IRS Extends Tax Deadlines for Businesses in Disaster Areas |  |
- IRS Extends Tax Deadlines for Businesses in Disaster Areas
- Swingline Document Shredder for Small Business Security Needs
- 5 Content Management WordPress Plugins
- Health Care Costs: Big Problem For Small Business Owners
- Businesses Shine in Sandy Aftermath; Celebrities Not So Much
| IRS Extends Tax Deadlines for Businesses in Disaster Areas Posted: 05 Nov 2012 01:00 PM PST The Internal Revenue Service has announced additional tax relief to businesses and individuals in parts of the Northeast that were affected by Hurricane Sandy. The program postpones tax filing and payment deadlines from late October to February 1, 2013. The IRS will abate any interest or penalties that would normally apply to those late payments.
For businesses that are currently working on rebuilding damaged property or recovering lost inventory, they won't need to worry about paying taxes and filing forms on strict deadlines. Businesses and individuals don't need to contact the IRS to receive this tax relief. It will automatically apply to those impacted in the disaster areas. Currently, the tax relief is available to affected taxpayers and organizations in certain parts of Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York. But the IRS said that taxpayers in more locations might become eligible soon, depending on damage assessments by FEMA. Taxpayers that live outside the areas listed, but who feel they should qualify for tax relief, can contact the IRS at 866-562-5227. Those outside the disaster areas who might also qualify for tax relief include those whose accountant or tax professional is located in a disaster area and workers assisting in disaster relief activities with a recognized government or philanthropic organization. Additionally, failure-to-deposit penalties for federal payroll and excise tax deposits that were due between the disaster area start date and November 26, 2012, will be waived, as long as all deposits are made by November 26, 2012. Hurricane Sandy made landfall in the U.S. on October 29, 2012, and left at least 4.7 million people in 15 states without electricity at some point throughout the storm. This relief is in addition to disaster loans and other federal assistance programs for businesses and individuals that have been impacted by natural disasters. The SBA has a site dedicated to resources for businesses needing disaster assistance. Hurrican Sandy, Brooklyn, NY, November 2012 Photo via Shutterstock The post IRS Extends Tax Deadlines for Businesses in Disaster Areas appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| Swingline Document Shredder for Small Business Security Needs Posted: 05 Nov 2012 11:00 AM PST As a device, a document shredder does not generate a lot of passion. But Swingline has created a sweet office model that I felt would help many small business owners who spend monthly on a document security service. Swingline sent me a temporary loaner unit for review purposes, with the promise that I would be impressed. I am impressed. You see, I have the occasional need in my company to shred secure documents and I either have to feed those documents one, two, or 11 at a time into my basic shredder. When the document stack grows to a ream or two of paper, it is a royal pain. That’s where this Swingline shredder would be ideal.
Right out of the gate, the price tag may shock many solopreneurs or home office business owners, but again, it depends on your need. At a street price range of $770 (NewEgg) to $1079 (OfficeMax), the Swingline Stack-and-Shred 250X is ultra-quiet and powerful. Thankfully, they offer less-costly models that are definitely better than the $50 models you might be used to purchasing and replacing every year, which is what I currently do. I stacked 250 sheets with lots of regular staples in the autofeed chamber, closed the lid, and it proceeded to chomp its way through it all. When it hit a tough spot, it slowed down, and took tiny bites, slowly cutting its way through. What I really like:
What I'd like to see:
Overall, if you have to shred more than a handful of secure documents per day, this powerful little machine (or a slightly smaller capacity model) will save you time and effort. Swingline promised I would be impressed and they kept their promise. The post Swingline Document Shredder for Small Business Security Needs appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| 5 Content Management WordPress Plugins Posted: 05 Nov 2012 08:00 AM PST I am a massive fan of WordPress. As an avid blogger, I use the platform regularly, as do the sites I contribute to. It is convenient, affordable, often free, easy to use and has a ton of helpful features that make life a bit simpler, such as their many, varied content management WordPress plugins that can completely transform the way you blog.
One of the biggest obstacles for most bloggers is getting organized and manage the on-going content stream. Trying to keep up with all of the factors involved in running a site is stressful. Especially with the other balls you have to keep in air, just by juggling the responsibilities of real life. It is enough that it keeps many people from reaching their full potential. With online readers becoming more used to seeing varied content rich in multi-media, it takes more and more time to get your articles ready to go live. Luckily, WordPress has a few plugins that will help you be more organized and productive. Click the “Start Gallery” button to view a slideshow of my five personal favorites: Plugin Photo via Shutterstock 1. Google Doc Embedder
I use this plugin constantly. With the Google Doc Embedder plugin, you don’t have to struggle through the format problems, iframe issues, etc. This plugin takes advantage of Google Viewer to let you embed anything easily. You can simply embed any docs you have using a very handy dialog that is added to your post editor after you install the plugin. You can see a full list of compatible file types and language translations on the download page. 2. Guest Blogging Plugin
While guest contributors can become your constant source of free content (which also gets promoted by its contributors, for free), it takes an incredible amount of time to find guest bloggers (especially if you are not an A-Lister). I used to use forums, Twitter contacts and Google search as my resource for guest blogging matters – which would mean that (at least) once a week I would have to dedicate an entire day to the process, just to invite, reply, follow up, format and upload posts and lastly update my guest authors of the status. This guest blogging plugin aims at making that process much easier. The WordPress plugin lets you search for, read and make offers on blog posts directly through your WP dashboard. 3. Embed PDF
I do a lot of PDF free downloads because people love downloadable stuff. Like it or hate it, PDF is a uniform format for downloadable files. With PDF, you can always make sure your document is going to look the same on all installations and devices. PDF files are easy to print, import to tablets and take with you wherever you go. It makes a great gift to your readers and a link bait. Now it’s also easy to embed if you want your readers to first preview what they are downloading. The Embed PDF is a super simple plugin to use. You just insert the URL where the PDF you want to embed is hosted. You can also put the URL within tags in the HTML section using tags. It will show up as a scrolling PDF box, as long as you have used a url ending in .pdf. I prefer this plugin to others, as I see less errors. In the backend:
4. Faster Image Insert
Nowadays, we use lots of images in our blog posts because images make our content more attractive and eye-catching. Images are also essential for post marketing because readers feel much more willing to share a visual than a text. Pinterest is great for attracting traffic to image-heavy blogs posts as well. WordPress allows you to upload multiple photos at one time, which is a great improvement on the old version of the platform. However, getting it all placed into a slideshow or gallery, editing in bulk and resizing can still be a bit of an issue. I prefer the Faster Image Insert plugin that lets you take care of it all at once. I have used it on many blogs, and I am often disappointed when I work for one that doesn’t have it. 5. EG-Attachments
Some posts require more content than others. This can be frustrating because of the amount of room this content takes up, the size of icons being inconsistent, the formatting due to descriptions and information and many other factors. With EG-Attachments you can now standardize it all by creating shortcodes given to each file attachment. It has a global statistics page so you can analyze how often the content is being viewed, as well. They have small, medium or large icons, and you can customize all information. Do you know of any good organization plugins for WordPress? The post 5 Content Management WordPress Plugins appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| Health Care Costs: Big Problem For Small Business Owners Posted: 05 Nov 2012 05:00 AM PST Are you skeptical that politicians listen when small business owners describe the biggest problems that they face? If you aren't already dubious about our elected officials' willingness to respond to the problems faced by small business owners, then you will be if you read the August 2012 report Small Business Problems and Priorities put out by the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB).
Since 1986 – the year the 48-year-old author of this post graduated from college – small business owners have consistently reported that the cost of health care is their number one problem. The NFIB report is based on a random sample of over 20,000 members of the NFIB surveyed by mail in the first quarter of 2012. Because the NFIB has run the same survey seven other times since 1982, they can examine the importance of small business owners' problems over time. Health care costs have remained the number one problem throughout economic expansions and contractions. As Holly Wade, NFIB senior policy analyst and author of the report explains, when the economy is during poorly, small business owners generally report that sales and financing are bigger problems and employment is a lesser problem than when the economy is doing well. Yet the cost of health care has been the number one problem in surveys conducted in recessions and periods of high growth. Owners of very different types of small businesses agree that the cost of health care is their biggest problem. Firms offering and not offering insurance both report it to be their top issue, the NFIB report explains. Employer businesses of all sizes report that health care cost is their biggest problem. While the cost of health care only comes in second place among small business owners whose sales fell 10 percent or more over the previous three years, it tops the list for owners of businesses whose sales decreased by less, stayed the same, or grew. Moreover, it was the biggest issue faced by companies, regardless of their primary customer base, number of owners, number of years in business, and region. The cost of health care was the most critical problem reported by small business owners in 2008, at the time of the last presidential election. Despite the passage of the massive Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which was signed into law in March 2010, it remains the most critical problem reported by small business owners in 2012. Finally, the cost of health care is the most critical problem faced by small business owners. Over 52 percent of those surveyed told interviewers that the problem was critical; uncertainty over economic conditions was a distant second at 38 percent. Washington, wake up! Small business owners have a problem that they'd like you to address. Perhaps you have not heard them over the past 25 years, but health care costs are their number one problem. And the problem is critical. Now that small business owners can email, tweet, text, Facebook, and blog the message (rather than just write letters and call as was the case when health care costs first became a big problem), do you think our elected officials will finally be able to hear them? Health Care Photo via Shutterstock The post Health Care Costs: Big Problem For Small Business Owners appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| Businesses Shine in Sandy Aftermath; Celebrities Not So Much Posted: 05 Nov 2012 02:30 AM PST Businesses and ordinary citizens have been notably in the lead in bringing aid to victims of Hurricane Sandy. On the other hand, some celebrities, government agencies, and even the mayor of New York City are taking criticism for poor planning, slow response, and a lack of concern toward victims who are still suffering without food, clothing, shelter, fuel or drinkable water. Sadly, the aftermath of Sandy is unfolding in an eerily similar way to another devastating hurricane, Katrina, where the damage proved to be worse than initially thought, the full extent of it coming to light day by terrible day. Businesses Help the Community
A helping hand. University of Wisconsin law professor Ann Althouse refers to posts about the efforts of businesses versus those of government to aid those suffering with power outages and other problems following Sandy. The post and the commenters pose the reasonable question: Who is truly helping New Yorkers in need? Althouse Collective effort. Help in the Hurricane’s aftermath wasn’t limited to businesses in New York City. Businesses from outside the city were quick to lend a helping hand, too. Take this report on businesses acting as collection points for donated supplies bound for victims of Hurricane Sandy. It’s just one example of how small businesses are an integral part of the charitable fabric of our communities. The Saratogan Setting Priorities
Marathon mess up. The New York Marathon was scheduled to take place this past weekend, and up until Friday Mayor Bloomberg had declared the show must go on. New Yorkers were outraged. In a city where hundreds of thousands are continuing to struggle without necessities and the dead and injured are still being discovered, the Marathon became a lightning rod of criticism. On Friday the Mayor finally caved to pressure and cancelled the event. Even then, his statement made it sound as if protests, rather than a desire to help storm victims, are what finally caused the cancellation. Another example of tone deaf? The Wall Street Journal Going the distance. Naturally the marathoners were disappointed – some had traveled thousands of miles at considerable expense for the event. A large number showed their grit and civic commitment by volunteering to help storm victims. This photo below from Runners World shows runners who had planne Government Slow to RespondSlow responders. Uh oh! While citizens and local businesses have been doing what they can, government on all levels appears to have been caught with their planning pants down. Take the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which despite its stated policy of preparedness, was soliciting bids from vendors for bottled water on Friday, days after the storm and after rumors of running out of water started making the rounds. Breitbart Here’s a full text of the FEMA solicitation for 470 tractor trailer or truck loads of bottled water equaling 2.3M gallons, four days after the storm had subsided. FedBizOpps.gov The rumor mill. Under a section labeled “rumor control” on its Website, the Federal Emergency Management Agency insists stories about the organization running out of water are false. However, the site doesn’t state how much water the federal agency is actually distributing or in how timely a manner. FEMA Left in the lurch. Other parts of government are feeling the heat from citizens, too. Residents of hard-hit Staten Island, Rockaway Beach and other places in New York and New Jersey are complaining that government at various levels has been slow to respond. With their community in shambles, residents are caught on camera expressing their frustration. Similar reports catch residents saying, “Where is FEMA? Where’s the police? Where are rescue crews? When are we going to get some help?” CBS New York Inadequate response. “Official help has arrived in the last couple of days, but many residents say it’s not enough and poorly organized.” Huffington Post Photo Credits: Deidre Duffy, Reuters; Debra Messing, The New York Post; Volunteers, runnersworldmag The post Businesses Shine in Sandy Aftermath; Celebrities Not So Much appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
Let them eat cake
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