Blog & Newsroom

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:

Fall 2017 | Winter 2018

Zinner & Co. is ready to ring in the New Year with a commitment to sustainability, focus on our environment, and assurance that our clients receive year-round service.  As part of this initiative, beginning in January 2018, business client invoices will be delivered via electronic mail. To ensure timely and effective receipt of your invoice, please take a moment to update your company information by downloading the form here and adding your billing department information if it is different than your primary company contact. (Please let us know if you prefer to continue to receive your invoice via USPS). You can return the form to us at ClientUpdate@zinnerco.com or via US mail:

Learn “5 Things Every Business Owner Should Do Before December 31” during WIRE-Net’sOctober workshop, Thursday, October 12 at Cuyahoga Community College’s Advanced Technology Training Center. The event is open to members and non-members. 
 
Partner Brett Neate will educate business owners and decision makers as they face the Q4 flurry of activity that is critical to accurately closing 2017 and properly preparing for 2018.

Many business operators, regardless of background, are charged with some degree of fiscal oversight. While some may have a basic understanding of the information listed on their company’s financial statements, the majority are not accountants, nor have they had training that covers the detail contained within their financial statements. 

The midway mark in the calendar year signifies a checkpoint for the Bureau of Workers Compensation (BWC). The BWC Annual True-up reports are due soon and while many companies are ready, some may still be a little fuzzy about the new process and timeline.

This is the second year for annual True-up reporting.  Most private employers are on a bi-monthly payment installment schedule (other than the minimum payers). If employers wish to elect a monthly installment option, they can make the change annually prior to the start of the new policy year,