3 Ways to Earn PR for Your Tax Business

In the world of digital marketing, there are three types of content (or medias): earned media, paid media, and owned media. Earned media is press (PR). When you get a mention or article written about you (without paying for it), that’s earned media. Paid media is content about you that you paid for like advertisements, advertorials, social media ads, or influencers you paid to write about you. Owned media is all of the content you create for your business like your blog, website, and social media.

Owned media costs time and labor to produce; 

Paid media costs a significant amount of money (and some time) to buy;

Earned media costs nothing but takes a little effort.

While these three types of media are all necessary, earned media generally has the most impact. So how do you get it? We were recently featured in the Richmond Times Dispatch, our hometown’s major news source, and thought why not share our tricks and tips with other business owners? Getting earned media is easier said than done but there are some things you can do to position your business for it. Here are three ways to earn PR for your tax business.

Build relationships

PR is more about building relationships than it is about writing press releases. Want to earn some PR? Get to know the journalists who write about business and taxes locally. Research local newspapers, news stations, and new sites that cover your industry (or business in general) and find emails for the journalists assigned to those beats. Send them an email introducing yourself and your business and let them know you’d be happy to be a resource.

It’s the first step to building that relationship. When the Richmond Times Dispatch or Accounting Today need someone for a quote or insight into a particular topic, we are top of the list because we have good relationships within those organizations and have proven to be knowledgeable. That’s the type of relationship you need to foster.

Reach out

Don’t sit back and wait for someone to contact you. Send press releases and reach out with information that would be interesting to readers. Our most recent article was a result of a press release we sent out about the new book, Guide to Start and Grow Your Successful Tax Business. We also regularly send blogs and information to journalists that might help them with a story or give them an idea for a story based on what we see as important information. The tax law changes that will affect business owners and taxpayers are a great example.

We also tag journalists on Facebook and Twitter when we post blogs that might be of interest to them.

Keep them updated

Did you do something newsworthy like publish a book or partner with a charity? Are you hosting a seminar or event? Do you have a quirky promotion going on? Write up a press release with all of the relevant information and send it out to your list of contacts.

You won’t always get a bite but it’s worth a shot and another way to keep building that relationship. Here’s a link to the article written about us recently – a great story about the beginnings of The Income Tax School:

Trade Names: Peoples Income Tax and The Income Tax School are filling niches in the tax business industry

 

source https://www.theincometaxschool.com/blog/pr-tips-tax-pros/

State tax ties to federal tax laws, from shared deadlines, income designations, deductions and more

Tax Day 2018 is almost here. This mid-April deadline, which falls on April 17 this year due to the Emancipation Day federal holiday in Washington, D.C., means that millions of us are in the midst of finishing up our federal tax returns.

Many filers also are doing double tax duty right now. That's because they live in a state that taxes some portion of income.

And most of those income tax collecting states follow the IRS filing calendar.

That means the states' deadlines this year also are April 17.

No, some or all state taxable income: Here in Texas, the hubby and I don't have to worry about fling a state return. The Lone Star State is one of seven that has no individual income tax at all.

Joining my native Texas in not taxing income are Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Washington and Wyoming.

The other 43 states and Washington, D.C., however, tax at least some portion of residents' earnings.

If you live in New Hampshire or Tennessee, you only have to report interest and dividend income. And in the Volunteer State, the tax on these unearned income types is being phased out. In 2022, Tennessee will become the eighth state without any income tax at all.

But if you call elsewhere home, state and federal tax time is bearing down!

Most on IRS filing schedule: As noted earlier, the deadline for most of these 44 tax-collecting states (and some more-local jurisdictions) is mid-April each year, just like the IRS due date. When the 15th falls on a weekend or federal holiday, it moves to the next business day.

So this year, folks in the following states will have to file their state tax return forms by April 17 or get an extension.

I'm talking to all you money-making residents of:

Alabama	Indiana	Montana	Oregon
Arizona	Kansas	Nebraska	Pennsylvania
Arkansas	Kentucky	New Hampshire	Rhode Island
California	Maine	New Jersey	South Carolina
Colorado	Maryland	New Mexico	Tennessee
Connecticut	Massachusetts	New York	Utah
District of Columbia	Michigan	North Carolina	Vermont
Georgia	Minnesota	North Dakota	West Virginia
Idaho	Mississippi	Ohio	Wisconsin
Illinois	Missouri	Oklahoma

Going their own way: I know. We're all a bit obsessive/compulsive in tax season, so you counted the states plus D.C. above and it comes to only 39 jurisdictions.

That's because taxpayers in five states get a few more days to file their state returns.

The states that don't follow the IRS calendar, listed in order of their nonconforming tax due dates, are:

• Hawaii, April 20
• Delaware, April 30
• Iowa, April 30
• Virginia, May 1
• Louisiana, May 15

The delay in the usual April deadline doesn't give you filers much more time, especially if you live in Hawaii, but every extra day helps.

State tax law changes, too: Most state taxes also are connected to federal returns beyond the deadlines.

States tend to conform in most cases with the Internal Revenue Code. That's why they tend to tell you to finish your federal filing before you start working on your state tax paperwork.

That's also why as soon as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) was signed into law, these states' lawmakers began analyzing the federal tax changes' possible implications to their revenues. Many state legislatures are now in the midst of determining which state tax laws they want to tweak (or more) to conform to the new federal law.

Money, of course, will be the main driver of any state tax revisions.

"Changes to federal tax rates have no bearing on state tax rates, but changes in federal taxable income, adjusted gross income, exemptions and deductions will impact state taxable income – and therefore, state revenues – depending on how a state's tax laws conform to the federal tax code," noted John Hicks, executive director of the National Association of State Budget Officers, in a December 2017 post on his organization's blog.

In a follow-up post a few weeks later, Hicks detailed the varying considerations that state lawmakers must take into account in connection with the TCJA changes. They include:

• Six states (Colorado, Idaho, Minnesota, North Dakota, Oregon-which uses its own standard deduction and personal exemption, and South Carolina) use federal taxable income as a starting point for their state taxable income calculations, with some state-specific income additions and subtractions.
• Thirty states use federal adjusted gross income (AGI) or federal gross income as a starting point for their state taxable income calculations, with many state-specific income additions and subtractions.
• Eight states use the federal personal exemption (five of the six states that tie to federal taxable income, mentioned above, plus Maine, New Mexico, and Utah). That's an issue now that the federal exemption, starting in 2018 and through 2025, is no longer available.
• Eight states use the federal standard deduction as their state standard deduction (Colorado, Idaho, Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Carolina, and Utah). Again, this must be considered since the new federal tax law nearly doubles the standard deduction amounts.

No surprises this year, but issues in 2019: Filing your 2017 state return shouldn't pose any major surprises this filing season. You just need to buckle down and take care of that task ASAP if you haven't already. 

But be prepared for next year. The new federal tax laws mean that millions of state taxpayers will likely see changes on their state returns when tax filing season 2019 arrives.

I'll follow-up on major state tax changes, both related to the federal tax code or independent of what happens in Washington, D.C., here on the ol' blog.

You also can check with your state tax department for details on 2018's tax duties and what at to expect next year.

You also might find these items of interest:

• SCOTUS' online state sales tax ruling might not be the final word
• Arizona and Georgia consider accepting bitcoin as payment for state taxes
• Federal tax bill's $10,000 deduction cap includes state and local income and sales taxes

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source http://www.dontmesswithtaxes.com/2018/04/state-tax-ties-to-federal-tax-laws-from-shared-deadlines-income-designations-deductions-and-more.html

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Drug Ad Deductions and Tax Policy - S. 2478

S. 2478 (115th Congress), End Taxpayer Subsidies for Drug Ads Act, caught my attention for a few reasons. First, I'm always surprised at the number of television and multi-page magazine articles on various drugs. I don't think the drug companies are solely trying to reach doctors who could actually prescribe these drugs as there are less expensive and more direct ways to reach that audience. So, apparently, they are trying to convince viewers that they might need one of these drugs and they should ask their doctor.  It seems very puzzling to me.

S. 2478 would add IRC Section 280I, to provide that "no deduction shall be allowed for expenses relating to direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs." It also defines this term.

Senator McGaskill (D-MO), sponsor of S. 2478, says that in 2015, drug companies deducted $6 billion for these ads. She is concerned that consumers suffer via increased cost of the drugs and the public's subsidy of the advertising. Per McGaskill, the drug companies "are surfing off taxpayer dollars to push prescription drugs." She also suggests that some drug companies spend more on marketing than on R&D. In addition, she notes that this bill does not prohibit the ads, it just removes the taxpayer subsidy for them via the tax deduction.  [3/1/18 press release]

Is this good tax policy? Consider the following:

Equity - Are similarly situated taxpayers treated similarly? Well, drug companies are treated similarly. But other companies can still get a deduction for their ads despite the public's subsidy for them.

Simplicity - Generally, special rules add complexity to the law because it isn't usually easy to define the exception. For example, what about an ad that is primarily informing us about an illness or disease and with less magazine space or television time, telling us about the drug?

Neutrality - Tax systems are for raising revenue for government operations, not for affecting our decisions. S. 2478 seems aimed at encouraging drug companies to decide to devote less dollars on advertising. That won't mean they spend it on R&D though. They could use it for larger dividends.

Appropriate design of an income tax - The design of an income tax is that businesses report revenues and deduct the costs of generating those revenues. Denial of a deduction goes against the design of an income tax. Expenses contrary to public policy can justify denial of a deduction, such as denial of a deduction for fines and penalties. Are drug ads contrary to public policy? Shouldn't the company and its board of directors decide what is appropriate to generate revenues and profits?  Customers (doctors and patients) can also vote by boycotting products where the company spends more than the customers think is appropriate, or voicing their concern with letters to the company or via social media.

Senator McGaskill's bill brings attention to the issue. Additional data to share with the public might also help encourage companies to move advertising dollars to R&D or lower prices.

What do you think?



source http://21stcenturytaxation.blogspot.com/2018/04/drug-ad-deductions-and-tax-policy-s-2478.html

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