The coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak has had a crippling effect on the global economy. This is clearly uncharted territory. As millions around the globe do their best to minimize their exposure to the virus, business owners and managers face an uncertain and stressful future. Faced with faltering demand, anxious employees, health safety risks and a lack […]
Ivins, Phillips & Barker has partnered with the accounting firm Mazars to produce this alert on the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, which in addition to providing emergency funding for new mandates and reimbursement of costs related to COVID-19 testing, includes measures for expanded sick leave and supplemental funding for state unemployment insurance funds, as […]
Beware of the tricky “related party” tax rules if you are considering buying or selling business assets or ownership interest (corporate stock or a partnership or LLC interest). The Internal Revenue Code contains a number of rules aimed at penalizing sales between individuals or entities that are considered closely connected and thus more likely to try to beat the federal […]
Many years ago, telemedicine essentially consisted of interaction between doctors in large hospitals and patients in remote rural clinics via closed-circuit TV. Since then, it has exploded into a far more sophisticated, venture capital-fueled industry. Multiple technologies now equip health care providers with immediate clinical data that can assist them with rapid diagnoses and patient monitoring. […]
The COVID-19 pandemic has left many employers struggling to manage their businesses while simultaneously looking out for their employees. Congress has responded by enacting bipartisan legislation to provide emergency relief for employees. The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (H.R. 6201) was passed overwhelmingly by the U.S. House of Representatives 363-40 on March 14, 2020 and modified by […]
Questions from employers and employees about coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic are multiplying almost as fast as the virus itself. Employers need to rely on a combination of authoritative legal and medical advice, and their own common sense, to keep employees safe. More COVID-19 News:A Tax Filing Deadline Extension and HDHP Treatments President Trump announced that the April 15 […]
Demand letters are often the precursor to filing a lawsuit. But they can also be an effective tool in resolving disputes before going to court. Commonly used by businesses, demand letters are often sent to demand money owed or restitution, but they can also be used to demand specific actions. Having your attorney draft a demand letter […]
Let’s say you’ve got an idea for an invention but you’re not in the business of selling, producing or marketing that type of product or service. Short of starting up a new company or subsidiary — a task not everyone wants to undertake — how can you profit from the invention? There are several possibilities. […]
With a so-called “stretch IRA,” you build up money in a traditional or Roth IRA during your lifetime. Then, after you die, a younger beneficiary can opt to keep the inherited account open for as long as possible and continues to reap the tax-related benefits. Unfortunately, the stretch-IRA strategy has lost much of its tax-saving potency […]
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) permanently eliminated deductions for most business-related entertainment expenses paid or incurred after 2017. For example, you can no longer deduct 50% of the cost of taking clients out for a round of golf. However, questions have lingered about whether certain expenses can still be deducted after the TCJA. For […]
Certain states (including New York and California) are passing legislation that requires health insurers to provide novel coronavirus (COVID-19) testing without charge to insured members and to take other proactive steps to aid the coronavirus containment effort. The third-party administrators of self-insured plans (Aetna, Anthem, and Cigna among the largest) are being fairly aggressive in […]
If your business must layoff a large number of employees, you might have to comply with a little-known federal law that requires giving advance notice. Under the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN Act), employers who are covered must give 60-days’ notice of a plant closing or mass layoff. This notice must be given both to employees […]