Is your Business in a Tax Friendly State?

June 3, 2014 by

business (6)When you are a small business owner every penny counts. Every monetary decision you make affects the profitability of your business and the success of your company.  If you want to start a business or even thinking of relocating to a more business friendly state here are some options for you: South Dakota, Wyoming, Nevada, Texas, Florida, Montana, New Hampshire, Washington and Utah have no corporate taxes, individual taxes and/or sales tax.  For us in Ohio, the state is listed among one of the least tax friendly for businesses.

Read more news about this topic by following the links.

Big picture important in Kasich tax debate

As Ohio continues economic development efforts, a new study on John Kasich’s latest tax plan merits a close look.

In the economic development arms race among states, perception matters.

Right now, Texas is winning that battle. Toyota’s decision in April to relocate its North American headquarters to Plano and consolidate other operations – which will take roughly 1,600 jobs out of Erlanger – is only the most recent example.

Chevron and Apple also are putting more than 5,000 jobs in Texas, which has no personal or corporate income taxes. Goldman Sachs just hosted its annual meeting in Irving, where it employs 650 employees, and invited Texas Gov. Rick Perry to speak.

With that as a backdrop, a new study by Matrix Global Advisors on Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s latest tax plan merits a look – even as the legislature considers fast-tracking income tax cuts implemented in 2013. Kasich wants to reduce individual income tax rates by 8.5 percent over the next three years, expand Ohio’s earned income tax credit, and increase the personal exemption for low- and middle-income households.

Small business in mountain states leads nation for job gains, says IHS-Paychex report

For a third straight month, the Rocky Mountain states in May topped the nation for small-business job growth over the previous year, according to a monthly report from Colorado’s IHS Inc. and Paychex Inc.

Small-business jobs in the mountain states grew by 1.41 percent in May from a year earlier, following April’s 1.75 percent year-over-year increase and March’s 1.62 percent gain, according to the latest Paychex-IHS Small Business Jobs Index, issued Tuesday.

The region includes Colorado as well as Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.

The mountain region’s growth far outstripped the “East North Central” states (Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana and Ohio), which came in at No. 2 with 0.59 percent small-business job growth, the report said.

On the other hand, the “Middle Atlantic” states of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania saw small-business jobs drop 0.69 percent over the one-year period, the greatest decline of any U.S. region.

Seattle raises minimum wage; will others follow?

Seattle activists celebrated a successful campaign to gradually increase the city’s minimum wage to $15 by calling for a national movement to close the income and opportunity gaps between rich and poor.

The Seattle City Council unanimously passed an ordinance Monday that would give the city the highest minimum wage in the nation.

Socialist City Council Member Kshama Sawant, who after the council meeting called on the people of America to elect more independent and socialist candidates, said the push for a higher minimum wage is spreading across the nation.

“Seattle may be a hippie city. We may wear socks with our sandals,” but it’s also a city where different progressive groups can work together to bring about change, Sawant said.

The minimum wage issue has dominated politics in the liberal municipality for months, and a boisterous crowd of mostly labor activists packed the council chambers for the vote. They held signs that said “15 Now,” chanted, cheered and occasionally jeered when amendments they favored were voted down.

Filed Under: Ohio Business News Tagged With: , , , , ,

How the Ohio BWC is Hurting Small Businesses

May 28, 2014 by

business (3)News about the Bureau of Workers Compensation and the illegal practices against small business, the cost to Ohio workers and the state as a whole is nothing short of abhorrent.  How many small businesses have scraped by or gone under because of the high rates imposed by the BWC? Small business with less capital are  at the mercy of these institutions, and the rates that have been historically and inexplicably high have certainly put a burden to the small business owner. Read more about this topic by following the links below.

BWC is hurting small businesses

The Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation is hurting the majority of job creators in Ohio — the small business owner, like me. It overcharged me and Ohio’s other small business owner so it could give a few businesses, usually the larger companies, huge price breaks on their worker’s compensation coverage premiums. A court has ruled that the BWC overcharged me — to the tune of several hundred dollars a year, and the majority of other small business owners illegally. It is sitting on an $8 billion (that’s right billion with a “b”), but refuses to pay the judgment against it; even after losing the frivolous appeal it filed to try to overtune the judgment against it in favor of the small business owners it overcharged.

It’s time for the BWC to do the right thing, take responsibility, and pay the judgment against it in favor of the small business owners it overcharged. And every day the BWC refuses to honor its obligation, it is costing Ohio $2.3 million dollars a month. It’s time for the BWC to meet its responsibility to pay its obligation to the roughly 270,000 employers who struggled to pay the Bureau’s illegally inflated premiums when paid and who continue to thwart the same roughly 270,000 employers from investing on the future of Ohio’s economic comeback.

Ohio Senate approves bill to expand income, business tax cuts

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio Senate on Wednesday approved one-year expansions of state income and small-business tax cuts, as well as raising tax credits and exemptions for poorer Ohioans.

The Republican-sponsored measures in House Bill 483, which passed the Senate, 24-8, come as a result of higher revenues and lower state spending than expected.

Under the revised budget review bill, a 9-percent income tax cut previously approved for this year would be increased to a 10-percent cut. The move would save taxpayers an additional $94 million this year, according to state Sen. Scott Oelslager, a North Canton Republican.

Another change would give businesses making $250,000 or less a 75-percent business tax deduction for 2014, up from a 50-percent deduction in current law. That would mean $225 million in savings, Oelslager said.

System works against small businesses

For many years, the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation has favored some businesses and charged more for others (“Appeals court: Ohio businesses were overbilled,” Dispatch article, May 17). This ends up making the small mom-and-pop shops that employ many Ohioans the bearers of undue burdens.
Many of us go out of business due to these unfair practices.

The Bureau of Workers’ Compensation has lost its case in court, and again lost its appeal. It’s time for Ohio small businesses to get what is lawfully theirs.

We are Ohio. The bureau is here to serve us, not themselves.

JOHN ANDERSON
President/CEO
Anderson Computer Consulting
Marion

Regulators close small lender in Ohio

WASHINGTON — Regulators have closed a small lender in Ohio, marking the eighth U.S. bank failure of 2014 after 24 closures last year.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said Friday that it has taken over Cincinnati-based Columbia Savings Bank.
The lender, which operated a single branch, had about $36.5 million in assets and $29.5 million in deposits as of March 31.
United Fidelity Bank, based in Evansville, Indiana, has agreed to assume Columbia Savings’ deposits and to buy essentially all of the failed bank’s assets. Columbia Savings’ failure is expected to cost the deposit insurance fund $5.3 million.
U.S. bank failures have been declining since they peaked in 2010 in the wake of the financial crisis and the Great Recession.
Only three banks went under in 2007. That jumped to 25 in 2008, after the financial meltdown, and ballooned to 140 in 2009.
In 2010, regulators seized 157 banks, the most in any year since the savings and loan crisis two decades ago. The FDIC has said 2010 likely was the high-water mark for bank failures from the recession. They declined to 92 in 2011 and fell to 51 in 2012.

Filed Under: Ohio Business News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Are You In The Right State To Start A Business?

May 20, 2014 by

business (8)The small business sector has been for many years an employment power in the United States, it accounts for more than half the jobs generated in this country since 1995. There are approximately more than half a million businesses generated each month and although of those businesses only 7 out 10 will make it past the 2 year mark, the entrepreneurial spirit of Americans is well deserved. The question now to ask is whether you are in the right state to start a business, or you need to think about the pros and cons of starting your business where you are.
Read more about this topic by following the links above.

Here’s where Ohio ranks on small business friendliness

A national small business advocacy group says Ohio ranks among the top 10 for its tax code’s friendliness toward business.

The anti-tax Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council ranks Ohio No. 8 for its tax system’s overall friendliness toward small business. Ohio’s neighbors, Indiana and Kentucky, ranked 11 and 32, respectively.

The “Small Business Tax Index 2014” looked at 21 different measures to determine a state’s tax friendliness. Those include the top personal and corporate income tax rates, top capital gains and dividends tax rates, property taxes, additional taxes on S-Corporations, unemployment taxes, and whether a state has a death tax.

“When it comes to state and local taxes – as well as levies at the federal level – the direction that policy should be pointed is clear. Keep the overall tax burden low. Preferably, do no [sic] tax income at all,” the group writes in its report.

Dayton No. 66 among best cities for small business

Dayton trumps Detroit, Las Vegas, Birmingham and many others when it comes to the best city to work for a small business.

The Miami Valley ranks No. 66 in the U.S. for small businesses, according to a new ranking from Wallethub.

Cities were evaluated by several metrics, including the number of businesses with fewer than 250 employees per 1,000 inhabitants, industry variety, net small business job growth, average monthly earnings for new hires and average number of hours worked.

Columbus was the top-ranked Ohio city at No. 23.

The top city on the list was Minneapolis, followed by Salt Lake City and Miami.

Stockton, Calif. ranked last.

NBC4 Investigates: Why Does Ohio Owe Businesses $1 Billion?

COLUMBUS, Ohio – As Ohio’s economy begins to recover, the state is clearly focused on jobs, and numbers show some growth, but did the state actually harm more businesses in the past?
An NBC4 investigation reveals how one state agency allegedly crushed thousands of small businesses.

While the jobs picture in Ohio is rebounding, a huge shadow is being cast by the past – and the bureaucracy in the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC).

Small businesses can’t operate without worker’s comp insurance, and in Ohio, they can only get that from BWC.

Unlike other states that carry private insurance, Ohio’s BWC is a monopoly.

In 2006, Ron Foreman owned a successful contracting company, which used to be located near downtown Ashville, and employed 40 people.

Freeman’s family, including his two sons at West Point, was prospering. His small business was a model of what state leaders say they want in Ohio.

Filed Under: Ohio Business News Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

The Benefits Of Having A Virtual Team

May 13, 2014 by

business (2)The integrated workforce experience page at Cisco tells us that the company sales force consists of 20,000 people in 87 countries, and keeping abreast of the new products, solutions and architectures is a critical task.  Although your company may have a smaller workforce than Cisco, the challenges and rewards of having a virtual workforce is indubitable.  Keeping your team engaged and collaborating with other team members may not be as easy as you would think.  The challenges of keeping your team members offering great customer service (if you are a service company) may not be easy to track if you do not have a good system in place. Training and engaging your virtual team is a must for your business and the rewards you can achieve with them can be beneficial for all parties.

Building an All-Star Virtual Team

Employers and managers are often skeptical when it comes to hiring virtual workers.

To build a virtual team of employees, trust and confidence factor into the hiring process. Indeed, some employers never meet candidates in person. Yet that employee is involved with building a company’s success; no wonder some managers are nervous when it comes to hiring virtual workers.

Apprehensive about hiring telecommuters? Consider current trends about virtual work environments: According to Forrester, nearly 34 million Americans are working from home and telecommuting is expected to rise 43 percent in the United States by 2016.

Virtual teams allow an employer to tap into some of the best talent available because recruiting is not restricted by geography. By opening up positions to candidates across the world, companies such as Upworthy, Buffer and Mozilla have experienced success with virtual teams, finding individuals who are truly passionate about what they do.

Smells like team spirit

A virtual workforce opens up access to a global talent pool, but needs special attention and a personal touch to build trust among members spread across geographies

The website that you use for online shopping or the aircraft that takes you places have most likely been built through the collaborative effort of teams dispersed across continents. Organizations are increasingly turning global to take advantage of diverse talent, achieve operational and cost effectiveness, and inculcate the ability to respond to market demands with swiftness to be able to thrive in a highly competitive environment.

Virtual teams are the order of the day and, this, of course, has been facilitated by the rapid advancement of technology which has helped transcend distance, time zones, cultures and organizational boundaries. Virtual teams embody a distinctive shade of group dynamics, along with their concomitant set of unique challenges. There are umpteen examples of teams that have outshone their collocated counterparts in terms of productivity and effectiveness, but there are plenty that have shrivelled and fallen apart. So what makes a virtual team tick?

Managing & Achieving Goals with a Virtual Team

Managing one or two remote workers can be difficult enough–never mind an entire team of virtual employees! Whether it’s for a short period of time or a long-term work situation, virtual teams are becoming a more common occurrence in the modern workplace. There are many benefits for both the team members and the employer, such as less time spent traveling to meetings and a reduced commute for employees. However, virtual work needs to be monitored closely to ensure quality and productivity. There are a number of available tools that make this task much easier.

1.  UberConference: UberConference is a hit among virtual workers and those who manage them. The rich interface is actually quite easy to use, and provides virtual workers with a number of tools and resources they need to easily complete a remote work assignment. This is a good option for those who need to participate in remote conference calls, as it allows workers to easily connect to and chat with others.

Filed Under: Ohio Business News Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

What Does Your Small Business Need?

April 30, 2014 by

business (8)It takes a different kind of person than the average Joe to start a business.  The demands and challenges a small business or a startup have are numerous, and the rewards sometimes are not as glorious as one imagined.  Small businesses in the state of Ohio in 2008 totaled 902,369 according to the SBA, and although there has been a shift in employment by the small business sector, the improvement in the economy will surely have a good impact in job creation in the state of Ohio.

Read more business news by following the links below.

Legal-Ease: Small business needs team of advisers

An owner’s intelligence or work ethic is not always dispositive of a small business’s (including a farm’s) success.

In fact, the “advisory team” for a small business can disproportionately affect that business’s success or failure. That advisory team consists of more than the attorney. There are five crucial “partners” for each entrepreneur: attorney, accountant, insurance agent, lender and financial adviser.

A good attorney will help a small business owner minimize liability and make the business practically workable. Very few attorneys can lawfully claim they are specialists because there are limited subject matters for which there is lawful certification as a legal “specialist.” However, some attorneys limit their practices to specified aspects of the law or have deeper passions for certain subject matters over others.

Ignore that Accounting Problem — At Your Own Risk

Show me an entrepreneur who says they’ve never encountered an accounting problem and I’ll show you a liar. That may sound a bit extreme, but the point is simple: from a lost invoice to overlooked write-offs to something perhaps more nerve-wracking (audit, anyone?), perfection in accounting is pretty much a myth. And that’s OK.

But just because perfection is a myth, it doesn’t mean that as you discover an accounting issue, you can shrug it off and chalk it up to the imperfect nature of the universe. Why not, you ask? Because accounting issues are like wounds: untreated, they fester. And they can get nasty — quickly.

Let’s say you do some car detailing and repair out of your garage. It’s a side gig — sort of. You quote jobs verbally and “invoice” the same. After all, you’ve only done work for friends and neighbors, although you have started gaining a few referrals to folks you didn’t previously know. When you collect payment, you prefer cash, but will take a check and deposit it into your personal checking account. You’re now pulling in a nice chunk of change each month from your “side gig.”

The 6 People Every Startup Needs

There’s no magic bullet for startup success, but your team can often make-or-break it, says entrepreneur Bernd Schoner.

Schoner, who has a Ph.D. from MIT and was co-founder of RFID technologies startup ThingMagic, sold his company to Trimble Navigation in 2010 for an undisclosed sum.

ThingMagic had an original team of five co-founders. But by the time the company was acquired, Schoner says only two were remaining – leading him to think more closely about team dynamics.

“There are certain roles that people assume in a typical tech company or startup that make sense and I think if you are careful about that, then your odds of success go up,” says Schoner. He is author of the upcoming book: ‘The Tech Entrepreneur’s Survival Guide.”

While some companies start out with just one or two employees, Schoner says there are six key personality types he believes make for a great team. Here is the recipe for his dream lineup:

No. 1: The prima donna genius
“I think it’s commonly accepted in a tech startup that you better have someone with technical knowledge,” says Schoner. “You want to have someone be able to lead the technical agenda of the team.”

No. 2: The leader
Typically the CEO, Schoner says it’s important to have one person calling the shots.

“For larger founder teams … It can get very tricky if there are five opinions and all have equal weight. Democracy is great, but not in a startup,” says Choner. “The leader or CEO doesn’t always need to be right, but if [he or she] is a leader figure that others can look up to, then that’s a good thing.”

Filed Under: Ohio Business News Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Small Business Lending And Other News

April 17, 2014 by

business (6)According to the United States Small business Administration $3.5 billion were invested in small businesses in 2013 alone.  Although the Small Business Administration does not provide the investment directly to businesses, it partners with private investors that manage the funds that finance small businesses.  One of the banks that is leading the way in providing loans to small businesses in Ohio is Huntington National Bank, with a 46% increase from last year.  For this and other news follow the links below for more information.

Huntington Bank on track to become nation’s largest small-business lender, but profits dip in first quarter

CLEVELAND, Ohio — After several years at No. 3, Huntington Bank is on track to become the No. 1 small-business lender in the United States.

Through the first six months of the federal fiscal year, Huntington has the greatest number of SBA loans. This is especially interesting because Huntington is the nation’s 33rd largest bank by assets and it does SBA loans only in the six states where it has branches: Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Indiana, West Virginia and Kentucky.

Huntington has catapulted to No. 1 because its SBA lending has increased by about 20 percent, while lending at other banks has fallen, Craig Street, head of SBA lending for Huntington, said in an interview.

In the Cleveland district, Huntington’s lending has soared even more, with a 46 percent boost. Huntington made 396 loans for $38.2 million in the six months ending March 31, 2013, and 580 loans for $54.7 million for the six months ending March 31, 2014.

Small Business Administration, AARP can help business owners older than 50

Are you older than 50 and looking for your next career? New research shows that one in four people ages 44 to 70 are interested in starting their own business or nonprofit in the next five to 10 years.

Did you know you aren’t alone? There are 76 million people older than 50 in the United States. That’s why the U.S. Small Business Administration and AARP are teaming up in April to host National Encore Entrepreneur Mentor Month.

Together we will provide events to help connect encore entrepreneurs with mentors, such as those from SBA’s network of Small Business Development Centers, Women’s Business Centers, and SCORE chapters who can help with strategies to grow an entrepreneur’s business.

We know that kind of training can be critical for the success of a small business. It can help folks bring their experience, knowledge and skills to a new venture, and that can create exciting new opportunities and jobs.

BigCommerce Increases Reach Into Small Business Commerce

BigCommerce is known for the big brands that are using it to get eCommerce sites up and running quickly. Clients include Gibson Guitar, YETI Coolers and many others.

But the company says that BigCommerce isn’t exclusively for major national brands. Small businesses can and should be taking advantage of what the eCommerce platform can offer.

In an interview with Small Business Trends, BigCommerce CPO Westley Stringfellow said:

“The reality is BigCommerce is built for business, large or small. Our vision is to power small business. Our role is to amplify the merchant.”

If your business is in the market for an eCommerce platform, BigCommerce appears to be a powerful option to consider. Having your own store online can help you to build your brand and break free from other services like eBay or Amazon.

Stringfellow says:

“It’s very clear that as we grow, merchants want to have their own presence. They want to grow their brand. It’s hard to do that on eBay.”

BigCommerce users have access to dozens of store design templates, many of them free, as well as hundreds of apps to help you manage your store. Many of these apps are also free.

Filed Under: Ohio Business News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

How To Keep Score For Your Business

April 10, 2014 by

business (4)Many small businesses – and small teams in large ones – work hard without working smart. More effort is exerted than necessary and the results are that the business is less efficient.

So how do we work smarter and more efficiently?

The answer to this is dashboarding. A dashboard is a tool many newer businesses are using as a means of charting the work they do and projecting future outcomes where applicable, such as in sales and the green energy sector.

Among the common programs to create a dashboard are Microsoft Excel and the Numbers app.

How to Create a Dashboard

Using a spreadsheet, the top rows should title the tab. Below that, the columns for important data need to be input. The rows on the left hand side that run from top to bottom will note the project, customer, or prospect.

Using a Dashboard to Track Sales

For sales professionals, the dashboard not only helps you stay on track, but also enhances your progress and increases your income. When you dashboard, you’ll not only have your customers’ information in one place, but you’ll also note important information such as:

  • When you called last
  • When you’ll call next
  • The reason for calling
  • Notable information

Additionally, many sales people like to note how many “points of contact” they’ve made so as to track just how many times they have to call someone to make a sale.

Secure Your Future With a Dashboard

David Katz was an intern with a green energy company in New York City when he was preparing to graduate from Columbia University. The position was only meant to last the summer, but during that time, Mr. Katz did a complete overhaul of the company’s energy measurement and billing methods via dashboard.

When the summer ended, the dashboard was deemed too valuable to lose, as was its master. Mr. Katz is now one of the top players at this company that may go public in the next five years.

If this wasn’t enough, the dashboard also added to the young man’s legacy. Those in his circle have replicated his actions and dubbed the process he enacted as “pulling a Katz!”

Filed Under: coaching Tagged With: , , , , ,

Taxes, Penalties And Your Business

April 9, 2014 by

business (9)The cost of starting a new business depends on the business model or the industry you are entering. A home based, consulting home business or free lance is much cheaper that opening offices some place, and buying office furniture, installing new phones, electric, insurance, etc. The cost of starting a home based business could be only a few thousand dollars, compared to the figures of the small business administration a few years back that estimated the opening of a new business as $30,000.  The cost associated with opening and running a small business is high, but there are many expenses that you may be able to postpone or even get by without worrying too much about it.  One of the expenses that you can absolutely not postpone is getting an accountant that will take care of the taxes and government filings your business needs to do to avoid penalties that you could incur otherwise.

Read more about this topic by following the links below.

Small Business Owners Have a $4.5 Billion Payroll Tax Problem

Every month, employers across the U.S. send money to the IRS to cover payroll taxes—levies drawn from employee pay to cover Social Security, Medicare, and unemployment insurance. Many botch the process. The IRS issued 6.8 million penalties totaling $4.5 billion related to these employment taxes for the year ending last September, according to recently published data from the IRS (PDF).

Those numbers are down from 2009, when the IRS issued 7.9 million penalties for $7.1 billion. The government doesn’t say what share of the fines were handed out to small businesses, but large employers are generally better equipped to stay current on ever-changing tax rules.

Why are businesses incurring enough in annual penalties to pay for a new Navy destroyer?

As companies get bigger or smaller and hire different types of employees, the rules they must follow can shift. Tax collectors often change rules on their own accord, meaning a business that paid payroll taxes on a monthly basis one year might be expected to pay every two weeks in the next. “There are so many little rules for a small business owner to stay on top of,” says David McKelvey, a New York-based partner at accounting firm Friedman.

McKelvey advises his clients, which generally have at least $1 million in annual sales, to outsource payroll services. Companies such as ADP (ADP) and Paychex (PAYX), to name two of the largest payroll firms, have the resources to stay current on tax rules and in many cases will guarantee customers against payment of IRS penalties, McKelvey says.

Small Businesses in Limbo Again on Tax Breaks

Small businesses are in limbo as they wait for Congress to make decisions that could save them a lot of money.

Bills in Congress would extend tax deductions widely used by small businesses making equipment or property purchases. One, known as the Section 179 deduction, has shrunk to a maximum $25,000 this year from $500,000 in 2013. Another, called bonus depreciation, expired at the end of last year.

The deductions are a big deal for small companies, saving them thousands or even millions of dollars on capital investments. But because Congress decides every year how big the deductions will be, owners can’t plan their equipment budgets until lawmakers vote. And in recent years, worried about the ballooning federal deficit, Congress has put off those votes, sometimes until late in the year.

The annual uncertainty hurts small businesses looking for a break when their combined federal and state tax rates run as high as 40 percent, says Doug Bekker, a certified public accountant with the firm BDO in Grand Rapids, Mich. They don’t know if they should make the purchase in the current year or defer it. And as the economy gets stronger and businesses are more profitable, they’re concerned about tax bills.

“If you talk to the typical small business out there, there’s a very high level of frustration,” Bekker says.

It’s getting cheaper to buy a small business in Baltimore

The cost of buying a small business in Baltimore has dropped by more than 11 percent during the last year, according to BizBuySell.com.

The website reports that the median asking price of  businesses for sale in Baltimore is $255,000, a $33,000 decline (11.6 percent) from the end of the first quarter in 2013.

Meanwhile, small businesses are generating more revenue than they were a year ago. BizBuySell reports business had median revenue of $496,654 during the first quarter, up from $480,000 during the first quarter last year.

BizBuySell compiled its numbers based on listing data from 248 businesses.

Filed Under: Ohio Business News Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Taxes, Hiring And The Minimun Wage In Ohio

April 5, 2014 by

business (7)It is the tax season and talk about taxes, penalties, tax cuts, minimum wage and hiring are the talk of the town.  For everyone that is still procrastinating about doing their taxes, I just want to remind you you ONLY have 10 DAYS left.   If you are not ready nor will be ready in ten days time, it is probably wise for you to file and extension to file later and avoid those pesky penalties the IRS will impose on you. For more news about what is happening in Ohio please follow the links below.

Push for $10.10 minimum wage would create winners, losers in Ohio

Amy Zickefoose’s husband works long, difficult hours with machines in Tennessee, hundreds of miles from their Mansfield home . For this dangerous work, he receives $11 an hour.

State and federal politicians have proposed raising the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour by 2016, but Zickefoose said fast-food employees shouldn’t be paid that much.

“I definitely don’t feel (they) should make almost as much as my husband,” said, Zickefoose, adding that she doesn’t believe an increase would help her family . “I know his boss wouldn’t give him another dollar.”

An increase in the minimum wage, which is $7.95 an hour in Ohio, would mean layoffs and potentially higher food prices, but also better-paid workers and potentially lower costs for social services. Whether that sounds like a great or horrible idea depends largely on where you fit into the workforce.

“From the employees’ perspective, a wage increase is always appreciated,” said Randy Davies, president and CEO of the Chillicothe-Ross Chamber of Commerce. “There are many aspects a small business owner  would have to adjust.”

The Congressional Budget Office estimated 500,000 workers, or 0.3 percent of the American workforce, would lose their jobs by 2016 if Congress raised the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. However, another 16.5 million would see their wage increase, the report stated.

Faber: Tax cuts, regulatory reform has Ohio going in the ‘right direction’

LIMA — The leader of the state Senate claims Ohio is moving in the right direction, but that is not good enough and more work needs to be done.

Before Republican Gov. John Kasich took office, the state was losing 100,000 jobs per year for several years, Senate President Keith Faber, R-Celina, said. In the last three years, the state has seen private enterprise create 238,000 jobs, including 300 jobs at Ford Motor Co. Lima Engine Plant.

Under former Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland, Faber pointed out the state’s “rainy day” fund dropped to 89 cents and Kasich inherited a state budget that was $8.5 billion in debt. Today, the “rainy day” fund is approaching $1.5 billion and the budget is balanced.

“We are going in the right direction now,” Faber told about 100 people Friday during the Allen County Republican Party luncheon at the Elks. “Ohio is doing better, we are doing better, but better is still not good enough, because if we sit on our laurels than we should expect to go back to the bad old days of 2010, and 2009 and 2008.”

Survey: Ohio business owners hold off on hiring

More Ohio small and mid-size business owners are expecting higher sales and profits over the next six months compared to a year ago, according to new survey results released today by The PNC Financial Services Group Inc.

PNC Bank, Ohio’s fourth largest bank by deposits held, surveys business owners and customers twice a year, gauging sentiments about the economy.

On a less-positive note, the same Ohio business owners told PNC that even though business looks to be improving, it doesn’t mean they plan to hire more people.

“Ohio business owners are still very guarded,” said Mekael Teshome, PNC economist.

The outlook has brightened across the local, national and global economies, Teshome said. For example, six months ago the U.S. government was shutdown.

But small Ohio business owners — who do the majority of the hiring — are looking for more goods news before they risk the investment.

“I see this as indicating businesses are pretty much playing defense. There has been some volatility in Ohio’s economy. We hit a bit of a speed bump in the fourth quarter” from declines in government employment, Teshome said.

“I think that speed bump had something to do with firms taken a more precautionary approach,” he said.

“The other reason I think is the manufacturing rebound is really approaching a more mature, more advanced stage. I think there will be continued improvement in this sector, but not of the same magnitude we saw in 2012,” he said.

Filed Under: Ohio Business News Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

How To Spot Problem Employees Before Hiring Them

April 3, 2014 by

business (7)How to Spot Problem Employees Before Hiring Them

The whole hiring process requires careful thought and consideration. If an employer is not careful there are many things that can be overlooked in finding great employees. Upon viewing a prospect, the employer should view the initial application carefully to see if there is anything there that appears to be misleading or false. References and past employers should carefully be checked by giving them a call and asking a few unexpected questions and making certain that the past employer has a legitimate company. The past employer can be researched to see if they really exist.

If the application looks impressive, the next phase would be to give the person a call and let them know that their application was received and ask them why they feel they would be a good prospect for the job. It would be a good idea to tell them about the main job duties and ask them if they have experience in those areas. If the applicant is able to answer the questions in a convincing manner then this would be a great time to schedule an interview. If the person does not sound convincing they could be told that that there still needs to be time to view their application. This would be the perfect time to send them an email and thank them for their application and let them know why it was denied.

The interview is the final draw. First impressions mean everything. The applicant should be dressed for success suitable for the interview. Does the employer really express that they are interested in the company or in just getting paid to do a job? Some concerns may be health related problems that may cause this person not to be able to perform well on the job. The applicant should be able to work the hours needed and be able to be to work on time. Does the applicant answer in a way that he or she comprehends the questions asked? Does he or she communicate well and present themselves professionally? The answers to these questions could be red flags that help spot problem employees.

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