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Giving appreciated stock or other investments to your children can minimize the impact of capital gains taxes. For this strategy to work best, however, your child must not be subject to the “kiddie tax.” That tax applies your marginal rate to unearned income received by a...

The federal income tax rules on qualified residence interest have been around for many years, but there’s always a steady flow of disagreements between the IRS and taxpayers on these rules. Here are some background materials and recent developments on qualified residence...

The Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division recently released some Q&As about the new federal overtime rule, which goes into effect on December 1, 2016. Under the final rule, the standard salary level used to determine whether executive, administrative, and...

Before you figure out how to improve the quality of your staff meetings, it’s important to review, at a very basic level, what meetings serve to accomplish. For starters, they help employees see themselves as valued members of a group. Assuming everyone involved is treated...

Bartering may seem like something that happened only in ancient times, but the practice is still common today. And the general definition remains the same: the exchange of goods and services without the exchange of money. Because, in a typical barter transaction, no cash...

Most people are genuinely appreciative of inheritances, and who wouldn’t enjoy some unexpected money? But in some cases, it may be too good to be true. While most inherited property is tax-free to the recipient, this isn’t always the case with property that’s considered income in...

If you miss the deadline for rolling over an IRA distribution to another IRA or eligible retirement plan, you could be subject to taxes and penalties. If you have a valid excuse, you may be able to obtain a hardship waiver from the IRS, but applying is time-consuming and...

WorldatWork, the HR professional society, has been surveying its members for over a decade on this topic. In its most recent “Paid Time off Programs and Practices” report, within some demographic groups, a majority of employers now merge those paid time off (PTO)...

The deadline for the Department of Labor’s (DOL’s) new final overtime rule is December 1, 2016. While CFOs at most large U.S. companies have been working overtime themselves to prepare for the changes, many small and midsize firms haven’t been as quick to react....

Replacing nonperforming employees is costly and traumatic, both for employers and employees. But allowing a bad situation to fester is worse; it can cause the problem to spread by undermining morale or by creating the impression that management doesn’t care. Performance...