General News and Information Archives - Page 33 of 40

Feb
09
2017

Give your board members a break — and your nonprofit a boost

Your not-for-profit’s board members likely lead busy lives, so they may not get to every board meeting. That’s why it’s essential to organize periodic board retreats that bring everyone together in a relaxed setting.

Best practices

Board retreats enable participants to get past the mundane topics of regular board meetings and delve deeply into specific issues. To take advantage of this opportunity, do the following:

Feb
07
2017

Deduction for state and local sales tax benefits some, but not all, taxpayers

The break allowing taxpayers to take an itemized deduction for state and local sales taxes in lieu of state and local income taxes was made “permanent” a little over a year ago. This break can be valuable to those residing in states with no or low income taxes or who purchase major items, such as a car or boat.

Your 2016 tax return

How do you determine whether you can save more by deducting sales tax on your 2016 return?

Feb
02
2017

How to write a nonprofit annual report they’ll want to read

Everyone from major donors to grantmakers, charity watchdog groups to the government, will read your not-for-profit’s annual report and use it to make important decisions affecting your organization. So you need to make sure it’s professional, substantive and accurate — and interesting enough to grab and keep readers’ attention.

Cover the basics well

Most nonprofit annual reports consist of several standard sections, including:

Chairman of the Board’s letter.

Feb
01
2017

New HRA offers small employers an attractive, tax-advantaged health care option

In December, Congress passed the 21st Century Cures Act. The long and complex bill covers a broad range of health care topics, but of particular interest to some businesses should be the Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA) provision. Specifically, qualified small employers can now use HRAs to reimburse employees who purchase individual insurance coverage, rather than providing employees with costly group health plans.

The need for HRA relief

Employers can use HRAs to reimburse their workers’ medical expenses,

Jan
31
2017

The investment interest expense deduction: Less beneficial than you might think

Investment interest — interest on debt used to buy assets held for investment, such as margin debt used to buy securities — generally is deductible for both regular tax and alternative minimum tax purposes. But special rules apply that can make this itemized deduction less beneficial than you might think.

Limits on the deduction

First, you can’t deduct interest you incurred to produce tax-exempt income. For example,

Jan
30
2017

Why nonprofits should be careful about doing business with board members

Your not-for-profit’s board members may be able to offer access to better deals or services than your organization could get on its own. However, there’s a fine line between a board member helping your nonprofit get fair pricing and the member receiving perceived or actual personal benefits. The latter can threaten your exempt status.

Best practices

A fictional example can help illustrate what nonprofits should do in such circumstances:

A charity needs a printer to produce programs for its annual gala.

Jan
28
2017

Why 2016 may be an especially good year to take bonus depreciation

Bonus depreciation allows businesses to recover the costs of depreciable property more quickly by claiming additional first-year depreciation for qualified assets. The PATH Act, signed into law a little over a year ago, extended 50% bonus depreciation through 2017.

Claiming this break is generally beneficial, though in some cases a business might save more tax in the long run if they forgo it. However, 2016 may be an especially good year to take bonus depreciation.

Jan
27
2017

What the self-employed need to know about employment taxes

In addition to income tax, you must pay Social Security and Medicare taxes on earned income, such as salary and self-employment income. The 12.4% Social Security tax applies only up to the Social Security wage base of $118,500 for 2016. All earned income is subject to the 2.9% Medicare tax.

The taxes are split equally between the employee and the employer. But if you’re self-employed, you pay both the employee and employer portions of these taxes on your self-employment income.

Jan
26
2017

Nonprofits need a strategic fundraising plan

An informal, ad hoc approach to fundraising can waste time, resources and opportunities. To ensure that doesn’t happen, your not-for-profit needs to form a committee to create and execute a strategic fundraising plan.

Committee work

Your fundraising committee should include board members, your executive director, key staff members and possibly other stakeholders such as major donors. Its work begins with identifying past funding sources and approaches, and the advantages and disadvantages of each.

Jan
25
2017

Help prevent the year-end vacation-time scramble with a PTO contribution arrangement

Many businesses find themselves short-staffed from Thanksgiving through December 31 as employees take time off to spend with family and friends. But if you limit how many vacation days employees can roll over to the new year, you might find your workplace a ghost town as workers scramble to use, rather than lose, their time off. A paid time off (PTO) contribution arrangement may be the solution.

How it works

A PTO contribution program allows employees with unused vacation hours to elect to convert them to retirement plan contributions.