Don’t Forget: The Tax Man Cometh a Month Earlier for Businesses

Just a quick reminder from Hill, Barth and King, LLC that the deadline for corporate income tax returns (Forms 1120, 1120A, and 1120S) or to request an automatic six-month extension (Form 7004) is March 15, 2013.

What does all this mean?

Put simply, if your business is a corporation --whether a regular C corporation or an S corporation—you need to have all of your IRS forms filed no later than the last available postmark timestamp on Friday, March 15^th or at the least, you must have completed and submitted the appropriate paperwork to file for an extension.  The good news on the latter is that it’s a simple document and requires little more than your request and your signature.

Just as a quick refresher: C-corporations contain all the typical company characteristics such as possessing “legal persons” status and offering shareholders limited legal liabilities.  They are taxed on their income before distributing their earnings to their shareholders. S-corporations are a in a separate classification because they are not taxed on their income and shareholders shoulder the company’s legal status and protections evenly.

If you have any questions about business or personal income tax, feel free to contact Kevin J. Deardorff, CPA, MBA of Hill, Barth & King LLC’s Naples office by calling (239) 263-2111 or e-mailing him at kdeardorff@hbkcpa.com.

By Kevin Deardorff

Hill, Barth and King LLC® ranks as the 83^rd largest public accounting firm in the nation.  HBK LLC® employs nearly 300 professional and support staff members who serve clients in 12 offices located throughout Pennsylvania, Ohio and Florida.

To learn more about Hill, Barth and King LLC® visit www.hbkcpa.com.     

Get Yourself a Website

About half of the contractors we meet through our firm don’t have a website.  Most of these contractors are small one-man operations who don’t understand why a website is necessary.  If you’re in the same boat, we would like to share what a website can do for you:

• A website will act as an online calling card. This means that people can find information that will allow them to contact you for quotes and dates of availability

• A website will give you an online presence. This is particularly important as fewer and fewer people are hitting the phone books and newspapers to find contact information for contractors like you. Think about it: why would they bother flipping through the Yellow Pages when they can simply type “Plumber in Naples” into Google and get an immediate result?  

• A website can be your very best selling tool. You can tell people about yourself, what you offer, and show them examples of your previous jobs. Include customer testimonials, too!

Don't stay behind the times. Make sure you are a presence where your customers are searching. 

Foreign Filing Facts

Many have expressed confusion about exactly what a foreign filing is. We would like to take a moment to discuss this subject. What is it and why would you do it?

Simply put if you want to conduct business in a state other than the state in which your business was formed, you need to file for foreign qualification with the new state where you would like to conduct business. 

Common reasons why business owners perform a foreign filing versus creating a separate, new corporation:

• Tax benefits in the home state.
• Ability to file under the same Federal Identification Number.
• Insurance only needs to be obtained by the one entity.
• All employees are under the same umbrella company and able to work on any projects that the company has going.

This is just a bit of information on foreign filings. We are neither accountants nor attorneys and any specific questions as to what would be right for you should be directed to one of these professionals. Remember if you have a foreign filing, you still must stay on top of the filings for the home state or it will become a defunct company! Let us know if you have any questions.

Fictitious Name Renewal

So we all love this time of year.  The ending of another glorious year.  We can start wrapping things up and hope that next year will be even better.  But it is also a time when a lot of renewals come due.  One of those is fictitious name renewal. 

When you file for a fictitious name, it is good for 5 years. Your renewal must be filed by December 31st of the 5^th year since you filed to remain active. This can easily be done online at www.Sunbiz.org. If you fail to file the renewal, the registration will "Expire" and will not be able to simply be renewed or reinstated. You would need to file a new fictitious name registration all over again. This will include another ad in the paper, too.

When you renew your fictitious name, it will be active again for another 5 years. The fee is $50.00 and at this time you can change your mailing address, the county of the principal place of business, the federal identification tax number and the name and/or address of any owner.

Many people have questions regarding if they need a fictitious name or not. This is because most people don’t understand what a fictitious name is. All it means is any name being used to do business other than the legal name of the company. An example would be ABC Contracting, Inc. that would like to advertise themselves using the name ABC.  This usually pertains to franchises like when a local company wants to do business as McDonald’s.

If you have a fictitious name and aren’t sure if you are due this year, go to http://www.sunbiz.org/ficinam.html and type in your name. Click on the link for your name that should appear on the next page and find the expiration date listed under the filing information.  As always, if you need help in filing or would like further clarification, give the gals at Licenses, Etc. a quick call.  We are always here to help.

Business Lessons From a Visionary

Many people around the world are mourning the passing of Steve Jobs this week. He made a tremendous impact not just in the technology arena, but in various areas of our lives. He's even been called a world-changer.

According to a myriad of articles all over the internet, Jobs was known to be determined, focused, enthusiastic and a perfectionist, even to the point of being called crazy. He didn't give up, though, and he didn't stop at "good enough." He went the extra mile - and beyond. We can all learn from Jobs, including owners of small contracting businesses.

Here are some quotes we hope you'll think about as you go to work in your own business:

"When you’re a carpenter making a beautiful chest of drawers, you’re not going to use a piece of plywood on the back, even though it faces the wall and nobody will ever see it. You’ll know it’s there, so you’re going to use a beautiful piece of wood on the back. For you to sleep well at night, the aesthetic, the quality, has to be carried all the way through."

"To design something really well, you have to get it. You have to really grok what it’s all about. It takes a passionate commitment to really thoroughly understand something, chew it up, not just quickly swallow it. Most people don’t take the time to do that."

"When you first start off trying to solve a problem, the first solutions you come up with are very complex, and most people stop there. But if you keep going, and live with the problem and peel more layers of the onion off, you can often times arrive at some very elegant and simple solutions. Most people just don’t put in the time or energy to get there."

"Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me … Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful… that’s what matters to me."

"You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever."

"Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do."

Facebook for Advanced Business User

There are more than 750 million active users on Facebook.  50% are active users that log on to Facebook in any given day.  The average user has 130 friends and people spend over 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook.  Last night we discussed how to leverage this information to benefit businesses.

A few of the topics discussed were:

·         Facebook Advertising

·         Check - In Deals

·         Custom Applications including Fan Only Applets

·         Posting as Your Business

·         And much more...

To see the slide presentation in its entirety, go to http://www.slideshare.net/lisaadamslicenses/score-facebook-for-the-advanced-business-user-workshop.  There are active links within this presentation, so be sure to click on the pictures!   

A big thank you to Whole Foods Market Naples for donating the snacks for this event.  What an amazing spread they made available last night.  Yummy!

If you have any questions after watching this (or would like to hire us to do the work for you), please don’t hesitate to call Lisa at 239-963-5369!

The Inner Workings of Twitter Workshop

Thank you to everyone who attended the workshop last night!  We were able to discuss in depth all of the inner workings of Twitter.  The crowd had great questions and wonderful discussions were started!  We are so appreciative of these opportunities.

A few of the topics discussed were:

·         Creating custom pages

·         Using hash tags

·         Organizing Tweets with Tweet Deck

·         Twitter parties

·         And much more…

To see the presentation in its entirety, go to http://www.slideshare.net/lisaadamslicenses/twitter-workshop-for-score.  There are active links within this presentation, so click away!

If you have any questions after watching this (or would like to hire us to do the work for you), please don’t hesitate to call Lisa at 239-963-5369!

 

Do You Have $400 to Throw Away?

Yeah, neither do we!  So we want to remind you to file your annual report by May 1^st.  Every business formed prior to 2011 must file their annual report by this date.  If a report is filed late, an additional $400 penalty is levied to the standard fees.

In the past, there was a ‘loophole’ that could sometimes allow you to avoid the penalty when filing late.  That loophole was removed last year, so ALL late filings must pay the $400 late fee.  It’s definitely not worth waiting!  The standard fees are $150 for a Corporation and $138.75 for a Limited Liability Company.  If you wait until after May 1^st, that means the fees are $550 and $538.75 respectively. 

When filing your annual report, this is the time to make necessary changes.  Update your company address, registered agent and manager/officer information.  Be sure to check your spelling.  If information is mistyped, an amendment must be filed, which is an additional $35.

To clarify, this is NOT your license renewal.  Your license is up for renewal in August of every EVEN numbered year.  This is to keep your business active and retain your business name with the Department of State. If you don’t file it, the State will eventually dissolve your company. If you have any confusion on this matter, you know who to ask!

Filings are done online at www.sunbiz.org, but as always the gals at Licenses, Etc. would be happy to take this task off your hands!  Give us a call and we will make sure it is done correctly and on time! 

Facebook for Businesses Workshop

Thank you to everyone who attended the workshop last night!  What an amazing turnout we had with a standing room only crowd!  55 attendees and 14 SCORE representatives came to hear Lisa give a riveting workshop on how to use Facebook for your business.

A few of the topics discussed were:

·         Custom welcome pages

·         Applications that you can import into your page

·         Ways to connect social media & make them work for you

·         Methods of getting fans

·         Studying insights to see what works

 To see the presentation in its entirety, go to http://www.slideshare.net/lisaadamslicenses/score-facebook-for-businesses-workshop.  There are active links within this presentation, so click away!

If you have any questions after watching this (or would like to hire us to do the work for you), please don’t hesitate to call Lisa at 239-963-5369!

Upgrades to Facebook Business Pages: We Requested, They Delivered

Some really cool upgrades have enhanced Facebook for those who have business pages.  Developers have been asking admins how they can make business pages easier to use.   We responded with a number of things that we would like to add to the capabilities of business pages.  The developers listened and as of mid February they sent out emails detailing the new features they would be revealing.

The developers allowed us to see what our business accounts will look like and upgrade the pages ourselves if we would like.  All pages will automatically be upgraded on March 10^th. 

Here are some of the new features:

·         Notifications when fans interact with your page or posts – Previously an admin would need to visit the page to see if a fan posted to their page, now it will give you a notification of this just like a personal page.

·         A place to showcase photos along the top of your page – Just as the personal pages now have, pictures will be showcased along the top.  Admins can choose to hide a certain picture if they would not like it showcased by rolling over it and clicking on the X button that appears.

·         A news feed for your page - News Feed — the center column of your home page — is a constantly updating list of stories from people and pages that you follow on Facebook.  You can “switch” to the business account to see this.

·         The ability to Like and post on other pages as your page – “Switching” to the business account allows you to post on other business pages as your business.  This gives your page more visibility.  At this time you cannot post on personal pages as your business.

To “switch” between personal accounts and business accounts:

·     You must be an admin of the page

·     Go to the business page

·     In the upper right hand corner of the page, find the link that says “Use Facebook as [Business Name]”

·     Repeat steps and click link that will now say “Use Facebook as [Your Name]” to switch back

These changes allow businesses a lot more freedom and visibility with their pages.  As always, if you would like to discuss options for marketing your business with Social Media, contact Lisa Adams at 239-963-5369. 

What You May Not Know About Worker’s Comp.

Have you obtained workers' compensation insurance or filed for an exemption with the Division of Workers' Compensation?

The Facts:

·        An exemption only costs $50 and is good for 2 years. 

·        Up to 3 people per company can be exempt. 

·        A person must own at least 10% of the company to file for an exemption.

·         If the company qualifier is NOT an owner, he or she MUST be covered under the company’s WC policy. 

·        Same holds true for any non-owner employee. 

You may think you’re “legal” because you’re covered under one company’s name, but that may not be the case.  When you license a company, you are required to either have WC insurance or a WC exemption for that company, EVEN IF THAT COMPANY ISN’T ACTIVELY WORKING AT THE PRESENT TIME.  The DBPR requires you to be in compliance with Chapter 489.114 and says, “any person, business organization, or qualifying agent engaged in the business of contracting in this state and certified or registered under this part shall, as a condition precedent to the issuance or renewal of a certificate or registration of the contractor, provide to the Construction Industry Licensing Board, as provided by board rule, evidence of workers’ compensation coverage pursuant to chapter 440.”

What can happen if you are caught without workers’ compensation coverage or an exemption for any and all companies that you qualify?  The department shall notify the persons or entities governed by this section who have been determined to be in noncompliance with chapter 440, and the persons or entities notified shall provide certification of compliance with chapter 440 to the department and pay an administrative fine in the amount of $500. The failure to maintain workers’ compensation coverage as required by law shall be grounds for the board to revoke, suspend, or deny the issuance or renewal of a certificate or registration of the contractor under the provisions of s. 489.129.

You can find the exemption form here: http://www.myfloridacfo.com/wc/pdf/DWC-250.pdf. 

Or call us and we will give you information on how to get coverage. 

Would you like to verify your WC status with the state?  Go here:  https://secure.fldfs.com/WCAPPS/Compliance_poc/wPages/query.asp to access the state’s records for WC coverage and exemptions.  If you’re not listed, you need to resolve this immediately!

These rules may not have been actively enforced in the past, but this is the law.  The Boards are tightening their reins and pursuing prosecution.  You really cannot ignore this.

Please contact us if you have questions about any of the next steps you should be taking after receiving your license.  We are here to help you.

Florida UC Assessment

It appears the Florida Department of Revenue is hitting mailboxes this week with tax assessment notices [bills].

These taxes ARE NOT due to an incorrect filing or underpaid deposit.

In a nutshell, the Florida unemployment ‘piggybank’ has been empty for years.  Because that fund is basically insolvent, Florida continues to borrow from Uncle Sam to meet its unemployment obligations.

All of us as Florida employers must bear the burden of paying the interest on that debt, and that is what these notices pertain to.  It appears the state is examining a look-back period of 7/1/09 through 6/30/10 for the purposes of computing each firm’s obligation.

The formula for calculating the payment is specified by law.  The calculation is based on your taxable wages reported from 7/1/09 through 6/30/10 which is listed as line 1 on your bill.  There will be a flat charge of $25 for any delinquent quarter which is line 2 on your bill.

Call us with any questions.

-    Thanks to Greg Borden at Olde Florida Payroll for this information.

The Power of the Press Release

You are constantly looking for the best ways to market your business… but I bet you are missing one of the most obvious ones:  The Press Release!  And guess what, other than the time put in, they are free.  Plus a newspaper article holds a lot more credibility in people’s eyes than an advertisement because it appears to be coming from a trusted, third-party source, rather than the company itself.

Let’s start by saying what a press release is.  Wikipedia defines it as “a written or recorded communication directed at members of the news media for the purpose of announcing something claimed as having news value.”  This means if you have something that people would want to know about, the press wants to hear about it.  This can be anything from a charity event you are hosting to the hiring of a new employee.

Press releases have a very regimented format and will only be considered by the media if written correctly.  There are many online sources to guide you, and there are even entire books written about this topic.  Take a moment to read up on this to be sure that you don’t waste your time.

Once your press release is written, choose the media contacts that you will be sending it to.  They are usually listed on the websites of the papers and trade associations.  Remember, not all of the media contacts out there are looking for the same stories.  A charity event would be directed to most of the contacts, but a new employee would go to the business section writers and trade publications.  So think about what you are sending and be realistic.

Thank them when your article is used.  This is such a simple thing, but so many people forget to do this!  You like to be thanked when you do something nice. They do, too. 

The last tip I will leave you with… Only send a press release once.  You may not hear back from your contacts even if they plan on using your story, but do not hassle them.  Nothing will put you on their block list quicker.

So take a moment and learn to use this powerful tool.  Or give us a call.  We offer press release services.  Isn’t it time to see your name in the headlines?

Get Motivated

You might have received our out of office reply on Tuesday that let you know we were “away from our desks”.  We were actually lucky enough to receive tickets to the Get Motivated seminar, which claims to be “an action-packed, fun-filled, explosive, exciting, inspiring, skill-building business event that is world famous for its mega-watt superstar speakers and spectacular stage production.”   We have to say that between the fireworks, confetti drops, and speakers like former NYC Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, former Secretary of State General Colin Powell, and former First Lady Barbara Bush, it was definitely explosive and action packed! 

Our personal favorites ranged from General Powell, who is obviously known to be a great speaker, to unknown James Smith, whose shock-and- awe style had us in tears with laughter.  But we also sat through a sales pitch that went a little far before the lunch break.  After a few minutes, they lost our attention and we started making infomercial jokes, laughing to ourselves.

Motivational was not an adjective that would have described them all.  Laura Bush discussed 9-11, Rudy Giuliani spoke about the reading initiative program, but the unknowns really got your blood pumping and gave motivation in the bucketfuls. 

We have heard both sides from others who attended.  Some say it was unbelievable and they are so glad they went, while others didn’t quite get why the event even exists.  All we can say is the gals at Licenses, Etc. have always been motivated and always will be motivated to find ways to help our clients achieve their goals!  As always, call us and we will help you get motivated to start a business, obtain your license, and market your business. 

Time Is Almost Up to Grandfather for Home Inspection and Mold Licenses

Our phones have been ringing with questions about Mold and Home Inspection licenses.  These new licenses came into existence in July of 2010.  The DBPR has provided a short window of time to get licensed via Grandfathering—a process with dramatically fewer requirements than the normal licensing procedure.  The deadline to Grandfather for these licenses is March 1, 2011.  It is important to note that having a State Certified Contractor license has NOTHING at all to do with getting any of these licenses; however having these new licenses may be a nice compliment to the licenses that you may already hold.  Grandfathering is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity with the DBPR.  Future requirements will be as stringent as the requirements to become a Certified Contractor!!

Mold Remediation and Mold Assessment are two separate licenses.  Each can be grandfathered in one of two different ways.  By far the easiest is by belonging to a state or national mold-related association, completing 30 hours of CEUs for Mold Remediation and 60 hours of CEUs for Mold Assessment on mold related services, and applying with the DBPR.   The other option is to Grandfather via Experience.  To do this you must establish at least 3 years of experience by submitting at least 40 invoices for mold assessment or mold remediation (as applicable to the license desired). The DBPR may investigate the validity of a mold invoice and, if the applicant submits a false invoice, may take disciplinary action.  
There are also two ways to grandfather into a home inspector license.  The easiest way is to belong to a state or national home inspection association, complete 14 hours of home inspection CEUs, and then apply with the DBPR.  The other option is to Grandfather via Experience.  To do this you must establish at least 3 years of experience as a home inspector and complete at least 14 hours of verifiable education on home inspection services. To establish the 3 years of experience, you must submit a list of at least 120 home inspection reports. The DBRP may investigate the validity of a home inspection report submitted and, if the applicant submits a false report, may take disciplinary action. 

Please note that these licenses are individual licenses—they do not qualify a business.  This means that there must be a licensee on site at each project that is being worked on.  So there will need to be a licensed mold remediator on each project while work is being performed.  You cannot have staff working on a project without having a licensee present.  Assessment work can only be performed by a licensed assessor.  Reconstruction can only be performed by an appropriately licensed contractor.

How can Licenses Etc. help you get licensed quickly and easily? 

As always, we make preparing the application forms as easy as possible for our clients.  We have created a special discounted fee structure for people who are trying to beat the grandfathering deadline.  Because we know that many of you will be applying for two or maybe even three of these licenses, we’ve developed a package deal. 

Initial Licensing:  Grandfathering (via certification and education only)

Mold Remediator, Mold Assessor or Home Inspector:

1^st application per applicant:  $300—additional concurrent applications $150 each

This charge includes the following:

§   Typed, easy-to-read forms (with the exact information required to get your application approved the first time!)

§   In-depth, 2-time review of the entire application package to ensure everything is exactly right and all necessary supporting documents are included

§   Overnight shipping to the DBPR

§   Monitoring of DBPR’s approval process and immediate response to any issues that arise

§   Unlimited time from us to provide assistance and answer any questions you have related to the license and application process

§   A copy of your entire license package sent to you once we send it to DBPR

You will need to provide proof of certification by a state or national association for the requested license type(s) through proof of a proctored examination and also proof of completing the required number of hours of education per license type(s).  We can provide information on different courses that are available…just let us know if you need details.

The other costs for you are the class/membership fees, the DBPR application fee, and the fingerprinting fee. The application fees must be separate checks made out directly to the DBPR for $330 for each license that you’re going to acquire. The fingerprinting costs are $57.25.

This pricing is valid for deposits received no later than February 15^th 2011.  Applications must be RECEIVED at the DBPR no later than February 28^th, 2011. 

Call us now and you can have the paperwork in hand when you complete the class.  What could be easier than walking out of class with everything together and ready to mail?  Contact us NOW…we’ll make things easy for you!

’Tis the season for Scammers!

Do you ever feel like everyone is out to get you?  Well, don’t dismiss that feeling all the time.

There’s a new scam out that is aimed at business owners.  The email you receive will start out with this:

Do not disregard this message. Your email address was provided by the
Florida Division of Corporations regarding YOUR COMPANY’S NAME.

NOTICE

ANNUAL REPORT ORDER NOW DUE:

Then the email will go on to list your federal tax ID number and lots of other personal information.

It even goes so far as to say that, “Your email address was supplied to us by the Florida Department of State, Division of Corporations.”  This is not true!

When one of our clients called this morning to ask what this was, we immediately took action and called the Department of State.  They have NOTHING to do with this company.  Another clue was the fact that it’s too early to even file annual reports.

This is a SCAM and should be disregarded.

The real truth?  You DO need to file annual reports after the 1st of the year, but not through Arvitas.  Annual reports can only be filed through SUNBIZ.ORG.

Ever have a question about something like this, call us.  We are here for you.

National Customer Service Week

This week has been a celebration of customer service. In today's economy, competition is fierce and customer service can make or break a business. Happy customers tell, on average, 3 people about their positive experience. Unhappy customers tell, on average, 10 people about their unsatisfactory experience. That could potentially be 10 lost customers or 3 new customers based on a single event.

We all know what beautiful and ugly customer service looks like. So what do you do to ensure your customer service is excellent?

Some tips:

• Under promise - If you're not sure you can deliver, don't say that you can. Only promise what you know for sure can be done, keeping in mind that things can go wrong...and usually do.
• Over deliver - Exceed expectations by going above and beyond what you've promised. If you've under promised, this shouldn't be difficult.
• Be responsive - Strong communication can make a huge difference, especially in a situation that seems to be going badly. Don't avoid or run away from a potential problem or dissatisfied customer. Let them know that you're working on remedying the situation.
• Be proactive - If you can avoid a problem, do something before it becomes a real issue. If there is already a problem, don't wait for the customer to bring it to your attention. Beat them to it - identify the issue, create a plan for solution and let your customer know what you're doing.
• Communicate - Whether things are going smoothly or not, customers appreciate knowing what's going on. They appreciate progress reports, knowing that you're staying on top of things and that you care about them.

Make sure everyone in your company knows who really pays their bills - the customer. After all, you don't have a business - and they don't have jobs - if you don't have customers. Take care of them and they will take care of you.