4Thought Blog

For 2019, the lifetime gift and estate tax exemption has reached a whopping $11.40 million ($22.80 million for married couples). As a result, few people will be subject to federal gift taxes.

If your wealth is well within the exemption amount, does that mean there’s no need to file gift tax returns? Not necessarily. There are many situations in which it’s necessary (or desirable) to file Form 709, “United States Gift (and Generation-Skipping Transfer) Tax Return” — even if you’re not liable for any gift taxes.

Sole proprietorships and pass-through entity structures, which include partnerships, S corporations and certain limited liability companies, provide owners with some valuable tax benefits, such as avoidance of double taxation and the potential ability to deduct losses from the business on their individual tax returns.

But the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act has placed some limitations on deducting business losses. Here’s a look at the changes in the rules and how they might affect you.

If you're like most manufacturers, you don't track order-processing. Yet focusing on this performance metric can identify operational inefficiencies that are cost-cutting opportunities. And continued monitoring lets you keep those costs in check and predict future outlays.

Customer order management means different things to different people. It may be limited to account processing and the activities involved in the entry, maintenance and fulfillment of orders. Some of the tasks include pricing, managing customer credit, checking parts availability, inquiring about order status, invoicing and processing accounts receivable. In other words, customer order management includes every process from order to payment receipt.

Construction project financing and cash flow management are unique for several reasons.

First, start-up construction companies are very easy to form with the "two men, tools, and a truck" business model. Because of this, credit and business history often are not extensive as the positive histories that typically give businesses access to large sums of capital to start the business.

Does your business need to add one or more vehicles? If so, the purchases may qualify for tax breaks under current tax law. Here are the details.

Bitcoin has been around for nearly a decade. But the tax rules related to "virtual currency" are still evolving. In fact, some Bitcoin investors may be in for a surprise when they file their 2019 returns. Tax matters have become even more complicated because relevant provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act took effect starting in 2018.

Here's what you should know about the brave relatively new world of virtual currency.

First the old news: Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), employers with at least 50 employees (or full-time equivalents) are required to provide health benefits and pay for a good portion of the cost.

And many smaller employers that aren't required to offer health coverage do so anyway. Why? They may do it to compete successfully for talented employees in today's low unemployment environment or out of genuine concern for the well-being of their workers. What few employers like, however, is being in the time-consuming and complex business of selecting and administering health plans.

And here's the new news: That employer sentiment is why many may be tempted by a radical liberalization of regulations governing health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs), which kicks in next year. Chances are many employers will need some time to digest the 500-plus pages of new HRA rules, so they won't make any big changes immediately. But it's a good idea to be prepared for changes in buying individual health coverage.

The summer months are a good time to brainstorm tax planning strategies. Some ideas will help cut your tax bill for the current year; others will allow you to minimize future taxes. Here are various short- and long-term strategies to consider. They factor in changes included in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

Industry 4.0 is shorthand for all the technological innovations fundamentally altering the manufacturing sector — including smart factories, the Internet of Things, cloud and hybrid computing, and augmented reality. Mobile devices are the gateway to Industry 4.0.

Manufacturing managers still working with decade-old computers — or pencil and paper — will likely be left in the dust. Optimally, your company should enable supervisors to dock smartphones for desktop work so they can fully embrace and leverage all the technological advantages available.

Mobility allows you to keep your finger on the pulse of your plant and gain enhanced, real-time visibility into many aspects of manufacturing, from supply chain logistics to enterprise asset management to customer order fulfillment. Mobile applications can help streamline operations and dramatically increase productivity by identifying and resolving problems faster and more efficiently.

The so-called "gig economy" challenges conventional practices between companies and the people who perform the work. A key question is: Are these workers independent contractors or employees?

The U.S. Department of Labor recently published a new wage and hour opinion letter, spelling out its position with respect to a specific virtual marketplace company. Though the letter is directly applicable only to the specific employer that sought the opinion, it still offers insight on how the DOL might rule in similar cases.