Entrepreneurs are often unaware that many expenses incurred by start-ups can’t be deducted right away. You should be aware that the way you handle some of your initial expenses can make a large difference in your tax bill.

Have you recently started a new business? Or are you contemplating starting one? Launching a new venture is a hectic, exciting time. And as you know, before you even open the doors, you generally have to spend a lot of money. You may have to train workers and pay for rent, utilities, marketing and more.

Continue Reading How Should Entrepreneurs Treat Expenses on Tax Returns?

Jen: This is the PKF Texas Entrepreneur’s Playbook. I’m Jen Lemanski, and I’m back again with Frank Landreneau, one of our International Tax Directors. Frank, welcome back to The Playbook.

Frank: Thanks, Jen. Thanks for having me back.

Jen: We’ve talked about GILTI and FDII in previous episodes, and now I know there’s some more foreign impacts with the new tax reform. Is there anything else you can share with us about that?

Frank: Yes, in response to the Tax Reform Act, Treasury has had to come up with new rules for four tax credits. For example, previously, we had two types of foreign tax credit baskets. Continue Reading Foreign Tax Baskets – What to Know

The Houston Business Journal recently published an article written by PKF Texas Audit Senior Manager and the face of the not-for-profit team, Nicole Riley, CPA, CFE, about the new Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) guidance.

Titled “Under new FASB guidelines do nonprofits receive contributions from governments?,” Nicole discusses how the new guidance affects governmental grants and contributions and what it means for not-for-profit organizations.

She incorporates explanation from Accounting Standard Update (ASU) 2018-08 and ASU 2014-09 to further supplement the new guidance’s impact. In addition, Nicole provides examples of the guidance’s application to different scenarios of not-for-profits’ service and contribution.

For the full article, visit www.bizjournals.com/houston.

As an Audit Senior Manager with PKF Texas, working in a fast-paced, client- and market-facing environment, as well as being a wife and mother to seven-year-old triplets, life-work balance means something different to me than it does to others.

Recently I was listening to author and marketer, Nigel Marsh, speaking at TEDxSydney from May 2010. He introduced the challenges of maintaining a healthy life-work balance and broke it down into four subsets:

Continue Reading Making Life-Work Balance Work

If your not-for-profit’s board is like most, its members lead busy lives. They may not get to every board meeting or perhaps they’re able to attend meetings only via teleconference. That’s why it’s important to periodically bring everyone together in a relaxed setting.

But to be successful, your board retreat should be planned to the smallest detail.

Continue Reading Plan a Successful Not-for-Profit Board Retreat

Jen: This is the PKF Texas Entrepreneur’s Playbook. I’m Jen Lemanski, and I’m coming to you from the Gulf Coast Regional Family Forum. With me today is Russ Capper, Executive Director of Houston Exponential. Russ, welcome to the guest side of the Playbook.

Russ: Well, it’s great to be here.

Jen: For our viewers who aren’t quite familiar with Houston Exponential, can you share a little bit about what that is?

Russ: I’d love to. Houston Exponential is a non-profit initiative put together by the Greater Houston Partnership and, really, the Mayor and the City Council. They both seemed to come together simultaneously and felt like, “My goodness, we have to do something that really champions our innovators and accelerates the growth of our innovation ecosystem,” meaning, trying to make Houston more fertile for development of digital technology startups.

Jen: What kind of projects do you guys have to help drive that digital innovation?

Continue Reading Houston Exponential – Developing Houston for Innovators and Startups

U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) require not-for-profits to regularly evaluate whether there’s “substantial doubt” about their ability to continue as a going concern. This means that the organization won’t soon liquidate its assets and cease operations.

What does your management team do if it determines substantial doubt?

Continue Reading Do You Have Substantial Doubt About Your Not-for-Profit’s Future?

Americans who are 65 and older qualify for basic Medicare insurance, and they may need to pay additional premiums to get the level of coverage they desire. The premiums can be expensive, especially if you’re married and both you and your spouse are paying them.

But one aspect of paying premiums might be positive: If you qualify, they may help lower your tax bill.

Continue Reading Attention Seniors! Medicare Premiums May Lower Your Tax Bill

Jen: This is the PKF Texas Entrepreneur’s Playbook. I’m Jen Lemanski, and I’m back again with Miriam Rouziek, an Audit Manager and one of the faces of PKF Texas’s SEC team. Miriam, welcome back to the Playbook.

Miriam: Thank you for having me, Jen.

Jen: So, tell us what’s coming down the pipe with the SEC? Are they doing any updates this year in 2019?

Miriam: Yeah. The SEC is really going to start focusing on some different things here in 2019.

Continue Reading What’s Coming from the SEC in 2019?