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Many people own Series E and Series EE bonds that were bought many years ago. They may rarely look at them or think about them except on occasional trips to a file cabinet or safe deposit box. One of the main reasons for buying U.S. savings bonds (such as Series EE bonds) is the fact that interest can build up without the need to currently [...]

Are you a charitably minded individual who is also taking distributions from a traditional IRA? You may want to consider the tax advantages of making a cash donation to an IRS-approved charity out of your IRA. When distributions are taken directly out of traditional IRAs, federal income tax of up to 37% in 2022 will have to be paid. State income taxes may also be [...]

Business owners and investors are understandably concerned about skyrocketing inflation. Over the last year, consumer prices have increased 8.3%, according to the latest data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) covers the prices of food, clothing, shelter, fuels, transportation, doctors’ and dentists’ services, drugs, and other goods and services that people buy for day-to-day living. This was a slightly [...]

Taking care of an elderly parent or grandparent may provide more than just personal satisfaction. You could also be eligible for tax breaks. Here’s a rundown of some of them. 1. Medical expenses. If the individual qualifies as your “medical dependent,” and you itemize deductions on your tax return, you can include any medical expenses you incur for the individual along with your own when [...]

Like many people, you may have dreamed of turning a hobby into a regular business. You won’t have any tax headaches if your new business is profitable. But what if the new enterprise consistently generates losses (your deductions exceed income) and you claim them on your tax return? You can generally deduct losses for expenses incurred in a bona fide business. However, the IRS may [...]

Financial statements look at historical performance. But there are times when you want forward-looking reports to help your business make strategic investment decisions, evaluate the viability of a turnaround plan or apply for a loan. Your accountant can help ensure the assumptions underlying prospective financial statements make sense in today’s volatile marketplace. Key definitions When creating forward-looking financials, you generally have two options under AICPA [...]

Operating as an S corporation may help reduce federal employment taxes for small businesses in the right circumstances. Although S corporations may provide tax advantages over C corporations, there are some potentially costly tax issues that you should assess before making a decision to switch. Here’s a quick rundown of the most important issues to consider when converting from a C corporation to an S [...]

Does your not-for-profit offer programs that may have started out promising, but have become disappointing? Do you have replacement programs in mind but haven’t yet secured funding for them? Consider subjecting your programming lineup to a good spring cleaning. That way, you can reallocate funds to offerings that have the best potential to meet your organization’s strategic objectives. Perform new research Instead of relying on [...]

Business transactions with related parties — such as friends, relatives, parent companies, subsidiaries and affiliated entities — may sometimes happen at above- or below-market rates. This can be misleading to people who rely on your company’s financial statements, because undisclosed related-party transactions may skew the company’s true financial results. The hunt for related parties Given the potential for double-dealing with related parties, auditors spend significant [...]

Many companies have an internal audit department that tests whether the organization is accurately reporting financial results and complying with U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). But it’s important for internal auditors to think beyond compliance. Internal auditors who understand the big picture can expand their department’s influence by helping their organizations mitigate risk, improve financial and operational processes, and evaluate business strategies. Here’s how [...]

According to a 2021 Independent Sector survey, 57% of Americans trust not-for-profits to “do what is right.” Although that’s a majority, being trusted by just over half of respondents is hardly worth celebrating. Well-publicized scandals involving nonprofit principals and a general decline in the population’s faith in institutions (particularly among conservatives and rural dwellers) have taken their toll. To ensure your organization remains well-regarded by the [...]

In today’s volatile economy, many businesses and nonprofits have been required to write down the value of acquired goodwill on their balance sheets. Others are expected to follow suit — or report additional write-offs — in 2022. To the extent that goodwill is written off, it can’t be recovered in the future, even if the organization recovers. So, impairment testing is a serious endeavor that [...]

Traditional strategic planning requires not-for-profit leaders to perform a lot of guess work about what might happen in the future. This approach also asks decision-makers to explicitly shut down options and possibilities. Real-time strategic planning (RTSP) is a more flexible approach. It enables nonprofits to identify, understand and act on today’s challenges and opportunities. Coordinated set of actions RTSP was first introduced by nonprofit consultant [...]

In recent years, accounting rule makers have issued guidance that requires certain items on the balance sheet to be reported at “fair value.” Here are some answers to frequently asked questions about this standard of value and how it’s measured. What is fair value? Under U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), fair value is “the price that would be received to sell an asset or [...]