Tax Legislation Update
Last week, the House passed a series of bills under the title “Jobs for America Act of 2014” that more or less represents a tax wish list of business owners, suppliers, and advisors. The full text of the bill can be found here. Here are some the major components: Section 179 business expensing restored to…
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Effective Financial Management of Your Dental Practice, Part 2
Part 2 of 2 In the previous blog post, I talked about how not to analyze your dental practice’s financial performance. But if you cannot necessarily rely on your bank account balance, your tax return or your QuickBooks reports to tell you how you are doing, then what else is there? Here are a few…
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Effective Financial Management of Your Dental Practice, Part 1
Part 1 of 2 All dental practices share some common financial characteristics. The productivity of you and your team drives your profitability. Your people, your space and your clinical expenses will all be major expenditure items regardless of the size of your practice. How you measure and manage these characteristics can make the difference between…
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What You Need to Know About Estimated Tax Payments
If you own a pass-through entity (limited liability entity or S corporation), your non-wage income earned through the business is subject to quarterly estimated tax payments. The timing and amount of those payments are subject to a complicated set of rules. Here is what you need to know. When to pay? The IRS calendar is…
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Tax Extenders – What You Need to Know
In addition to being unnecessarily complex, another frustrating aspect of tax compliance is that the rules change every year. 2014 is no exception. Each year, Congress and the President review the tax rules slated for expiration in the upcoming year and, for the most part, enact legislation to extend those rules for the next year….
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Promotion Announcement, July 2014
BIRMINGHAM, AL – July 2014 || Jeff Sims has been promoted to manager with Dent, Baker & Company, LLP. He originally joined the firm as an intern and went on to become a full time staff member following graduation. In this role, Jeff focuses on assisting individuals and business clients in multiple industries, including manufacturing…
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A Few Thoughts on the Affordable Care Act
We have been talking about the Affordable Care Act for more than four years now. Since 2010, we’ve spent countless hours trying to grasp all of the implications and fine print of the law so we can fully understand its impacts on our clients. Although some of the important provisions have been delayed, most small…
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How Much Cash Should be in Your Practice?
As a practice owner, you get paid last. If you have any cash left over after meeting the payroll and paying your bills, only then can you consider taking a paycheck yourself. But how much should you pay yourself and how much cash should be in your practice? I typically suggest that a practice keep…
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Meals and Entertainment Deductions: 50% vs. 100%
Here’s something to chew on: There’s less on your plate today that qualifies for meals and entertainment deductions. The rules limiting meals and entertainment expenses have been modified quite a bit over the years, and, as a result, 50% of qualifying expenses are now disallowed as deductions. The latest revision (1993) also prohibited the deduction…
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Deducting Auto Expenses in Your Practice
As a tax advisor to small business owners, I field countless questions regarding what is a deductible business expense and what is not. While some expenses are clearly deductible and others are clearly not, there is a sizable gray area where deductibility relies on factors unique to the business, its industry and its activities. This…
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