Category Archives: Corporate Tax / Business Planning

Business Report: Why You Should Have A Plan

Posted on
Michael Cruz, president of Lighthouse Advisors LLC in Queensbury.

By Michael Cruz

Good business planning must start with Visualization.

Unless you want to finish next year exactly where you are today, it is important to think about where you want to be. And then write it down. Visualization starts with a thought process. What do you see your company headed? Sales goals? Customer satisfaction goals. Do you want to add new products or services?

Planning adds urgency to those goals. I worked with a client years ago that needed more space to reach their growth goals. We worked to define what that facility would look like. He described the building he wanted to move into. And, a year and a half later he moved into a facility that exactly matched the picture he had in his head.

It highlights the magic that came from his created visual. And he has exceeded his growth goals that came with the new facility.

Read More

Business Report: To Be (A ‘C’) Or Not To Be

Posted on
Carissa A. Conley is a senior tax manager with CMJ, LLP.

Carissa A. Conley, CPA

With the newly lowered corporate tax rate, many passthrough businesses are wondering if they should now convert to a C Corporation. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) reduced the corporate tax rate from a maximum of 35 percent to a flat rate of 21 percent and eliminated the corporate AMT.

Meanwhile, income of passthrough entities is taxed at the individual taxpayer level which is still based on graduated rates up to a maximum of 37 percent. While this initially sounds like a no-brainer, in most cases, small businesses will be still pay less tax as a passthrough entity.

Even though a C Corporation is only taxed on its net income at a rate of 21 percent now, there is still the issue of double taxation when shareholders take dividend distributions. Depending on the shareholder’s tax bracket, these dividends which have already been taxed at 21 percent, are now taxed again at a rate up to 20 percent (for those in the highest tax bracket) plus another 3.8 percent for Net Investment Income tax.

Read More

Business Report: Put Investment Performance In Perspective

Posted on
Meghan Murray is a financial advisor with Edward Jones Financial in Queensbury.

By Meghan Murray

How can you assess your investment portfolio’s performance in 2018? The year was full of wild swings in the financial markets, so your own results may well have bounced around quite a bit, too.

But you can still get a clear picture of how you did if you keep your investments’ returns in the proper perspective by making sure your expectations are relevant, realistic and reviewed.

Let’s look at how these terms can apply to a meaningful evaluation of your investment progress:

Relevant. Many investors compare their portfolio returns to a popular market index, such as the S&P 500. But this comparison is not really valid for a variety of reasons. For one thing, indexes are typically not diversified across different types of investments—the S&P 500, for instance, only tracks large U.S. companies.

But your portfolio should consist of a broad range of investments: domestic and international stocks, bonds, mutual funds, government securities and so on, appropriate for your goals and risk tolerance.

Read More

2018 Could Be A Year For Equity Investors To Reap Rewards For Taking Even Moderate Risk

Posted on
Stephen Kyne, partner, Sterling Manor Financial in Saratoga Springs and Rhinebeck.

By Stephen Kyne

As we turn the page on another year, it’s time to take a look back at all that was, and prepare for what lies ahead. For the economy at large, 2017 was a stellar year and we think there is more to look forward to in 2018.

We’re beginning to feel a bit like a broken record when we say that the year has been better than we expected, and we expect the next year to be good as well. Unfortunately, since 2009, many investors have remained on the sidelines and have missed the opportunities that the economy presented since the recession. The good news is that we think there’s still room to run in this expansion—even those shy investors have time left to participate.

This time last year, we expected that U.S. stock indices could easily provide returns in excess of 10 percent, and boy were we right!. As of Dec. 29, the Dow sits up about 25 percent, the S&P is up 18 percent, and the NASDAQ is up a whopping 29 percent for the year, while bond indices have returned in the neighborhood of 2 percent (barely pacing inflation).

Clearly, equity (stock) investors have been rewarded in 2017, as they have been ever since March of 2009. Loosening regulations, lowering corporate taxes and increased consumer activity have all been among the factors that contributed to an environment which is producing record corporate profits and ultimately the beneficiaries have been stock investors.

Read More

Business Report: Time Is A Key Factor In Investing

Posted on
Breanna L. Lundy, financial advisor, Edward Jones Financial.
Courtesy Edward Jones Financial

By Breanna L. Lundy

With the arrival of the New Year, many of us will pause and ponder the age-old question: “Who knows where the time goes?” And, as is always the case, none of us really do know. However, wherever the time goes, it will usually be a key factor in your success as an investor.

Time can affect how you invest, and the results of your investing, in different ways:

• Growth potential. Contrary to myth, there’s no real way to “get rich quick” when investing. To build wealth, you need patience – and time. If you own quality investments with growth potential, and you give them years—in fact, decades—to increase in value, your perseverance may be rewarded.

Of course, there are no guarantees, and you’ll need the discipline to withstand the inevitable downturns along the way. But in describing how long he likes to keep his investments, renowned investor Warren Buffet says his favorite holding period is “forever.”

Read More