Halfway through his term Portland’s mayor reflects on the city’s rising skyline, an urban world, and the city’s greatest challenge. Elected amid 2012’s postrecession hangover, Mayor Charlie Hales now presides over an urban boom that powers the nation’s second-fastest growing economy. (Only oil-rich North Dakota grew faster than Oregon over the past decade; the Portland […]
A survey this past week from Wasp Barcode–a client of mine who makes asset management systems (I am not being compensated to write this.)–caught my attention. Among other things, its biggest reveal was that 88 percent of the small business owners they surveyed reported being happy with their outside accountants. 88 percent! What is this […]
LONDON – The US dollar is hitting new 12-year highs almost daily, while the euro seems to be plunging inexorably to below dollar parity. Currency movements are often described as the most unpredictable of all financial variables; but recent events in foreign-exchange markets seem, for once, to have a fairly obvious explanation – one that […]
For over a year, Bank of America seemed to make headline news every day. Unfortunately, none of those headlines were good. Now top honors goes to HSBC. This time it is Argentina claiming that the British banking giant helped clients evade taxes. According to published reports, the Argentine tax authority, Afip, has raided HSBC. Argentinian […]
IRS Tax Tip 2015-37, March 12, 2015 Do you own or run a small business or tax-exempt group with fewer than 25 full-time employees? If you do, you should know that the Small Business Health Care Tax Credit can help you provide insurance to your employees. You may be able to save on your taxes […]
(Bloomberg) — Republican lawmakers are doing something surprising with President Barack Obama’s proposal to tax U.S. companies’ overseas profits. They’re calling it constructive. Top members of the committees focused on taxes in Congress say they see Obama’s latest plan as a place to start negotiations toward a revamped business tax system that would lower rates, […]
Apple Inc’s healthcare technology is spreading quickly among major U.S. hospitals, showing early promise as a way for doctors to monitor patients remotely and lower costs. Fourteen of 23 top hospitals contacted by Reuters said they have rolled out a pilot program of Apple’s HealthKit service – which acts as a repository for patient-generated health […]
In press release TIGTA 2015-01 J. Russell George, Treasury Inspector General for Taxpayer Administration (TIGTA) warned of the threat of phone scams where the individual claims to represent the Internal Revenue Service in order to defraud individuals. Phone scams have become the new favorite tool for those running scams since some individuals may mistakenly believe […]
The U.S. Social Security Administration has announced that new online services include the ability to quickly and easily get a replacement form SSA-1099 within minutes. Carolyn W. Colvin, Acting Commissioner of Social Security, said on Monday that the online services are available at www.socialsecurity.gov.
In today’s hyperconnected world, your product is only as good as the service you back it with. It’s easy for small companies to think of customer service as just a checkbox item, but to be competitive and offer a seamless experience as you grow, you need to look ahead. Planning how to evolve your customer […]