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In the past, automation and technological advances created more jobs than it disrupted, and innovation has greatly improved our lives. However, as this article in the Wall Street Journal reports, economists caution that the COVID-19 pandemic may have accelerated the changes that have already been happening for the last several decades which may be creating a divide between skilled and low-skilled workers. “For many professionals, technology has been a lifeline…  Read more

Until scientists develop an effective and safe vaccine, and that vaccine is administered to millions of people, our best means of protection from COVID-19 is herd immunity. Recent models hint that the protective effects of a population that has already been infected by the COVID-19 virus may exist at much lower percentages than previously thought. Instead of requiring that 70 to 80 percent of a population be immune, that threshold…  Read more

Even though unemployment still remains high, and the US economy took a nosedive during the second quarter of 2020, US households managed to decrease their overall debt for the first time in six years. Even in the face of unemployment, credit card debt dropped by $76 billion during the second quarter as households cut back on non-essential spending. In the first six months of 2020, consumers reduced their credit card…  Read more

Presidential Memoranda – Budget & Spending Issued on: August 8, 2020 Memorandum on Deferring Payroll Tax Obligations in Light of the Ongoing COVID-19 Disaster I knew it was too good to be true that this weekend I would not be studying yet another new tax act, policy, rev.proc. or similar! This weekend the White House has issued a Memorandum on Deferring Payroll Tax Obligations in Light of the Ongoing COVID-19 Disaster. Here…  Read more

It’s no surprise to most Americans that the U.S. economy has suffered greatly from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. But what may surprise you is the extent of the decline: a record 32.9% contraction during the second quarter of 2020, the biggest drop since 1947. The virus is still spreading across much of the country, and for 19 straight weeks, more than 1 million people have submitted new claims…  Read more

Perhaps the most challenging part of dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic is that many infected people never show symptoms or have such mild symptoms it’s easy to chalk that out-of-sorts feeling to a poor night of sleeping. Some estimate that as many as 40% of those infected never exhibit symptoms, and these people could be shedding nearly as much contagious virus as those with full-blown symptoms. This high rate of…  Read more

Are you feeling out of balance from the changes brought on by the pandemic? You’re not alone, according to economist Jeffrey Tucker. Thanks to the media, many of us have been overtaken by fear, which may cause us to act irrationally. Tucker recalled a book from 1841, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, in which the author Charles Mackay describes many panic-inducing events of the past that resulted…  Read more

“I got an Offer for an SBA Loan Now What Should I Do?” A few weeks ago I clicked on the email from disastercustomerservice@sba.gov and was a bit surprised that they were inviting me to set up my portal so I could continue my SBA Economic Injury Disaster Loan Application. I said to myself “I got an Offer for an SBA Loan Now What Should I Do?” Then I said…  Read more

This tax season which (really) started December 2019 and just ended Wednesday,  July 15th as we e-filed the last of the 2019 personal tax return extensions gives new meaning to the quote from Charles Dickens’, A Tale of Two Cities. While drafting the polling questions for our week’s NCCPAP tax and accounting live stream seminar  which is focused on individual and business tax consequences of  working at a “home location”…  Read more

It’s the morning of July 15, 2020 and as I post this the clock is ticking on the last day of “Tax Season 2020”.  With the  countdown to the end of Tax Season 2020 on the opportunity will pass for a few time sensitive actions on your part: Today is the last day you can timely pay your 2019 tax liability with either your tax return or extension and the…  Read more

One of the baffling aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic is the fact that we don’t yet know precisely how deadly this virus is. Estimates of the fatality rate range from a low of 0.64%, estimated by analysis of data by Australian researchers, to a high of 16% in Belgium. Many infections are asymptomatic or mild, which means there may be 10 unrecorded cases for each documented infection. What we do…  Read more

In the six months since the coronavirus began spreading around the world, doctors have learned many lessons. For example, placing patients on their stomachs seems to alleviate pressure on the lungs, and prevention is crucial. However, some unknowns remain, such as long-term effects of COVID-19 infections and how long it will take patients to recover. A big surprise to medical professionals was how widely asymptomatic carriers could spread the virus.…  Read more

The PPP loan applications close today at midnight, the rules have relaxed, so if you have not yet applied, today is the day to do so. It’s hard to believe that we have been researching the guidance on these programs for four (4) months and there are still so many unanswered questions. Please follow this link for the SBA Lender Match Tool if you have not applied yet. If you…  Read more

I have been looking forward to seeing my staff in person and had ordered special “cute masks” with filters, high powered cleaning products, a digital thermometer, created a staggered in office work schedule, set up a hand sanitizer station and started our visitor log.  Over the weekend I finalized our plan and certified our readiness. As a New York City accounting office we were all set for phase 2, our…  Read more

As a New York City accounting office, I like many have been looking forward to seeing our staff and co-workers in person starting this week with the “Phase 2 re-opening”. We are happy to see that as businesses across the country slowly reopen, the IRS is also beginning to send employees back. So far, employees in seven states (Kentucky, Texas, Utah, Georgia, Minnesota, Tennessee and Missouri) are back at work,…  Read more

I was thrilled to be a participant in the Goldman Sachs Small Business Voices Virtual Capitol Hill Week.   As a small business owner and CPA supporting other small businesses I was in a unique position to share my personal experience and shed light on the general hardships that small businesses have been facing and continue to face during the Covid-19 pandemic. A big thank you to Goldman Sachs who made…  Read more

Resources to Help You Survive – and Thrive – During the COVID-19 Pandemic When the COVID-19 pandemic was just beginning to spread, many of us were hopeful that by mid-summer, things would return to normal. However, most people are realizing that the coronavirus will be with us for some time to come. That’s one of the conclusions from a series of short articles at the New York Times aptly titled…  Read more

Managing cash flow is a vital part of running a successful business. Some business owners think managing cash flow simply means keeping track of how much money enters and leaves their business, but there’s actually more that goes into it. As I take my morning run I try to clear my head and think about what I can do to help alleviate the pressures we are all facing.  Our firm…  Read more

I woke up this morning with lingering nightmare threads.  somehow I had driven to a beach and parked my car and was now running up and down the street hunting for it. Go figure, I guess I am feeling guilty for working out indoors this week! Then I really woke up to a nightmare as I opened my emails and found that N.Y.S. had issued Notice N-20-8 changing the due…  Read more

Weekly Digest – 10 June 2020 Resources to Help You Survive – and Thrive – During the COVID-19 Pandemic As painful as the shutdown has been, a recent study indicates that it may have prevented as many as 60 million COVID-19 infections in the U.S. and 285 million in China. Banning large gatherings had the most impact in France and South Korea, while evidence is mixed on the impact of school closures.…  Read more