There are warnings on how to prepare for the coronavirus in your personal life, for your family, in your home. But what about how to prepare for your company and guiding your employees? How will the virus impact your company and what is the best way to deal with it as a business owner? What is the best way to work with your employees to help them through the current state of affairs? The coronavirus - or COVID-19 - has been no stranger from any news platform, social media platform, or any conversation you have. With cases hitting the United States at a growing rate, it's common for big-box stores like Sams Club and Costco to start selling out of paper towels, toilet paper, water, and canned goods. We have seen the virus starting to shut down universities, grade schools, nursing homes, and local businesses. It is also starting to impact our imports, changing how people are traveling, and all the while there is a rising fear of what this could mean for our country and as us as individuals. Business owners and companies are going to have to deal with new things and issues they've never had before. Managers, human resources, bosses, and project managers will be dealing with anxiety, panic, fear, worry, and doubt from employees. What then? It's time to create a focus of keeping them calm, pushing business to keep operating as normal, and being an understanding leader. All the while you'll need to keep the possibility of shutting down out of necessity, safety, or practicality in the back of your mind. This could mean the loss of income, production, employees, and employee's wages and benefits. Outside the worry of catching the virus, quality of life-based on monetary needs will start weighing on you and your employees. What's going to happen next and what is the best way to handle it? Legal, emotional, and practical worries are making their way to the forefront for many managers. The CDC and a handful of other government organizations have released all kinds of material on how to prepare, clean, and deal with daily business operations. Take advantage of these resources, they are there to help and calm you through this unknown period. When it comes to working with your employees and steering your company through this unknown period, there will be many things to consider. Read carefully through this list and see how it can help or continue to help your company.
One of the hardest parts of this situation is to separating fear from fact. If your employee is nervous to travel because someone "might" be sick next to them at some point in their travels, this might be fear put on by the media - not because it is an actuality. Also, please be aware that acting differently towards someone in your company, or anywhere, who you feel might be more likely to pass on the virus because of race or where they come from is a nasty form of discrimination and can be grounds for a lawsuit. Overreaction from anyone because of how someone looks and where they come from, will lead to some very sticky issues and situations. We do suggest that before you do make any of these choices to keep your company running smoothly, that you receive counsel from medical professionals, the CDC or proper law advisers. Panic and fear can destroy a healthy situation, a strong company, and the employees within it. As a leader of your company, set a good example. Be prepared, but don't be afraid. Stay educated on the topic, follow the CDC procedure, and keep up with the statistics of the situation. The media can quickly take something and blow it out of proportion. In this situation, keep your employees calm, and have a plan for what might be ahead. Respect their wishes, and work together to keep healthy and safe. If you have any questions, are looking for more guidance, or just need a little bit of comfort follow the links below to learn more. https://www.cdc.gov/ https://www.who.int/
0 Comments
Every year tax law changes ever so slightly. This can affect big payments, what you can and cannot pay on, and goes all the way down to determining how much you can and cannot write off down to the half-cent. As you are preparing for this year's tax season and tax write-offs, you still have to keep 2020 in the back of your mind. The moment you drop off your taxes for 2019, 2020 will be right there ready to become the center of attention.
We are a little over two months into 2020, and inching closer and closer to tax day. How are you feeling? Have you already submitted electronically? Are you still trying to tie up loose ends and gather all of your paperwork? No matter where you are in your tax journey at this moment, it's not hard to admit that tax season can be difficult. It takes time for any size company to gather paperwork and get everything in order, to make sure you have everything to prove your write-offs, and that you're writing off everything you can to hopefully get a good chunk back in return. Just like any tax law, how and what you can write off every year can and does change. It might not be a significant change, but it does indeed change every year. Just like any large or small part of changing tax law, this small dollar and cent change can add up at the end of a fiscal year. You need to stay educated be aware of these changes as best you can. If this is something you can't stay on top of, then please leave it in the hands of a professional. All of us at Pathways Consulting are here to help you with your tax needs in Summerville. Please don't hesitate to contact us! In this busy and stressful time of tax season, we like to stay as positive as possible, and remind our clients about the incentives taxes can bring to them and their companies. One of these positive factors is reminding our clients of what they can write off every year, and how that can help their company in the long run. One particular and popular write off that has seen some small, but serious, changes is how much in mileage you can write off per mile driven for business use, charitable use, and for medical or moving purposes. In this particular blog, we are going to be discussing the most recent changes in the mileage rate that began on January 1st of this year (2020), as something to look forward to. The mileage rate for the taxes you are currently working on or have already submitted will be a little different from these numbers. But remember, if you haven't already done your taxes, or your tax preparer is still working on them, the 2019 rates are still available and are known by all tax professionals. The importance of this blog is to give all of our clients and future clients something to look forward to and to make sure they are informed of the 2020 tax changes. For some these new milage rates will be a welcome change, for others it might be a little disappointing. These are the mileage rates for the use of a car, pickup truck, and panel trucks for 2020.
Business use, moving, and medical use saw the biggest changes for 2020. Driving for business went down one half-cent, and driving for medical and moving went down three cents. This might not seem a lot, but if your company has employees driving for hundreds or thousands of miles per year, those half cents or three cents per mile that you can no longer write off can make a difference. But, at least it is still something. The amount that can be written off per mile for charitable reasons did not change between 2019 and 2020. Keep in mind that for 2019 taxes, you still have those whole half cent and three cent differences, so use those to your advantage and don't forget to write them off! What created and set these new tax rates you might ask? For mileage driven for business reasons, it is determined on the yearly fixed rate of the operation of vehicles. For medical and moving purposes it is based on the variable cost o that tax year. Business owners, please be warned. You can only write off the mileage for five or fewer cars used at one time. If you have more than that, only five of the car's mileage can be written off. Also, if the car has already been claimed under another deduction, then the mileage cannot be claimed as well. It has to be one write off or the other. While preparing for next year's taxes and planning your write-offs, there are still a few important things that you need to keep in mind. Due to changes from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Acts, taxpayers will not be able to claim a miscellaneous deduction for unreimbursed employee travel expenses any longer. When it comes to the expenses of moving beyond the gas mileage, the only time you can claim moving expenses on your taxes is if you're a member of the military and you are under orders to move. Unless you fit that description, no other write-offs about moving can be included in your taxes. If it's for your 2019 taxes or your upcoming 2020 taxes, please be very careful and cautious about how and what you're writing off. If this is a grey area for you personally, again, please hire a professional tax preparer to handle this for you. These small changes that happen every year in write-offs are known to them because it's their job to know all of this information. Using a professional tax preparer for any size company could save you more money and get you more in your tax return in the long run. Tax season can be a difficult time, but it doesn't have to be. We are here to give you the best tax service and help in Summerville, and our doors are always open! Keep working hard, and make sure to get your taxes in by April 15th! The world is continually getting smarter by the minute, so it should be no surprise that our beloved Quickbooks will also be reaping the benefits of a smarter life.
Tax day is getting closer and closer. With that looming, we encourage you to visit our offices and be prepared for April 15th. Electronic submission opened on January 27th, so if you are ready to submit your tax documents electronically do so now. If you need help doing so, please visit us. If you are waiting to send everything manually, you'll have to wait a little bit longer. With the continued growth in technology, the future of tax day and the effort it takes to get there is going to become simpler and easier. Artificial Intelligence has made its way into the interface of Quickbooks, and we are very excited to see what this new development will bring to our clients, their clients, and the future of filing taxes. This past November was the 6th annual Quickbooks Connect, an annual conference designed to bring together business owners and professionals to discuss how to run their businesses better. This year the topic was the exciting emergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and how it will help businesses grow in ways we've not seen before. As a huge proportionate of Quickbooks, we are so excited to see the growth and change in their new applications. LOOKING FORWARD
This exciting new application of Quickbooks will have many other incredible tools to help your small business run better than ever before. We are so excited to see this continue to evolve and to see what these new applications will do for our clients! Don't hesitate during this busy tax season to come in and visit us if you have any questions about Quickbooks or your taxes! Until then, enjoy this new update, never let a question go unasked, and get your taxes is on time! |
AuthorThe Pathways Team Archives
September 2020
Categories
All
|