Small Business Finance Blog

In this tough economy, many small businesses are struggling to survive. The SBA’s Office of Advocacy has released an updated fact sheet shedding light on survival. The data present a picture that is more optimistic than might be expected. About...

Companies can use “accountable plans” to reimburse employee travel and entertainment expenses. By following IRS rules for accountable plans, employees are not taxed on the reimbursements (they don’t even have to be reported on employees’...

The IRS provides instructions to its examiners on how to audit businesses within specific industries through Audit Technique Guides . These guides cover common and unique industry issues, business practices, industry terminology, and other information...

The high tax cost that successful small business owners face is obvious: high income taxes as well as costly payroll taxes. And these burdens could increase significantly under the pending health care bill that would impose a surtax on high-income taxpayers...

The description of the House’s national health care plan runs 50 pages; the actual bill exceeds 1,000 pages. What would this massive proposal, if enacted, mean to you? It seems likely that some existing businesses would close because of the added...

Here’s one lottery you don’t want to win. Anita Bartels, Senior Program Analyst in the Office of Employment Tax of the IRS, told the audience at the American Payroll Association’s 27th Annual Congress this past May that the IRS will...

More people are becoming self-employed today, many spurred on because of job layoffs. Those who have long been W-2 workers and are new to self-employment may not be aware of the higher tax cost for self-employment. With federal and state income taxes...

This month marks the 35th anniversary of the Universal Product Code (UPC), an innovation that has changed retailing forever. The first live use of a scan took place in a Marsh Supermarkets store in Troy, Ohio, on June 26, 1974, of a package of Wrigley’s...