Government

Stocks bomb lower as jumpy investors brace for possible war in Ukraine

Fri, 18 Feb 2022 14:54:29 -0500

Investors on Monday woke to a kind of Valentine’s Day massacre. Stocks in Tokyo and Mumbai fell by more than 2%, creating a globe-spanning tsunami of selling as Russian troops amass on the border with Ukraine. Closer to the military hotspot...

Stocks Just Had Their Worst Month Since March 2020: January's Wild Ride In 8 Numbers

Fri, 04 Feb 2022 10:32:18 -0500

Stocks are off to an ugly start for this year. The S&P 500 is expected to see its worst month since March 2020. The drop comes ahead of the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes that are expected this year. Tech stocks have been especially hard hit by rising bond yields as investors rotate out of risky growth stocks and into safer assets. Beyond the market turmoil, however...

A Leader’s Legacy

Thu, 20 Jan 2022 17:05:03 -0500

For the last several years I’ve made it a practice to observe the Martin Luther King Day holiday by re-reading his famous “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”. King penned the letter while in solitary confinement, writing first in the margins of a newspaper that had been smuggled in to him, and then...

If $1.6 Trillion Of Student Loan Debt Is Forgiven, This Is What Happens

Thu, 05 Dec 2019 00:00:00 -0500

What happens if all $1.6 trillion of student loan debt is forgiven? Here’s what you need to know...

Open Enrollment Is Here: 6 Tips For Choosing A Health Insurance Plan

Fri, 08 Nov 2019 02:00:00 -0500

It's the season to roll up your sleeves, gather your documents, and pick a health insurance plan for 2020. For those shopping for their own plans..

Virtual currency: IRS issues additional guidance on tax treatment and reminds taxpayers of reporting obligations

Tue, 29 Oct 2019 02:00:00 -0400

As part of a wider effort to assist taxpayers and to enforce the tax laws in a rapidly changing area, the Internal Revenue Service today issued two new pieces of guidance for taxpayers who engage in transactions involving virtual currency. Expanding on guidance from 2014...

Social Security taxable wage base for 2020 released

Thu, 24 Oct 2019 00:00:00 -0400

The Social Security Administration (SSA) just issued the taxable wage base for 2020. And it’s higher than what was predicted back in the spring. The magic number Payroll needs...

2020 Payroll Taxes Will Hit Higher Incomes

Thu, 17 Oct 2019 03:00:00 -0400

Starting Jan. 1, 2020, the maximum earnings subject to the Social Security payroll tax will increase by $4,800 to $137,700—up from the $132,900 maximum for 2019, the Social Security Administration (SSA) announced Oct. 10. The SSA also posted...

Here Are All 50 U.S. States Ranked by Tax Friendliness. I Promise You'll Find Some Big Surprises

Wed, 16 Oct 2019 03:00:00 -0400

I live in New Jersey. It's a complete accident. When I got together with my wife, I was the one who owned a business and who could work from anywhere, so I moved here instead of our having her move to me. Then...

These Billionaires Want The Ultra-Wealthy To Pay More In Taxes

Tue, 15 Oct 2019 02:00:00 -0400

A 70% marginal tax rate. A 77% estate tax. A 3% tax on every dollar over $1 billion of net worth. As various plans to tax the ultra-rich gain steam in American political discourse...

Maximum Social Security Taxes Will Increase 3.6% While Benefits Will Rise 1.6% In 2020

Fri, 11 Oct 2019 00:00:00 -0400

The Social Security Administration announced key numbers that affect workers and retirees today—a substantial increase in the wage base for workers and a modest increase in benefits for retirees.

First...

Featured Resource: Employee Expense Reimbursements: Compliance Workshop

Fri, 04 Oct 2019 00:00:00 -0400

The legal and financial risks of mishandling employee expense reimbursements have spiked in recent years. And the IRS is in the middle of a wide-ranging audit crackdown on employment-tax issues.

What We Know About CrowdStrike, The Cybersecurity Firm Trump Mentioned In Ukraine Call, And Its Billionaire CEO

Fri, 27 Sep 2019 03:00:00 -0400

CrowdStrike has found itself in the eye of a political storm, again.

In a reconstructed transcript released by the White House on Wednesday morning...

States eye unclaimed property: How to stay compliant this fall

Tue, 17 Sep 2019 04:00:00 -0400

With fall reporting deadlines right around the corner for Finance, you may want to take a second look at your company’s process...

Trump demands Fed to cut interest rates to zero 'or less'

Tue, 17 Sep 2019 03:00:00 -0400

President Donald Trump on Wednesday called for the Federal Reserve to engineer interest rates to zero “or less,” in a new appeal for negative yields that he believes would help...

Why U.S.-China Trade War Risks Hurting Firms in Both Countries

Tue, 10 Sep 2019 04:00:00 -0400

U.S. businesses are imploring President Donald Trump not to expand his tariffs to $300 billion in goods from China that have so far been...

7 Things To Buy Before More Trump Tariffs Take Effect On December 15

Tue, 03 Sep 2019 03:00:00 -0400

President Donald Trump’s trade war with China and his pronouncements about tariffs have been rocking the stock market and investors.

Now...

China Says Won’t Devalue Currency, But Market Will Anyway

Thu, 15 Aug 2019 00:00:00 -0400

China's government pledged not to devalue the yuan to make up for extra tariffs coming next month, but that doesn't matter. The market will devalue it anyway. The People's Bank of China probably won't stop it.

"I think there is going to be...

Three Years of Misery Inside Google, the Happiest Company in Tech

Wed, 14 Aug 2019 03:00:00 -0400

ON A BRIGHT Monday in January 2017, at 2:30 in the afternoon, about a thousand Google employees—horrified, alarmed, and a little giddy—began pouring out of the company's offices in Mountain View, California. They packed themselves into...

Your Social Security number has already been hacked. Why do we still have them?

Fri, 02 Aug 2019 04:00:00 -0400

With reports of a massive data breach at Capital One this week came a now-familiar warning: roughly 140,000 Social Security numbers of the bank’s credit card applicants had apparently been stolen, along with another 80,000 bank account numbers.

Capital One’s announcement came shortly after...

Here's What $300 Billion in New Tariffs on China Really Means for You and Your Business

Fri, 02 Aug 2019 03:00:00 -0400

Sometimes, it can be difficult to personalize big numbers like $300 billion. That's the amount of new tariffs President Trump announced he intends to impose on goods from China beginning September 1. It will affect...

Southwest Airlines yanks Boeing 737 Max from schedules through early November with no end in sight to grounding

Mon, 22 Jul 2019 13:22:00 -0400

Uncertainty over when regulators will allow the Boeing 737 Max to fly again following two deadly crashes prompted Southwest Airlines, the largest U.S. operator of the jets, to remove them from its schedules through early November - a month longer than it estimated in late June.

Southwest’s move follows...

4 compliance changes for Finance in the new Taxpayer First Act

Mon, 22 Jul 2019 04:00:00 -0400

Prepare your finance staffers now: Year-end may soon look different than it has in the past, thanks to the just-signed Taxpayer First Act.

The new federal law seeks to improve and modernize IRS for the first time in decades, as well as improve taxpayer security in the wake of massive spikes in identity theft and other security threats.

And...

Manufacturers Leaving Money On Table After Corporate Tax Reform

Tue, 18 Jun 2019 02:00:00 -0400

Many U.S. manufacturers are leaving money on the table — some of it significant — by not optimizing the provisions of the Republican tax-reform act of 2017, a leading corporate-tax expert told...

The best – and worst – state economies: Where did yours land on the list?

Mon, 10 Jun 2019 03:00:00 -0400

We’re always keeping an eye on how the U.S. economy is faring as a whole: reading the reports, watching the indicators. Understandable, of course. But...

Top Resource: 2019 Compliance Guide for CFO's

Mon, 10 Jun 2019 00:00:00 -0400

Paycor’s 2019 Compliance Guide for CFOs is a step-by-step action plan designed to focus on the four major topics in compliance. As part of our commitment to help CFOs make a difference in their organization, we’ve published deep dives like this one to help you avoid fines and maintain compliance.

Download Paycor’s guide for actionable tips on how you can avoid major fines and stay compliant in 2019.

Gov’t warns on VPN security bug in Cisco, Palo Alto, F5, Pulse software

michael_cooney@idg.com — Thu, 06 Jun 2019 01:00:00 -0400

The Department of Homeland Security has issued a warning that some VPN packages from Cisco, Palo Alto, F5 and Pulse may improperly secure tokens and cookies, allowing...

Trump Turbulence Slows Momentum for North America Trade Deal

Wed, 05 Jun 2019 04:00:00 -0400

The momentum that supporters have tried to build for a new North American trade deal has run into some Trump turbulence.

The Trump administration had taken steps in recent weeks to work with Democratic and Republican lawmakers to address concerns about the proposed United States-Mexico-Canada agreement.

Then...

Pump It Up: Energy Department-Funded Project To Explore How Hydro Storage Can Bring More Renewables To The Grid

Wed, 05 Jun 2019 03:00:00 -0400

The U.S. Department of Energy announced recently that it’s awarding a $1.25 million grant to a project team from GE Research and GE Energy Consulting to dig deeper into the possibilities of hydro storage, a promising technology that might...

U.S. Delay to Huawei Ban Gives Tech Sector Time to Adjust

Wed, 22 May 2019 03:00:00 -0400

The United States is delaying some restrictions on U.S. technology sales to Chinese tech powerhouse Huawei in what it calls an effort to ease the blow on Huawei smartphone owners and smaller U.S. telecoms providers that rely on its networking equipment.

The Trump administration insists...