Returning Value Blog

Intangible assets, such as patents, trademarks, copyrights, and goodwill, play a crucial role in today’s businesses. The tax treatment of these assets can be complex, but businesses need to understand the issues involved. Here are some answers to frequently asked questions.

How often do you reconcile your company’s internal financial records against your bank statements? Bank reconciliations are an essential internal control procedure that busy owners and managers sometimes overlook or neglect. Here’s why it pays to perform them regularly.

There are many tax uncertainties to consider as we face the end of 2024. Chief among them is whether proposals from the new administration will affect our taxes, including changes that may be retroactive.

Audit season is just around the corner for calendar-year entities. Understanding the types of source documents your audit team might request can minimize disruptions during audit fieldwork and maximize your audit’s effectiveness. Here are some common sources of “substantive evidence” that auditors gather to help them form an opinion regarding your financial statements.

Owners’ equity is the difference between the assets and liabilities reported on your company’s balance sheet. It’s generally composed of two pieces: capital contributions and retained earnings. The former represents the amounts owners have paid into the business and stock repurchases, but the latter may be less familiar. Here’s an overview of what’s recorded in this account.

In today's evolving U.S. and global tax environment, the tax implications of business decisions are not always intuitive. Integrating tax considerations throughout the decision-making process can help businesses unlock potential tax savings and efficiencies as well as identify and mitigate tax risks. Whether shifting supply chains, pursuing mergers and acquisitions, implementing sustainability initiatives, or adjusting workforce strategy — embracing a total tax mindset while modeling the tax impact of these decisions can lead to better outcomes that add value to your organization.

It is more useful to contrast the distinct strengths and skills each of these groups represents. On one hand, lifers embody loyalty and rich experience. They have committed substantial time and effort to help their organizations thrive. Job hoppers, however, are often cultivated as a replacement source of fresh thinking at the cutting edge.

With rising interest rates, inflation, and continuing market volatility, tax planning is as essential as ever for taxpayers looking to manage cash flow while paying the least amount of taxes possible over time. As we approach the end of the year, now is the time for individuals, business owners, and family offices to review their 2024 and 2025 tax situations and identify opportunities for reducing, deferring, or accelerating their tax obligations. The information contained in this guide is based on federal laws and policies in effect as of the publication date. This guide discusses tax planning for U.S. federal income taxes. Applicable state and foreign taxes should also be considered. Taxpayers should consult with a trusted advisor when making tax and financial decisions regarding any of the following items.

As a small business owner, managing health care costs for yourself and your employees can be challenging. One effective tool to consider adding is a Health Savings Account (HSA). HSAs offer a range of benefits that can help you save on healthcare expenses while providing valuable tax advantages. You may already have an HSA. It’s a good time to review how these accounts work because the IRS has announced the relevant inflation-adjusted amounts for 2025.

As of Wednesday, 12/3, a federal judge in Texas issued a ruling suspending (temporarily) enforcement of the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) nationally.  The CTA created the Beneficial Owner Information (BOI) filing requirement for businesses. This ruling is not a repeal but a temporary stay of enforcement.