Category Archives: Business Reports

David Cumming, CFP, RICP, CRPS, is a senior vice president with Morgan Stanley.

Courtesy Morgan Stanley

By David L. Cumming

Health savings accounts are a popular resource commonly used by individuals covered by a high-deductible health plan. Whether you have access to an HSA through your employer or you opt to enroll in one on your own, there is much to learn about these flexible savings vehicles.

The number of Americans covered by high-deductible health plans (HDHPs)/health savings accounts (HSAs) rose to about 19.7 million in 2015–up from 17.4 million in 2014. On average, enrollment in HDHPs/HSAs has risen nearly 22 percent over the past two years.

If you are new to HSAs and eager to take advantage of all the potential benefits they have to offer, keep the following in mind as you familiarize yourself with your account this year.

HSAs help to cushion the effect of high up-front medical costs, but in order to take advantage of your account it must be funded. According to industry experts, having an open account is not enough. You must have money in the account–even a few dollars–in order for it to be considered a valid source of tax-advantaged funding. If you wait until a medical bill arrives to fund your HSA for the first time, you may well miss out on its key benefit.

Michael Cruz is president of Lighthouse Advisors LLC in Queensbury.

Courtesy Lighthouse Advisors LLC

By Michael Cruz

Whenever I speak with new business owners, I ask a simple question: “What do you think the number one key to your success will be?”

All too often the answers are money or having the right people on board. The real answer–the only answer–is customers.

Most entrepreneurs tend to be product centric. They know a lot about specific products in their industry. They “know” what their customers need. Often they are right. But that’s not enough.

Knowing what customers need, and knowing what they value are not the same thing. Sales is all about establishing value. It requires us to focus on the economic proposition. What will customers trade their hard-earned cash to get from us? Sales is the ultimate form of customer feedback. We ignore building a customer base at our own peril.

By Kimberly A. Salerno, Esq

This is such an exciting time to be involved in our real estate market. The market is extremely healthy and, compared to last year, sales are higher than expected.

According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), “Total existing home-sales, which are completed transactions that include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops… [are] 2.2 percent higher than a year ago.”

In the Northeast, we were spared the effects of the large East Coast blizzard and were able to maintain our real estate “bubble.” Our main challenge, however, continues to be a lack of inventory for potential buyers and being able to find the right property at an affordable price.

For example, I have a young couple I am representing who are purchasing their first home in Saratoga County. They are looking at homes in the $200,000-$300,000 price range. They found themselves in a multiple-offer situation (several potential buyers all putting in offers on the same listing and the seller can accept the “best” offer) on the first home they found and their offer was not accepted by the seller.

They found another home but again found themselves in a multiple-offer situation. This time they contacted me immediately so that we could “approve” the contract as quickly as possible. To further protect my client, I also added an “escalation clause” (if another offer came in their offer automatically increased $1,000.00 more than the highest offer). With these proactive measures in place, my clients were the successful bidders.

Let’s take a step back from that contract and documentation.

Can you imagine being a first time home-buyer and looking for a home in this market? As their attorney, I must understand the nuances of real estate law, but it is even more important to understand your client fully. It is essential to be patient and listen to all of your client’s concerns, acknowledging their stressors and providing reassurance by answering all of their questions and guiding them throughout the transaction.

James W. Cole is a tax partner with SaxBST, an accounting, tax and financial services firm.

BY JAMES W. COLE, CPA

According to Wikipedia, Darwinism is the
theory of biological evolution stating that all
species arise and develop through the natural
selection of small inherited variations that
increase the organism’s ability to compete,
survive and reproduce. In nature this plays
out over long periods, often with small incremental
changes.

In today’s business and tax world, these
changes happen rapidly and “natural selection”
is driven by innovation, global competition,
the political process and, ideally, by
well-informed conscious choice rather than
transmutation.

Most businesses today are no longer bound
by small geographical constraints. You can
invent the better mousetrap in your garage
today and be selling it across the country and
possibly the world next month thanks to the
internet and global shipping. And it is even
easier for many IT based businesses that can
avoid shipping altogether. This provides both
opportunity for success, as well as competitive
risk to be beaten by someone, somewhere who
can build it faster and/or cheaper.

So how does all of this “evolution” play out
in the business tax world?

Michael Billok is a member of Bond,
Schoeneck & King’s Albany office.

BY MICHAEL BILLOK

Like time, the regulatory landscape never stops
moving. To that end, a key question on employers’
minds is this: What new laws and regulations are
going into effect in 2016, and how will they affect
my business?

New Overtime Exemption Rules

In July of 2015, the U.S. Department of Labor
(USDOL) proposed sweeping changes to
the overtime rules, such that millions of fewer
employees would be exempt from overtime. Currently
under federal law, in order to be exempt
from overtime under the executive, professional
or administrative employee exemptions, an employee
must earn at least $455 per week. (State
law requires minimum amounts of $675 per week
for executive and administrative employees).

Under the proposed new rule, those employees
would need to earn at least $970 per week in
order to still be exempt from the requirement
to pay them overtime for any time worked over
40 hours in a week. According to the USDOL’s
rulemaking schedule, the final rule should be
issued by July 2016. Once this rule goes into
effect, millions of employees that were earning
between $23,660 and $50,440 annually and were
previously exempt, will suddenly be subject to
overtime requirements.

New Injury and Illness Reporting Rules

In November of 2013, the U.S. Occupational
Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) proposed
rules that would drastically change how
employers track and report their injuries and
illnesses. This new rule is set to go into effect soon
as well, as OSHA has stated it intends to publish
the final rule in March of 2016. Currently employers
post annually, but do not submit, the OSHA
Form 300A that contains reportable injuries and
illnesses incurred over the past year.