How businesses can use stress testing to improve risk management
If you’ve been following the news lately, you’ve surely heard or read about the sudden rise in concern about the banking industry. Although the story is still unfolding, an important lesson for business owners is already clear: You’ve got to be constantly on guard against the many risks to your company’s financial solvency.
One way that banks are advised to guard against catastrophic failure is to regularly perform “stress testing.” Doing so entails using various analytical techniques to determine whether and how the institution would be affected by specified financial developments or events.
But this advice isn’t necessarily restricted to banks. Businesses can use stress testing as well to get a better sense of how they should respond to a given threat.
Identify major risks
To get started on a basic stress-testing initiative, you’ll generally need to identify four types of risk to your company:
- Operational risks, which cover the day-to-day workings of the business and can include dealing with the impact of a disaster arising from natural causes, human error or intentional wrongdoing,
- Financial risks, which involve how the company manages its finances and protects itself from fraud,
- Compliance risks, which relate to issues that might attract the attention of government regulators, and
- Strategic risks, which refer to the business’s grasp of its own market as well as its ability to respond to changes in customer preferences.
When examining threats in each category, be as specific as possible. No detail or technicality is too small to factor into your assessment.
Meet with your team
Once you’ve identified the pertinent risks in each category, meet with your leadership team and professional advisors to improve your collective understanding of each threat. Even more important, discuss the anticipated financial impact of the identified risks and your company’s ability to absorb or adjust to the projected negative effects.
The ultimate objective is to develop a game plan to mitigate every identified risk. For example, if your business operates in an area prone to natural disasters, such as earthquakes or wildfires, you obviously need an evacuation and disaster recovery plan in place.
But other situations aren’t so obvious. For instance, if your company relies heavily on a key person, you should develop a viable succession plan and consider buying insurance in case that person unexpectedly dies or becomes disabled.
Focus on continuous improvement
Risk management is a continuous improvement process. New threats may emerge, old ones may fade — and even the best-laid plans tend go awry when left untended. Meet with your leadership team at least annually to conduct stress testing and assess the most current threats to your company. Contact us for help gathering and organizing relevant financial data and developing accurate projections.
The tax advantages of hiring your child this summer
Summer is around the corner so you may be thinking about hiring young people at your small business. At the same time, you may have children looking to earn extra spending money. You can save family income and payroll taxes by putting your child on the payroll. It’s a win-win!
Here are four tax advantages.
1. Shifting business earnings
You can turn some of your high-taxed income into tax-free or low-taxed income by shifting some business earnings to a child as wages for services performed. In order for your business to deduct the wages as a business expense, the work done by the child must be legitimate and the child’s salary must be reasonable.
For example, suppose you’re a sole proprietor in the 37% tax bracket. You hire your 16-year-old son to help with office work full-time in the summer and part-time in the fall. He earns $10,000 during the year (and doesn’t have other earnings). You can save $3,700 (37% of $10,000) in income taxes at no tax cost to your son, who can use his $13,850 standard deduction for 2023 to shelter his earnings.
Family taxes are cut even if your son’s earnings exceed his standard deduction. That’s because the unsheltered earnings will be taxed to him beginning at a 10% rate, instead of being taxed at your higher rate.
2. Claiming income tax withholding exemption
Your business likely will have to withhold federal income taxes on your child’s wages. Usually, an employee can claim exempt status if he or she had no federal income tax liability for last year and expects to have none this year.
However, exemption from withholding can’t be claimed if: 1) the employee’s income exceeds $1,250 for 2023 (and includes more than $400 of unearned income), and 2) the employee can be claimed as a dependent on someone else’s return.
Keep in mind that your child probably will get a refund for part or all of the withheld tax when filing a return for the year.
3. Saving Social Security tax
If your business isn’t incorporated, you can also save some Social Security tax by shifting some of your earnings to your child. That’s because services performed by a child under age 18 while employed by a parent aren’t considered employment for FICA tax purposes.
A similar but more liberal exemption applies for FUTA (unemployment) tax, which exempts earnings paid to a child under age 21 employed by a parent. The FICA and FUTA exemptions also apply if a child is employed by a partnership consisting only of his or her parents.
Note: There’s no FICA or FUTA exemption for employing a child if your business is incorporated or is a partnership that includes non-parent partners. However, there’s no extra cost to your business if you’re paying a child for work you’d pay someone else to do.
4. Saving for retirement
Your business also may be able to provide your child with retirement savings, depending on your plan and how it defines qualifying employees. For example, if you have a SEP plan, a contribution can be made for the child up to 25% of his or her earnings (not to exceed $66,000 for 2023).
Contact us if you have any questions about these rules in your situation. Keep in mind that some of the rules about employing children may change from year to year and may require your income-shifting strategies to change too.
The tax rules for donating artwork to charity
If you’re an art collector, you may wonder about the tax breaks available for donating a work of art to charity. Several different tax rules may come into play in connection with such contributions.
Basic rules
Your deduction for a charitable contribution of art is subject to be reduced if the charity’s use of it is unrelated to the purpose or function that’s the basis for its qualification as a tax-exempt organization. The reduction equals the amount of capital gain you would have realized had you sold the property instead of giving it to charity.
Example: You bought a painting five years ago for $10,000 and now it’s worth $20,000. You contribute it to a hospital. Your deduction is limited to $10,000 because the hospital’s use of the painting is unrelated to its charitable function and you would have had a $10,000 long-term capital gain had you sold it.
But what if you donate the painting to an art museum? In this case, your deduction is $20,000.
Substantiation requirements
There are substantiation rules when you donate a work of art. First, if you claim a deduction of less than $250, you must get and keep a receipt from the charity and you must keep reliable written records for each item you contributed.
If you claim a deduction of at least $250, but not more than $500, you must get and keep an acknowledgment of your contribution from the charity. The acknowledgment must state whether the organization gave you any goods or services in return for your contribution and include a description and good-faith estimate of the value.
If you claim a deduction of more than $500, but not over $5,000, in addition to getting an acknowledgment, you must maintain written records that include information about how and when you obtained the artwork and its cost basis. You must also complete an IRS form and attach it to your tax return.
If the claimed value of the property exceeds $5,000, in addition to an acknowledgment, you must also have an appraisal of the property. This appraisal must be done by a qualified appraiser no more than 60 days before the contribution date and meet other requirements. You include information about these donations on the IRS form you file with your return.
If your total deduction is $20,000 or more, you must attach a copy of the signed appraisal. The IRS may request that you provide a photograph. If an item has been appraised at $50,000 or more, you can ask the IRS to issue a “Statement of Value,” which can be used to substantiate the value.
Percentage limitations
In addition, your deduction may be limited to 20%, 30%, 50%, or 60% of your contribution base, which usually is your adjusted gross income. The percentage varies depending on the year the contribution is made, the type of organization and whether the deduction had to be reduced because of the unrelated use rule explained above. The amount not deductible on account of a ceiling may be deductible in a later year under carryover rules.
Partial interest gifts
Donors sometimes make gifts of partial interests in artwork. For example, a donor may contribute a 50% interest in a painting to a museum, with the understanding that the museum will exhibit it for six months of the year and the donor will keep possession of it for the other six months. Special requirements apply to these donations.
We can help
Contact us for guidance on large charitable gifts. We can help ensure the best tax outcome.
It’s happening: Using social media for customer service
Everyone is on social media these days, including businesses and their customers. This creates a natural — or shall we say virtual — nexus for companies to field questions, comments and complaints from buyers or those interested in their products or services.
In other words, whether companies realize it or not, customer service is happening online. It’s super convenient for the buying public, but a business can incur notable risks if, say, questions go unanswered or a negative interaction goes viral.
Pick your platform
Perhaps the worst thing you can do in providing customer service on social media is to leave it to chance. You and your leadership team should make a conscious decision about whether to engage. If you decide to move forward, you’ll need to specify: 1) what level of service to provide, and 2) on which platform (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and so forth) to provide it.
The second of those two points is a little easier to address. If you don’t know already, determine where most of your customers are on social media so you can focus your efforts on only that channel.
If you’ll be using more than one platform, you may want to invest in software that enables you to monitor multiple accounts. It’s generally best to deactivate any accounts you won’t be watching regularly or at least clarify that you won’t be providing customer service there.
Establish a policy
The first point noted above — what level of customer service to provide on social media — is the bigger and more pressing issue. Naturally, the answer will differ for every business depending on factors such as size, industry, mission and customer base. But there are some fundamental questions to consider.
For starters, who will provide customer service on social media? Again, you don’t want to take an ad hoc approach — assign specific employees the tasks of monitoring accounts and replying to questions and comments. Ideally, you’ll want to create a comprehensive social media policy that addresses points such as:
- Using appropriate tone and language,
- Providing standard responses to frequently asked questions,
- Deciding when to escalate a matter to a private interaction, and
- Determining how to recognize “trolling,” spam, and phishing or other fraud attempts.
Also, how quickly will you respond? People generally expect quick replies on social media, which can be among the biggest challenges to providing customer service there. One potential solution is to set up a chatbot, powered by artificial intelligence, to transmit immediate responses to many inquiries. Chatbots are certainly quick, but they’re generally effective only for answering simple questions.
Last, should you set up a dedicated account for customer service? Many bigger companies have done so. It will simplify matters — you can post links to the account on your website and other social media channels to direct customers there. However, it will also mean you’re going “all in” and need to be fully staffed and prepared.
Identify the costs
Providing top-notch customer service on social media will likely entail some costs and reallocation of resources. As mentioned, you may need to invest in additional software as well as stronger cybersecurity measures. Training or upskilling staff may also be necessary — you might even want to hire new employees for this purpose. Contact us for help identifying these costs and setting a feasible budget for technology-related spending.