Small Business Tax Deduction Strategies

You may be surprised to know that U.S. businesses lose an average of 6 percent of their annual revenues to employee fraud and theft, and smaller businesses are even more vulnerable. So, instead of just trying to shield your organization from outside intruders, you may want to focus security efforts equally (if not more) on [...]

Issue: Web-based payroll services for small businesses offer more features than ever, and at better prices.
Benefit: Save HR time and cut your administrative costs.
Action: Look into the ...

Last month, California software firm Hyperion began offering
its employees $5,000 toward the purchase of gas/electric hybrid vehicles, such as the Toyota Prius or Honda Insight. The 1,500-employee company budgeted ...

A little-noticed provision in the new tax law will benefit employers who are looking to settle discrimination lawsuits for the lowest possible amount.
Victorious plaintiffs in discrimination cases can now ...

Under new Treasury Department rules, it's now easier for em-ployees to buy U.S. Savings Bonds through payroll deduction. Employees can arrange for a specific amount from their paychecks to be placed ...

A little-noticed piece of a new tax law allows victorious plaintiffs in discrimination cases to take a full tax deduction for their attorney's fees and court costs. Until now, for example, ...

Q. My parents want to give my sister and me $150,000 each to help pay for our children's college expenses. (My sister and I have a total of five kids.) But the gift would come in the form of stock shares. Won't we owe a lot of tax when we sell the stock? And won't my parents have to pay gift tax? Is there a better way to handle this?

Q: In the past few years, I've used my personal car for business about 75 percent of the time. Now, I'm going to buy a new car and will probably trade in the old one or sell it privately. Can I still get a depreciation deduction for the old car this year? M.C., Manchester, N.H.

Suppose you're in the market for a new business vehicle. You go down to the local showroom, kick the tires and try to wrangle the best deal. Normally, the dealer will agree to a trade-in value for your old car that reduces the cash you have to lay out for the new one.

Medical costs continue to skyrocket. What's a small business owner to do?

 

In most cases, fringe benefits provided to company bigwigs are exempt from tax only if they are offered to everyone.

 

If you run a small company, it's hard to squeeze in enough exercise time during the week.