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Every two years, the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) publishes what has become the definitive guide for preventing and detecting workplace fraud. The recently released Report to the Nations: 2020 Global Study on Occupational Fraud and Abuse draws conclusions from more than 2,500 fraud incidents — including 191 in not-for-profit organizations. In fact, this year’s report devotes a special section to fraud in nonprofits. [...]

If you’re age 65 and older, and you have basic Medicare insurance, you may need to pay additional premiums to get the level of coverage you want. The premiums can be costly, especially if you’re married and both you and your spouse are paying them. But there may be a silver lining: You may qualify for a tax break for paying the premiums. Tax deductions [...]

The term “work-life balance” has been around for decades. For much of that time, the struggle to attain this elusive equilibrium has typically involved having too much “work” and not enough “life.” Employers have been urged to, among other things, create dynamic paid-time-off policies and encourage employees to use their vacation days regularly and sick days when necessary. In recent months, however, the imbalance may [...]

It’s often difficult for married couples to save as much as they need for retirement when one spouse doesn’t work outside the home — perhaps so that spouse can take care of children or elderly parents. In general, an IRA contribution is allowed only if a taxpayer has compensation. However, an exception involves a “spousal” IRA. It allows a contribution to be made for a [...]

The recent riots around the country have resulted in many storefronts, office buildings and business properties being destroyed. In the case of stores or other businesses with inventory, some of these businesses lost products after looters ransacked their property. Windows were smashed, property was vandalized, and some buildings were burned to the ground. This damage was especially devastating because businesses were reopening after the COVID-19 [...]

For business owners, succession planning is ideally a long-term project. You want to begin laying out a smooth ownership transition, and perhaps grooming a successor, years in advance. And you shouldn’t officially hand over the reins until many minute details have been checked and rechecked. But it doesn’t always work out this way. As the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has made clear, a business owner may [...]

Economists will look back on 2020 as a year with a distinct before and after. In early March, most companies’ sales projections looked a certain way. Just a few weeks later, those projections had changed significantly — and not for the better. Because of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, businesses across a variety of industries are revising their sales compensation models. Nonprofit workforce researchers WorldatWork [...]

The IRS recently released the 2021 inflation-adjusted amounts for Health Savings Accounts (HSAs).  HSA basics An HSA is a trust created or organized exclusively for the purpose of paying the “qualified medical expenses” of an “account beneficiary.” An HSA can only be established for the benefit of an “eligible individual” who is covered under a “high deductible health plan.” In addition, a participant can’t be [...]

One of the strongest predictors of a not-for-profit’s long-term survival is multiple revenue streams. Many organizations with only one or two found that out that the hard way when they failed during the 2008 recession. The same is likely to be true for nonprofits that do — or don’t — survive the current novel coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis. Road map to diversification Financially stable nonprofits have [...]

Charitable contributions aren’t always eligible for tax deductions — even when the not-for-profit recipient is tax exempt and the donor itemizes. Take “quid pro quo” donations. These transactions occur when your organization receives a payment that includes a contribution and you provide the donor with goods or services valued for less than the total payment. Let’s take a closer look. Meeting obligations Quid pro quo [...]

The economic impact of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is unprecedented and many taxpayers with student loans have been hard hit. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act contains some assistance to borrowers with federal student loans. Notably, federal loans were automatically placed in an administrative forbearance, which allows borrowers to temporarily stop making monthly payments. This payment suspension is scheduled to last until [...]

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has forced many people to cancel or postpone vacations, as well as travel plans to visit friends and family. While staying home to stay safe — and, often, to telework — many employees may not use as much paid time off (PTO) this year as they normally would. In a spirit of optimism, one hopes the situation next year will [...]

The IRS recently increased the carryover limit for Health Flexible Spending Arrangements (FSAs) to an amount indexed for inflation. The agency also clarified the ability of a health plan to reimburse individual insurance policy premium expenses incurred before the beginning of the plan year for coverage provided during the plan year. Boosted maximum Under IRS Notice 2020-33, the maximum $500 carryover amount for a plan year [...]

Social media for business: Your time has come. That’s not to say it wasn’t important before but, during the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, connecting with customers and prospects via a popular platform is essential to maintaining visibility, building goodwill and perhaps even generating a bit of revenue. What’s challenging is that the social media strategy you deployed before the crisis may no longer be effective [...]