GA DOL Establishes Emergency Unemployment Claims
Process – Employers Must Take Action
The Georgia Department of Labor (GDOL) has adopted an emergency
Rule 300-2-4-0.5 Partial Claims, effective March 16, 2020. The rule
mandates all Georgia employers to file partial claims online on behalf of their
employees for any week during which an employee (full-time/part-time) works
less than full-time due to a partial or total company shutdown caused by the
COVID-19 public health emergency. Any employer found to be in violation of this
rule will be required to reimburse GDOL for the full amount of unemployment
insurance benefits paid to the employee. Download the How
Employers File Partial Claims Desk-Aid found on the GDOL Alert Page and
follow the step-by-step instructions.
Filing partial claims results in your employees
receiving unemployment insurance (UI) benefit payments faster, usually within
48 hours for claims filed electronically. Employees for whom you file a partial
claim are NOT required to report to a Georgia Department of Labor career
center, register for employment services, or look for other work.
Please continue to monitor the Georgia DOL website at gdol.ga.gov for any updates to these
guidelines.
In 2018, the government attempted to “simplify” the tax-filing process by drastically shortening Form 1040. The result was six new schedules that created a lot of confusion. Now the IRS is attempting to ease some of that pain by revising the form and removing some schedules. Will it help? Here is what you need to know:
More information on the main form. To make it easier for the IRS to match pertinent information across related tax returns, new fields have been added on the main Form 1040. For example, there’s now a spot for your spouse’s name if you choose the married filing separate status. In addition, there’s a separate line for IRA distributions to more clearly differentiate retirement income.
3 schedules are gone. What was your favorite memory of Schedules 4, 5 and 6? Was it the unreported Social Security tax on Schedule 4? Or the credit for federal fuels on Schedule 5? While those schedules will no longer exist, those lines (and many others) have found a new home on one of the first three schedules. Less paperwork, but still the same amount of information.
You can keep your pennies! For the first time, the IRS is eliminating the decimal spaces for all fields. While reporting round numbers has been common practice, it’s now required.
Additional changes on the way. The current versions of Form 1040 and Schedules 1, 2 and 3 are in draft form and awaiting comments on the changes. Because of the importance of the 1040, the IRS is expecting to make at least a few updates in the coming weeks (or months) before they consider it final. Stay tuned for more developments.
How to prepare for the changes
The best way to prepare is to be aware that 1040 changes are coming. The information required to file your taxes will remain the same, but some additional hunting will be necessary to find the shifting lines and fields on the modified form.
Remember, changes bring uncertainty and potential for delays, so getting your tax documents organized as early as possible will be key for a timely tax-filing process.
Your business’s ability to retain customers is one of the most important components to sustain growth and profitability. Here are the three retention questions every business owner should be able to answer:
What percentage of your customers return each year? The first step to understanding retention is to know your customer retention rate. First, take your total customers from the end of a period and subtract the total customers you added during the period. Then, take that number and divide it by the total customers from the start of the same period. The result is your retention rate for that period. That rate by itself doesn’t tell you much, so you need to compare it to the same time period last month and for prior years. A rising rate means you are on the right track; a shrinking rate means you need to make changes. According to the Harvard Business Review, a 5 percent increase in your retention rate increases profits by 25-95 percent! Example: Cut’em Nail Salon starts the year with 700 active clients. They add 300 new customers during the year, and their active client base is 800 at the end of the year. On the surface things look good, right? This increase of 100 clients is over 14 percent! But when you calculate the retention rate, it is 71.4 percent (800 clients minus 300 new clients means 500 of last year’s clients still use Cut’em. 500 divided by 700 equals 71.4 percent). But Cut’em doesn’t know if this is good or bad news, as it only makes sense when comparing it to the last few years’ retention performance.
What percentage of your revenue comes from returning clients? Core customers almost always contribute the most to your profitability. But how much? To figure out your returning customer revenue percentage, start with a list of revenue by customer for the last 12 months. Identify the returning customers and add up revenue attributed to them. Divide that number by your total revenue. Use this information to balance your spending between new customer acquisition and retaining your core customers. If you are like most businesses, you will realize there is tremendous value in spending more time and effort on retention, even when your business is full! Part 2 Cut’em Nail Salon Example: Assume the nail salon’s total revenue is $1 million and the revenue from the 500 returning clients is $900,000. In this case, the core customers represent 90 percent of the revenue but only 62.5 percent (500 divided by 800) of the customers!
Do you know who your most valuable customers are? Now identify which customers spend the most and buy the most often. Odds are, many of your top customers have similar characteristics. In the end, your goal should be to keep these customers happy and get more just like them! Part 3 Cut’em Nail Salon Example: In the example above, the average revenue per client is $1,250 per client or over $100 per month ($1 million divided by 800 clients). If the top 20 clients represent $100,000 in revenue or $5,000 per client, you can quickly see how important they are!
Don’t make the mistake of assuming business success comes from constantly adding new customers. Most sustained growth and profitability comes from first understanding marketing activities targeted to keep your current customers. The best place to start is to calculate and understand your base retention numbers.
A new deduction is available to businesses with qualified business income (QBI). While that’s great news, new deductions (especially ones with lots of rules) can bring anxiety and confusion. Never fear! Ensuring you receive a maximum deduction will come down to providing the proper information. Here is some knowledge to help you cut through the confusion:
What is the QBI deduction?
In short, it’s a 20 percent deduction against ordinary income, taken on your personal tax return, that reduces qualified business income earned for most pass-through businesses (sole proprietorships, partnerships and S-corporations). It’s not an itemized deduction, so you can take it in addition to the standard deduction. To qualify without limitations, your total taxable income needs to be below $157,500 ($315,000 for married couples) for 2018. If your income exceeds the threshold, it gets complicated.
What you need to know:
If your total taxable income is above the income threshold, your deduction may be limited or nullified. If your income is below the threshold, the calculation is pretty straightforward. If not, additional phaseouts, limitations and calculations come into play. The first limitation to consider is whether or not your business is qualified. Certain specified service trades or businesses (SSTBs) are excluded from the deduction altogether if taxable income is over the threshold. If your business is not an SSTB, other calculations related to W-2 wages and basis in qualified business property may be required.
Schedule K-1s for S-corporations and partnerships have new codes. Businesses with partners and shareholders are now required to report information related to the QBI deduction on each Schedule K-1 they issue. Based on the draft versions of the forms, the new codes will be in Box 17 for S-corporations (V through Z) and Box 20 for partnerships (Z through AD). If you receive a Schedule K-1, check to see if the new codes have values associated with them. If not, contact the issuing business to correct the mistake. Schedule K-1s without the required data will delay your tax-return filing.
Certain data needs to be collected. For the most part, the data required to calculate your deduction will be included on the normal forms needed to file your taxes. Here is list of common documentation to watch for that may be required to calculate your QBI deduction:
Business financial statements
Forms W-2 and W-3 issued by your business
Purchase information related to business assets
Schedule K-1s
Forms 1099-B with cost/basis information
The sooner you close your books, the better. The new deduction means more work. Knowing your final business net income as soon as possible gives you extra time to work through the additional necessary calculations. If your business is required to issue Schedule K-1s, even more time may be required.
More guidance is expected from the IRS. In August, the IRS published guidance to clear up some of the confusion regarding the deduction, but it didn’t cover everything. The American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) responded with 11 specific items that still need to be addressed.
With proper planning and preparation, you can rest easy knowing that obtaining your shiny, new QBI deduction is in good hands.
As always, should you have any questions or concerns regarding your tax situation please feel free to call.
If you are like millions of taxpayers trying to make a living running a small business, you know it is tough out there. Here are six ideas to help your business survive and thrive.
Understand your cash flow. One of the biggest causes of business failure is lack of positive cash flow. At the end of the day, you need enough cash to pay your vendors and your employees. If you run a seasonal business you understand this challenge. The high season sales harvest needs to be ample enough to support you during the slow non-seasonal periods.Recommendation: Create a 12-month rolling forecast of revenue and expenses to help understand your cash needs each month.
Know your pressure points. When looking at your business, there are a few categories that drive your business success. Do you know the top four drivers of your financial success or failure? By focusing on the key financial drivers of your business, success will be easier to accomplish.Recommendation: Look at last year’s tax return and identify the key financial drivers of your business. Do the same thing with your day-to-day operations and staffing.
Prioritize your inventory. If your business sells physical product, you need a good inventory management system. This system does not have to be complex, it just needs to help you keep control of your inventory. Cash turned into inventory that becomes stuck as inventory can create a cash flow problem.Recommendation: Develop an inventory system with periodic counts (cycle counting) to help identify when you need to take action to liquidate old inventory or research any discrepancies.
Know your customers. Who are your current customers? Are there enough of them? Where can you get more of them? How loyal are they? Are they happy? A few large customers can drive a business or create tremendous risk should they go to a competitor.Recommendation: Know who your target audience is and then cater your business toward them and what they are looking for in your offerings.
Learn your point of difference. Once you know who your customer is (your target audience), understand why they buy your product or service. What makes you different from others selling a similar item?Recommendation: If you don’t know what makes your business better than others, ask your key customers. They will tell you. Then take advantage of this information to generate new customers.
Create a great support team. Successful small business owners know they cannot do it all themselves. Do you have a good group of support professionals helping you? You will need accounting, tax, legal, insurance, and employment help along with your traditional suppliers.Recommendation: Conduct an annual review of your resources, be prepared to review your suppliers and make improvements where necessary.
While libraries are filled with small business advisory books, sometimes focusing on a few basic ideas can help improve your business’ outlook. Please call if you wish to discuss your situation.
Like a bundle of sticks, good business partners support each other and are less likely to crack under strain together than on their own. In fact, companies with multiple owners have a stronger chance of surviving their first five years than sole proprietorships, according to U.S. Small Business Administration data.
Yet sole proprietorships are more common than partnerships, making up more than 70 percent of all businesses. That’s because while good partnerships are strong, they can be hard to make. Here are some elements that good business partnerships require:
Compatible strengths
Different people bring different skills and personalities to a business. There is no stronger glue to hold a business partnership together than when partners need and rely on each other’s abilities. Suppose one person is great at accounting and inventory management, and another is a natural at sales and marketing. Each is free to focus on what they are good at and can appreciate that their partner will pick up the slack in the areas where they are weak.
Defined roles and limitations
Before going into business, outline who will have what responsibilities. Agree which things need consensus and which do not. Having this understanding upfront will help resolve future disagreements. Outlining the limits of each person’s role not only avoids conflict, it also identifies where you need to hire outside expertise to fulfill a skill gap in your partnership.
A conflict resolution strategy
Conflict is bound to arise even if the fundamentals of your partnership are strong. Set up a routine for resolving conflicts. Start with a schedule for frequent communication between partners. Allow each person to discuss issues without judgment. If compromise is still difficult after discussion, it helps to have someone who can be a neutral arbiter, such as a trusted employee or consultant.
A goal-setting system
Create a system to set individual goals as well as business goals. Regularly meet together and set your goals, the steps needed to achieve them, who needs to take the next action, and the expected date of completion.
An exit strategy
It’s often easier to get into business with a partner than to exit when it isn’t working out. Create a buy-sell agreement at the start of your business relationship. This should outline how you exit the business and create a fair valuation system to pay the exiting owner. Neither the selling partner nor the buying partner want to feel taken advantage of during an ownership transition.
