Details Found in IRS Explanation Issued Wednesday; $20,000 Figure Based on a Family of Four.   In a final regulation issued Wednesday, January 30, 2013, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) assumed that under Obamacare the cheapest health insurance plan available in 2016 for a family will cost $20,000 for the year.   Under Obamacare, Americans will be required to buy health insurance or pay a penalty to the I ...

“You’re The Boss” Author Josh Patrick Suggests Business Owners Use Credentialed Advisers Who Work Only for You, Employing Intermediaries, Developing a Personal Financial Plan, More.  Josh Patrick is a founder and principal at Stage 2 Planning Partners, where he works with private business owners on creating personal and business value.  Recently he offered some recommendations about selling a business at th ...

On Marketing Mistakes Generally, Bad Marketing Messages in Particular, Social Networking, and More Geoffrey James at Inc.com writes: "A few months ago, I traded emails with best-selling author Seth Godin on the subject of marketing inside small businesses. The more I read over the interview, the more I realize that his advice is priceless."  Here's an excerpt of the interview.  Read the whole piece for the ...

MidasFund Will Not Acquire Distressed Companies; However, it Will Buy Stable Divisions of Bankrupt Companies.  Here's Why.   "Last week’s announcement that MidasFund had started acquiring zombie companies caused a flurry of emails," writes Rob Slee on the MidasMoments blog of the MidasNation site.  "Many of you asked about the differences between acquiring distressed, zombie and healthy companies. Let’s dig ...

Jewels from Seth Godin, Harvey Mackay, Tony Robbins, Dale Carnegie, Napoleon Hill, and Others on Success, Vision, Health, and More  This set of inspirational thoughts for the new year will galvanize you into action.  "At the start of every year," writes Geoffrey James, Sales Source columnist at Inc.com, "I create a list of quotes to guide and inspire me for the next 12 months. Here are the quotes I've selec ...

Pay-for-Performance Provisions are a "Triumph of Theory Over Experience," Writes Bill Keller in "Carrots for Doctors."    "Pay for performance, or P4P in the jargon, is embraced by right and left. It has long been the favorite egghead prescription for our absurdly overpriced, underperforming health care system. The logic  . . .  If only it worked," writes former New York Times executive editor Bill Keller, ...

Six Out of 10 Small-Business Owners Buy Business Benefits of Social Media; 41% Prefer LinkedIn; Only 3% Vouch for Twitter  Not that that stopped Twitter from getting a $9B valuation this last week.   Emily Maltby and Shira Ovide report that the Wall Street Journal and Vistage International recently surveyed 835 small business owners.  Here are the results. ...

Still Fighting for its RTRP Program;  More Case Analysis and Industry Reaction Frank Byrt at Accounting Web reports what's happened in last two weeks since the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia found the IRS lacked authority to regulate independent tax preparers.  Here's more: ...

Learn Best Practices, Changes in Schedule Cs and 1120s, How to Overcome Client Price-Sensitivity, Ways to Enhance Health and Energy, & More CPA Trendlines publishes its Top 10 most-read articles on tax season so far this year.  More: ...

Discovery should focus on the technologies storing data Karl Epps explains how technology has changed in the last year, and what impact those changes have had on current and future standards for digital evidence. ...

Valuation Discounts, What the Interest Owners See, and What a Direct Owner Sees What sort of discounts apply to pass-through entities? Rand Curtiss helps clarify, looking at investment characteristics, investment profiles, and the interaction of these elements. He draws four conclusions. Find out what they are here. ...

There Are Different Standards. They Have Different Places in Various Appraisals. Here’s Why. Jim Hitchner considers various responses to the query:  “When valuing an operating company, is it necessary to mention USPAP in addition to SSVS 1 when talking about the standards adhered to?”  Good question. There were lots of answers from various valuators in a recent discussion.  Here’s Jim’s take on it all. ...

A Growing Willingness to Adopt a Largely Untested Payment Model Amid Increased Pressure to Curb Spending Melanie Evans at Modern Physician reports that two large Texas health systems with Medicare accountable care contracts are among the latest to enter into commercial ACOs in deals that suggest a growing willingness to adopt the largely untested payment model amid increasing pressure on providers and payer ...

You Can Now Follow the IRS on Twitter, Like it on Facebook, View Updates on YouTube, and Connect on LinkedIn Michael Cohn at Accounting Today reports at the Internal Revenue Service has joined the popular microblogging service Tumblr, expanding the IRS’s array of social media networks. ...

Many Physicians Find Personalized Service is Increasingly Popular Among Patients  Elizabth O'Brien at CBS Marketwatch writes that plenty of baby boomers have done the math on so-called "concierge" medicine (also known as "boutique," "personalized" or "private physician" practices)  and deemed the investment worthy. In the typical concierge experience, a primary-care doctor accepts insurance for routine serv ...

Tips Medical Professionals Can Use to Face the Public with Confidence Sue Jacques at Physicians Practice reports:  Being a skilled medical professional doesn't necessarily mean that you're comfortable speaking in public, especially when it comes to talking to a group of peers. If the mere thought of addressing even a small audience causes your knees to knock, you're not alone. This universal anxiety is prov ...

Considering Technology, Integration, and the Future Clint Boulton at the WSJ CIO Journal reports:  Research in Motion Ltd. Wednesday [tomorrow] is introducing two smartphones based on its new BlackBerry 10 operating system software, giving CIOs yet another platform to consider supporting at a time when consumers are bringing in their own smartphones to use at work. CIOs are skeptical about the uncertainty s ...

The Wall Street Journal Recounts What the IRS Advises:  Moves to Make as April Grows Near April deadlines may not be that far way,  but some Americans still haven’t even rounded up their W2s, the Wall Street Journal noted in a (just-before-deadline) filing last year.   Acknowledging the tax procrastination is a national pastime, the Internal Revenue Service issued some tips and a series of videos to help la ...

With Limited Resources, the SEC is Using a "Risk Analytics" Strategy to Target Areas of Concern, Explains Exec at Conference Recent examinations of newly SEC-registered private equity firms is helping regulators understand the complex world of private equity, according to delegates and speakers at PEI’s CFOs and COOs Forum 2013 in New York, writes Nicholas Donato at Private Equity Manager.  More: ...

Watch Out for Decreases in Communication, Respect, and Aspiration; Increases in Isolation, Negativity, Rifts.  Good News?  It Can Be Cured. Rosabeth Moss Kantor asks on the Harvard Business Review Blog Network:  How do you know a team, company, or country is on the slippery slope of decline and needs a culture shift?  She writes that she found nine universal warning signs of change-in-the-wrong direction in ...