Yet Another Delay for Obamacare, Until January 2016 |  |
- Yet Another Delay for Obamacare, Until January 2016
- How the Affordable Care Act Will Reduce Small Business Employment
- Yahoo Will Acquire Incredible Labs, Shut Down Donna
- 9 Virtual Ways to Thank Loyal Customers
- IRS Now Enforcing Rule On How Restaurants Handle Automatic Gratuities
- Sony To Sell Its Vaio PC and Laptop Business
| Yet Another Delay for Obamacare, Until January 2016 Posted: 10 Feb 2014 08:14 PM PST
We’re at the point where we’ll soon need a spreadsheet to keep track of all the changes to Obamacare. This afternoon the Obama Administration once again delayed a provision of the Affordable Care Act. The latest decision delays the employer mandate for businesses that have 50 to 99 employees. Businesses of that size now have until January 2016 before being required to provide health insurance coverage for employees. The employer mandate originally was slated to go into effect in January 2014. Last year that was delayed until January 2015. Now we have this latest delay pushing it an additional year, until January 2016, for some businesses. There’s also a partial delay for businesses with more than 100 employees. They now have to provide coverage for only 70% of their full-time workforce in 2015. The ReactionYou might think small business owners would be relieved over the delay. After all, it means an extra year to comply with the ACA. But there’s also uncertainty and frustration. It’s difficult to plan and forecast when you don’t know whether or when another change will be announced. Not only that, but small businesses have to spend time and effort just to stay on top of the complex law and its changes. It’s what small business owners think of as “regulatory burden.” They are required to divert resources to activities that have nothing to do with whatever the business produces and sells. Jeff Van Winkle, Chair of the National Small Business Association (NSBA) quantified that burden recently, noting, “Small businesses report spending on average 13 hours and $1,274 per month — and that's just on the administrative side of understanding the law itself.” Van Winkle’s comment came before the latest change. Business groups reacted swiftly to the latest Obamacare delay. The NFIB’s Director of Federal Public Policy, Amanda Austin, said,
The International Franchise Association President and CEO Steve Caldeira said,
Douglas Holtz-Eakin, President of the American Action Forum, added:
Delayed image via Shutterstock The post Yet Another Delay for Obamacare, Until January 2016 appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| How the Affordable Care Act Will Reduce Small Business Employment Posted: 10 Feb 2014 02:30 PM PST
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reported last week that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will mean that two million fewer people will be employed full-time in 2017 than would be working in the absence of the law. Unmentioned in the report, or the firestorm of commentary that followed, was how the reduction in employment would be distributed between big and small companies. The employment decline will occur almost completely in the small business sector. In fact, the new health care law will accelerate a two-decade long erosion in the share of Americans employed in small companies. My back-of-the-envelope calculations suggest that the ACA's effect will combine with the current trend to result in only 46.4 percent of private sector workers being employed in small businesses in 2017. That's a major shift from the 54.5 percent who worked in small companies back in 1988. So How Will the ACA Reduce Small Business Employment?The ACA will accelerate the decline in small business employment by reducing both the willingness of small business workers to supply labor – and the willingness of small business owners to demand it. On the supply side, the income-based phase out of subsidies to buy insurance on the new health insurance exchanges will reduce the willingness of people to work. Starting this year, low-income Americans who buy insurance through the new exchanges are eligible for subsidies to offset the cost. Because those subsidies decline as income rises, they raise people's marginal tax rates and reduce their willingness to work. The ACA-induced decline in the labor supply will be concentrated in the small business sector because the subsidies apply only to workers who do not receive employer-sponsored health insurance. The Kaiser Family Foundation reports that 99 percent of businesses with 200 or more workers provide employee health insurance, while only 57 percent of businesses with between 3 and 199 workers do. Therefore, the workers who will become unwilling to supply labor as they lose their health insurance subsidies will be those who work at businesses that don't provide employee health coverage, almost all of which are small. The penalty on employers with at least 50 full-time employees who fail to provide health insurance to their workers, scheduled to start in 2015, also will reduce the supply of labor to small businesses. The CBO, and many academic economists, believe that cost of this penalty ultimately will be passed on to workers through reduced compensation. Lower wages, in turn, will reduce workers supply of labor because people's willingness to give up leisure time depends on what they earn. Because only those businesses that do not offer employee health insurance will face the new penalty, and because almost all large businesses provide employee health coverage, the effect of the penalty on employee compensation and the subsequent willingness of workers to supply labor will be concentrated among those small businesses that do not provide employee health care coverage. The penalty for not providing employee health insurance will also lower small business owners' demand for labor, the CBO notes. Businesses can avoid triggering this penalty by keeping their labor force below 50 full-time workers. Therefore, the CBO expects some small businesses to restrain their hiring or to convert full-time positions into part time ones to remain below the threshold. The CBO obliquely mentions that the negative employment effects of the ACA:
For those of us interested in small business, it’s unfortunate to see that the negative effects will be greatest for those people working in small companies. ACA Photo via Shutterstock The post How the Affordable Care Act Will Reduce Small Business Employment appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| Yahoo Will Acquire Incredible Labs, Shut Down Donna Posted: 10 Feb 2014 12:30 PM PST
Incredible Labs is being purchased by Yahoo. Incredible Labs is the creator of Donna, a virtual personal assistant and productivity app. The iPhone app has become quite popular in less than a year on the market. It has earned 4 stars in reviews from nearly 600 users. But Donna’s days of being your iPhone assistant are over. The deal with Yahoo means that several Incredible Labs employees are moving over to the Internet giant. With that, Donna’s services will no longer be available. In a post on the official Donna blog, Incredible Labs Co-Founder and CEO Kevin Cheng writes:
In a statement to TechCrunch, Yahoo praised the Donna app. The company mentioned nothing of shutting down Donna in that statement saying only:
Yahoo did say that the five Incredible Labs employees joining its staff would work with Yahoo Mail. Time Magazine’s tech blogger Harry McCracken suggests we could soon be seeing Donna-like features in future Yahoo offerings. The Donna app is synced with your personal calendar, sending reminders of future meetings and tasks. Donna sends these notifications on your iPhone. The app even checks traffic and weather data to give you a head’s up if you need to allow extra time to get to your next destination. Image: Donna App The post Yahoo Will Acquire Incredible Labs, Shut Down Donna appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| 9 Virtual Ways to Thank Loyal Customers Posted: 10 Feb 2014 10:00 AM PST
If you have ever been retweeted by someone you admired, you know how much a small, simple gesture can mean. If you are going to take the time to thank your customers for their loyalty, you might as well make it count. Don’t have time for a three-course meal in the middle of the workday? No worries. We asked nine entrepreneurs from the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) the following question:
Here's what YEC community members had to say: 1. VIP Clubs “We’ve helped clients set up VIP clubs for their best customers where the customers receive exclusive perks such as free shipping or special discounts. Model companies include Amazon (Prime) and Zappos (VIP members), which do a fantastic job of recognizing and incentivizing their best customers.” ~ Patrick Conley, Automation Heroes 2. Virtual Lunch “If you can’t meet clients face to face, then video conferencing works. But it gets old — fast. A great way to reward your clients is to “do lunch” virtually. Call in a delivery order to their favorite restaurant and give them a special treat instead of a boring call.” ~ Steven Place, InvestingWithOptions.com 3. A Phone Call “As simple as it sounds, customers are blown away when they receive a phone call from us thanking them for their loyalty. Even if each staff member just makes a few a day or a few a week, it goes a long way in making a human connection. “ ~ Shaun King, Upfront 4. Discounts “If your customers have been loyally paying you, then rewarding them with even a small discount can sometimes produce huge amounts of goodwill. Receiving something of real tangible value that they weren’t expecting is the easiest way to delight customers, and depending on your business model, this could also make you more money over the long term.” ~ Liam Martin, Staff.com 5. Amazon Gift Cards “I’ve rewarded loyalty by emailing Amazon gift cards, and people love it. You can buy anything on Amazon so it’s a very useful gift, and you can include a thank you note.” ~ Natalie MacNeil, She Takes on the World 6. Tweets “If you run a B2B business, interview your customer and feature what they do. They’ll appreciate the extra marketing promotion.” ~ Wade Foster, Zapier 7. Final Four Brackets “We’ve asked loyal customers to make final four picks and enter their picks into brackets where we give a cash prize to the winner. Our clients who are real sports enthusiasts enjoy the competition and appreciate the reward if they win.” ~ Enrico Palmerino, SmartBooks 8. Recognition on Your Website “People love seeing their name or photo in print. Sometimes just bringing them to the forefront and letting the world see how great they are is more of a reward than anything of monetary value. For instance, highlight them in a blog post about how they’ve grown their business using your service.” ~ Sean Ogle, Location 180, LLC 9. Badges “Customers are motivated by more than money. Introducing badges and recognizing customers for milestones they accomplish is a simple way to reward them virtually. Credit customers when they are doing a good job.” ~ Ben Rubenstein, Yodle Thank You Photo via Shutterstock The post 9 Virtual Ways to Thank Loyal Customers appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| IRS Now Enforcing Rule On How Restaurants Handle Automatic Gratuities Posted: 10 Feb 2014 07:00 AM PST
The Internal Revenue Service is cracking down to make sure restaurants comply with a 2012 rule change governing how servers’ gratuities are treated. The change may force restaurants to reconsider their policies on so-called “automatic gratuities.” In an official IRS posting about the tax rules on reporting and withholding tips, the federal agency explains:
But that’s not even the part that has restaurateurs perplexed and concerned. The rule addresses how automatic gratuities are treated for tax purposes. Rather than simply divvying up these tips at the end of the night, all automatic gratuity tips will now be classified as service charges. So they will be taxed as regular wages and subject to payroll tax withholding. According to the IRS, “These non-tip wages are subject to social security tax, Medicare tax, and federal income tax withholding. In addition, the employer cannot use these non-tip wages when computing the credit available to employers under section 45B of the Internal Revenue Code.” What is the IRS Rule on Automatic Gratuities?If you’ve ever dined with a large party, you’re familiar with how restaurants add a set amount on to the bill for the tip (typically 18% for parties of 6 or more). It’s a common way to cut down on the work involved in calculating tips in a large party and helps ensure servers get gratuities in other situations. Under the rule, restaurant owners and hospitality providers have two choices:
The IRS rule on automatic gratuities covers the following:
Restaurant operators are concerned about the paperwork this rule will add to what they’re already juggling. New IRS Tips Rule Finally Coming Into PlayThe IRS automatic gratuities rule was originally announced in 2012. Restaurant owners and hospitality companies were given until this year to figure out how to comply. Now, two years after it was first announced, the new rule is in force and concerns have intensified. A representative of the National Restaurant Association, Christin Fernandez, told us here at Small Business Trends:
Fernandez said that regardless of how individual restaurateurs respond to the IRS rule, it’s critical that operators maintain the flexibility to implement policies that make the most sense for their individual business, workforce and customers. Gratuity Photo via Shutterstock The post IRS Now Enforcing Rule On How Restaurants Handle Automatic Gratuities appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| Sony To Sell Its Vaio PC and Laptop Business Posted: 10 Feb 2014 02:30 AM PST
If you’ve bought a Vaio PC or laptop from Sony recently, you won’t be able to for much longer. Another sluggish quarter selling VAIO computers forced Sony to agree to sell the brand to Japan Industrial Partners (JIP). The deal was announced in the company’s latest earnings report issued this week. Sony said it will also cut about 5,000 jobs by the end of the year. The sale to JIP will be finalized in March. Sony will stop sales and manufacturing of VAIO after the Spring 2014 product lineup is announced, the company said. If your business runs VAIO computers, rest assured. Sony said its customers will get “aftercare customer services” on their VAIO products. When it takes over manufacturing VAIO products, JIP will initially focus on selling them in Japan. With its sluggish computer division out of the way, Sony said it is going to focus on its more profitable products. Chief among them are smartphones and tablets. The company currently markets the Xperia line of smartphones and tablets in the U.S. The latest, an unlocked high-end Xperia Z1 smartphone, will set you back $600, according to the Sony website. Smartphones and tablets have done well for Sony recently. In the last earnings reports in late October, Sony said that smartphone sales were up 39.3 percent, according to an Engadget report. In the latest report, Sony said sales of all mobile devices were up 44.8 percent over this time last year. The company said that a higher volume of sales at higher price points has contributed to the success of its mobile products division. Overall, Sony said it expects to lose $1.1 billion this year. It was expected to actually see a profit of about $300 million when it last forecast its yearly earnings ending in March. Sony said that it experienced a “significant decrease” in PC sales during the last quarter, especially. Last year, the company introduced the VAIO Duo 13, a tablet/laptop hybrid. Image: Wikipedia The post Sony To Sell Its Vaio PC and Laptop Business appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
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