Archive for the ‘live feed’ Category
-
Are Your Meals 50% Deductible or 100% Deductible?
There are several specific rules to determine if a meal is a legitimate business expense. These specific rules include meeting the business purpose requirement and the ordinary and necessary requirement. In this article, it’s assumed that the meal has met these requirements and is indeed a business expense.
*General Rule
Meals are generally 50% deductible. This means when a business pays for a meal, only 50% of that amount is deducted on the tax return. It’s extremely important to know the exceptions to this rule because some meals are 100% deductible!
Meals that are 50% deductible include:
- Meals with clients, customers and vendors.
- Meals with employees
- Meals with partners, shareholders and directors
- Meals during business travel
- Meals while attending a business seminar or convention
**Exception to the Rule (This is a great exception!)
Some meals are 100% deductible! These meals include:
- Meals for the business holiday party or other social event (like the company picnic).
Office snacks provided to employees at the office. This may include coffee, soda, water, candy, donuts, and similar snacks.
Meals provided on the employer’s premises to more than half of the employees for the convenience of the employer. An example of this is when a business provides meals to employees in order to keep them working weekends or working later than usual. This is for the employer’s convenience to keep the employees at the office.
Meals for which the business is reimbursed for the expense. For example, if a business takes a client to lunch and then bills the client for that lunch in a separate line item on the invoice, then the business can fully deduct that meal.
Ever wonder why some accountant or attorney invoices show the meals expense as a separate line item? Because it makes the meal expense fully deductible to them and makes it 50% deductible to the client! Be careful if you are on the receiving end of this invoice!
If the meal expense is not specifically itemized on the invoice (and just lumped into the service fee), then the meal is only 50% deductible to the business and 100% deductible to the client.
*Important Tip: When it comes to preparing your tax return, it’s easy to forget which meals met the requirements to be 100% deductible. And if your tax preparer has never asked you this it most likely means all of your meals are being subject to the 50% limitation ! It’s best to capture this information when you actually have the meal. You can do this by setting up two meal expense accounts in your books:
Meals – 50% deductible
Meals – 100% deductible
Simply code it the proper account when you enter it in your accounting program (such as QuickBooks). Then it’s all ready for your tax preparer with no additional work!
-
Global Business Environment
It is very natural that every business industries in the world want to grow rapidly with minimal cost of producing product & services. To achieve the quality in the minimum cost is very easy by adopting the latest trends prevailing in the business world, outsourcing the work is one of the cheapest mode to save money as well as precious time. World business is consist of large number of big companies as well short & medium scale industries and all needs to grow faster, in order to get the quality work done in the low costs they use to have the advantageous services of the offshore development centers.
Offshore development centers has become today’s most revenue generating concepts for outsourcing firms of the modern business world as they are providing cheap IT services such as software development and other web related services. Offshore development centers are the source of complete set of ready made qualified professionals to work as per requirements of the outsourcing firm. Customized services at low cost is one of the property of offshore centers for becoming most popular concept of global business as well as offshore development centers are working for almost all the industries of the business world such as Banking & Finance, Retail, Travel, HR and manufacturing etc.
Reason for the popularity in the rapid pace is matching approaches of the both the involved entities in the business. Out sourcing firms use to get skilled professionals according to the process of their business and on the other hand development centers use to get good price for the quality work.
Well equipped with suitable technology devices and advanced infrastructure in the development centers are one of the strong reason for the attraction of the outsourcing firms.
There are multiple facilities provided by the offshore companies to the outsourcing firms such as internet marketing and SEO & SEM services as well as variety of supportive IT services.
Offshore companies or centers has become popular among well settled outsourcing firms as well those firms who are at initialization phase of their development, provision of the customized IT services for the integration of the new advanced IT concepts in the existing business as well as all the asked IT services for the newly set businesses by the offshore centers.
Team of Qualified and talented professionals with compatible abilities with business nature and perfect coordination with changing business environment of the business industries of the world.
There are an number of offshore centers are available in the different parts of the world providing the IT services to the outsourcing firms, these firms use these offshore centers according to their best suitable conditions.
To fulfill all the requirements of the outsourcing firms, offshore companies have opened their various offices at distinct parts of the world to provide the customized services to their clients.
Both the involved entities are serving each other to achieve the maximum level of profits as well as raising the standards of the global business world.
-
The Challenge That Is The Business Cycle
Any business entrepreneur knows how important managing the business cycle is as well as making prudent decisions to ensure a well managed cycle. On the average, the life cycle for business ownership is placed at anywhere between seven (7) to fourteen (14) years after which people or business owners move on.
To meet the challenges brought by the business cycle and in consideration of Isaac Newton’s “what goes up must come down”, here are some strategies that you can employ in effectively handling your business cycle:
• You need to exercise anticipation and forecasting. This is important so as not to get caught unaware of flat footed once the unexpected and unforeseen happens. Consider the current economic crisis where many businesses have failed to prepare and therefore have suffered the consequences of their unpreparedness. It is also important to note that in these times, businesses are interrelated and closely woven to one another that negative impacts spread far and wide.
• You also have to be ready to realign your capital overheads that are appropriate and suitable to your business needs and requirements. When your business takes a slump, you will have to make a decision whether to cut back on your capital spending or increase it to gain the ‘first mover’ edge during the upturn.
• Know your inventory well and exercise wise decisions whether or not to cut back on your inventory or to add to it. Not being able to meet customers’ demand during the upturn is as worse as being saddled with dormant inventory.
• Continue to promote your products and services notwithstanding the downturn or upturn of the cycle. You have to condition yourself to look at advertising and promotion or marketing in general as an investment that will yield profitably in the long or short run, and not as an unnecessary expenditure especially during times of crisis or the downturn of the cycle.
• Consider the welfare of your human resources, which is of course, still the greatest asset of any business. Economic crisis does not necessarily have to mean streamlining your human resources. But if you find your business in the situation where downsize of your human resources is the only better alternative during the downturn of the cycle, then you have to make sure that you keep the goodwill of the people that may be affected of the move. You will also realize that the downturn can be a good opportunity to get the right people at the most suitable cost.
When your business cycle reaches a downturn, don’t easily get disheartened as you can find opportunities just waiting to be tapped. You just have to learn how to recognize these opportunities and make the most from them. There are also valuable lessons you can learn and apply to ensure the stability of your business regardless whether the cycle reaches the downturn or upturn.
The business cycle is something that all businesses have to go through and it is no easy task to deal with. However, with all the tools and resources available, you should be able to meet the challenges head on.
Archives
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011