O&S BLOG

The R&D Tax Credit: Making it Work No one can afford to leave money on the table. Nevertheless, when it comes to the R&D credit, cash is left untouched all the time. Despite the fact that the R&D credit has been available since 1981, less than a third of eligible companies recognize that they qualify for the credit. Even if companies do claim the R&D credit, they frequently do not claim the entire credit to which they are entitled, either because they do not understand what qualifies or do not have the processes in place to properly document the credit….

Many small organizations typically have limited resources to both prevent and recover from fraud. There is also often a high level of trust put upon employees due to the lack of internal controls. According to the Report to the Nations: 2018 Global Study of Occupational Fraud and Abuse (the Global Study) published by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, 89% of occupational fraud committed was asset misappropriation and the median duration of a fraud scheme is 16 months. The following were additional key findings related to small business of less than 100 employees: Lost almost twice as much per scheme…

Long Beach Post, April 3, 2019 by Jason Ruiz in News Long Beach renters scored a small victory early Wednesday as the City Council voted to create an ordinance that will require landlords to provide financial assistance to those displaced by rent increases and some evictions. The victory comes after years of failed attempts by tenant advocate groups to push the City Council to adopt stronger protections for renters like just-cause eviction, rent escrow and rent control measures. But advocates said this is a starting point to help stop mass displacement that has ravaged some parts of the city. Under…

Background: Each year businesses are required to issue information returns (i.e. 1099 forms) reporting various types of payments, or in some cases receipts. Unless you happen to be a University or a Bank, most of the forms you will be sending out will probably be the 1099-Misc to report payments for services by non-employees. The general rule is that if a business pays an independent contractor $600 or more in a calendar year for services, you must give them a 1099 showing the total amount paid. These forms must be sent to the recipients by January 31 of the following…

There are a smorgasbord of investments to choose from when planning for retirement. The Traditional IRA and Roth IRA are amongst the easiest ones to set up and manage. An “IRA” is a fancy acronym for an Individual Retirement Account. Depending on your personal situation, you may want to choose contributing to a Roth over a Traditional, or vice versa. Below are some of the general characteristics describing both types of IRAs. Traditional IRA Contributions to your IRA are deductible on your personal income tax return in the year that you make them At 70 ½ years old, you are…

As we approach the end of the year and many businesses are preparing to run their final payroll runs for 2018, we thought we would take a moment to remind business owners of a common mistake we see regarding how health insurance premiums are treated. For rank and file employees, employer paid health insurance premiums are generally not taxable to the employee, nor are they deductible by the employee as an expense. However, for shareholders in an S corporation that own more than a 2% stake and who have their health insurance premiums paid for by the corporation, those premiums…