by Stephen Reed | Accounting News, Business Growth, News
With the inflation rate accelerating to a 40-year high, businesses are finding less wiggle room to expend on marketing and advertising strategies. Fortunately, even with widespread rising costs, there are resourceful methods for businesses to grow and improve their digital footprint. Read on for ways to increase your online presence on a shoestring budget.
Hire Freelancers
Hiring freelance workers or independent contractors rather than employees will save money. You can hire on a per-project basis, with a set fee or hourly payment arrangement. For example, if you need a copywriter or web designer for a specific project but don’t foresee enough ongoing work for a permanent position, hiring on a short-term basis may be the way to go. Hiring contractors also allows you to save on fixed costs like benefits and office space. Additionally, depending on your circumstances and what the tasks entail, you may not even need your contractor to be local. This opens up a potentially global pool of talent.
Forgo PPC Ads in Favor of SEO
When deciding on how best to invest your time and online marketing budget, consider making improvements to SEO (search engine optimization) rather than relying on PPC (pay-per-click) ads. PPC ads like Google Ads are paid online advertisements, in which you’re charged for each click-through to your website. On the other hand, SEO can help your website organically rank higher on search engines by making it more applicable to users at no cost to you. If your website turns up on page one for a targeted key word, you’ll gain click-through traffic for as long as it maintains that spot. In order to get to one of the top positions on a search engine, you need extensive SEO knowledge. If this is outside your wheelhouse, consider the above tip and hire a freelancer.
Network Online
The rise of online networking coupled with a significant shift to more people working from home over the past two years has led to less in-person connecting with other industry professionals. Embracing online networking can help you connect with possible customers and suppliers, identify talent and labor, and discover cost-effective marketing and advertising opportunities. The best part? Online networking is completely free.
Write Engaging Articles for Websites
If you want to expand your company’s digital footprint and spread awareness of your company without spending a penny, think about writing for well-known websites and blogs in your industry. Create articles with engaging, rich, and industry-specific information that readers can start applying right away. This approach provides an opportunity to establish your business as a leader in the industry and direct more traffic to your website, effectively garnering more customers.
by Stephen Reed | Accounting News, Healthcare, Industry - Healthcare, News
The Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) was signed into law in late December, 2020 under former President Trump. It tackles multiple long-debated healthcare policies. The law stipulates new regulations that will require providers, insurers, and employers to provide consumers with data pertaining to coverage and costs before consumers receive care. This means that Americans will now have access to information that could change the way they shop for healthcare.
No Surprise Billing
Included in the CAA is the No Surprise Act (NSA). The NSA includes requirements for health insurers and group health plans to provide information and tools for consumers to better navigate their healthcare. Surprise billing — also known as balance billing — has long been debated for patients in covered out-of-network situations, such as when receiving emergency services. However, due to the NSA, beginning January 1, 2022, health plans must treat these out-of-network services as if they were in-network when calculating patient cost-sharing. Patients won’t be held accountable to the “surprise” bill, with insurers and providers handling any payment disputes.
A range of consumer protections are also included, such as a mandatory advance cost estimate. Health plans are obligated to implement a price transparency tool and provide accurate, up-to-date directories on public websites. Furthermore, providers will be prohibited from billing patients more than the applicable in-network cost sharing amount, and a penalty of up to $10,000 for each violation can apply.
A New Final-Offer Arbitration Process
The NSA also creates a new final-offer arbitration process to decide how much insurers must pay out-of-pocket network providers. If an out-of-network provider is dissatisfied with a health plan’s payment, it can initiate arbitration. The arbitrator must choose between the final offers submitted by each party after analyzing various factors, including the health plan’s historical median in-network rate for comparable services.
Health Insurer-Related Policies
The Act includes many health insurer-related policies such as forbidding “gag clauses” in contracts between plans and healthcare providers that limit access to cost and quality data. The law calls for reporting on drug costs and similar issues, and contains provisions related to “non-qualitative treatment limitations” for mental health or substance use disorders.
The Future for Healthcare Consumers
The price and quality transparency requirements set forth in the CAA can empower healthcare consumers to make informed decisions, and they’ll now have the ability to shop for high-quality healthcare at a fair price. The overall healthcare system and insurance markets will likely evolve quickly to reflect the demands of a more educated consumer with actionable data at their disposal.
by Stephen Reed | Accounting News, News, Retirement Savings
The IRS has made some changes for Americans saving for retirement with 401(k) and IRA accounts in 2022. We discuss these changes, as well as what’s staying the same, below.
Changes to 401(K)s
Contribution limits to workplace 401(k)s are going up in 2022. Workers will be able to contribute up to $20,500, which is a $1,000 increase over the contribution limits set in 2020 and 2021. This limit increase also applies to 403(b), most 457 plans, and the federal government’s Thrift Savings Plan. However, the catch-up contribution limit for employees ages 50 and up will not be changing. That limit will remain $6,500.
The contribution limit for a SIMPLE IRA—a retirement plan intended for small businesses with 100 or fewer employees—will increase next year as well. Workers with this plan will be able to invest up to $14,000, up from $13,500. Just as with 401(k)s, though, the catch-up contribution limit for workers at least 50 years old will remain the same. This limit is $3,000.
Changes to IRAs
Unlike 401(k) contribution limits, the limit on annual contributions to an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) is not increasing in 2022. It will remain at $6,000. Likewise, the catch-up contribution limit will remain the same at $1,000. However, income limits for making deductible contributions to a traditional IRA are going up, as are the income limits for making any type of contribution to a Roth IRA.
Income limits for traditional IRAs in 2022 will change as follows:
- For single tax filers covered by a workplace retirement plan, the eligibility for full contribution limit is increasing from $66,000 to $68,000. The phase-out limit is increasing from $76,000 to $78,000.
- For married joint filers who are personally covered by a workplace retirement plan, the income limit for full eligibility is increasing from $105,000 to $109,000. The phase-out limit is increasing from $125,000 to $129,000.
- For married joint filers whose spouse is covered by is a workplace retirement plan even though you aren’t, the income limit for full eligibility is increasing to $204,000, up from $189,000. The phase out limit is increasing from $198,000 to $208,000.
Income limits for Roth IRA in 2022 will change as follows:
- Income eligibility for single tax filers and heads-of-household is increasing to $129,000 from $125,000. The phase-out limit will also be increasing—from $140,000 to $144,000.
- Income eligibility for joint filers will increase to $204,000 for full contributions. This is up from $198,000. Additionally, the phase-out limit is increasing from $208,000 to $214,000.
by Stephen Reed | Accounting News, News, Retirement Savings, Uncategorized
The Roth IRA is a unique retirement savings tool. While there is no upfront tax break with a Roth IRA, it grants you tax-free management of your income and gains as long as you retain your investments within the account. Roth IRAs are also flexible, which allows for better access to your funds than traditional retirement accounts. However, the five-year rule—which is actually a set of rules—dictates the penalty and tax-free eligibility of your Roth IRA withdrawals. Here are the rules investors need to be aware of.
Your First Contribution
In order to avoid taxes on distribution from your Roth IRA, you must wait five years after your first contribution to withdraw your earnings tax-free. The five-year period begins on the first day of the tax year for which you made a contribution to any Roth IRA, not necessarily the specific Roth IRA account you’re withdrawing from. For example, if you put money into a Roth IRA for the first time in early 2020 but contributed it toward the 2019 tax year, then the five-year waiting period will end on January 1, 2024.
Because the money you contributed to the Roth IRA was an after-tax contribution, if you withdraw funds before the five-year period, only the growth of the account is potentially subject to income tax.
One more point to make note of in regards to the five-year rule: This rule supersedes the one that states you must be 59 ½ in order to withdraw from a Roth IRA without incurring taxes and penalties. This means that even if you meet the age requirement when you withdraw, you still must have made your first contribution at least five years prior in order to avoid being taxed. You won’t owe a 10% penalty fee for early withdrawals, but you’ll still owe tax on any withdrawals above the amount contributed.
- Penalty for breaking this rule: You will be required to pay taxes on the earnings portion of the withdrawals. However, Roth IRA withdrawals give preference to contributions before earnings. Therefore, if you have enough cumulative contributions to cover the amount you wish to withdrawal before the five-year mark of your first contribution, you may be able to make the withdrawal tax-free.
Roth Conversions
There is an additional five-year rule that was established in order to prevent people from using Roth conversions to gain penalty-free access to their traditional retirement accounts. This rule, therefore, applies to those who convert other kinds of retirement accounts, such as a 401(k), into Roth IRAs. This rule starts on Jan. 1 of the year in which you do the conversion. As a result, if you convert in, say, Nov. 2021, you will only need to wait a bit longer than four years (Jan. 2026) before taking withdrawals.
However, unlike the first-contribution five-year rule, this rule applies individually to each Roth conversion you do. All new conversions start their own five-year clock, and you’ll need to account for multiple conversions to be sure you don’t withdraw too much money too soon.
It’s important to note that if you’re using the backdoor Roth IRA strategy (i.e., contribute to a traditional IRA then immediately convert the account to a Roth IRA), this five-year rule will treat your “Roth contributions” as conversions, and you can’t withdraw them for five years without penalty.
- Penalty for breaking this rule: You will be required to pay a 10% penalty on any withdrawals, including withdrawals of the amount you initially converted (this is on top of the taxes you already paid on that amount). However, if you are over age 59 ½, the age exception will apply, and you can immediately take withdrawals penalty-free.
Inherited IRAs
First, inherited IRAs are also subject to the first-contribution five-year rule. Therefore, if the original owner’s initial contribution was less than five years before you inherited the account, the earnings are subject to taxes.
If you inherit a Roth IRA from someone who is not your spouse, you have a couple of options. The first is to spread out distributions from the inherited IRA up to 10 years, taking required minimum distributions (RMDs) based on your life expectancy each year (if the account owner lived beyond the RMD age, this is your only option.). The second option is to take lump-sum distributions. If you choose this option, you are obliged to exhaust the account by Dec. 31 of the fifth year succeeding the death of the original owner. While you can take distributions of any amount up to that date, you are required to withdraw 100% of the funds by the end of the fifth year.
- Penalty for breaking this rule: If you don’t withdraw 100% of funds from an inherited IRA by the end of the fifth year after the owner’s death, the remaining balance is subject to a 50% penalty.
by Stephen Reed | Accounting News, Business Growth, Industry - Veterinary Medicine, News
With big-box retailers and ecommerce powerhouses like PetSmart, Walmart, and Chewy.com offering online pharmacies, private practices are finding that their bottom lines are being affected. Now is the time to strengthen your clinic’s pharmacy with proactive business strategies. Here’s how.
Send Refill Reminders
Your practice likely already sends reminders for vaccines, so sending refill notices for preventatives and prescriptions are a natural extension of this practice. Because text messages have a 99 percent open rate—as opposed to the 33 percent open rate of health-care emails—text prompts are likely your best route. You can also print refill reminders on prescription labels.
Reinforce Client Relationships
When you receive the fax from the internet pharmacy, instead of immediately signing it, take a minute to connect with the client, especially if the client’s pet is overdue for an exam and heartworm test because you have the opportunity to make an appointment. Even if their pet is up to date, reinforcing the doctor-client-patient relationship with a phone call is important. It also gives you an opportunity to explain to the client how your hospital buys safe drugs directly from pharmaceutical companies, your staff receives regular training on medications, and your pharmacy offers competitive prices. If you can offer any additional savings on particular brands, or if you have an online store and a home-delivery option, now is the time to make sure the client is aware of these services.
Set Up an Online Store with Home Delivery and Auto-Ship Benefits
With your own online pharmacy, you can offer your clients home-delivery of medications with auto-ship benefits by partnering with veterinary distributors. Offering an auto-ship option assures the client that they will never be in need of long-term prescriptions and preventatives. If the client purchases a six-month supply of flea and tick medication, set up an auto-ship refill in five months when the client will have one dose remaining. This is especially helpful in regards to heartworm medication because near the end of a 12-month supply, you can send reminders to the client for an exam, heartworm test, prescription renewal, and additional preventative services.
Begin Offering Home-Delivery of Pet Food
Home delivery helps to cross one more errand off of your clients’ to-do lists. It’s a time-saver for working professionals, a relief for older seniors, and a natural move for anyone who regularly orders online. You can seamlessly get clients started with recurring shipments during exams, offering them a starter bag of food, and assuring them that their online order will arrive on their doorstep in just a few days.
