I have to share a couple of comments.

1—“I never had the time to do the R&D tax credit but I decided I will never have more time than right now!”.   I was really surprised to learn that your partner Mike has a process that makes gathering all the data very organized and much easier than I envisioned.   That is why I “never had the time” and now I am kicking myself.   The other great news is that we can capture 2019 and FOUR previous years by using your partner firms (most firms can only look back three years).    I owe you at least two beers for your insight.  Reminds me that we will schedule a happy hour as soon as we are allowed to collapse the social distancing 6 foot rule!

2-Another CFO reported, after reading your update, I thought of using ADP to do the R&D credit since they advertise that they do R&D Credits since they have all of our payroll info.  When I looked into using them, after reading your blast last week, I realized all they do is take payroll and use parameters that are acceptable to the IRS to “not trigger and audit” and that all documentation, submission and audit liability would be mine.  I would be crazy to use ADP and not a best in class partner.   Thanks for the introduction.    He added “  I guess I could do my own root canals since I could look them up on You Tube but I wouldn’t do that myself so why should I do an IRS version of a root canal by myself!”   (Nice to find a CFO who is smart and has a sense of humor) –but he should have done this credit a few years ago but better now than never doing it!

3-On cost seg, we just did an estimate for a guy with a little building-bought a small office building last year for one million dollars.   “don’t think it is worth it but give me an estimate-he was stunned that his first year (2019) benefit is over 100k and that we can do the analysis within 4 or 5 weeks so his CPA can file the 2019 without a payment due to the credit.   When we told him the cost, he was stunned,KPMG charged him 4 times more!   That was why he didn’t think it was worth it.  Now he wants us to look at his commercial businesses and review the work that KPMG did.

4-A major local employer, with a great CFO and a great Tax department does their own R&D credit work.  They asked us to take a quick look at it and we discovered they missed 50% of the qualifying expenses.   They don’t want to amend their previous work but going forward they now know what qualifies.   They paid a small consulting fee to double their R&D tax credit.  Frankly, not sure if the tax guy keeps his job!  He was doing the right thing BUT doing it poorly!

5-Finally, another R&D credit quip.   A client who does the R&D credit updated 2019 but didn’t want to bother the CEO and staff to update their time spent on qualifying work so he told us to eliminate the exec portion.    We showed him that they would lose 25% of their credit and he made a few phone calls, decided to keep the allocation the same as 2018-which was a bit conservative but a hell of a lot better than ZERO.   Their credit increased over 2018 and all it took was a phone call with Mike and with me to figure out a reasonable path forward to get the 2019 credit done.

Just thought I would share these comments.     IF you are sitting at home and wondering how to pay taxes and still conserve your taxes, these tax best practices are NOT intimidating if you use a best in class partner! Mike D’Alessandro has been a frequent speaker to our group and his firm are experts in this so reach out to him (on the cc line above).

Same for cost reductions and a lot of other improvements.  You have the time, we have the best practices and partners who can make you look like a genius!

CFO Solution – Best Practices – Taxes Presentation

Just a quick sharing of a best practice.

My insurance provider (a fee based advisor NOT a broker) called me today to assist me to update our revenue and labor cost estimates used for our general liability and work comp coverage since our revenue and wage and salary costs will certainly be below our forecast which was used to calculate our premiums.

Obviously I could wait and get a credit after the year end audit but I would rather have lower costs (and keep my cash) now instead.

If your broker did not make the same suggestion and assist you, ask yourself if your broker works for you OR the carrier (who pays them!) that is why we recommend fee based advisors for business insurance and healthcare instead of brokers who work for their respective carriers.

Keep in mind, your employees working from home will likely be classified at a much lower rate-especially if they are field sales people, people associated with engineering, research or factory overhead since they all carry a higher cost risk category rating.

Make sense?  If not, give me a call.

We will be sharing other best practices on cost reductions as we all prepare to get back to “normal”-whatever that is!

We will keep you advised on our CFO Forum meeting schedule.   At this point, we are assuming that face to face meetings will NOT be held in May.  Zoom is a possibility-especially for the R&D tax credit meeting planned for Friday May 15.   I just reviewed the list of firms applying for the credit and a lot of you appear to be leaving an opportunity untapped.

NO CFO Forum session tomorrow.   Until we get face to face, we are going to reschedule our sessions.  Feedback from many of you was to continue face to face and not ZOOM if we don’t have to.  I guess we have come to value the discussions that we share in addition to the best practices from our speakers.

Remember, we have the following planned to address what you asked for:

Legal services alternatives that are best for your company

Preparing to sell your company – a panel discussion led by three CFOs who have been involved in a sale in the last year and what they learned!

Special meeting-understanding the changes in the R&D Tax Credit and sort of the last call to implement this great tax saving action!

Stay safe and I look forward to seeing each of you at our next session.   IN the meantime, we are posting our COVID comments on the CFO Solution website and sharing your best practices.

We have access to great webinars and many are archived.   Many thanks to Ami Kassar of Multifunding, Susan McDonald of CCI Consulting and the access to the Fox Rothschild webinars on the HR and IT impacts of COVID and all the good thoughts shared by all of you.

Hopefully those who applied for their PPP got their approval before Phase One funds ran out.

Ms Pelosi says Phase Two is close – I hate to count on her forecast!

There is a great webinar planned at 11 on Monday () by our partner and favorite speaker – Keith Campagna. He will spend 30 minutes piecing together conversations I have had these past few weeks with amazing thought leaders, CEOs, and a range of business leaders from across the globe.  Topics will include the death of work-life balance, organizational transformation basics, and time permitting, a sales methodology that is helping sales organizations grow revenue these next few quarters.

Click here and join me for a special LinkedIn Live session or Watch on Facebook or Watch on YouTube. For those finance leaders not able to join but interested in a one-on-one, they can contact me at keithcampagna@gmail.com or go to www.keithcampagna.com for more information.

For those looking for thoughts on working from home and the impacts on HR and IT, remember the access to the Fox Rothschild webinar that I offered a week ago.  From 1 to 2 on MWF.

For those looking for PPP and EIDL info, remember that Ami Kassar’s webinar are probably the best.

Finally, Eisner Ampner has offered us access to their daily PPP webinars.

I got  lots of thanks for the note (below) on healthcare a few days ago. Some of you thought it “Is too good to be true”. Remember we vet our best practices before we share them.

Please read below and share with those who would benefit from more affordable healthcare.

Two comments:
 1 – If you believe everything a broker, insurance salesman, Blue Cross or Aetna is telling you, I have a book you need to read! (and a horse to sell to you!)  Breaking through the Status Quo is the name of the book.   Written primarily for small and large company plans but the same facts pertain to all healthcare insurance (facts you will NOT read anywhere else).

2 –  Here are two real-life recent examples:
– Husband and wife, John and Carla, aged 58 and 55, were paying $1820 a month.   Replaced it with a better plan, same deductible and copays for $950 per month- a 50% reduction worth 10k a year.
– Husband and wife, Ed and Sue, aged 62 and 60, were paying $1975 and are now paying $1025 for the same coverage, etc.  $11k savings per year, almost a 50% reduction.
PS – These folks were not on COBRA plans. Compared to COBRA plans, their savings would have been greater.

Conclusions:

Not only for couples or folks over 55.  It can work for kids out of college, one person consulting firms, entrepreneurs starting a company, singles, families, or parents with kids.  It can also work for companies with 20 employees.   Worth talking to our SME partner-Patrick.   I am glad to introduce you.  His email address is above. Local Pa guy who can help.

This will work for over 90% of folks.   If you are hard to insure because of history or current medical conditions, then a group plan that gives you the ability to get insured is where you need to get your insurance (and probably cheaper if you are one of those unlucky folks with 25 to 50k of expenses per year).

These customized programs are available in most states however certain states where the insurance commissioner appears to work for the large carriers (NY, NJ for example). They may not be available for someone in that state but worth a look since there are some workarounds.

Another example of truth in healthcare.  Once you have the facts and understand how the money flows you can reduce costs without reducing quality.   We have solutions for individuals, small/ medium and large private companies AND we have best practices that can save corporations, cities, universities and some nonprofits millions per year.

In EVERY CASE, your broker will NEVER tell you what we can teach you (or you can read a lot of it in the book-Breaking Through the Status Quo-an Amazon best seller-on the topic.   I think the book is about ten bucks on amazon.

If not worth the ten bucks and your time, I will buy you lunch or a drink!   IF it is, you can buy me lunch or a drink.

All   I can’t think of a better title for this session offered to us — SELLING IN UNCERTAIN TIMES!

Tony and Alex did a great session on Sales training a year ago that opened our eyes and I think it is great that he offered another session to us.  Please see below and REGISTER. THERE IS NO CHARGE – another great offering to us from our SME partners!  Many thanks to Tony.

All of your contact companies that have Sales Leaders or Sales Reps are welcome to join us for a Session on Friday at Noon on “Selling in Uncertain Times”.  I will be moderating, my business Partner Alex Archawski is former Navy Rescue Swimmer and knows quite a bit about operating in a crisis.  It is 45 minutes with 15 minutes for questions at the end.  Attendees must register but there is no charge:

Sales Evolution would like to invite you to this FREE sales webinar. With our current state of environment, there is a lot of uncertainty as it relates to sales. During this 45 min webinar, we will provide some helpful advice and take any questions you may have.
· Working with your existing customers
· Focusing the right sales activities
· Selling in uncertain times
· Answering your questions (coaching)
Invite anyone on your sales team that could benefit from this.

https://saleswebinar4-17-20.eventbrite.com

Tony Kanak
www.salesevolution.com
Guess-Free Selling
Cell:  (267) 678-6119
Office: (215) 675-1220
https://www.salesevolution.com/tony-kanak/

When the dust settles, I suspect many of the currently unemployed will go back to work but some will not.

This is to share that there is an alternative to COBRA or the individual policies offered by Blue Cross and AETNA and other majors.

Savings of 40% compared to COBRA or big carrier plans are available for a very simple reason.

Employer and large carrier plans MUST BE ACA approved which means you have to include coverages that you likely would not want or want to pay for if you had a choice.

You and your family may not need-maternity related coverage, experimental drug coverage, substance abuse rehab coverage or other mandated big plan coverage.

Also you may want a high deductible high copay plan OR a lower deductible plan which is not available via COBRA(you get to pay for whatever plan you “Used” to be in).

If you are interested OR want to pass this on to someone in a situation described above, contact me or share this and have them contact me.   Share with your networking groups please.

This can work for individuals, families or small businesses (from 2 to 50 lives). Frankly, it may not be worthwhile if there are significant existing medical conditions at which point COBRA is a “group based” alternative that is the only alternative to insurability in those situation.

Something other than an SBA update…

Couple of points that I have seen in various blurbs include:
Some CFOs who were planning or announced their retirement or a move to another opportunity will stay where they are to help their current firm recover and survive showing their loyaltySome CFOs will be recruited away because they prepared to the worst, had a plan and the ability to lead and drive a successful recovery (and they will replace CFOs who were a bit complacent or stunned in the current crisis situation).   I know CFOs who are in search and currently interviewing for exactly this reason.   A casual search turned into an urgent need to replace the incumbent CFO and bring in new thinking, energy and leadership skills.

Ernie Russom shared a blurb on hiring during the crisis: Hiring During The COVID-19 Health Crisis

Businesses are still hiring during the current period of record unemployment. Distributors and manufacturers are hiring hourly wage earners to fulfill demands that are directly related to the crisis. Executives are being hired to fulfill pre-existing vacancies or to fill a gap that has to be filled.

The crisis has created unique hiring challenges that must be addressed to assure a successful hire. These include:

1) During an economic crisis, candidates often resist leaving a known employer for an unknown.
a. Research will reveal the candidate’s unfulfilled employment needs and how the potential employer can fulfill these needs.
b. Position the values of the new employer as the most desirable alternative to fulfill these needs

2) Social Distancing may cause incomplete candidate vetting.
a. Strategic inclusion of Virtual Interviewing Tools creates a thorough hiring process
b. Advanced analysis of the culture of the hiring organization and the candidate will reveal if there is congruency.
c. Thorough professional reference evaluation will validate the candidate’s professional accomplishments and interpersonal skills

Learn more about hiring during the current health crisis by visiting https://lnkd.in/eNN7gY9

Ernest W. Russom III
Executive Director
The Westview Associates
610-405-4818

9:55 AM:

Two points

1. Wells Fargo has opened the doors again – capital limits raised.
2. Has anyone who filed for EIDL 10k grant had feedback AND received the funds yet?  3 days was promised  but I want to know what reality is.

PS … For CFO Forum participantsin the Lehigh Valley, our April session on alternative legal services models will be held in June.   Date to be determined. Our May sessions are still scheduled. Third Tuesday (May 19th) will be on employee development and use of external coaches.  Plan to bring your CEO or HR peer. The special session on Friday, May 15 on the R&D tax credit updates will be held. RSVPs are needed so we can plan.    I misstated the changes. Changes were made in 2019 BUT the last year is 2021. I incorrectly stated that the credit expired in 2019.  Either way now is a good time to implement it if you have taxes to pay for 2019. Get the credit done for several previous years as well as 2019 and keep your cash!

11:55 AM:

Some of you asked about the 3 day promise for EIDL.    I heard from about a dozen of you and no one has received a dollar yet. Thanks for you who shared your experience.

Hopefully, PPP works a little better (or they will have to push back the June 30 endpoint).

Many thanks to Sam Aul for sharing the latest SBA PPP application form.  Apparently they created a comprehensive application form with addendums.

DOWNLOAD THE FORM HERE

Contact me if your banker is not being responsive.   We have an alternative lender (and they don’t require that you shift your banking business to them-I am sure they would appreciate a new account but it is not a requirement).

Good luck.   The portal was jammed or down on Friday and then they updated forms.