In These Times Be Thankful In All Things

On the eve of Thanksgiving Day let us be thankful in all things. As a business owner over the years I have encountered many challenges. I have seen business colleagues have to delay their dreams of expanding their businesses. Recently I have seen businesses close due to reduced revenue.

As we look ahead let us begin by being thankful for what we have. As a business owner I can be thankful for the next opportunity to serve a new client. Every client is important and should be viewed as such. The clients we choose to serve should be those we truly feel we can help take their business or organization to the next level.

We can also be thankful for the challenges we face in helping clients. As an accountant my biggest challenge is in getting clients to realize how important it is to review financial statements regularly. Especially in the early days of my business clients were only happy if they had money in the bank. I use the review of financial statements as a time to educate my client.

We can also be thankful for the situations that appear to be setbacks. Maybe the business deal you thought would go through is delayed. That could be a blessing in disguise. We all sometimes encounter what we think is a delay in our plans. Did you ever think that now might not be the time for that deal?

Take a look around and see what you do have. A business you can nurture, even in these seemingly turbulent economic times. Let me remind you all things will work out to your good if you are patient and look up.

Take a look around and be thankful. Give thanks in all things!

New Insights Into Life & Business

The time has come for us to take it to the next level. This past weekend I had the pleasure of speaking at the Essence of Motown Literary Jam. This conference was for readers, writers, authors & poets. While I don't consider myself a writer I was delighted to take part. This conference helped me to realize several things. Number one: We can all learn from each other. Number two: We all have something of value inside. For some it's the value of sharing a struggle we have faced and overcome. For others its sharing how we have loved and lost and loved again. I am inspired to share the struggles I have faced in life with others so that they might have hope.

From a business standpoint the conference allowed me to share my accounting and tax knowledge. It was encouraging to share my business experience and knowledge. While many of the tax regulations are straight forward many are not. While being creative, business owners should be careful not to go beyond the basic IRS guideline.

For example, the IRS has guidelines for separating personal and business expenses. The IRS has determined the following :

Personal versus Business Expenses
Generally, you cannot deduct personal, living, or family expenses. However, if you have an expense for something that is used partly for business and partly for personal purposes, divide the total cost between the business and personal parts. You can deduct the business part.

For example, if you borrow money and use 70% of it for business and the other 30% for a family vacation, you can deduct 70% of the interest as a business expense. The remaining 30% is personal interest and is not deductible. Refer to chapter 4 of Publication 535, Business Expenses, for information on deducting interest and the allocation rules.

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An Analysis Of The New Tax Plan

A new day has dawned. One many thought they would never see in their lifetime. The day an African American would be elected President of the United States. There is still work to do. Our President Elect has unveiled a tax plan that will affect us all.

The basics of the plan is as follows:

• Cut taxes for 95% of workers and their families with a tax cut of $500 for single workers or $1,000 for working married couples.
• Provide generous tax cuts for low- and middle-income seniors, homeowners, the uninsured, and families sending a child to college or looking to save and accumulate wealth.
• Eliminate capital gain taxes for small businesses, cut corporate taxes for firms that invest and create jobs in the United States, and provide tax credits to reduce the cost of healthcare and to reward investments in innovation.
• Dramatically simplify taxes by consolidating existing tax credits, eliminating the need for millions of senior citizens to file tax forms, and enabling as many as 40 million middle-class Americans to do their own taxes in less than five minutes without an accountant.

These items as outlined in the President's Tax Plan are designed to bring fairness to our current tax regulations. In times past, the tax regulations seemed to benefit the wealthiest of individuals at a higher rate than the low income individual.

For many low-income Americans, the tax plan will completely eliminate their federal income taxes. This is an idea that many may find hard to fathom. In my opinion, we need to have a change in the income tax system. For many people the regulations are difficult to understand and even harder to determine how to apply them.

Another point of the tax plan is:

President Barack Obama will eliminate all income taxation of seniors making less than $50,000 per year. This will eliminate taxes for 7 million seniors-- saving them an average of $1,400 a year-- and will also mean that 27 million seniors will not need to file an income tax return at all.

This part of the plan, when it comes to fruition, will be a welcome change for many seniors. I believe seniors have been most negatively affected by many of the current tax regulations. I believe the current proposed plan will offer seniors relief that is well overdue.

A new tax plan for a new day!