Up Your Leadership Game

How can you be a more effective, inspiring, well-respected leader for your company?
Start by leading by example.  Trade a “Do as I say, not as I do,” attitude for a “Watch and learn” attitude.  Be punctual, dress for success and treat everyone with courtesy and respect.   Set the tone and your employees will follow it.  

 

Be humble.  There’s a key difference between a leader and a boss: a leader shares the spotlight and is comfortable crediting others.  While it might seem counter-intuitive, being humble takes more confidence than basking in glory.

Effective communication is a two-way street and making the most of it will have your company zooming forward instead of pumping the breaks.

You can also add these to your bag of leadership tricks: trust your team to do their job, make meetings efficient, set boundaries and stick to them, find a mentor and be emotionally aware. 

Finally, be sure to watch out for the common pitfalls of leadership, learn from the past and never stop improving. 

For more on these tips and to read the entire article, please visit www.entrepreneur.com.

Maximizing Yearend Payments

Contrary to what many people scrambling for last-minute breaks prefer to believe, dating your checks for 12/31 doesn’t automatically entitle you to claim the expenses for this year, rather than next.  

Whether a deduction falls into this year or next depends on a check’s date of delivery, which isn't necessarily the date written on the face of your check.  Fortunately, date of delivery doesn’t mean that you have to depend on snail mail to actually deliver your checks by 12/31.  

As long as you put payments in the mail with sufficient time for letters to be postmarked by midnight on the last day of the year, you nail down deductions for this year, even if your checks reach your intended recipients next year.  

This applies to:

·         payments of business expenses

·         charitable contributions

·         medical bills

·         interest expenses

·         state and local taxes

·         all other deductions

It is important to note, however, that you will not get deductions for this year by mailing checks that are postdated to prevent cashing until next year, no matter when they’re mailed.  

The IRS won a courtroom victory in 1967, when the Tax Court disallowed a deduction for the year of mailing.  The court stated that “A postdated check is not a check immediately payable, but is a promise to pay on the date shown.  It is not a promise to pay presently and it does not mature until the day of its date, after which it is payable on demand, the same as if it had not been issued until that date, although it is, as in the case of a promissory note, a negotiable instrument from the time issued.”

To read the entire article, please visit www.accountingweb.com.

12 Smart Fall Tax Moves

Tax-filing season is months away, but the time to start planning is now.  Until the end of the year, you have time to take steps to significantly cut your tax bill.

Start by evaluating what’s different from last year – did you make more money?  If so, perhaps you may want to donate to charity or buy tax-deductible business equipment by the end of the year.

If you own a small business, had a major life event or face different financial circumstances than you did a year ago, fall is a good time to seek professional advice.  You may be able to take steps to improve your tax situation before the end of the year.

If you don’t currently have an accountant or would like to make a change, this is the best time of year to do so.  

Here are 12 tax issues to tackle before the end of the year:

1.    Catch up on quarterly tax payments

2.    Decide who takes the children or other household members as dependents

3.    If you don't have insurance, apply for an exemption

4.    Check your Affordable Care Act subsidy status

5.    Use the extra money in your flexible spending account

6.    Consider whether to accelerate or reduce income

7.    Offset capital gains with losses

8.    Talk to your accountant

9.    Add to your retirement contributions

10. Don't forget state and local tax obligations

11. Make sure you're treating your part-time business as a business

12. Give to charity

For more expansive information on these tips, please visit www.finance.yahoo.com.