BusinessHub

Laura Paredez, Director of Business Services for Hill Country Pain Associates (HCPA), manages the day-to-day operations and activities, and ensures that the business is run financially sound. In her role, Laura oversees all matters from vendor management to payroll administration. With a practice of 27 full-time employees and one part-time employee, HCPA brings with it its own set of employee considerations, of which by no means falls short of HR-related inquiries.

It's the time of year when consumers and business owners alike are turning a blind eye to the pending date on the calendar: April 15. In the case of business owners with commercial property tax bills due, that date you may be shielding your eyes from is May 15—the deadline for filing property tax protests. If you own commercial property, your annual tax bill is likely a substantial expense. Unfortunately, according to the National Taxpayers Union Foundation, around 30-60% of taxable properties in the United States are over-assessed, which—you guessed it—equals higher tax bills. Sadly, even though most consumers and businesses are overpaying due to inaccurately calculated properties, it’s predicted that less than 5% of taxpayers are challenging the assessment. Are you curious if your business is overpaying? Check out the list below that features 6 sure fire ways to help you determine whether our not you're overpaying on your commercial property taxes.

Offering your employees competitive health benefits is only half the battle. After you’ve shopped around to find a plan that works for your business, your employees, and your budget, the next obstacle you face is effectively communicating the plan benefits to your employee base. It can be a time-consuming task so we’ve compiled a list of helpful tips and best practices to help you streamline the success of your benefits communication program.

The terms cyber security and cyber breach have become quite the common business "lingo" these days. It’s hard to browse the internet without reading a story about another company or retail establishment being hacked with millions of customer data points compromised. And, no matter if you’re a small business, big box retailer, Marriott or even a Manufacturer—you’re not safe.

Imagine building your business over several decades, starting to plan your business exit, then dying unexpectedly before you can implement your plans. Business owners rarely think about how an unexpected death or permanent disability can derail even the most carefully created plans. When you think about it, this makes sense: if you were always worried about what could go wrong, you probably never would have started your business in the first place.

Do you find it difficult to find the right candidates for your company's open positions? Well, you're not alone. Finding the right talent can seem like you're on the losing end of a never-ending battle because you're competing against comparable businesses looking for the best talent and other larger corporations that have more resources to utilize in the quest to find the perfect employee. But, by evaluating a few hiring tactics within your business, you can increase your chances of finding top-notch job candidates.

Sexual harassment in the workplace is nothing new, but with the recent focus on the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements brought front and center to the internet, television, and social media platforms, many companies across America are more aware about this sensitive topic and the impact it can have on their employees and customers. According to a 2017 study conducted by CNBC, at least one in five Americans has reported experiencing sexual harassment in their place of work, with women alleging incidents more often than men, 27% to 10%, respectively¹. If you haven’t already taken a good look at your own company’s sexual harassment policy, training, and insurance coverage, or lack thereof, now is a good time to take a look to ensure you and your employees are properly protected.

As you probably know, one of the most valuable and popular benefits you can offer employees is a company-sponsored retirement plan. Assuming you provide your employees with the opportunity to save for their future through a corporate retirement plan, there’s just one problem: according to the Pension Rights Center, only about half of American workers are participating in an employer-sponsored retirement plan. Unfortunately, many U.S. workers feel so overwhelmed by existing debt, bills, and household financial obligations that they are unable to find funds to save in their company’s retirement plan.

If you're like most business owners, you're probably looking for some tax planning methods that will reduce your annual taxes. Here's an example that shows how using multiple entities in a business transfer of ownership can lower your tax burden.

Running a small businesses can be tough. Between staffing, compliance, policy creation, managing payroll, financial reports, and the 2,000 other things you have on your plate, sometimes the time you have “left over” (if there’s even such a thing) is marginal, at best. Consider the ins and outs of your responsibilities as an employer which include ever-changing regulations as they pertain to employee benefits, and well, you have yourself a recipe for stressed-out-losing-sleep-can’t-concentrate-on the-big-picture disaster. Welcome to running your own business!