’ paid time off (PTO) arrangements have reset. And at companies with “use it or lose it” policies, workers have likely left a few or perhaps many unused hours on the table.

Good news for anyone who uses one or more of the popular payment applications such as Venmo, PayPal, or CashApp: the new tax reporting requirement threshold that was scheduled to take effect for the 2022 tax year has been delayed!