by Leif Jensen | Jun 4, 2018 | General |
Europe rolled out costly privacy regulations in May, with strict privacy and security mandates for sites collecting personal data and big fines for violations. Other countries are also looking to tighten privacy rules and forcing more online censorship. In spite of...
by Leif Jensen | May 30, 2018 | General |
I meet an investor that only believed in investing in real estate only around colleges and universities. He knew that with these locations he would always have people interested in renting his properties. This made all the sense in the world to me so to see an article...
by Leif Jensen | May 29, 2018 | General |
Hardware and/or software, who will be the winners and who will be the losers of the Internet of Things (IOT)? For the internet of things to work there will need to be specialized chips loaded into everything. Those chips will need software to be written to make the...
by Leif Jensen | May 28, 2018 | General |
I recently found myself underwater on my office. The prices fell sharply during the “Great Recession”, then all open units were sold at discounted prices, led by me buying the neighboring unit. But now no one is looking to leave. So the prices are deflated on...
by Leif Jensen | May 23, 2018 | General |
Have you been watching? Online marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, and so on are both helping and hurting specific brands. Is you brand one of these that is being impaired? If so are you ready to take control of your brand online? There are known brands that are losing...
by Leif Jensen | May 22, 2018 | General |
We as a firm believe that we are dedicated by professional responsibility to assist our clients achieve better results for their customers and be more profitable. We learned early on that our product was not to sell time, but rather our skill and knowledge. Creating...
by Leif Jensen | May 21, 2018 | General |
If you want to start a business but don’t know where to start, don’t worry…you are not alone. This is not a unique situation. We have had appointments were we have discouraged would be business owners from getting started, others have great ideas and...
by Leif Jensen | May 16, 2018 | General |
We live in litigious times. It’s just an unfortunate fact of life, especially in Illinois. So we need to arm ourselves with the basics of doing business legally and ethically, so you can avoid the headaches later. That along with our insurance company is why we...
by Leif Jensen | May 15, 2018 | General |
Social media is necessary to branding, building and growing your business. But alas contrary to popular belief social media not free. It requires the investment of time. I am currently spending a Sunday morning working on multiple posts. But with some technical...
by Leif Jensen | May 14, 2018 | General |
As more and more small companies are opting shared work spaces; looking for offices with hip designs and short-term commitments that are shared with other firms. The appeal of co-working spaces started along with freelance workers, these independent contractors and...
by Leif Jensen | May 9, 2018 | General |
In a recent court case, a couple’s e-filing error does not allow them to avoid penalties for late filing and payment, according to a federal district court When e-filing their return through TurboTax, the husband input a wrong Social Security number. IRS rejected the...
by Leif Jensen | May 8, 2018 | General |
The new tax law wiped out a number of benefits of home ownership, which is vexing the National Association of Realtors. You can still write off the mortgage interest on your primary mortgage. But there are hoops to jump through and records to keep for deductibility...
by Leif Jensen | May 7, 2018 | General |
According to my youngest, who is currently a senior in High School a large number of his peers are not planning on going forward to college. While the decision to forgo a four-year degree still runs counter to 30 years of conventional wisdom. These kids are not...
by Leif Jensen | May 2, 2018 | General |
The Labor Dept. and IRS have a pact to share leads on misclassified workers. But as usual, the results from our government have not been very robust. Since 2012, the Revenue Service has selected for examination a mere 210 of the 1,300 referrals it’s received from DOL,...
by Leif Jensen | May 1, 2018 | General |
A doctor’s C corporation that paid his home mortgage cannot deduct the cost, according to the Tax Court. A company may deduct payments made to lease home office space from an employee or shareholder, if they’re ordinary and necessary business expenses. Here, the...
by Leif Jensen | Apr 30, 2018 | General |
Tapping an IRA the wrong way in a divorce can be a costly blunder. Sometimes you need to talk to a CPA. A divorce court ordered a man to pay $100,000 in a nontaxable transaction into an IRA titled in his ex-wife’s name. He was also ordered to pay her attorney fees....
by Leif Jensen | Apr 25, 2018 | General |
Depreciation for restaurant, retail and leasehold remodeling rules have changed under the new tax law. They are now consolidated under the grouping of qualified improvement property (QIP). Congressional Republicans intended to give QIP a 15-year depreciable life and...
by Leif Jensen | Apr 24, 2018 | General |
The deduct-ability of the cost of client meals is murky under the new tax law. So there is a sharp divide forming among tax practitioners on this issue. Some say that client meals, such as at a restaurant for a business dinner or a post-golf lunch at a country club,...
by Leif Jensen | Apr 23, 2018 | General |
We get a lot of calls during the year asking inquiring about our services. Most of those end when they find out that we charge for our services. At least one almost expected us to pay him to be a client; he was a waste of time and spent too much of our time on the...
by Leif Jensen | Apr 18, 2018 | General |
I recently meet with a potential client who was looking at purchasing an existing franchise business. The purchase price in my mind was too much for what they would be getting for their money. But I have also seen it the other way around. I have seen a purchaser who...
