Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Looking for Work? Martin Luther King, Jr. Medical Center



Clark Construction is looking for subcontractors to bid on the Martin Luther King, Jr. Medical Center - Multi-Service Ambulatory Care Center/Ancillary Project.  Click on this link to obtain details regarding the project.  If you require further information or need assistance, contact Davis Blue Print at 323.225.7483.  Final Scope Letters will be due on June 7, 2011 and Final Price Proposals are due on June 14, 2011.

Clark Construction requires all subcontractors and suppliers to complete a Qualification Application.  Click on this link to get to that form.  Subcontractors are required to provide 100% Payment and Performance Bonds for contracts greater than $100,000 as well as including bonding qualifications in the written bid proposal.

There will be a Pre-Bid meeting on May 10th, details still forthcoming.  It is suggested that  subcontractors call Clark Construction at 714.429.9779 and talk with the estimator who is assigned to your specific trade.

Good luck in sourcing new work!

Monday, April 18, 2011

1099 Expanded Reporting Requirements Repealed


Last year, as part of the health care reform legislation, the 1099 reporting requirements were expanded to include all payments from businesses $600 or greater in a calendar year to a single payee including corporations (except tax-exempt corporations).  This would have proved onerous on most businesses and individual taxpayers (those receiving rental income and making payments to vendors, service providers, etc.).

Last Thursday, President Obama signed a repeal of these expanded 1099 reporting requirements.   Essentially the requirements are back to where they were before the rules were expanded within the health care reform legislation.  It is important to note that this repeal did not affect the increased reporting penalties as well as penalties for failure to provide correct payee statements mandated by the Small Business Jobs Act.  These increased penalties are already in effect for 2011.  Those penalties were increased significantly per information return including calendar year maximum penalties.  These maximum penalties can be up to $1,500,000 ($500,000 for small business filers).

The repeal is good news as many in the business community were fretting about having to comply with the greatly expanded 1099 reporting requirements.

California to Allow LLCs for Contractors



Our friends over at Atkinson, Andelson, et. al. circulated a nice brief outlining this development taking place over the next year.  For years the question of whether a contractor could operate within an LLC has been answered in the negative and this appears to be changing.  There are a number of reasons to choose an LLC but it may not be the right entity choice for all.

The best course of action is to consult with your legal counsel, CPA and other trusted advisors and discuss your particular circumstances and objectives.  The Atkinson article follows:




As always, please let me know if you have any questions...

Glenn

Monday, April 4, 2011

Help For Those Who Use Check Cashing Services



Many of our contractors have labor forces who do not have bank accounts.  When pay day comes, these hard working men and women are regular customers of check cashing services that can charge up to 3% to cash the employee's payroll check when valid ID is presented.  That is essentially another tax on wages that the employee can ill afford.

Last week I was made aware of a product US Bank offers entitled "US Bank AccelaPay Card Program".  The bank issues prepaid Visa debit cards to a company's employees and then funds the card via the ACH system.  I'm unaware at this time of other banks offering a similar product, however as always please check around.  The benefits of this product are numerous and are summarized here.  This can also be marketed to prospective employees as a benefit should they not have a bank account.  When I read through the document summarizing the benefits including the "additional features" section at the end, I was pleased with all it had to offer.

It's tough enough for these employees who in most cases are living paycheck to paycheck; having to face a 3% fee to have access to their pay seems unconscionable.  This product provides an attractive alternative.  

As always, I do not receive any compensation for any third party products/services mentioned in this blog...

Glenn

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Checking Your Credit Score



Every year or two it is a good idea to check your own credit score.  You are permitted, by law, to obtain your credit reports for free once every 12 months.  In addition to looking for unusual/unknown activity, it's always advisable to close out unused, open accounts to enhance your creditworthiness.  It is also a good idea to keep at least one or two of your oldest accounts open as the age of a clean open account will also enhance your score.  When you look to your bank for a credit facility for your business, your personal credit situation will also be considered.

Per the Federal Trade Commission website "Annual Credit Report.com is the only authorized source for the free annual credit report that's yours by law."  Although there may not be any cool commercials with the jingles, it seems that this is the site that will achieve the objective you seek and will not try to upsell you any additional services.  The process from this site involves you choosing one or more of the 3 major credit reporting agencies and providing answers to a few multiple choice questions to ensure identity.  I went through the process in about 15 minutes for all 3 agencies and printed my reports to PDF for future reference.  I put the date in the filename of each report so I'll know when I can next check my credit for free.