CPA Blog

What’s the right device policy for your company?

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Published: Monday, 27 January 2020 08:18

Written by Phillip Strickler, CPA.CITP

Device policies pertaining to smartphones and other technology tools continue to frustrate business owners as they try to balance their needs for security and functionality against employees’ rights to privacy and freedom. At some companies, loose “bring your own device” (BYOD) policies are giving way to stricter “choose your own device” (CYOD) or “corporate-owned, personally enabled” (COPE) policies.

CYOD: Their device, your data

A CYOD policy lets employees buy a device for combined personal and work purposes from an approved list of products. Generally, the employee owns the device with the business retaining ownership of the SIM card and any proprietary data. Many employers pay for the accompanying mobile plan. Sometimes, high-performance devices are made available only to “power users,” while employees with fewer tech-related job requirements must choose from lesser models.

Under a CYOD policy, you can:

• Ensure device compatibility with your systems,
• Require security protections on the devices, and
• Conduct ongoing security monitoring.

It also makes maintenance and support easier for your IT department, because IT staff will know exactly which devices they’ll need to handle.

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Do you have a side gig? Make sure you understand your tax obligations

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Published: Monday, 27 January 2020 08:15

Written by Phillip Strickler, CPA.CITP

The number of people engaged in the “gig” or sharing economy has grown in recent years, according to a 2019 IRS report. And there are tax consequences for the people who perform these jobs, such as providing car rides, renting spare bedrooms, delivering food, walking dogs or providing other services.

Basically, if you receive income from one of the online platforms offering goods and services, it’s generally taxable. That’s true even if the income comes from a side job and even if you don’t receive an income statement reporting the amount of money you made.

IRS report details

The IRS recently released a report examining two decades of tax returns and titled “Is Gig Work Replacing Traditional Employment?” It found that “alternative, non-employee work arrangements” grew by 1.9% from 2000 to 2016 and more than half of the increase from 2013 to 2016 could be attributed to gig work mediated through online labor platforms.

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Can you deduct charitable gifts on your tax return?

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Published: Monday, 27 January 2020 08:10

Written by Phillip Strickler, CPA.CITP

Many taxpayers make charitable gifts — because they’re generous and they want to save money on their federal tax bills. But with the tax law changes that went into effect a couple years ago and the many rules that apply to charitable deductions, you may no longer get a tax break for your generosity.

Are you going to itemize?

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), signed into law in 2017, didn’t put new limits on or suspend the charitable deduction, like it did with many other itemized deductions. Nevertheless, it reduces or eliminates the tax benefits of charitable giving for many taxpayers.

Itemizing saves tax only if itemized deductions exceed the standard deduction. Through 2025, the TCJA significantly increases the standard deduction. For 2020, it is $24,800 for married couples filing jointly (up from $24,400 for 2019), $18,650 for heads of households (up from $18,350 for 2019), and $12,400 for singles and married couples filing separately (up from $12,200 for 2019).

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3 best practices for achieving organic sales growth

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Published: Monday, 27 January 2020 08:05

Written by Phillip Strickler, CPA.CITP

Most business owners would probably agree that, when it comes to sales, there’s always room for improvement. To this end, every company should strive for organic sales growth — that is, increases from existing operations unrelated to a merger or acquisition.

That’s not to say a merger or acquisition is necessarily a bad idea, but you can’t rely on major moves like this to regularly boost your numbers. Let’s look at three best practices for achieving organic sales growth.

1. Attentive customer service

Premier customer service is more than just a smile and a handshake. Are your employees really hearing clients’ problems and concerns? Do their solutions not only fix the issue but also, whenever possible, exceed the customers’ expectations?

The ability to conduct productive dialogues with your customers is a key to growing sales. Maintaining a positive, ongoing conversation starts with resolving any negative (or potentially negative) issues that arise as quickly as possible under strictly followed protocols. It also includes simply checking in with customers regularly to see what they may need.

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