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Knowledge Panels

Are you looking for new ideas to market your business? If so, knowledge panels might be something to consider. Most people haven’t heard of them, but they are widely used in search results every day.

Knowledge panels are an invention from Google. They are the information panels that appear on the bottom right corner of your search results when you search for certain people or brands. They are different from the business profiles provided by Google Business Profile.

Knowledge panels display information that Google has collected in its Knowledge Graph, which is one of Google’s information databases. Search for your favorite author or your Congressperson, and you will be able to see an example of a knowledge panel. Famous historical figures and extremely popular entertainers may have more of an entire page displaying all of the information about them, but there will typically also be a right column of text (you may have to scroll a bit to see it), which is the knowledge panel.

How can you use knowledge panels in your business? When your leadership or brand is represented by a knowledge panel, it brings instant credibility to your organization. It boosts reputation and helps to build trust with all stakeholders. It increases your firm’s visibility.

Who typically has a knowledge panel? If you are an author of a book that has a formal ISBN (International Standard Book Number), you will automatically get one. If you are a leader of certain organizations, you will also get one. If your brand is well-known, it will have a knowledge panel.

You can’t create a knowledge panel, but you can claim it once it appears. Google determines who receives a knowledge panel. But you can “lobby” for one, and there are marketers you can hire to help you execute the steps it takes to get one. The main thing is to be active and visible online.

If you already have a knowledge panel, there are procedures documented on Google Help that you can follow to claim it. You can also make edit suggestions and submit them to Google. You can’t directly edit your knowledge panel; Google has final control over what is displayed.

Hopefully, you are now more aware of knowledge panels and how they can help your business become more visible.

 

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Income Tax Deductions vs. Tax Credits… Which One Is Better?

While a deduction can reduce the amount of taxable income, credits can directly reduce the amount of tax owed, so they offer a greater tax benefit. Sometimes, credits can be refundable, which means that they might generate a refund for you even when you don’t owe tax. Below are some examples of different types of credits and deductions available for individual taxpayers. Keep in mind that each credit and/or deduction has specific criteria that need to be met in order to qualify.

Credits for Individuals

  • Child Tax Credit
  • Dependent Care Credit
  • Earned Income Tax Credit
  • Adoption Credit
  • Saver’s Credit
  • Foreign Tax Credit
  • Excess Social Security and RRTA tax withheld
  • Credit for Tax on Undistributed Capital Gain
  • Credit for Prior Year Minimum Tax
  • Residential Energy Credits
  • Plug-in Electric Drive Vehicle Credit
  • Premium Tax Credit (marketplace health care insurance credit)
  • American Opportunity Credit and Lifetime Learning Credit

If you feel you might qualify for one of these credits, be sure to ask your tax preparer about them.

Deductions for Individuals

The IRS provides each taxpayer with a standard deduction that reduces their adjusted gross income so they pay less tax. The amounts change each year, and are determined by filing status. In the 2022 tax year, here is a sampling of the standard deduction amounts.

Single; Married Filing Separately $12,950

Married Filing Jointly; Qualifying Widow(er) $25,900

Head of Household $19,400

Most taxpayers take the standard deduction, but the law allows you to take more if you have more qualifying deductions than the limits above. These are called itemized deductions and can

include personal property tax, real estate tax, sales tax, charitable contributions, gambling losses, interest expense, home mortgage interest paid, and moving expenses, to name a few.

Students and teachers may be able to take education deductions, which include student loan interest paid, work-related educational expenses, and educational expenses paid by a teacher.

Self-employed individuals can claim work-related deductions related to business expenses, business use of car, and business use of home on Schedule C.

Health care deductions, such as medical and dental expenses or Health Savings Account (HSA) contributions can be deductible to those who participate in these plans.

For investors, deductions may include sale of home, Individual Retirement Arrangement (IRA) contributions, capital losses, bad debts, qualified opportunity zone investments, and debt forgiveness.

If you’d like to study deductions and credits on your own, the IRS website is a wealth of knowledge. If you don’t want to do that, you can always ask your tax professional. Filling out your tax organizer in a complete and thorough manner is the very first step to helping your tax pro identify the plethora of credits and deductions you may qualify for.

 

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10 Ways to Slow Down in Business (and Why You’d Want to)

Sometimes we just need to slow down. It could be our body telling us it needs a break. It could be our mind experiencing the first signs of burnout. Even if you own your own business, you are subject to burnout, especially if you are a people pleaser or say “yes” to everyone!

But how do we do that? It might have been so long since we’ve changed our pace, we don’t know where to begin.  Here are some tips on the best ways to slow down in business.

  1. Eliminate wasted time.

Take a deep look at your to-do list. Identify one task that you’ve always done that adds nothing to your business. Does it really need to be done? Try to find tasks that don’t make any sense to do any more that you’re still doing just because you’ve always done it.

You should be able to free up a lot of time! For now, use it to slow down. Take a nap, call a friend, visit your employees with no agenda and really listen, take a walk and smell the roses, or simply hug your child.

  1. Get off electronics.

A friend recently suffered from a concussion and her doctor told her to stay off electronics to help her brain heal faster. She limited herself to one hour a day for two months. What would you do if you had to stay off electronics? My friend read all the paperbacks she had that she hadn’t gotten to (for 15 years), cooked more, went shopping for things she had wanted for years, took walks, and learned a new language.

If you spend any time on social media, eliminating it even partially can be a huge pickup in time. Getting off electronics and using that time to get back into nature is healing for everyone.

  1. Get enough sleep.

If you are sleep-deprived, everything takes longer. Slowing down and getting enough sleep each night can make you more productive, reducing your work hours. Plus, you just feel more refreshed.

  1. Gain a new perspective.

Slowing down your normal routine can help you gain perspective. You might have been fighting fires in the trenches for so long, you’ve forgotten why you’re in business to begin with.  Take time to re-connect with your mission, vision, and purpose. Make sure your employees understand their grander goals as well.

  1. Avoid multi-tasking.

Almost everyone thinks they are good at multi-tasking, but it turns out science says only a minority percentage of people can really multi-task effectively.  Become self-aware of your own habits related to multi-tasking. Do things take longer when you multi-task? Do you make mistakes you have to go back and correct when you multi-task? If so, you may be in the majority of people who simply shouldn’t do it.

  1. Stop worrying about billable hours (for service businesses) – at least for a while.

If you are really fixated on billable hours, you may need to just let them go for a while until you can get your perspective back. There is more to life and business than billable hours.

  1. Re-connect with your business community.

If there has been no time to connect with your co-owners, customers, and employees, slowing down can provide that time. The most important thing is to simply show up and listen. You will learn a lot!

  1. Make time for strategy.

If your business is headed in the wrong direction, that is the ultimate time-waster! Slowing down allows you to re-visit your strategy, making sure you are working on the right projects, that you have the right company culture, and that your business goals are in alignment with your big-picture purpose.

  1. Do nothing.

It’s really okay to do nothing when you’re the business owner. You need time to come up with ideas, think about the hard issues, and even daydream. You have to stop working in the business so you can work on the business.

  1. Get better at managing distractions.

If you get interrupted every five minutes, you will be drained of energy at the end of your work day. Get smart about managing interruptions so you can be more productive. This will free up more time for you to take breaks and slow your pace during your workday.

Try at least a few of these ideas to slow down before your mind or your body insist on it.

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The Inflation Reduction Act: Electric Vehicle Credits

Are you considering buying an electric vehicle in 2023? The rules have recently changed, due to the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (the “Act”) in the summer of 2022. This bill included a range of new tax rules addressing various areas, and one of its significant goals was to address climate change and jump-start clean energy production. In this article, we’ll specifically cover the portion of the bill that includes updates to the electric vehicle credits available.

Under the Act, existing electric vehicle (EV) credits have been expanded and modified. Although credits of up to $7,500 on the purchase of a new EV have been available for several years (with some limitations), the existing rules have been changed to make them more available to middle income taxpayers while also ramping up domestic manufacturing of EVs and their related components such as batteries.

Overall, there are now three EV tax credits available:

  1. [Revised] IRC 30D qualified plug-in vehicle credit, renamed to the clean vehicle credit

The maximum credit remains at $7,500; however, there are income limits for qualifying automobiles placed in service after December 31, 2022.

Any vehicle placed in service after August 16, 2022 must have final assembly in North America in order to qualify (with a transition rule for any contracts entered into between January 1, 2022 and August 15, 2022).

After 2023, taxpayers can elect to transfer their credit to treat it as a payment to the dealer.

When purchasing an EV, be sure to request for your salesperson to give you the necessary tax information you need! For some manufacturers, the assembly location may vary depending on the specific vehicle and trim, and for that reason, it’s advised to ask the salesperson for the VIN of the car that you plan to purchase.

The Department of Energy has provided a VIN lookup tool that can be used to verify this information for a particular vehicle. Consumers can refer to a list published by to determine which models have final assembly in North America: https://afdc.energy.gov/laws/electric-vehicles-for-tax-credit

  1. [New] IRC 25E previously-owned clean vehicle credit

A credit is now available for used EVs. Previously-owned clean vehicles placed in service after December 31, 2022 and before January 1, 2033 may qualify for the credit.

The credit is a nonrefundable credit equal to the lesser of $4,000 or 30% of the vehicle sale price.

There is also an income limit to qualify for this credit (with much lower limits than the 30D credit), and the sale price must be $25,000 or less.

  1. [New] IRC 45W qualified commercial clean vehicle credit

This credit is available for commercial clean vehicles placed in service after December 31, 2022 and before January 1, 2033. The credit is 15% of the vehicle’s basis but increases to 30% for a vehicle not powered by a gasoline or diesel combustion engine, and it cannot exceed $40,000 (with other possible limitations).

There is no income limitation to claim it, but there are other requirements regarding the vehicle type and type of clean energy used. A taxpayer cannot claim the credit for a vehicle for which the taxpayer received the IRC 30D credit (#1).

Check with your tax professional to learn more about the new/revised electric vehicle credits and how they impact your specific tax situation.

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Five Ways to Welcome in a New Year: 2023

A new year is a perfect time for a fresh start for you and your business. Here are five ways to welcome 2023 and make it your best year ever.

  1. Decide on a theme for 2023.

Setting a theme for the year can help you remember what you want to focus on. Some examples of themes might be:

  • Growth and improvements to your business. You can be specific, such as making your theme the year of mastering technology, the year of profitability where you focus on cutting costs or increasing sales, or the year of diversity where you focus on creating a diverse team.
  • Downsizing, cleansing or simplifying. Perhaps your business has grown so quickly that you need to sit back, de-clutter, re-design, or simply clean your office.
  • Is it time to launch a new service?
  • Giving back. If everything is humming along, it could be time to start giving back to your profession or community.

From here, you can create a plan of tasks and timelines that are aligned with the theme you’ve chosen.

  1. Go on a retreat. 

If you need to regroup and rejuvenate from a stressful holiday season, then a retreat can do the trick. A retreat is a time to set goals for your business and make a plan. You could discover that you are on track or that you need a course correction in your business.

A retreat can be made alone or with certain team members. Typically, the events of a retreat include a combination of planning and brainstorming sessions, education, team-building, and social activities.

If a retreat sounds like too much work, then a quick vacation might be in order, just so you can enter the new year with a relaxed mind.

  1. Learn from 2022.

If 2022 was a bumpy time for your business, it might be a good idea to perform a detailed review. This will help you learn what went wrong and explore why. You can then brainstorm ideas on how to avoid the pitfalls of 2022 as you move into 2023. You can make it as informal as you want, or structured as an after-action review.

  1. Select a word for 2023

If setting a theme is too complicated, how about selecting one simple word for 2023? Here are some ideas:

  • Abundance (think big, go after large contracts and big projects)
  • Creativity
  • Powerful relationships (OK, that’s two words!)
  • Gratitude
  • Service
  • Humility
  • Forgiveness (especially good if you are in customer service or have difficult clients)
  • Fun
  • Helpful
  • Prosperity

I’m sure you can think of one that will be perfect for you. Once you do, write the word on several sticky notes and paste it everywhere you work and maybe even at home. Your postings will serve as a reminder of what your intention is throughout 2023.

  1. Make a profit plan (AKA budget)

Making a profit plan for the new year will help you hone in on the profit amounts that you want to achieve. Understanding how much volume you need to reach and what you can spend will avoid surprises at year-end. At mid-year, it’s a good idea to see if you are on track for the rest of the year.

Whether you do one or all of the ideas above, we hope you have an awesome 2023 and that it’s your best year ever.