Like their for-profit counterparts, not-for-profits are increasingly allowing employees to telecommute. Done right, work-at-home arrangements, either full time or on an occasional basis, can pay off for both employers and employees. But you’ll need to be proactive to avoid some pitfalls.

Bevy of benefits

Primary among the advantages of telecommuting is cost containment. An employee who doesn’t need to go into the office spends less money on things like commuting, work clothes, dry cleaning or going out to lunch. And the organization might be able to downsize its space needs, resulting in rent and other overhead savings.

Your organization is also likely to enjoy reduced recruiting expenses by landing top candidates regardless of where they live — and retaining them. Productivity may climb, too. Some employers worry about telecommuters slacking off. But research has suggested the opposite is true and that these workers put in more hours per week than their office-based counterparts.

Essential considerations

Effective telecommuting arrangements require careful planning and management. Tackle these issues first:

Policy. Develop policies with a team of human resources staff, managers and employees. You’ll need your telecommuting policy to address — among other things — eligibility, home office requirements, training, communication, work hours, performance evaluations, and technology security. Employees approved for telecommuting should sign an agreement acknowledging the policy and expectations.

Communications. Both managers and employees must be proactive in their communications. You might find it helpful to establish standards for how promptly staffers should respond to email, the times when managers or employees will be available and similar matters. And because employees who aren’t in the office can sometimes miss out on information that spreads through the workplace, managers should schedule regular one-on-ones.

Fairness. Resentment can develop if workers in the office question whether their telecommuting colleagues are truly pulling their weight. It’s not unusual for an “us vs. them” mentality to develop. Managers can keep a lid on ill will by using team meetings to publicly praise both telecommuters and in-office employees and explicitly acknowledge their contributions to the organization.

Get advice

When first dipping your toes in the telecommuting waters, you’d be wise to seek legal advice. Telecommuting puts a twist on a range of compliance, from confidentiality to wage and hour laws, and raises critical questions related to use of company property. Contact us for more information.

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An old business adage says, “Sales is a numbers game.” In other words, the more potential buyers you face, the better your chances of making sales. This isn’t completely true, of course; success also depends on execution.

Nonetheless, when a company builds a pipeline to funnel prospects to its sales team, it will increase the opportunities for these staff members to strike and close deals. Here are some ways to undertake construction.

Do your research

First, establish a profile of the organizations that are the best candidates for your products or services. Criteria should include:

Next, think lead generation. The two best sources for generating leads are companywide marketing activities and individual salesperson initiatives, both of which create name recognition and educate prospects on the benefits of your products or services. Although you may find one method works better for you than the other, try not to be too dependent on either.

3 ways to reach out

Once you identify prospects, your sales team has got to reach out. Here are three ways to consider:

1. Cold calls. Every salesperson has done traditional cold calling — assembling a list of prospects that fit into your established customer profile and then calling or visiting them. Cold calling requires many attempts, and the percentage of interested parties tends to be small. Encourage your sales staff to personalize their message to each prospect so the calls don’t have a “canned” feel.

2. Researched cold calling. Select a subset of the most desirable candidates from your prospect list and do deeper research into these organizations to discover some need that your product or service would satisfy. Work with your sales team to write customized letters to the appropriate decision makers, highlighting your company’s skills in meeting their needs. If possible, quote an existing customer and quantify the benefits. The letter should come from the sales rep and state that he or she will be following up with a phone call. Often, after sending such a letter, getting in the door is a little easier.

3. Referrals. Research potential referral sources just as you study up on sales prospects themselves. Your goal is to develop and maintain a referral network of satisfied customers and other professionals who interact with your prospects. When you get referrals, be sure to send thank-you notes to the sources and keep them informed of your progress.

Go with the flow

Does your business regularly find itself hitting dry spells in which sales prospects seem to evaporate into thin air? If so, it may be because you lack a solid pipeline to keep the identities of those potential buyers flowing in. Contact us for further ideas and information.

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Repairs to tangible property, such as buildings, machinery, equipment or vehicles, can provide businesses a valuable current tax deduction — as long as the so-called repairs weren’t actually “improvements.” The costs of incidental repairs and maintenance can be immediately expensed and deducted on the current year’s income tax return. But costs incurred to improve tangible property must be depreciated over a period of years.

So the size of your 2017 deduction depends on whether the expense was a repair or an improvement.

Betterment, restoration or adaptation
In general, a cost that results in an improvement to a building structure or any of its building systems (for example, the plumbing or electrical system) or to other tangible property must be depreciated. An improvement occurs if there was a betterment, restoration or adaptation of the unit of property.

Under the “betterment test,” you generally must depreciate amounts paid for work that is reasonably expected to materially increase the productivity, efficiency, strength, quality or output of a unit of property or that is a material addition to a unit of property.

Under the “restoration test,” you generally must depreciate amounts paid to replace a part (or combination of parts) that is a major component or a significant portion of the physical structure of a unit of property.

Under the “adaptation test,” you generally must depreciate amounts paid to adapt a unit of property to a new or different use — one that isn’t consistent with your ordinary use of the unit of property at the time you originally placed it in service.

Seeking safety

Distinguishing between repairs and improvements can be difficult, but a couple of IRS safe harbors can help:

1. Routine maintenance safe harbor. Recurring activities dedicated to keeping property in efficient operating condition can be expensed. These are activities that your business reasonably expects to perform more than once during the property’s “class life,” as defined by the IRS.

Amounts incurred for activities outside the safe harbor don’t necessarily have to be depreciated, though. These amounts are subject to analysis under the general rules for improvements.

2. Small business safe harbor. For buildings that initially cost $1 million or less, qualified small businesses may elect to deduct the lesser of $10,000 or 2% of the unadjusted basis of the property for repairs, maintenance, improvements and similar activities each year. A qualified small business is generally one with gross receipts of $10 million or less.

There is also a de minimis safe harbor as well as an exemption for materials and supplies up to a certain threshold. To learn more about these safe harbors and exemptions and other ways to maximize your tangible property deductions, contact us.

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On December 22, 2017, the most sweeping tax legislation since the Tax Reform Act of 1986 was
signed into law. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA) makes small reductions to income tax rates for most individual tax brackets and significantly reduces the income tax rate for corporations. It also provides a large new tax deduction for owners of pass-through entities and significantly increases individual alternative minimum tax (AMT) and estate tax exemptions. And it makes major changes related to the taxation of foreign income.

It’s not all good news for taxpayers, however. The TCJA also eliminates or limits many tax breaks, and much of the tax relief is only temporary.

Here is an overview of some of the key changes affecting individual and business taxpayers.

There is an update to the language on the 2018 estate tax exemption based on the IRS’s recent release of 2018 inflation adjustments.

Tax Cuts & Jobs Act Overview * Updated

TIME FOR PLANNING

We’ve only briefly covered some of the most significant TCJA provisions here. There are additional rules and limits that apply, and the law includes additional provisions. As with any piece of massive legislation, many questions about implementation and impact linger unanswered. We’ll keep you apprised as more information becomes clear about how the TCJA will affect individual and business taxpayers.

In the meantime, please contact us if you have questions about how the TCJA may affect you or your business. As the largest overhaul of the tax code in more than three decades, the TCJA requires proper planning to minimize any negative impact and maximize available tax benefits.

The “sandwich generation” accounts for a large segment of the population. These are people who find themselves caring for both their children and their parents at the same time. In some cases, this includes providing parents with financial support. As a result, estate planning — which traditionally focuses on providing for one’s children — has expanded in many cases to include aging parents as well.

Including your parents as beneficiaries of your estate plan raises a number of complex issues. Here are five tips to consider:

1. Plan for long-term care (LTC). The annual cost of LTC can reach well into six figures. These expenses aren’t covered by traditional health insurance policies or Medicare. To prevent LTC expenses from devouring your parents’ resources, work with them to develop a plan for funding their health care needs through LTC insurance or other investments.

2. Make gifts. One of the simplest ways to help your parents financially is to make cash gifts to them. If gift and estate taxes are a concern, you can take advantage of the annual gift tax exclusion, which allows you to give each parent up to $15,000 per year without triggering taxes.

3. Pay medical expenses. You can pay an unlimited amount of medical expenses on your parents’ behalf, without tax consequences, so long as you make the payments directly to medical providers.

4. Set up trusts. There are many trust-based strategies you can use to financially assist your parents. For example, in the event you predecease your parents, your estate plan might establish a trust for their benefit, with any remaining assets passing to your children when your parents die.

5. Buy your parents’ home. If your parents have built up significant equity in their home, consider buying it and leasing it back to them. This arrangement allows your parents to tap their home equity without moving out while providing you with valuable tax deductions for mortgage interest, depreciation, maintenance and other expenses. To avoid negative tax consequences, be sure to pay a fair price for the home (supported by a qualified appraisal) and charge your parents fair-market rent.

As you review these and other options for providing financial assistance to your aging parents, try not to overdo it. If you give your parents too much, these assets could end up back in your estate and potentially exposed to gift or estate taxes. Also, keep in mind that some gifts could disqualify your parents from certain federal or state government benefits. Contact us for additional details.

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