Serving those who have faithfully served our country is a core value at the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). As a result of their military training and experiences, veterans have developed skills and leadership abilities that are naturally suited to operating a business. At SBA, we are committed to getting veteran entrepreneurs the resources and tools they need to succeed with access to capital, counseling services, veteran-focused training, and support pursuing government contracts. 

Access to capital — Starting Oct. 1, all new SBA loans up to $350,000 to qualified veteran–owned businesses approved using the SBA Express program will have zero one-time guaranty fees. This enhancement will save veteran entrepreneurs up to $5,250 in fees. Separately, new SBA-loan approvals exceeding $350,000 to qualified veteran-owned businesses may benefit from other upfront fee discounts. 

Free counseling services — If you are just starting out, the SBA can help with writing a business plan, developing financial projections, finding target markets, and much more. Veterans can find free, confidential business counseling from our family of resource partners. They include a local Small Business Development Center, SCORE Chapter, Women’s Business Center, and Veterans Business Outreach Center. Our offices in Albany, Elmira, and Syracuse also have veteran business development officers that provide one-on-one counseling for veteran entrepreneurs. 

Free veteran-focused training programs — Boots to Business is an entrepreneurial education and training program offered as part of the U.S. Department of Defense’s Transition Assistance Program (TAP). Boots to Business/Reboot is an entrepreneurial training program designed for veterans and their dependents who have already made the transition back to civilian life. Both programs include steps for evaluating business concepts and the foundational knowledge required to develop a business plan. To register online for a class near you, please visit https://sbavets.force.com/s/. 

Government contracting — Veteran-owned businesses have found success in selling to Uncle Sam this fiscal year, with nearly 2,000 awards valued at $59.7 million in our 34-county district of upstate New York. Of those awards, service-disabled veterans won 182 worth $13 million. With workshops, matchmaking events, and procurement-focused counseling from SBA, veteran entrepreneurs can continue to find more federal contracting opportunities.

So whether you are a veteran, active-duty service member, reservist, National Guard member, or spouse, I encourage you to learn more about how the SBA can help you achieve your dream of entrepreneurship. Visit our district website at www.sba.gov/ny/syracuse.                          

Bernard Paprocki is district director for the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Syracuse district office. He is responsible for the delivery of SBA’s financial programs and business development services for a 34-county region in upstate New York.

Answering common employer questions

The New York Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB) on July 19 published its final regulations implementing the New York Paid Family Leave Law (PFL).

With the regulations final, employers should be modifying existing leave policies and processes to incorporate PFL requirements, and to develop new PFL policies that offer employees information about their rights and obligations under the law. 

We held a webinar on New York’s PFL on July 25, in which we received hundreds of questions. While we didn’t have the opportunity during the webinar to address all the inquiries that we received, we noted afterwards that many employers raised the same questions. So, this article is dedicated to answering some of the most frequently asked questions we received. We hope this follow-up will be helpful to employers in preparation for the launch of PFL in 2018.

This batch of questions and answers focuses on the application of PFL to higher-education institutions.

Q: Are private colleges and universities covered by PFL?

A: Yes. Private colleges and universities are deemed to be covered employers under PFL. However, if these colleges and universities are not-for-profit organizations, they may be deemed to be covered employers, but may also have some employees who are not covered by PFL. Specifically, employees engaged in a “professional” or teaching capacity for not-for-profit educational institutions are excluded from the definition of employee under the law. Certainly, higher-education institutions can extend coverage to these exempt classes of individuals if they choose to do so.

Q: Are state colleges and universities covered by PFL?

A: No, to the extent that such institutions fall within the definition of a “public employer.” PFL does not apply to public employers, which includes the following entities: the state, a political subdivision of the state, a public authority, or any other governmental agency or instrumentality.

Q: Can state colleges and universities voluntarily choose to provide benefits under the PFL law?

A: Yes. Public employers are permitted to opt in to PFL. The process for opting in is slightly different for unionized and non-unionized employers. If a public employer chooses to cover its non-unionized workers, it must provide 90 days’ notice of its decision to opt in to not only the WCB, but also to all employees who will be required to make PFL contributions. For a public employer to cover/opt in its unionized employees, the public employer must engage in collective bargaining and reach consensus/agreement with the applicable union. Once an agreement is reached, the employer must notify the WCB that an agreement has been attained and provide certain information to the WCB.

Q: Are higher-education institutions who currently provide voluntary state disability insurance coverage (DBL) to their employees also required to provide PFL?

A: No. However, if these colleges and universities currently provide voluntary DBL coverage to their employees, they must notify both the employees and the WCB whether they will also provide voluntarily PFL coverage. Notification must be made by no later than Dec. 1, 2017.

Q: Are student employees entitled to PFL?

A: Yes, provided they satisfy the requisite eligibility criteria. Student employees are treated in the same manner as any other employee. If the student employee is regularly scheduled to work at least 20 hours a week, he/she is eligible to take PFL after he/she has been employed for 26 weeks. If the student employee is regularly scheduled to work less than 20 hours per week, he/she is eligible to take PFL after working 175 days.         

Kerry Langan and Caroline Westover are labor and employment law attorneys at Bond, Schoeneck & King, PLLC in Syracuse. This viewpoint article is drawn from the firm’s New York Labor & Employment Law Report blog. Contact Langan at klangan@bsk.com and Westover at cwestover@bsk.com

Taxes are neither sexy nor exciting, except perhaps to us CPAs who seem to thrive on the nuances of the tax code. But taxes are a critical factor in your business, affecting your bottom line and your daily operations. When a business does not plan for the proper collection and payment of taxes — whether payroll, sales, income, or excise taxes — the money and time spent to resolve the situation can far exceed the tax burden itself. Ask anyone who has had to straighten out a tax situation with the IRS.

You don’t need to be operating overseas to face international tax issues. We all live and work in a global economy. Your business might ship products overseas or employ someone who is not a U.S. citizen. With the increased emphasis by the U.S. government on the proper treatment and reporting of international assets and transactions, along with the high penalties associated with noncompliance in this area, it is critical that you identify any potential international tax issues associated with your business.

Here are four types of international activities that might subject your business to special disclosure, withholding, or other requirements.

Hiring foreign employees 

Most of us are all familiar with the documentation requirements that must be met each time a new employee is hired. Eligibility to work in the U.S. must be verified for every new hire, which includes completing Form I-9. The potential employee must be a citizen, noncitizen national, lawful permanent resident (i.e., green card holder), or an alien with specific authorization to work in the U.S. 

If you are hiring an alien authorized to work in this country, that employee may or may not be subject to Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) tax withholdings depending on his or her visa status. If the employee is a nonresident and work is being done partly outside the U.S., some of the wages may not be taxable wages for U.S. purposes. There may also be tax treaty benefits to consider if the U.S. has an income tax or totalization treaty with the employee’s country of origin. Prior to issuing the employee’s first paycheck, you will need to address all of these issues. Note that there are similar requirements and issues to consider when hiring independent contractors.

Having foreign investors 

If you have an investor who is a nonresident alien (NRA) or a foreign entity, your business may face income-tax withholding requirements associated with that owner. Partnerships and LLCs operating as partnerships must withhold and remit income taxes on income allocated to those foreign owners — whether or not any cash was distributed to them. Failure to properly withhold when required can result in significant penalties, in addition to being liable for the under-withheld tax.

If your business is operating as a C corporation (a corporate entity that has not elected special “S” status), then withholding must be done on dividend payments to any nonresident alien or foreign-entity shareholders. If you have ever owned stock of a foreign company, you may have noticed an amount for withheld foreign taxes reported on your broker statement. This is the same concept, just in reverse.

Is your business an S corporation? Then you should not have any nonresident alien shareholders since NRAs are not eligible S corporation shareholders. Owners of S corporation stock do not have to be U.S. citizens, but they must be U.S. residents as defined by the tax code. 

A situation can arise if a foreign owner who was previously a U.S. resident (and thus an eligible shareholder) moves back overseas and is no longer considered a U.S. resident. Unless that owner relinquishes his or her ownership prior to the loss of U.S. residency status, there will be an inadvertent termination of the corporation’s S status. This can have undesired tax consequences.

Selling to foreign customers 

If your business sells product to or buys product from a foreign affiliated entity, the price of that product will be subject to a body of law called the transfer-pricing rules. These rules are set up so that companies cannot shift profits to more tax-favorable countries through the pricing of the product.

Sales to a foreign customer may be subject to foreign income-tax withholding, foreign sales taxes, and/or foreign value-added taxes (VAT) in that foreign country. It is important to understand any foreign taxes that will be borne by your business before you price a product to a foreign customer.

You will need to determine whether the foreign tax is actually due to that foreign government. The tax might be refundable if certain forms are remitted to the foreign government or reduced because of a treaty between the foreign country and the United States. 

Although a credit is allowed against a business’s U.S. tax liability for foreign taxes paid, the foreign tax-credit rules are deceptively complex. A credit is only allowed for income taxes (not sales tax or VAT), the taxes must be owed to that foreign country (not refundable), and U.S. tax law must consider the income on which the foreign taxes were paid to be “foreign sourced income.” Thus, it’s important to look at the foreign-tax situation from both the foreign and U.S. perspective to minimize the overall tax burden.

Owning foreign accounts 

Some businesses set up accounts in other countries to simplify payment by their foreign customers. There are disclosure requirements associated with having a financial interest in, or having signature authority over, foreign accounts. Some of the highest penalties are associated with failure to properly disclose foreign accounts.

Not only might your business have a disclosure requirement if it owns a foreign account, but the business owners — and even certain employees — may also face disclosure requirements due to having the ability to sign checks or initiate account transactions. 

This is just a brief discussion of some of the more common ways that Central New York businesses might cross paths with U.S. international tax and disclosure requirements. As with most tax law, the rules are complex. If your business has foreign-entity owners, has an ownership interest in a foreign entity, or is operating in a foreign country, those complexities can increase exponentially.

The global economy offers exciting opportunities for business of all sizes. Navigating the tax implications as your business grows and evolves is one part of ensuring a smooth journey.                        

Linda Bruckner, CPA is a partner at Sciarabba Walker & Co., LLP. Contact her at lbruckner@swcllp.com

Employers spend a lot of time puzzling over what they need to do to attract millennials and how to retain those young employees once they hire them.

Many organizations even adjust their corporate culture to better appeal to the generation of young adults who are expected to make up half the global workforce by 2020, and who are said to be uncomfortable with rigid corporate structures, expect rapid progression, and want constant feedback.

But could it be that companies desperate to recruit millennials are looking at the situation all wrong?

When firms talk about how to attract and keep millennials, they take a surface approach. They are treating millennials uniquely, but that’s not the way they should do it. There’s not one approach you should take with your overall workforce and a separate approach to take for millennials. 

In fact, companies will enjoy more success if they remain true to themselves rather than try to be all things to all millennials.

An organization will do fine if it’s willing to get to the core of what it believes in and then hold true to those beliefs. That’s providing a sense of organizational clarity that millennials and others will appreciate. When companies aren’t true to who they are, they become lost. They will be disconnected from their workforce and that’s when millennials are likely to look elsewhere for jobs.

To attract millennials and keep them around for the long haul, businesses should be the following.

• Clear about their vision 

The most critical ingredient to achieving business success is clarity. That means an organization needs to be clear about its purpose and its vision, as well as clear about the roles of those who carry out that purpose and vision. This remains true whether employees are millennials, baby boomers, or part of another generation. 

• Willing to communicate 

It’s important that a company explains to employees and job candidates how things are done at the firm and what is expected of them. Once they are told how things are, people can opt in or they can opt out. And usually they will opt in. But if you are unclear about the expectations or your beliefs, they will opt out or there will be problems. 

• Able to keep things positive 

I am a proponent of positive psychology, so I believe keeping an upbeat atmosphere is essential to a company’s culture. You want your employees to be happy. If you can find a way to encourage a positive outlook and attitude, employees from every generation will be more motivated and will perform their jobs better.

You can pursue initiatives in your company that will engage millennials, but there must be a holistic view of what the company is and what the company culture is. That itself hooks millennials into what you’re doing. In short, you don’t have to change your company culture to bring in millennials.        

Brad Deutser is president and CEO of Deutser LLC (www.deutser.com), a consulting firm that says it advises leaders and organizations about achieving clarity, especially in times of transition, growth, or crisis. 

Ivanka Trump recently wrote a Wall Street Journal op-ed in which she said, “Providing a national guaranteed paid-leave program — with a reasonable time limit and benefit cap — isn’t an entitlement, it’s an investment in America’s working families.” 

Although there is bi-partisan support for a national paid family and medical-leave program, several states have taken the lead. In New York State (NYS), the New York Paid Family Leave (PFL) Law was recently finalized and will affect all private employers in the Empire State who have at least one employee. PFL is designed to be phased in over four years, with the first phase effective Jan. 1, 2018.

As an amendment to New York’s Workers’ Compensation Law, PFL works in conjunction with the state’s Disability Benefits Law. It provides wage replacement and job protection to eligible employees who are unable to work due to certain circumstances. 

In anticipation of employee requests for PFL benefits as early as Jan. 1, 2018, I have outlined the law’s fundamentals below. 

Paid family leave basics

Eligibility: All NYS private-sector employers, with one or more employees, are required to provide PFL. Full-time employees who have worked more than 20 hours per week with 26 weeks of continuous employment are eligible for PFL benefits. Part-time employees who work less than 20 hours a week become eligible after working 175 days for the employer. The definition of work includes approved paid time off. 

Eligible employees qualify for partial wage replacement and job protection in three specific situations: 

1. When needed to care for a family member with a serious illness;

2. For bonding with a newborn, including in the case of adoption or foster care (within 12 months from birth or adoption/placement); and 

3. To relieve family pressure when a family member is called for active military leave, as defined under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) as the employee’s spouse, domestic partner, child, or parent. 

Family member in the case of serious illness is defined as child, parent, grandparent, grandchild, spouse, or domestic partner. Parent is defined as biological, foster, or adoptive parent, a parent-in-law, a step-parent, a legal guardian, or other person who assumed parental responsibilities for the employee when the employee was a child.

The PFL law requires that: 

• Employees be reinstated to a previous (or similar) position

• Workers’ health-insurance benefits continue while on leave

• Employees be protected from discrimination or retaliation when taking leave,

• PFL runs concurrently with FMLA if both leaves apply,

• Notice of leave, when foreseeable, must be made at least 30 days in advance, or as soon as practicable.

Leave benefits: Effective Jan. 1, 2018, eligible employees may take up to eight weeks of leave and receive 50 percent of their average weekly wage or 50 percent of the state average weekly wage, whichever is lower. The state average weekly wage is currently $1,305.92. Therefore, in 2018, an employee making $1,000 per week would receive $500 while another employee making $2,000 a week would receive $652.96 (versus $1,000) since total benefits are capped at the lesser of employee’s average weekly wages or the NYS average weekly wage.

PFL benefits are expected to be phased in over four years, with benefit amounts and leave lengths gradually increasing. On Jan. 1, 2021, when PFL is fully phased in, eligible employees will be able to take up to 12 weeks of paid time off per 52-week period and will be compensated 67 percent of their average weekly wage or 67 percent of the NYS average weekly wage.

Funding of PFL benefits 

PFL is designed to be fully funded by employees through payroll deductions. Insurance carriers who provide statutory short-term disability insurance are adding PFL riders to these policies. The NYS Department of Financial Services, using actuarial principles, has set the premium rate at 0.126 percent of an employee’s weekly wage up to and not to exceed the state average weekly wage. In 2018, an employee making $1,000 per week will have a weekly payroll deduction of $1.26. An employee making $2,000 per week is capped at a deduction of $1.65 per week based on the statewide average weekly wage of $1,305.92.

Employees who are not eligible for PFL because of limited work schedules may waive/opt-out of paying the weekly deduction. Employees may file a waiver for paid family leave benefits if their regular employment schedule is: 

• 20 hours or more per week however the employee will not work 26 consecutive weeks; or

• Less than 20 hours per week and the employee will not work 175 days in a 52-consecutive-week period

The Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB) will provide a waiver template for employers to use. 

Employers have the option of self-insuring for PFL but should discuss the risks of self-insurance with their broker, given the uncertainty of how frequently PFL may be used and whether it will result in a decrease in short-term disability requests. 

Preparing now for PFL

Employers should expect PFL requests almost immediately after Jan. 1, 2018. Any employee who meets the eligibility requirements may take PFL as early as the first of January, especially in the case of birth or adoption/foster placement occurring in 2017.

A checklist for PFL preparation includes the following: 

• Work with your benefits broker to obtain PFL coverage for 2018

• Ensure your payroll system is set up for new deduction codes

• Set up your timekeeping system with an additional time-off code for PFL

• Ensure your leave tracking system can accommodate various leaves running concurrently

• Work with your broker to determine when employee deductions will begin

• Determine your insurance company’s process for claims submission and administration

• Ensure that a written PFL policy is adopted and communicated to employees before the start of 2018

• Prepare updates for your employee handbook that address how PFL will work with other time-off policies (FMLA, short-term disability, paid time off)

• Employers in multiple states should define NYS employees in policies

• Communicate to employees that: 

 –  FFL and FMLA will run concurrently whenever possible

 - Short-term disability may not be used during PFL

 - Employees may use PTO to supplement their wages while on PFL

 -  PFL waiver/opt-out option is available to employees who are not eligible for PFL, as well as that a revocation of the waiver will be made if employees’ work schedules change and they become eligible for PFL

• Display and post a printed PFL notice, to be published by New York State later this year

• Prepare for an increase in leave requests and absences

• Provide supervisor training on PFL

Conclusion 

Given the recent finalization of the regulations implementing the New York Paid Family Leave Law, there likely will be added clarification and possibly amendments over the next few months. Stay tuned.          

Candace Walters is president of HR Works, Inc., a human-resource management outsourcing and consulting firm with offices in Rochester and Syracuse, serving clients throughout the U.S. 

If you have considered purchasing long-term care insurance, you know that it is an expensive proposition. However, some tax advantages related to the premium payments for long-term care insurance are available to you.

If you are an employee and itemize your deductions, you can deduct a portion of your long-term care insurance premium as a medical expense on the itemized deductions of Schedule A of your 1040 tax return. 

Premiums for qualifying long-term care insurance policies for individuals under 65 may be deducted to the extent that they, along with other non-reimbursable medical expenses, exceed 10 percent of the individual’s adjusted gross income.

The maximum deductions for 2017 for long-term care insurance premiums paid (these amounts increase annually) are as follows:

AGE AS OF THE END OF THE TAXABLE YEAR

                              Below 40         41-50         51-60         61-70         70+

Amount of              $410               $770           $1,530        $4,090        $5,110
Deduction

If you are self-employed, you may be able to deduct premiums that you pay for medical, dental, and qualifying long-term care insurance premiums for yourself, your spouse, and your dependents. This is a deduction on page 1 of Form 1040 and is not an itemized deduction subject to the percentage of adjusted gross-income limitations as a medical expense under itemized deductions.

Partners and LLC members who are treated as partners for tax purposes may also be able to deduct health and long-term care insurance premiums as a straight deduction and not limited as an itemized deduction as a medical expense under certain circumstances.

Additionally, if you are a New York state resident, you are entitled to a credit on your New York State tax return if you or your business pay premiums for qualifying long-term care insurance policies. The credit is 20 percent of the premiums.

Therefore, while long-term care insurance appears to be quite expensive, if you are unlucky enough to get sick and be in need of long-term care, long-term care insurance definitely softens the blow on protecting your assets and income, and there are deductions and credits available to reduce the actual cost of the long-term care insurance.         

Ami S. Longstreet is a partner at the Syracuse–based law firm Mackenzie Hughes. This article is drawn from the firm’s Plain Talk blog. Longstreet works with businesses and individuals to help them understand estate and trust planning and administration as well as elder law, including asset protection and Medicaid planning, and planning for individuals with disabilities. Contact her at