Last Month’s Fiscal Cliff Legislation Included Lots of Tax Provisions. But Not Just for Individuals — There Are Tax-Saving Breaks for Businesses Too.  Here’s What You Need to Know. Bill Bischoff at The Wall Street Journal Small Business Blog reports that last month's fiscal cliff legislation included some important tax breaks for individuals; a longer version of his article appears at MarketWatch.  Here's t ...

Fed Buying Is Having Profound Implications. Bond Vigilantes Have Been Selling Heavily and May Continue. That Means We Still We Won't See Much of an Impact on Interest Rates. Paul Santos at Seeking Alpha claims you don't need to worry about the bond vigilantes anymore.  I, personally, have always been a big fan, and think they will return.  But hey: This is Mr. Santos' opinion piece, not mine, so I'll let hi ...

A Valuation Principal Takes Issue With Revenue Ruling 59-60:  "Does Analysis of Macroeconomic Conditions Add Credibility to My Opinion of  Privately Owned Company Value In My Region?" Rick Warner, ASA, AVA, Principal, Great Lakes Valuations writes that "Most of us as appraisers are familiar with Revenue Ruling 59-60 and its prescription for factors to be considered as part of the valuation of the stock of c ...

Deal Activity Will Likely See a Surge in 2013 if a Meaningful Deficit-Reduction Compromise Can Be Reached  Wallace Witkowski at Marketwatch reported in mid-December that deal activity will likely see a surge in 2013 if a meaningful deficit-reduction compromise can be reached.  Otherwise the market will remain stunted as it was in the past year.   Democrats and Republicans didn't come to a full agreement by ...

U.S. Middle Market Leaders Express Preferences re: Spending, Debt, and Fiscal Cliff  The National Center for the Middle Market (NCMM) recently (early December 2012) conducted a survey of 1,000 U.S. middle market business leaders across all industry sectors and geographic regions to gauge their preferences for the outcome of the negotiations.  Here's what they found:   ...

Beyond The Fiscal Cliff:  Details to Act On Gail Perry at Accounting Web introduces a set of articles on the effect of the "fiscal cliff." A first article – New Tax Law Emerges Beyond the Fiscal Cliff – provides an overview of the key tax provisions that will affect your individual and business clients. It's followed by coverage of how the new law will impact federal estate, gift, and generation-skipping ta ...

Extra Help for Puerto Rican Rum, Asparagus Farmers,  Hollywood TV Production, 2-3 Wheeled Electric Vehicles, and Diesel Fuel Joe Weisenthal at Business Insider  gives us the lowdown:  ...

Intent:  Not to Constrain Economic Growth Which Could Lead to Future Revenues David Lawder and Kim Dixon report that The Congressional Budget Office on Tuesday said Senate-passed legislation to avert the "fiscal cliff" would add nearly $4 trillion to federal deficits over a decade, largely because it would extend low tax rates for almost all Americans. ...

Economic Recovery, Intensified Competition, Squeezed Profit Margins, Upward Pressure on Salaries, Downward Pressure on Rates, and a Rush to the Cloud   Rick Telberg counts up the list of the top 20 most-clicked articles at CPA Trendlines provides a roadmap to the profession’s anxieties, aspirations and, just maybe, a glimpse into what 2013 holds: ...

There's good news and bad news.  Here's the low-down.   Dean Zerbe offers his take at Forbes on how the current deal will affect small-business owners: ...

Ambitious plans to overhaul the individual tax code, tackle corporate rates, revamp the Medicare program and consider changes in Social Security appear to have given way mainly to a tax increases for big earners Jennifer Steinhauer of the New York Times reports that "doing business in pieces" seems to be :the nature of what constitutes progress in such a sharply divided political world."  More: ...

Star Wars Creator Strikes Savvy Deal with Disney Quentin Fottrell at CBS MarketWatch reports that Disney will buy George Lucas' LucasFilm for $4.05 billion in cash and stock, the two companies announced Tuesday: Wade Westhoff, a financial adviser based in Danville, Calif., says of the Disney deal. “This is a textbook example of exit planning for a private business owner.” (Lucas and a spokesman for LucasFil ...

The U.S. likely will fall back into recession if scheduled spending cuts take effect and Bush-era tax cuts are allowed to expire this year, the Congressional Budget Office said. If the U.S. falls off this "fiscal cliff," the economy will probably contract 1.3% in the first half of 2013, the CBO said.  CNN Financial Times / Alphaville New York Times NPR Reuters USA Today Wall Street Journal Yahoo! Finance ...