CPA Blog

5 ways to speed up collections

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Published: Monday, 10 October 2016 09:11

Written by Phillip Strickler, CPA.CITP

Turning receivables into cash is among the most important things a business must do. Of course, it’s easier said than done. Here are five ways to speed up collections:

1. Streamline the billing process. You can’t collect what you don’t bill. Invoice customers promptly — as soon as the product ships, if possible. Or, if your company provides services, track billable hours daily and bill monthly — or as often as permitted under the customer’s contract. Implementing an electronic payment system, or upgrading your existing one, may accelerate invoicing and enable faster receipt of receivables.

2. Reward early birds and penalize procrastinators. Enticing customers to pay before the due date may require early-bird discounts, such as a small percentage off bills or value-added perks for those who pay on time or improve their payment histories. Conversely, you might consider assessing fees on past-due payments. However, many companies decide to waive late charges as an act of goodwill when customers immediately resolve outstanding balances.

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Get 2 tax benefits from 1 donation: Give appreciated stock instead of cash

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Published: Monday, 03 October 2016 09:29

Written by Phillip Strickler, CPA.CITP

If you’re charitably inclined, making donations is probably one of your key year-end tax planning strategies. But if you typically give cash, you may want to consider another option that provides not just one but two tax benefits: Donating long-term appreciated stock.

More tax savings

Appreciated publicly traded stock you’ve held more than one year is long-term capital gains property. If you donate it to a qualified charity, you can enjoy two benefits: 1) You can claim a charitable deduction equal to the stock’s fair market value, and 2) you can avoid the capital gains tax you’d pay if you sold the stock. This will be especially beneficial to taxpayers facing the 3.8% net investment income tax (NIIT) or the top 20% long-term capital gains rate this year.

Let’s say you donate $10,000 of stock that you paid $3,000 for, your ordinary-income tax rate is 39.6% and your long-term capital gains rate is 20%. If you sold the stock, you’d pay $1,400 in tax on the $7,000 gain. If you were also subject to the 3.8% NIIT, you’d pay another $266 in NIIT.

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Prepaid tuition vs. college savings: Which type of 529 plan is better?

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Published: Monday, 26 September 2016 09:14

Written by Phillip Strickler, CPA.CITP

Section 529 plans provide a tax-advantaged way to help pay for college expenses. Here are just a few of the benefits:

• Although contributions aren’t deductible for federal purposes, plan assets can grow tax-deferred.
• Some states offer tax incentives for contributing in the form of deductions or credits.
• The plans usually offer high contribution limits, and there are no income limits for contributing.

Prepaid tuition plans

With this type of 529 plan, if your contract is for four years of tuition, tuition is guaranteed regardless of its cost at the time the beneficiary actually attends the school. This can provide substantial savings if you invest when the child is still very young.

One downside is that there’s uncertainty in how benefits will be applied if the beneficiary attends a different school. Another is that the plan doesn’t cover costs other than tuition, such as room and board.

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Should you offer spousal health care coverage?

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Published: Monday, 19 September 2016 09:39

Written by Phillip Strickler, CPA.CITP

When looking to manage benefits costs, employers have many ideas to consider. One in particular is whether and how to offer health care insurance to their employees’ spouses.

The Affordable Care Act doesn’t require spousal coverage. It only requires coverage for dependent children. But many employees may frown on seeing spousal coverage suddenly become expensive or vanish entirely. So this is a question warranting careful forethought.

2 established ways

Essentially, there are two established ways of saving money on spousal coverage: 1) rationalizing the expense through a cost-sharing surcharge, or 2) eliminating coverage altogether through a “spousal carve-out” policy.

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