Blog & Newsroom

Earlier in the year, we shared a list of business-related books we enjoyed reading and in which we found great value. It was very well received, so we thought we’d share more of our favorites.

Depending on whether your organization is on a calendar or fiscal year, you may have just gone through a year-end close, or you’re looking forward to one (using the phrase “looking forward to” very loosely.) Do you find the year-end closing process to be an arduous ordeal or a series of sure, predictable events? What if I told you could make year-end closings faster and easier?

Part 4 of a 5 Part Series

Not-for-profit boards have an important role in reviewing and approving the financial reports of the organization. In order to effectively evaluate the organization’s activities, plan for the future, and make decisions, financial reports are almost always on the agenda at board meetings.

Part 3 of a 5 Part Series

An Organization’s management is charged with managing the day-to-day operations of the non-for-profit; however, this does not relieve Board Members from taking on certain oversight responsibilities.

With an increasing number of baby boomers reaching retirement age, business owners are choosing to leave the workforce. This means the end of a partnership and a change in the way you do business.

A primer on how to navigate the changes

In the past few months, phrases like “tariffs on Chinese imports” and “trade war with China” have been  floating around in the news. The government levied a 25 percent tariff on over $50 billion of products imported from China.

The deadline is approaching for private employers to “true-up” with the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC).

A press release posted on the Ohio BWC website reminds employers they have until Aug. 15 to complete an important action necessary for the BWC to accurately calculate premiums.

According to the press release, prior to each policy year (July 1- June 30), employers' payroll amount, the basis for their premium, is estimated based on historical data. When the policy year-ends, employers are required to true-up, which means they must report the actual payroll for the policy year that ended on June 30 and reconcile any difference in premium paid.

The good news is that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 lowered corporate tax rates from a graduated schedule that reached 35 percent to a 21 percent flat rate. The bad news? Many business expenses are no longer tax deductible. That list includes all outlays that might be considered entertainment or recreation.

As of 2018, tickets to sports events cannot be deducted, even if you walk away from the game with a new client or a lucrative contract. The same is true if you treat a prospect to seats at a Broadway play or take a valued vendor out for a round of golf. Those outlays will be true costs for business owners without any tax relief.

Drilling down

Does that mean that you should drop all your season tickets supporting local teams? Cancel club memberships? Pack away your putter and your tennis racquet? Before taking any actions in this area, take a breath and crunch some numbers.

Some taxpayers receive emails that appear to be from the Taxpayer Advocacy Panel (TAP) about a tax refund. These emails are a phishing scam, trying to trick victims into providing personal and financial information.

 Do not respond or click any link. If you receive this scam, forward it to phishing@irs.gov and note that it seems to be a scam phishing for your information.

TAP is a volunteer board that advises the IRS on systemic issues affecting taxpayers. It never requests, and does not have access to, any taxpayer’s personal and financial information.

Effective June 1^st 2018 Zinner & Co. will officially adopt Intuit’s Quickbooks Discontinuation policy. If you are using Quickbooks version 2015 or older, you will need to upgrade to maintain compliance. This policy will maintain support for the three most recent versions of Intuit Quickbooks. The annual drop date for the oldest product version is May 31^st. Intuit’s current “Disco” policy states: