Business Car Use: Keep Adequate Records
If you fail to keep adequate records for business car use, the IRS can disallow deductions. You are required to keep a contemporaneous log or other similar record of your business trips. That doesn’t mean you have to record the information the moment you arrive home, but you can’t wait until months have passed either. In lieu of keeping track [...]
Related Party Transactions: Planning Around the Matching Rule
The related-party matching rule places your business on the cash method for deducting payments to related cash-method payees. You need to know this rule to avoid unexpected tax results. Here’s an example of unexpected results: ABC is a calendar-year accrual-method S corporation. Sam is the sole shareholder and thus related under the matching rule. On December 30, 2017, ABC accrues [...]
Four Ways to Avoid Cash Flow Problem
Cash flow problems in a business don’t just come out of nowhere – there’s always a cause. In many cases, the cause comes down to the business owner’s mistakes. The good news is that mistakes can be avoided when you understand how they are made. Following are four common errors entrepreneurs make that can negatively impact their bottom line. By [...]
Be Excellent, Not Perfectionist
“Perfect” may be the ultimate praise, but trying to attain perfection can cause stress, hinder efficiency, and create unnecessary conflicts with the people around you. More productive goal is excellence: meeting the highest standards agreed upon for oneself or by the group. To go from perfectionism to the pursuit of excellence, follow these advices: Be realistic When you find yourself [...]
Releasing Your Passive Losses
As you may know, the rental property rules have prevented you from deducting your passive losses in prior years. That’s the bad news. The good news is that you release suspended losses when you sell one or more of the properties that are creating the losses. This is true regardless of whether you sell the property at a gain or [...]
Traits of Successful Team Players
Whether you’re forming a fully self-directed work team or leading a group that just needs to collaborate effectively, you must recruit the right people. Keep your eyes open for these abilities and traits: Willingness to contribute Is the person ready to put the team’s goals first? This doesn’t mean ignoring personal needs, but it does mean that team members must [...]