The State of California has enacted a new law affective July 1st, 2014, allowing manufacturers and certain Research and Development (“R&D”) companies a partial sales/use tax exemption on certain manufacturing and R&D equipment purchases. How much Sales or Use Tax is Exempt? – The partial exemption applies to the state sales and use tax rate portion which is cu [...]

The beginning of the new calendar year provides us with an opportunity to both wish all of you a happy and healthy new year and to update you on changes to the Core Form of Form 990, as well as changes to Schedule A Public Support Test and Schedule B List of Contributors for tax years beginning in 2013. This tax alert contains information on [...]

During our 2nd Annual Food & Beverage Industry Forum in September 2013, the difficulties surrounding doing business in California were recurring themes in the panel discussion. The conversation prompted this issue’s topic where we will be discussing the high tax climate in California. Food and beverage owners and executives are looking f [...]

The 4th Quarter of 2013 was a relatively quiet time in California from a tax legislative perspective. The Franchise Tax Board (“FTB”) held interested party meetings for potential amendments to its sales factor market sourcing rules and to clarify the treatment of a corporate partner’s interest in a partnership for income/franchise tax [...]

Polina Chapiro, Tax Partner, and Donald Snyder, Audit Partner, co-wrote the article, “Try Something New This Busy Season,” for the American Institute of CPAs. At GHJ, we take busy season preparation seriously. As we plan, we collaborate between our tax and audit groups to identify new ideas, processes and technology to provide our staff the training they need [...]

Welcome to the Entertainment Newsletter, containing content related to the people, news and business issues we see in our day-to-day service to the industry. In this issue: What Profit Participants Need to Know – Product Placement and Product Integration in Television Traditionally, producers have generated revenue from license fees paid by [...]

At a recent Finance Committee meeting of one of my clients, a question was raised about appropriate check signing levels. While every organization is different, the following three part signing resolution can be considered a guide for medium-sized organizations: Up to $10,000, any one officer or director. Up to $50,000, any two officers or directors. Over $50,000, [...]

Popular employer sponsored retirement arrangements allow an employee to redirect up to $17,500 of annual earnings into these qualified plans. Additionally, employers have an option to make matching contributions using it to boost employee retention and moral. However, according to a Fact Sheet released this week by the Treasury Department, approximately half of all wo [...]

Last April, I blogged about the value of volunteers from a financial statement standpoint, and there is no doubt that volunteer engagement is crucial to most nonprofit organizations. Volunteers increase capacity, are cost effective and extend a nonprofit’s reach by getting the word out, engaging their networks and becoming advocates. And of course volunteers are more [...]

While royalty and profit participation agreements can provide tremendous income opportunities for many in the entertainment industry, ensuring they are administered fairly can be challenging. Those that license intellectual property must ensure that their property rights are protected and that royalty statements are accurate. Failure to effec [...]