Washington lawmakers have done their thing again, stitching together a patchwork of small business tax changes that aim to nudge business owners toward spending and hiring. This one’s called the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 (SBJA) and it’s a wide-ranging mashup of tax incentives and other changes you need to know about.  Here’s the bullet-point rundown of the top 11 changes in the new law.  We’ll provide a detailed description of each item from top tax experts at CBIZ in a series of posts starting now:

1. Extends bonus depreciation
2. Extends and doubles Section 179 expensing
3. Provides for 100 percent gain exclusion for qualified small business stock
4. Relaxes the S corporation built-in gain conversion rules
5. Allows five-year carry-backs of the general business credit for qualified taxpayers
6. Removes cell phones from the listed property rules
7. Enhances the deduction for start-up expenses
8. Provides retroactive Code Sec. 6707A penalty relief
9. Allows a self-employment income tax deduction for 2010 health care expenses
10. Increases failure-to-file penalties on information returns
11. Establishes a new information reporting rule for rental property expense payments Read the full entry

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The dictionary defines a “funk” as a low or depressed mood, and that certainly matches the mindset at millions of small companies nationwide. Sure, government statisticians have declared the recession officially over. Feel better now?

Not likely.  Employees these days are feeling overworked, under-appreciated, and skeptical.  And despite the hopeful talk of recovery, they remain anxious, distrustful, and worst of all, disengaged.

So why should it matter how your employees feel, as long as they show up and do their jobs? The answer is productivity. Research from Gallup estimates that disengaged employees are costing their companies big bucks – as much as one out of every three dollars you spend on payroll.  Read the full entry

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Business.com has just launched a series of videos to help small businesses navigate the treacherous waters of online marketing and establish an effective social media strategy. Topics include search engine marketing (SEM), how to use advertising networks online, creating and using social media, pay per click advertising, and search engine optimization (SEO) basics. All presenters are experts in their field and help Business.com customers achieve their goals every day. Visit the Business.com Online Marketing Channel to view other helpful videos.

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If your business reimburses employees for out-of-pocket expenses (yourself included), you need a process to track and record those costs and make timely, accurate payments. But for many people, expense report filing ranks somewhere between going to the dentist and doing your taxes.   

Several web-based services are out to ease the pain with easy-to-use, low-cost systems that make the expense reporting process as quick and easy as possible for small business owners. Choices include Expensify, Concur Breeze and ExpensePoint. Read the full entry

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