We help companies all over Georgia identify and obtain tax credits. Tax credits maximized. Risk minimized.

Other Incentives

Watch Out for Tax Structure Changes!

Filed under: Energy Tax Credits,Federal Job Tax Credits,Investment Tax Credit,Job Tax Credit,Other Incentives,Port Tax Credit,Retraining Tax Credit,Withholding Tax Credit
February 28, 2011

Now that tax season is here, the fun begins. Clients are probably dumping their tax documents (electronically and physically) at your office and asking when their tax returns will be completed. As you dig through all of the details, you discover some changes the client forgot to mention that will impact their taxes.

We had a similar situation recently.  The client’s tax structure changed – they converted from a C corporation to an ESOP (100% S corporation), so they no longer pay income taxes.  The client didn’t tell us about this change.  Meanwhile, the client spent time and resources to collect their state tax credit documentation.  As usual, we helped them get the tax credit certification and delivered it to their CPA.  The CPA didn’t know what was going on since he had already talked with the client about the change. The client forgot that paying no taxes meant that they could not use tax credits.

If your clients have utilized tax credits in the past, you need to help them understand (and beg for no surprises!) their potential to utilize the tax credits in the future.  Major changes in tax (such as tax structure, future NOLs, equity ownership and other items) can have a major impact on the ability to use tax credits (and save your client time and resources).

JimSig

New Market Tax Credit

Filed under: Federal Job Tax Credits,Other Incentives
December 16, 2010

Your clients could benefit from a tax credit they can’t even take themselves!  Banks and other investors can leverage the Federal New Market Tax Credit (NMTC) to provide lower cost funds to companies (such as your clients).  This tax credit is intended to spur revitalization of low income and impoverished communities.

We talked with Eric Rosen, SunTrust Bank (Click here to contact him).  He is involved with the SunTrust Community Capital group (click here).  Here is an overview of what he had to say:

A company that qualifies can receive lower interest rate loans and/or gap financing.  It must be located in designated areas (Click here for locations).  The company must use the funds to create significant economic impacts, i.e., jobs, tax revenues, services for low-income persons, etc., and must demonstrate a need for subsidized financing.  Funds are for a 7-year time period and can be used for numerous purposes including real estate, equipment, working capital, etc.

If your clients are looking for lower cost funding, help them find out if they qualify!

JimSig

A Client Who Loves to Pay Taxes??!!

Filed under: Energy Tax Credits,Investment Tax Credit,Job Tax Credit,Other Incentives,Port Tax Credit,Retraining Tax Credit,Withholding Tax Credit
December 16, 2010

An unfortunate part of business success is having an income tax liability. And despite your best efforts of tax planning and advice, your clients may still have to pay taxes.  But that’s good, because tax liability is an indication of revenues, profits and business success, right?

We heard an interesting story about a a highly successful multi-million dollar a year business owned by a man with an eighth grade education.  One of our friends heard him say, “I just love to pay taxes.”

The business owner went on to explain that he was perfectly happy to pay his obligations, because he knew he had already done everything he could legally and morally to keep his tax payments to a minimum.

Got any clients like that?  Maybe not very many, but your year-end and 2011 tax planning is a great time to discuss opportunities to reduce taxes with all of your clients.

Some ideas to explore with your clients include:

  • New software or business process changes – Retraining Tax Credit
  • Adding employees – Georgia and Federal job tax credits
  • Adding land, buildings, or equipment – Investment Tax Credit, cost segregation study, and energy incentives
  • Business or product changes – Georgia and Federal research tax credits
  • Large Georgia income tax liability – Georgia Film and Low Income Housing tax credits

Get your clients talking about their business (including prior years and plans for the future).  There may be hidden gems of potential tax $$ savings that you can uncover for your clients!
DaleSig

Hidden Local $ Incentives

Filed under: Other Incentives
October 28, 2010

We were recently helping a client do research on the Opportunity Zone tax credit (for details click here).

As we dug into the details to see what was available,  we saw some other incentives for less developed areas that looked interesting.

Enterprise Zones — The local (city or county) government may reduce property taxes, local sales taxes, business licenses and other fees (click here).  For example, the City of Tifton offers both Opportunity Zone and Enterprise Zone incentives (click here).

Urban Redevelopment — The local government may have plans to improve streets and utilities, acquire buildings & land, and rehabilitate areas (click here). For example, the City of Union City has extensive improvement plans (click here).

Make sure your clients talk with their local economic development representatives before they add employees, buy land, expand buildings, or make other improvements. There may be some hidden but well-deserved $ assistance available.

JimSig

Help with Adding New Jobs

Filed under: Other Incentives
April 28, 2010

As the economy improves (hopefully!) and your clients start adding new jobs, they may want to utilize some beneficial “no-cost” offerings from the State of Georgia:

Work Ready. We met with Ann Sechrist, Director of Economic Development at Gwinnett Technical College. She described a no-cost service provided by the Technical College System of Georgia called Work Ready.   Companies can utilize this service to help find higher quality employees as well as get assistance with EEOC compliance. Job applicants with Work Ready certificates are pre-tested for math, reading and other core skills that companies require. Several other related services might also help your clients get Work Ready employees (click here).

Georgia Works. The Georgia Department of Labor has a program that provides companies with prospective employees at no cost for up to 6 weeks. The company and the prospective employee are be able to evaluate the best fit during this time period. For additional information about this and other related services, click here.


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