Harvard Business Review recently shared this snippet

Successful team leaders draw out the best — physically, mentally, and emotionally — from their colleagues. Seven-time NFL Super Bowl champion Tom Brady and Harvard Business School professor and former dean Nitin Nohria sorted through Brady’s 20-plus-year career and identified the leadership principles he used to maximize teammates’ performance. Here are a few anyone can put into practice. 

According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) website, the following are clues that someone has stolen a victim’s identity information:

1. The victim sees withdrawals from his or her bank account that cannot be explained.
2. The victim doesn’t get bills or other mail.
3. Merchants refuse to honor the victim’s checks.
4. Debt collectors call about debts that are not the victim’s debts.
5. The victim finds unfamiliar accounts or charges on the victim’s credit report.
6. Medical providers bill the victim for services the victim did not receive.
7. The victim’s health care provider rejects legitimate medical claim(s) because the records show that the victim has reached the benefits limit.
8. A health plan won’t cover the victim because medical records show a condition that the victim does not have.
9. The victim experiences an unusual delay in getting a tax refund (IRS suspects ID theft).
10. The victim gets an IRS notice of duplicate tax return filing, unreported income, or duplicate dependents.

Stressors show up in our lives in all shapes and sizes, and while we often associate stress with major life events or overwhelming situations, there are certain type of stressors that are often overlooked.  Microstressors are the small and seemingly insignificant triggers that accumulate over time and slowly take a toll on our well-being. In fact, 91% of employees say that unmanageable and untreated stress negatively impacts the quality of their work.

As the last of the Baby Boomer generation approaches the minimum age to receive Social Security benefits, here are some points to understand before deciding to begin benefits.

How do I get the most money from the system?

While you can begin taking Social Security at age 62, each year you delay your decision will result in an annual benefit about 8% higher each year until age 70.  Many retirees tend to hold off until the age of 70, when they receive the maximum benefit amount.

Scammers are impersonating technology, banking, and government officials in a complex ruse to convince a typically older victim that foreign hackers have infiltrated their financial account. The scammers then instruct the victim to immediately move their money to an alleged U.S. Government account to “protect” their assets. In reality, there was never any foreign hacker, and the money is now fully controlled by the scammers. Some victims are losing their entire life savings.

The FBI has observed repeated behavior by criminals involved in “The Phantom Hacker” scam. The ruse is often perpetrated in three major steps:

During Cybersecurity Awareness month, we are sharing some ideas to consider to limit your risk.

1. Share less online- not just social media.  Be mindful of the forms you fill out on websites (avoid inserting optional information like your phone number and middle name), create a throwaway email address for subscriptions (this is how your info could be sold on the dark web), avoid shared playlists, folders, or albums (they could get hacked), and protect your wi-fi password (your router handles sensitive information like your passwords and financial info).

With a heat wave hitting much of the nation and Arizona blistering form 25+ days of temperatures of 110 degrees or higher, air conditioning units are failing.  While the cost of a new unit can be unsettling, the US Department of Energy provides consumers the opportunity to receive tax credits of up to $2,000.  If you purchase an eligible energy efficient equipment, complete IRS Form 5695 to claim your credit.

For more information, go to Clean Energy Tax Credits for Consumers.

Business owners need to consider things besides family dynamics when hiring their parents or children. One of those things is employment taxes.

Child works for parent - When a child works for a parent's sole proprietorship or a partnership in which each partner is the child's parent:

• Payments for the child's services are subject to income tax withholding. But, payments for the services of a child under age 18 are not subject to social security and Medicare taxes, while payments to a child over age 18 are.
• Payments for the services of a child under age 21 are not subject to Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA). Payments to children over 20 are.

When are business travel expenses deductible? Business travel expenses can be deducted when an individual must travel away from their tax home or main place of work for business reasons. An individual is traveling away from their tax home if they are away for more than an ordinary workday and they need to sleep to meet the demands of their work while away.

What is a tax home?  Generally, an individual's tax home is their regular place of business or post of duty - not their personal residence. The term "tax home" can include the entire city or general area where the individual's work or business is located.

The IRS has posted a webpage that alerts taxpayers to some issues to consider when operating a business as a married couple.  Employment tax requirements for family employees may vary from those that apply to other employees.