EOY Business Spending in Omaha, NE – 2018

If you’re a business owner, nothing sounds like nails on a chalkboard more than money going to waste. This is why end of year business spending is so important to be aware of and prepared for.

Basically, the more income you have left over after factoring in all eligible deductions, exemptions, and credits, the more money your business will owe in federal income tax. So, after analyzing your activity for the current year and discussing projections for the upcoming year, you’ll need to decide if it makes sense to spend any “extra” money before the end of the year to save on taxes.

We urge companies to consider the following:

Goals—Look at goals from last year and future goals. Understanding business goals will help determine what year-end spending options are the most practical and beneficial. Reference what worked and didn’t work in the previous year.

Strategy—Note that $1 spent does not equal $1 worth of tax saved. Expenditures correlate into deductions, and businesses should never spend money on things they don’t need just to increase deductions. However, if there are purchases that need to be made on things that will improve operations, those are smart purchases to make ahead of time in order to take the deduction in the current tax year. These options can include purchasing new equipment, paying expenses ahead of time, paying out bonuses, and setting up or putting money into a retirement plan.

If the current year has higher income compared to what the business owner thinks it will be in the future years, then paying ahead can benefit a cash-basis business for the current year to offset the higher income. It really depends on the goals the business is trying to achieve.

As an advertising tool ourselves, we think that another wise investment to make in your business is in your marketing. How are you currently promoting yourself? Is it working? How could it improve?

Advertising is an area that many businesses and organizations tend to overlook. You can do awesome work and provide the best services on the market, but if no one knows who you are, what’s the point? That is why marketing is so important.

“It’s all about brand recognition,” Shana Boyd with Eleven Twenty-Three acknowledges. “There are a lot of companies that need to be more creative and efficient with their advertising dollars. We know this can be a hard process to dive into, but that is why our agency is here to help. Eleven Twenty-Three is a strategic creative and media planning company. We’re personable and practical, and we like to take it back to the basics. Advertising is actually really simple, it just seems daunting because the world we live in is not simple. It’s not just TV and newspaper anymore. Today’s advertising is segmented and takes a professional team to navigate the gauntlet of options out there. Investing money at the end of the year on building your brand as a business might be the best thing you do.”

If you’re simply overwhelmed by all the details that go into producing and placing your advertising, leaving you with inconsistencies in your brand representation, let us help.

At Eleven Twenty-Three, we’ll generate fresh, new ideas for your advertising and our team of highly trained specialists will work alongside you to grow your business, like we’ve done for so many other of our amazing clients in Omaha.”

Like Shana said, our world is evolving, and with this evolution comes advances in technology. Is your business keeping up with all the changes?

“When the size and complexity of a business grows, so does its need for technology. Now is the time to align business processes with effective technology,” Adam Walter with Virtual C confirms. “Considering that technology is heavily influencing virtually everything about how we run our businesses, leveraging your leftover dollars from 2018 in this area will yield returns in years to come. Virtual C can help businesses plan out their IT budget for 2019 so they can adjust accordingly when deciding how much to spend and how much to save. If your company operates on a cash basis for tax purposes and your profits seem likely to be higher in 2019 than in previous years, you may want to defer revenue during the last part of the year as a way of reducing your 2019 taxable income. At Virtual C, our mission is to be an unbiased partner to your organization. We want to help guide your technology strategy and implementation to keep your business optimal.”

Organizing your statements and accounts to financially prepare for your year-end taxes can be difficult if you don’t know what you’re doing. A lot of small businesses don’t have someone on their team dedicated to the accounting side of things; it’s usually one of the owners who has probably had to teach themselves everything they know, which can leave room for error. That is why CFO Systems exists.

“We provide financial assistance on timeshare, or ‘fractional’ basis, to serve the middle market entities that need strong leadership at times when it is most crucial (like the end of the year) rather than full-time,” explains Brett Frevert with CFO Systems. “Our clients rely on our professionals to be part of their executive team, providing financial leadership, including supporting current CFOs in times when additional expertise is needed. We offer guidance in the accounting and administrative departments, lender, or auditor relations and sourcing of external experts, including attorneys, benefits advisors, etc.”

On a final note, we’d like to encourage our readers to consider contributing to charity with the money their business has left over at the end of the year. Charitable giving is a social responsibility that all businesses have, and it can also provide your business with a fair tax deduction.

EOY business spending is a matter of what to spend and what not to spend. Then, it becomes a matter of how much to spend and what to spend it on. So, before you start throwing your money at things left and right, it’s important to work closely with a professional to determine your strategy moving forward.