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Bay Area Business

Business Growth, Business Tax Planning

Employee Gifts: Some Ideas for San Francisco Bay Area Business Owners

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Time is counting down until the year is up and your tax impact opportunity window closes. And even if this is the busiest (and perhaps most profitable) part of the year for your San Francisco Bay Area business, opening up a little space in your calendar to talk about some year-end tax moves is only going to mean good things for it.  Let’s make sure you’re set up to get some potential last-minute tax savings. Grab a time with us here:Patti (408) 775-7790  Gale 408-775-7800 Another thing you’re probably thinking about this time of year is how you’re going to express your gratitude to your awesome staff via a year-end bonus or some such.  Of course, this isn’t an area where you shouldn’t merely be optimizing your bottom line. This is a chance to create some joy around your business – I suggest you take it. But with our macroeconomic picture growing ever tighter, finding the right way to let your employees know you appreciate them without shelling out a crazy amount might call for some creativity.  I’ve got some ideas for you on the year-end employee gifts front… Employee Gifts: Some Ideas for San Francisco Bay Area Business Owners“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.” – William Arthur Ward That time of year again. Trouble for some small companies is, it’s that time in what may be yet another year of struggling on the bottom line. Still, you want to thank your employees for their hard work. How do you give EOY employee gifts without breaking the bank?  There are many ways to say “thank you” quickly (even as 2022 runs out), even if you’re cash-strapped.  Hint: Go for more bang than buck. EOY Employee Gifts: Tax considerations If you give gifts as part of doing business — including thank yous for employees — you may be able to deduct all or part of the cost, but no more than 25 dollars for business gifts to each person during your tax year. Incidental costs — engraving, decorating, packaging, mailing — are generally not included in that limit. Holiday gifts fall under de minimis benefits — what the IRS terms an item “considering its value and the frequency with which it is provided, is so small as to make accounting for it unreasonable or impractical.” (The IRS has previously ruled that individual items worth more than 100 dollars aren’t de minimis, just so you know.)  Cash or cash equivalent items (gift cards and the like) are never excludable from income. Gift certificates that allow your employee to receive an item that’s minimal in value, provided infrequently, and is “administratively impractical to account for” may be excludable as a de minimis benefit, depending on facts and circumstances, IRS says.  Whenever everybody’s favorite federal agency starts using phrases like “depending on facts and circumstances,” it’s only sensible to have a few questions. Feel free to check with us. EOY Employee Gifts: What to give Gift cards. These are first to mind these days, and they offer a lot of pluses for both giver and receiver as an appreciation gift: flexible amounts (easy on your bottom line), fast delivery (whether plastic or electronic), and available for a lot of products from electronics to gas to food to clothes.  If you’re trying to say thanks while watching your budget, the thought really counts. If your staff size allows, try to get each person something they as an individual would like. Maybe one of your folks is always talking (when they should be working, but that’s a story for another time of year …) about the movie they just went to. Maybe another staffer shops at Target every single weekend. Tailoring a gift card to such folks is easy, and they’ll appreciate even a smaller gift if they think you devoted thought to it.  Name brands might also buy you more appreciation than embossing. Is the expense of putting your company name on something really going to impress an employee more than a retail name they respect (Yeti tumblers and mugs, for instance, or a North Face beanie)? Work-related. Too often all of us fall back on a coffee mug with the company name. That can work of course, but what about comfort at work? Use your eyes and ears for a few days and see if somebody would like a blanket to keep at their desk. Or a recharging station, a lunch box or bag, a desk fan, or a smartphone pop socket. Do they eat lunch at their desk? How about a desktop vacuum cleaner?  You can get many of these for little more than a $20 bill — and every time your folks ward off a chill or cool down after coming in from lunch, they’ll think of you. With fondness. And that’s one of the big points. (These gifts work for either remote or in-office situations, by the way.) For the individual. Again, if staff size allows, think for a sec or ask a few questions discreetly of co-workers. Does your staffer love or despise candy, honey, chocolate, or cookies? Don’t leap at these choices just because they’re familiar. Does the worker embrace green living(stainless steel straws)? Spend a lot of time outdoors (sunscreen, lip balm, or touchscreen gloves)? Travel a lot (sleep mask, neck pillow, or packing cubes)?  A last point: Give the gifts in a way that embarrasses no one. Maybe leave it on their desk with a nice wrap job and card when they’re not looking. Email them the electronic gift card on the weekend.  A little effort can help make sure the delivery is part of the gift, discreet, and individual. After all, that doesn’t cost anything. Maybe the employee gifts puzzle isn’t as much a money and tax matter as other questions, but we’re ready to advise on all your San Francisco Bay Area business needs. In your corner, Patti ONeill and Gale Bergado

Business Tax Planning

Federal Spending Impact on San Francisco Bay Area Businesses

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I don’t know about you, but after the holidays (and I hope yours were filled with good things and happy times with loved ones), I’m always a bit tapped out on the spending.  But in true governmental fashion, Uncle Sam is piling it on. Seems like Congress missed the post-holiday “no spending” cue. One little holiday tidbit that you might have missed: The IRS is delaying the implementation of the 1099 requirement for Paypal, Cashapp, Venmo, et al. Here at ONeill & Bergado, we have been talking to various San Francisco Bay Area clients about this, and have been advising a stance of “cautious preparation” – cautious because having seen these machinations get gummed up in the past, I maintained a believe-it-when-I-see-it perspective. After all, we’re talking about the same agency that can barely staff NORMAL operations right now … and they were going to track EVERY $600+ transaction on these platforms? The sheer manpower and logistical lift for this was (and is) mindblowing. So … the can gets kicked down the road, and we wait and see if this thing ever lands. Your San Francisco Bay Area bookkeeper can breathe a sigh of well-earned relief. One thing to keep in mind: The IRS will be ever (and always) aggressive about bringing in more revenue. This is, after all, their stated mission. And they BETTER be aggressive, because Congress seems to feel no pain when it comes to spending. See below. Naturally, you’ll have questions about some of this beyond what I’m breaking down today. If you want to talk through any of the federal spending things happening in Washington, I’m here for you:Patti (408) 775-7790 Gale 408-775-7800 So, here’s what should be on your business radar … Federal Spending Impact on San Francisco Bay Area Businesses“It is a popular delusion that the government wastes vast amounts of money through inefficiency and sloth. Enormous effort and elaborate planning are required to waste this much money.” – P.J. O’Rourke You might have heard about all the federal funding and spending bills flying around Washington. Will any of them affect you and your small business?  Yes, maybe quite a bit, especially when it comes to retirement plans.  Capitol Hill appears ready to sign a 1.7 trillion-dollar spending package that will keep lights on in the federal government. Certain tax credits for individuals and for businesses didn’t survive Congressional backrooms.  Other measures, added at the last minute, stand to change how a lot of companies offer retirement plans, among other changes. Then there’s the landmark Inflation Reduction Act that became law last summer and that has given billions of dollars to the Internal Revenue Service, which promises a sharper look at some biz practices.  Here’s what we know about the federal spending impact on your business at the moment.  Future security One of the federal funding plan’s biggest impacts on small businesses will stem from the last-second addition of retirement changes of the SECURE Act 2.0 (the latest version of the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act). SECURE 2.0 contains changes that proponents have wanted for a long time.  If you have workers, you’ll want to know these points:  1. To get small businesses to create retirement plans, SECURE Act 2.0 in the omnibus bill will increase the 50% tax credit for startup and administrative costs of plans to 100% annually for employers with up to 100 employees. 2. Simplified and streamlined paperwork and reporting requirements for employers’ retirement plans and a starter initiative for companies to start offering 401(k)s. 3. The requirement to automatically enroll opt-in employees in their 401(k) plan at a rate of at least 3% but not more than 10%. Some exemptions exist for businesses with 10 or fewer workers and companies in business for less than three years. 4. Eligibility to enter the company 401(k) for part-timers who’ve logged 500 to 999 hours for two consecutive years. 5. Simplified red tape and new tax incentives for small-business employee stock ownership plans.  A couple other points might be good hiring incentives for you. – You’ll be able to set up emergency savings accounts for your workers through automatic payroll deductions, capped at $2,500 – they’ll be able to dip into this free of the familiar tax penalties for early withdrawal.  – You’ll also be able to make matching contributions to a retirement plan for employees who are paying off student loans.  Your employees (and you) will also see other changes:  The age when you have to take required minimum distributions go from 72 now to 73 next year, and then to age 75 by 2033. The penalty for failing to take RMDs drops from 50% to 25% and even 10% and catch-up contributions will increase to 10 grand annually, among other changes.   Less-than-pleasant news regarding federal spending Last summer the Inflation Reduction Act became law – and it allotted 80 billion bucks to the IRS over the next 10 years. The agency will spend a good slice of that on modernizing its technology and improving customer/taxpayer service for calls, correspondence, and return processing. Fingers crossed.  The IRS – for years underfunded and leaking employees – also plans to sign on 87,000 new revenue agents and has pledged to beef up enforcement of some business tax practices. (The Treasury Department notes that over the past decade the IRS has lost 40% of agents who handled complicated returns, such as those of businesses and corporations.)  Among possible new targets:  S corp compensation: Following a scathing report on piddling audit rates from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, the IRS will sharpen efforts to collect employment taxes from S corp officers, ditto partnerships, and multi-member LLCs. The latter are rarely audited, a policy the IRS has publicly said it intends to change when self-employment tax exemptions become involved.  Micro-captive insurance: The IRS is likely to pay attention to its own annual “Dirty Dozen” list of tax scams – and here’s a popular one. Owners of closely held entities are frequently enticed into schemes where coverages may “insure” implausible risks, fail to

Business Growth

Mastering Your San Francisco Bay Area Business Phone Answering

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How is your year starting out? We’re into week 2 of 2023 … would love to hear back from you on what are the challenges you’re facing in your San Francisco Bay Area business finances right now. Relatedly, what are your customer service goals for this year? One customer relations tool that seems outdated (but is still very relevant): phone calls. Yes, we know there are chatbots and instant messages and many people opt for those avenues first. But, when the templated answers don’t help your customers, they’re sure to dial your company number to get more personalized answers. Nothing beats a one-to-one interaction with a customer. And that’s what phoning provides. But what if they’re turned off by the hold time? Or the greeting? Or they’re bounced around to different departments? It’s a surefire way to build frustration. So, what can you do to improve (and master) the art of customer phone calls? I have thoughts. Oh, and another quick reminder about how the final estimated tax payment for 2022 is due by Jan. 16th. And the IRS makes it so easy for you with an online payment option.  But if you need to go over anything there, I’m here for you:Patti (408) 775-7790  Gale 408-775-7800 Now, onto how you handle your business phone… Mastering Your San Francisco Bay Area Business Phone Answering“The great advantage it possesses over every other form of electrical apparatus consists in the fact that it requires no skill to operate the instrument.” – Alexander Graham Bell Call it VoIP, cell, or landline: Despite all the email and texts, using your business phonefor voice communication (plain old “calls”) remains one of your company’s customer-service lifelines.  Not to mention that the phone remains a big way to stay in touch with a workforce that might be working outside the company premises – not only for staying in touch with those workers but for making sure they’re representing your company well.  Make sure everyone in your operation knows how to answer the business phone to your best advantage.   Still useful Social media is gaining ground as the preferred customer communication method with a company (especially young-adult customers), but the phone remains popular for customer service among all ages – especially after those customers have bought from a company. (Companies also lose billions annually because of crummy customer service, studies have found.) The business phone remains a tool for brand image: A phone number on a website or other marketing material generally still conveys more trustworthiness than an army of chatbots even if customers elect to use the bot or email or instant message to reach your company over calling.  And phones still offer a quicker route to make a call personal for a customer. Who knows who’s really on the other end of an IM or an email?  Have a designated number for your company, by the way. Established customers can use your home landline (if you wish – and if you still have a landline) or your personal cell. New customers and most callers to your company in general, though, should have one number to reach your receptionist or your voice tree/voicemail.  Plenty of apps will add a designated business line to your cell phone. You can get a toll-free or a vanity number (where the numerals in your number spell out words relative to your business) for a nominal cost – but with today’s speed-dialing and contacts functions, that may not be worth the money. ‘Can I put you on hold?’ Shoot to pick up all calls on your business phonein two rings.  It’s not always possible, but many more rings, and you risk starting a conversation with a prospect or customer who’s already out of patience. Have all staffers back up the phones if needed. By about four rings at most, rig your system to bounce to voice tree/voicemail.  The first words your staff utters will likely set the whole tone for the conversation. Go clear and professional to start: Whoever in your company answers should say “good morning” or “good afternoon,” thank the caller for phoning, give their name and ask why they’re calling.  Bear in mind that someone on a speaker phone (including your staff) often sounds like they’re inside a gymnasium. If they’re fielding business calls at home, tell them to keep to a minimum playing kids, banging screen doors, barking dogs, and other distracting household noise.  And is it any surprise that text and other communication methods gain ground on Mr. Bell’s invention when customers expect to be on hold for at least five minutes when they call? Hold’s unavoidable of course – but keep it brief and explain why it’s needed. Ask for the caller’s number so you can ring them back if there’s a disconnect (there probably won’t be – but it shows you care and want to talk to them). Tell them why you have to put them on hold and estimate how long they’ll be there.  And, if you think you’ll lose track of just how long the customer is on hold… use a timer so you don’t forget. Listen up The caller’s using your business phone because they want to talk to a person and not the tap of a keyboard. Your company’s first job here is to listen neutrally to their problem. Use small talk and pleasantries but keep them brief. Hear the caller’s issue before you start talking.  Ask questions. Take notes – this will help in a sec. Explain your first thoughts on what it’ll take to solve the problem; even short-term action will impress the caller if it’s quick enough.  Always ask a caller if it’s okay before you transfer them. You’re within your rights to ask if you can call them back later with a progress report. Do so, even if there is no progress, by the next business day. Wrap up the call – those notes will come in handy here – and always thank them for calling. Only if your staffer feels there’s time should they try such survey-ish questions as, “Were you satisfied with your

Business Growth

Accepting Crypto Payments in Your San Francisco Bay Area Business

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First of all, congratulations on making it through 2022. Pat on the back for sticking with it through the very real ups and the challenging lows. Many of our San Francisco Bay Area clients went through the wringer … others had their best year yet. From a personal standpoint, I think we’re all pretty glad to see it in the rearview. Now, welcome to 2023. Anyone making bold predictions about what’s coming down the pike is setting themselves up for a fall … but I think we can safely say that economic challenges will continue to bombard us. And tech changes will keep knocking on the window of our business ops.  Especially when it comes to accepting payments. Cash is king – especially in 2023. However, in an increasingly digital age, when customers can tap their phones to the credit card reader, you better be ready to make room for all the other different formats that can eventually turn into those pleasing pieces of green paper.  And now, digital payment options can include cryptocurrency. Certainly a volatile investment last year, and one that continues to face … challenges. But nonetheless, it is something not to be ignored. So today, I have some thoughts for you on accepting crypto as a form of payment. But before I start, quick reminder that the deadline for 4th quarter estimated payments is coming up fast (Jan 16th). If you don’t have your ducks in a row, or you need some help finalizing things for that estimated payment, that’s something we can face together before the deadline.  Reach out here:(408) 775-7790 So, let’s talk accepting crypto… the what, the why, and the how to accommodate it in your San Francisco Bay Area business … Accepting Crypto Payments in Your San Francisco Bay Area Business“Cash for the soft goods, cash for the fancy goods/Cash for the noggins and the piggins and the firkins.” – Meredith Willson, The Music Man First businesses took checks, then charge cards and credit cards (manually entered), then electronic payments, third-party payments, and tap-and-pays. What about your next big payment option that, despite headline ups and downs, seems here to stay? Cryptocurrency.  Is it time for your small business to start accepting crypto from customers? What’s involved – and, more importantly, what would you gain by accepting crypto now?  Should you or shouldn’t you? Questions abound, but we do know that crypto is currency (age: about four decades) that exists only digitally, based on a technology that usually has no central issuing or regulating authority. Relying on a technology called blockchain, it uses a decentralized system to record transactions and manage issuing of new money. Types of crypto include bitcoin and Ethereum.  Owners hold crypto in digital wallets that store the keys to decrypt currency and allow its use. To many, it’s the future of currency.  It’s also the stuff enormous headlines are made of. FTX, a crypto exchange, recently went from being worth tens of billions of dollars to bankrupt in a week. Luna, a crypto token, went from about a buck to around 116 dollars before it crashed – only another example of a young and unregulated currency universe that’s becoming famous for volatility.  How could anything this unstable have a future? Why would a smart owner open the doors of their business to this? No doubt your first move toward accepting crypto is answering these questions to your satisfaction.  All we can tell you now is that even in one of crypto’s most turbulent years, bitcoin still leveled off at a price offering big returns. Mastercard, AT&T, and Paypal are the latest household names to bet on crypto’s future – and the United States is one of the latest big governments to do so, calling for a process to recognize and regulate crypto in agencies from the Federal Reserve to the IRS.  Suppose you’re not a conglomerate or a huge government? In a recent survey, about a third of small-business owners and top-level execs said their business currently takes cryptocurrencies, with bitcoin, bitcoin cash, and Ethereum among the most commonly accepted.  Almost half of the owners and execs who don’t accept cryptocurrencies don’t plan to do so in the future – yet a quarter who don’t take cryptocurrencies would like to but don’t know how.  The good and the bad Accepting crypto, at least initially, likely won’t change how your customers pay – your proportion of cash and plastic transactions will remain the same. Most shoppers who have crypto hold it as an asset, not as an actual currency; accepting it will probably be more a conversation starter with most customers at the beginning.  Over time, crypto customers will appear, though, and you will have added flexibility to your payment options (almost always a good move if you know the conditions and ramifications). Accepting crypto can become particularly effective if you sell large-ticket items and through a website.  Other advantages:  But the big downside of accepting cryptocurrency isn’t hard to spot: instability. True, the U.S. dollar isn’t worth what it once was either due to inflation, but a whipsawing asset on your ledger can make bookkeeping much more complicated. Not to mention that there are multitudes of cryptocurrencies.  Customers may also voice environmental objections: Cryptocurrency takes a lot of electricity to create and sustain.  How to accept it This is just an overview, but as happens in business more and more, back-office tech helps implement innovation – and accepting crypto is, once again “so far,” no exception. Many crypto payment processing systems integrate with point-of-sale (POS) systems, and an increasing number of POS systems themselves can run crypto transactions. You enter transaction details using barcode scanners and a touch screen and the system verifies the details and processes the transaction – not unlike modern transactions involving credit and debit cards.  Crypto-friendly systems also operate a lot like now-familiar accounting systems: Advantages include facilitating audits, issuing digital receipts, and easier storage of customer data. These vendors also keep on top of the various cryptos

Business Tax Planning

Hiring a Consultant for Your San Francisco Bay Area Business

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Remembering and honoring Martin Luther King this week has me thinking once again about being a voice.  It’s hard not to get inspired listening to the iconic words of the famous I Have a Dream speech (if you’ve never listened to the entire speech, it’s worth the listen — and it’s shorter than most people realize).  It makes me think about how being a business owner is about so much more than merely “running a business.” What we do has a real impact on real people. And we can wield that influence in intentional ways. For many of us, we start with our teams. Without even trying, we impact their lives. (Quite literally because we give them a paycheck, but it goes beyond that). This impact can be for good or for ill, by the way. But when we see our teams right, we get the opportunity to know them as people, not just as workers. We get to support them in their pursuits and help them come through difficulties. We get to help them succeed beyond the walls of our San Francisco Bay Area businesses.  This kind of care, letting them know how much you value them … well, I’m fairly certain that it goes a long way.  One really practical way you serve your staff and contractors is by getting out their W-2s or 1099s on time. You have a couple weeks until they must be issued. Do not wait for the last minute on this one. If you need help, you know where to find us:Patti (408) 775-7790  Gale 408-775-7800 Now, speaking of your staff and maybe your 2023 business goals, perhaps you are needing to hire a consultant for some specialized areas in your San Francisco Bay Area business.  I have thoughts. Hiring a Consultant for Your San Francisco Bay Area Business“Advice is like castor oil: easy enough to give but dreadful uneasy to take.” – Josh Billings HR or IT getting complex and time-consuming for you alone? Suddenly what seemed to be an advertising no-brainer looks complicated now? It’s only natural that as your company grows, functions that were once easy get too cumbersome for you to handle. Sooner or later, you wonder about hiring a consultant.  Finding the right one to help your company, though, is like finding any other answer in business: It takes work.  But you can handle it, and here’s how.  What they do and what you need Consultants come in a lot of varieties and can help (or claim they can) in many areas of business from advertising and marketing to how to handle expanding growing human resources needs to advising on real estate purchases to protecting data as a company grows… among many others.  You can’t know what you need until you know what you need. Your first task when hiring a consultant is to resist flailing for help in all directions and pin down what problem you want to tackle. You need details and for those, you need homework and questions. Rather than simply saying you want a consultant to help with your advertising, first, find out where you want to put the ads and for what products. You need tech help – but to install software, pick a server, or build a firewall? Do you need your consultant for one project or for semi-regular engagements over the long haul?  The more specific, the better.  What you can expect to pay For all the above, your big determinants are your budget going in and projected ROI. Until you’ve tacked those down, don’t even Google “hiring a consultant …”  Pricing is where consultants really get varied. Understand that this can only be just an overview of their rates, but it should give you a snapshot to start budgeting.  Consultants can charge by the project or by a length of time, such as a day or an hour. Small-business consulting fees can range from the high two figures to more than a grand (sometimes much more, depending on the industry, the length of the project, and the consultant). That breaks down to the low three figures per hour. Generally, the more technical or senior-level the expertise needed, the more expensive it’ll be.  Makes sense – but how can you rein in costs yet still get the expertise you need?  Some screening questions are the same as with any vendor. Is this a one-time consulting need? You’re better off with a fixed fee. Is the project ongoing, with repeated fine-tuning down the road? That’ll get you a lower fee than a one-time project but you will have to pay the fee more often, so can you negotiate a volume discount?  For figuring out a base price to start, check your biz network for experience with consultants’ fees – and, more importantly, for referrals.  Who they should be Unfortunately, hiring a consultant isn’t like hiring a tax preparer, plumber, doctor, or other professional who works under fixed and clear levels of certification. There are many certifications for consultants – but, for your purposes, those titles don’t mean as much as finding someone with smarts concerning your company and with whom you just click.  Common sense will tell you the qualities of a good consultant: ability to listen, learn, and analyze; calm, objective judgment and the skills to document completely; insight and experience (maybe even on the expert level, though again this can cost you) to think strategically; inductive reasoning; and the ability to clearly communicate findings and recommendations so you can act on them.  You might also need them to have a sharp eye for data or possess management or medication skills – sales ability doesn’t hurt either when it comes to convincing your staff of the sense of the consultant’s recommendations.  When you’re screening candidates, bounce your problem off them directly. You can also give them hypothetical problems and ask for their judgment in ways to respond (much like you’d do with a job candidate).  Ideally, you’re not the only one asking questions in the screening. A candidate should:  Again, this

Business Growth

Remote Work & Your San Francisco Bay Area Business Insurance Policy

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Now that we’re through January (and all of the 1099’s and payroll-related information returns), we take a small breath … but then things start ramping up again for us here at ONeill & Bergado. So let this serve as an early notice that it would be a very good idea to get on our calendar as soon as you’re able.  And I’m well aware that this takes time for business owners. But this is also what we’re here for — feel free to reach out with any questions about what we’ll need from you to begin our return preparation processes.Patti (408) 775-7790  Gale 408-775-7800 (And also, you don’t have to wait to get your books in order or your tax records organized or your tax strategy optimized. We can do that all year long, and it really helps to take a year-round approach to this part of your San Francisco Bay Area business so that tax season is less stressful and you don’t have to delay getting everything submitted to the IRS.) Leaving all that aside, I’ve been thinking about how lockdowns, whether locally or nationally, gave us all a taste of the work-from-home (WFH) life and shifted so much of the American — and global — work world. As a business owner, you’ve likely been forced to find new footing when it comes to hiring and managing employees.  More and more people want a work-from-home option (wearing stretchy pants instead of office wear and time flexibility are too alluring to give up so easily). It seems like many office-based businesses have struck an accord with this reality, most offering hybrid work options if not fully remote work jobs. (And some, of course, have no provision for this … plumbers can’t WFH in stretchy pants.) But if your business is built to handle WFH, there are new concerns to think about. Yay! With the move to fully cloud-based business operations, your business via remote workers could be vulnerable to cybercrime. And then there’s “workplace” safety to consider, time-wasting, communication struggles, and (what I want to talk about today) insurance coverage for your workers. Let’s dive in to business insurance policies. Remote Work & Your San Francisco Bay Area Business Insurance Policy“Out of sight, out of mind. The absent are always in the wrong.” – Thomas a Kempis Not long ago, your insurance needs were clear for protecting your workers and your company, but workforces changed in the past few years: Chances are good your company has more remote workers than ever.  Surveys say that post-pandemic workers still expect to work remotely at least one to three days a week. Workers say they’re happy, saving commuting time and bucks. Most remote workers think their bosses will let them keep working outside the office — and many would even take a pay cut to keep working that way. But when exactly is a worker toiling away “remotely?” And what does a far-flung staff do to your need for your business insurance, an expensive level of protection that’s dictated primarily by physical presence?  Different dangers Not all off-premises work is the same. “Work from home” often involves part of a workweek in a company location and part in the staffer’s home or other location. “Remote work” is working from home full-time. Recognizing this difference partially dictates how your business insurance needs might change. A common insurance concern for employers used to be an employee (full- or part-time didn’t matter) falling in the office due to negligent maintenance. Still a worry, of course, but no longer as common since remote workers aren’t around to trip on a loose floor tile.  With a staff of remote workers, your danger of potential damages has changed. More likely today is cybercrime; company equipment in your worker’s home is also more likely to suffer damage from anything from a spilled coffee to a living room window left open in a rainstorm. (Your remote workers might be slow to admit it, but they’re more likely to be distracted at home.)  Are you responsible? Yes, practically speaking: Injury during employment may fall under Workers’ Compensation. Your potential liability is unchanged – though a case always depends on circumstances and state workplace laws regarding proof that the injury happened due to employment.  (The same generally holds true for property damage and other types of insurance. Employees’ homeowners’ and renters’ policies typically don’t cover work-related claims, by the way. Your health and dental benefits for worker will probably remain largely unchanged by remote work, too.)  But a worker not being on your premises multiples the variables. When and when in their home did the injury or accident occur? What distracted them at that moment? Was the person hurt doing your business or doing their laundry?  Note one other pandemic-related break in your liability: If you don’t force them to come into your office, they can’t factually claim that they contracted Covid on your premises or during their employment with you.  What you can do So your business insurance needs continue more or less the same given remote work, at least for now. But insurers have always been known to give a break on premiums if you do things to lower their chance of parting with money.  Will your carrier cut you a deal if you verify (in writing) that work you’ve asked for can be done safely in a home? If you helped your employee create a safer work-from-home space and you gave them the right equipment to safely do the job? (Document this — always document everything that might make your argument for lower premiums.)  While bending the ear of your insurer, confirm whether your business insurance policy covers work equipment that’s not on your premises. And ask about a remote-worker break on your biz insurance — a relatively new idea for carriers, but it could be time for a smart insurance company to offer it and lock in customers.  Also:  Cybercrime Your biggest hole runs right through your remote workers’ computers. Off-site, these machines are beyond your real control even if you

Business Tax Planning

Anticipating First-Year Expenses When Opening a San Francisco Bay Area Business

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It’s February and love is in the air. (So are taxes. And Super Bowls. And bad tax software commercials – but I’ll leave those for another day.) Flowers and chocolates showed up on desks and countertops this week with sweet little romantic notes. Restaurants set those sweetheart menus for their in-love diners. And if you’re one of the “lucky” ones with heart eyes for that special someone, you might have spent $200 (or more) on your significant other this year.  Being in love ain’t cheap.  And anyone who celebrated Valentine’s Day knows that the same dozen roses you could have bought in January were almost double their price the second week of February.  But if you’re a newbie in the love department, you might not truly understand just how much you’d have to shell out for that special someone. It’s easy to get caught unawares by the expense of it all and find yourself paying it off over months. First-time owners have a similar experience starting a San Francisco Bay Area business (oof… that segue).  When you thought about opening a business, you knew it was gonna be costly, but just how much? When you’re new to the game, it’s tough to fathom just how fast the money will go – let alone anticipate all of those first-year expenses.  As someone who knows well and has advised many new business owners, I want to give a little insight on this topic today. So, you can be better prepared… or to pass it along to someone who’s just now starting out. And… if you haven’t started wrapping your mind around filing your business taxes, this is my official note to get a move on that. Don’t act like a newbie here because it’ll cost you. Let’s get something on the calendar:  Patti (408) 775-7790  Gale 408-775-7800 Now, onto today’s topic… Anticipating First-Year Expenses When Opening a San Francisco Bay Area Business“Expectations is the place you must always go to before you get to where you’re going.” – Norton Juster When you’re opening a business, it isn’t always clear how much money it takes to get started and keep it running for a year — but it is often underestimated. A recent poll of 700 small-business owners found that more than half of them lowballed what they’d have to spend during their first year.  That’s a lot of miscalculation — and a lot of potential for having to shut the doors before you ever get off the ground. No wonder a third of small companies go out of business within two years.  All that to say: It pays to know what you’re getting into and how to survive those crucial first 12 months after opening a business.  Where does all the money go? Surveys have shown that business owners drop from 35 to 100 grand in the first year, depending on whether their company is completely online or completely brick-and-mortar.  Here’s the breakdown: about a third for inventory, a fifth on equipment, 10% to 15% each on location and taxes, and a little under 10% each for utilities and payroll. Other common costs include insurance and marketing. New owners have said that surprise-heavy expenses have included taxes, technology, various fees, and (less of a surprise these days, for sure) shipping costs.  Where’s the money coming from for all that? Most sources are familiar: investors (such as venture capitalists and angel investors), crowdfunding, and borrowing from family or friends. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce claims that most startup “seed rounds” are around half a million to 2 million bucks.  One troubling surprise for some brand-new San Francisco Bay Area businesses is the lack of conventional funding. Commercial business loans can be hard to come by for completely new companies that have no proof of future revenue. Many owners turn to their own money in the form of their everyday savings, nest eggs, alternative lenders (such as peer-to-peer lending, with its risks), credit cards, or personal loans.  Common mistakes What goofs should you avoid when opening a business? Thinking ahead Small-business owners in the poll we mentioned brought in between 50 grand to the very low six figures in their first year — respectable, but not all profit. In fact, only 15% of business owners polled started to turn a profit in under a year (the percentage jumps to 2 out of 5 in the second year).  Plan to survive your first year of business right when that year begins by figuring out your startup costs beforehand. The U.S. Small Business Administration has a calculator for this; we can help, too. Also, sooner rather than later:  Visualize your ideal client. This concept will evolve, of course, but you don’t necessarily want to take every client who happens to walk through your door. Don’t try to be everything to everyone. That goes for every marketing or networking event, too — don’t be invisible, but don’t spread yourself too thin, either.  Trim costs early on. The bag lunch? Public transit instead of driving your own car? Do you really need all that office space right from the get-go?  Keep your business plan nimble. Things will change more than you can imagine. Be patient and keep your eye on your goal, but adapt along the way. The process of opening a business is too important to wing it on your own. Ideally, you want other professionals around you, helping you get off the ground or keep flying. Feel free to count us in. Getting you started right, Patti ONeill and Gale Bergado

Business Growth, Business Tax Planning

Deducting Travel Expenses for Your San Francisco Bay Area Business This Year

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Who can believe that it’ll be one year this week since the war in Ukraine began. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like there’s an end in sight — a heavy realization for those caught in the crosshairs of it all… Looking back to last February, I can say it’s been a tough year for businesses as well. Supply chains were already interrupted and production was slow (a big obstacle for businesses everywhere). And then inflation took its toll, and you’ve found yourself in constant pivot mode to keep up.  (Not to be a Debbie Downer, but I do want to keep it real for my San Francisco Bay Area business owner clients — a strong value of mine.) The point is: Every dollar counts these days. Which means, finding ways to save your business money counts too. Besides examining operating costs and cutting out unnecessary expenses, you can also take a look at your tax situation. There are A LOT of ways you can save when it comes to that.  Though not for 2022, unfortunately.  (Speaking of which — have you scheduled an appointment to get your 2022 filing squared away? Time to get on that: Patti  (408) 775-7790 Gale 408-775-7800 But looking ahead to 2023, there are things you can do to optimize your tax situation. Let’s start with deductions, specifically those having to do with travel. Deducting travel expenses is an area with a lot of change in recent years, but by approaching it right, you could take advantage of some real savings. Let’s dive in. Deducting Travel Expenses for Your San Francisco Bay Area Business This Year“It is more deductible to give than to receive.”  – Henry Leabo It seems we’ve reached the point where 2020 is far enough in the rearview mirror for the world to start moving again… which naturally involves more business-related travel. Travel costs have been one of the most famous tax deductions available to small businesses like yours — and they can be a real help in lowering your taxes.  But how you can claim the deduction and for how much is tricky and changes all the time. As we head into filing 2022 taxes and plan ahead for 2023, this will get you started on some things you should know about deducting travel expenses.  Insight #1 for Deducting Travel Expenses: What you can deduct In a nutshell, you can take business travel deductions if, as the IRS says, they’re “ordinary and necessary.” Examples include:  This is a partial list, but you get the idea. (Note: If you’re self-employed, you deduct travel expenses on your IRS Schedule C. If you’re in the National Guard or military reserve, you can claim a deduction for unreimbursed travel expenses you laid out while on duty.)  Tax regulations love to change frequently, and the business travel deduction rules are no exception. So… what’s new lately?  Standard mileage rate. You use this number as part of one way (the IRS calls it the simplest way) to deduct your mileage: Multiply the rate by the number of miles you drive (make sure you can back it up with records and logs) on the job. For 2022, the standard mileage rate is 58.5 cents per mile for the first half of the year and 62.5 cents per mile in the second half. So far for this year, the rate is 65.5 cents a mile. (We’re not sure why the IRS uses half-cents, either.)  Meals. Historically, you’ve been able to deduct only 50% for food and beverages. If you’re still working on 2022 taxes, though, you generally get a special break and can deduct 100% on food and beverages from a restaurant. Conditions apply — check with us.  By the way, the IRS seems to love the word “lavish.” You can’t deduct expenses for meals that are “lavish” or “extravagant” but only for those that are “reasonable based on the facts and circumstances.” The IRS claims they won’t kick your deduction just because a meal costs more than a set dollar amount or because you ate somewhere “deluxe.”  Insight #2 for Deducting Travel Expenses: Where’s ‘away?’ The IRS says you’re traveling if you are away from home longer than an ordinary day of work. You also must need to have to sleep or rest to meet the demands of your work while away from home (napping in your car doesn’t count — yes, they literally specify this).  What’s your “tax home?” For the purposes of business deductions, it’s generally your regular place of business (or post of duty if you’re in the military), no matter where your family home is. If you have more than one regular place of business, your tax home is your main place of business (where you spend the most time, do the most work, and make the most money). If you have neither because of the nature of your work, your tax home may be the place where you regularly live. If you don’t have any of the above, the IRS considers you an itinerant and you can’t claim a travel expense deduction.  Deducting Travel Expenses Insight #3: Little extras Incidental expenses. These fees and tips to porters, baggage carriers, hotel staff, and so on are deductible. Incidental expenses don’t include costs of laundry, lodging taxes, phone calls, and transportation between places of lodging or business and places where meals are taken… to name a few.  If you want to keep it simple, you can use the optional method instead of actual cost. This means you would deduct five bucks a day for incidentals only (prorated for partial days). Again, conditions apply.  Recordkeeping. Many a deduction has been chucked due to a shoddy record. Save those receipts. Keep all expenses separate, even if they occur on the same day. Keep a log and note the biz expenses as they happen (aka “contemporaneous documentation”).  The IRS has a good chart of how to prove expenses. You can check it out here.  And of course, always feel free to reach out to us with questions. Deducting travel expenses can be

Business Growth, Employee Benefits

Claiming the WOTC While Hiring in Your San Francisco Bay Area Business

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Firstly, we are barrelling towards the March 15th deadline for corporate tax returns.  Patti (408) 775-7790 Gale 408-775-7800 Secondly, how is your staff situation these days? Hiring and keeping workers is still one of the greatest obstacles I find my San Francisco Bay Area small business clients to be facing right now. Especially here at the beginning of the year, when workers tend to cut out after year-end bonuses in search of greener pastures at competing businesses — often larger ones.  And the reality is, you as a small business owner are going to have a difficult time keeping up with the demands an inflationary environment has created, especially in terms of paying as competitively as, say, a big corporation. So, you’re going to have to find new ways to hire and even retain your employees. But you can still do it. When you’re on the hunt for a real A-gamer new hire, sometimes you don’t have to look any further than your own team. Who is stepping up? Who is bringing lots of value? Who seems dedicated to building something with you? And keep this in mind: You have things to offer that big companies can’t — simply because you’re small. Things like: more extensive job training, personalized support, and even just relational equity that serves to keep people around and happy. You can still attract those A-gamers to your team with what’s already in your arsenal. And you can also claim a little tax break while you’re at it: the Federal Work Opportunity Tax Credit.  So let’s talk about letting Uncle Sam pay you for your hiring plans via the WOTC … Claiming the WOTC While Hiring in Your San Francisco Bay Area Business“A hand up is not a hand-out.” – Clara Barton I’m sure it feels like you need every edge when looking for employees these days. Imagine if you could get credit for that chore from Uncle Sam? Well — it turns out you can. The federal Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) is a federal break for employers (like you) in exchange for hiring those from groups “who have faced significant barriers to employment.”  It comes as no surprise that there are a lot of conditions, of course — so let’s take a look at them. Who to hire You can claim the WOTC for wages to certain individuals who begin work on or before December 31, 2025. The catch: Your hires have to be certified by your local state workforce agency as a member of a group generally considered in need of a job break. The groups are: ex-felons, recipients or family members of recipients of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (aka a “qualified IV-A recipient”), many kinds of veterans, residents of empowerment zones (EZs) or rural renewal counties, some folks referred from rehab, those whose families get supplemental nutrition assistance, some summer help, recipients of supplemental security income benefits, or the long-term unemployed.  We don’t have room here for the rundown on all these groups, but here are a couple more details: A “qualified veteran” is a vet who’s any of the following:  A “qualified ex-felon” is someone you hire within a year of being convicted of a felony or being released from prison for the felony. A “qualified long-term unemployment recipient” has been unemployed for at least 27 consecutive weeks upon hiring and got Unemployment for some or all that time. (Get the full story on all the targeted groups from the IRS).  Pre-screening and claiming the WOTC  If you’re looking to hire, the American Job Center is one place to look for candidates. A state workforce agency or other participating agency can help you determine whether a job seeker may be in a WOTC-targeted group. A “participating agency” could include vocational rehabilitation agencies, city, and county social service offices, the local Department of Corrections, or the Veterans Administration.  You have to pre-screen your prospects and get certification from a state workforce agency that your applicant is a member of one of the above groups. (Find out more on that on the U.S. Department of Labor website.)  Before you make a job offer, both you and your applicant fill out an IRS Form 8850, “Pre-Screening Notice and Certification Request for the Work Opportunity Credit.” You don’t submit this form to the IRS, though, but to your state workforce agency within 28 days of the employee starting for you. (Fill in the dates on page two of the 8850 carefully …)  So what do you get? Generally, your WOTC equals 40% of up to six grand in wages (a max of 2,400 bucks — more for some groups, like veterans) you pay to an individual in their first year of employment and who does at least 400 hours of service for you. You can also get a 25% rate for wages you pay to those who 120 to 400 hours.  Employers of all sizes can claim the WOTC, including both taxable and certain tax-exempt employers (you file different forms — we can show you). There’s no limit to the number of individuals you can hire as part of the program and no cap on the amount of credits you can claim — but yes, it wouldn’t get a tax break without some conditions. Here are a few:  Hopefully, this overview shows you that although it may feel like you can never catch a tax break when you run your own San Francisco Bay Area business, that’s not true (at least — not all the time). If you’re interested in taking advantage of the Work Opportunity Tax Credit, let us know. We’d be happy to help you look into the ways it could benefit your business. Always here to help, Patti ONeill and Gale Bergado

Business Growth, Business Valuation

How a Continuous Audit Helps Your San Francisco Bay Area Business

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My quick take on SVB: Don’t let it rob you of your focus for building the business under YOUR control. In other words, let noise be noise … and focus on what’s most important: your immediate world. But I will say that this crisis is a perfect example of why you should keep regular tabs on your San Francisco Bay Area business’s financial state. Thank goodness the feds were able to jump in on that mess and help avert an “extinction-level event,” but it could have been (and maybe still could be) worse if things don’t change.  Let me frame it this way: Think about your very first car purchase. It was a huge deal, right? One — because of the freedom it afforded, and two — because of the sense of pride over getting to own something that was a big purchase.  But, unless you were well prepared for what car ownership looked like, you probably overlooked the ways to keep that car operating at optimal conditions. And sometimes that ended with the real “pain of ownership” — in the form of big-time auto repair fees as you didn’t know what needed to be regularly checked (or failed to have someone in place to help you figure it out). Now, I want to apply that same principle to business ownership. If you have a “set it and forget it” mindset about this thing you take so much pride in, you’re most certainly going to experience big pains in your ownership… with much bigger stakes involved.  To keep your business operating optimally, you have to prioritize regularly checking in on the state of affairs — especially the financial side of things. One way to do that: the continuous audit. More on that today. But first, remember, we’re one more week closer to the April 18th personal tax return filing deadline.  If you haven’t reached out for an appointment to get things in order on that side, I’m gonna suggest you get on that ASAP. There are things we’ll need to double and triple-check before we cross all the t’s on your forms. Get on our calendar here:(408) 775-7790 Now, let’s get into the continuous audit and why you need to do it in your business (even with “the price tag” seemingly attached to it)… How a Continuous Audit Helps Your San Francisco Bay Area Business“To pay attention, this is our endless and proper work.” – Mary Oliver As a business owner, you’ve likely tried several different strategies to maximize your business’s success — technological strategies among them. And these can help your small business in a lot of ways, of course. But one of the last things tech can do, if ever, is change the ownership’s mindset about a business process like auditing. Sure, audits have their place in setting a company back on course. But why do businesses run audits only sporadically or annually? Why’s that company off course when the capacity exists now to catch a problem early?  Continuous auditing (CA) can solve this problem by potentially spotting an issue far quicker than a yearly financial statement audit would. It sounds pricey and high-tech, only for big multinationals — but it’s actually not.  So… what is CA, and how can you start?  More is more: A Reason for Continuous Audit A comprehensive, bird’s-eye view is almost always better when you’re looking at your company’s processes to analyze what you can do better or to find mistakes to fix. But “comprehensive” doesn’t mean just “how much” — it also means when?  Here’s what I mean: Why examine just a snapshot of samples against your ideal numbers (controls) when you could constantly be looking? In these days of unending cyberattacks and rampant past dues, why wait months or more (and lose money) before you can find a trend or trouble that needs fixing? When done correctly, a continuous audit assesses controls and risks automatically and more frequently. Your auditors have a schedule, right? Under CA, that’s intensified: Your auditors’ teams check your books throughout the year or drop by your office every week or so. The point here is frequent eyeballs on your operation.  Just to clarify: A continuous audit is never intended to replace traditional auditing. It’s just one more tool in your box. And it’s not to be confused with:  How to start — and keep going Even the most tech-heavy business ideas started from the most basic point: trouble spots. You probably already have at least an inkling of what yours are in your company. Start with those.  Then list the data you might have from those areas: HR, A/R and A/P, CRM, payroll, expenses, and so on. Look at the data for risks and trends. With your experience as an owner, something could leap right out. Let’s say you see spiking expenses in office supplies — could looking at that area more often pay off for the effort? If so, how often to look?  Your data collection is constant, but your examination of that data is as frequent as you want. Are you trying to influence profits on a set schedule, for instance, or trying to meet a regulatory deadline? If you must balance the frequency of your scrutiny with your needs, try to err slightly on the side of scrutiny.  Other points: How much is all this going to cost? Make no mistake: You can spend a lot on this. But even though a continuous audit sounds fancy it actually uses a methodology similar to traditional approaches.  Even better, you can use tools like Excel for presenting data in easy-to-read spreadsheets. You can make playbooks in Word or Google Docs. You already know about financial statements, so I won’t belabor that one. The analysis and decisions can come from your or your advisors’ knowledge, experience, and smarts.  In summary, what I’m trying to say is: Just start thinking about data in a new way. And more frequently.  I’m sure you hear ideas come down the pike constantly about how to supposedly improve your San Francisco Bay Area company. We’re

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