When we engage with new tax clients at Harmony, the number one request is almost always the desire to have more active input from our team on helping to optimize tax outcomes for a year. That makes this the perfect time to remind clients that we’re here to work with you, on demand, to ensure your finances are aligned with your goals. Whether it’s changes in your personal life, investments, or career, scheduling a proactive year-end tax planning session now can help maximize deductions, avoid surprises come April, and set you up for financial success in 2025.

“You have inflation, you have worker shortages, you have access to capital shortages,” Hetrick said. “It doesn’t seem to be ending, and getting back to a place where it’s a reasonable set of challenges...”

Harmony President Matt Hetrick returned to NPR’s Marketplace to chat with Justin Ho this week about economic recovery and the restaurant industry.

The SECURE 2.0 Act, signed into law in 2022, brings sweeping changes to retirement plan policies, with implications for both employers and employees. This guide will explore both the key provisions of SECURE 2.0 and the various retirement plan options available to businesses, including SIMPLE IRAs, SEP IRAs, and 401(k)s.

For this month’s Lessons From the Line we’re offering up the first in a new series of classes intended to demystify some accounting basics for Harmony’s hospitality clients. LFTL’s Payroll 101 series will tackle the ins and outs of hospitality payroll, from pre- and post-tax deductions to SUTA and FUTA, and lots more. This month, we’ll start with a crash course on the difference between W-2 Employees and 1099 Contractors.

This is just a friendly reminder that, like we wrote about last month (on a topic we have written about somewhat frequently), the Fed is widely expected to start cutting rates on Wednesday. That makes right now a great time to execute any planned moves with income items, like locking in CDs before rates drop.

To that end, we're re-distributing our August Commonsense CPA as both reminder and primer. Find it in its original incarnation published on our blog here, or just read on!

A Qualified Tuition Plan (QTP or 529 Plan) can be a tremendously beneficial tax savings tool. Let’s take a look at some of the basics as we round out 2024!

This is a quick reminder of DC Department of Employment Services' (DOES) compliance requirements around Paid Family Leave - though Harmony cannot provide HR or payroll guidance, we're invested in helping our clients stay up to date on communications and requirements from DC, especially as the city doesn't always communicate especially thoroughly.

With the pandemic firmly in the rearview mirror, our restaurant clients have seen a return to full seasonality in 2024. Many restaurateurs have been caught off guard by this "return to norm," as the last few years have accustomed them to operating on a week-to-week basis. However, the return to seasonal trends requires a mindset change.

With the Federal Reserve signaling the likelihood of rate cuts as soon as September, now is a great time to review the tax attributes of different income streams while considering strategies to lock in cash flows while rates remain high. Understanding the tax implications of various income sources can help you make informed decisions to optimize your tax liability. Here then is an overview of the tax attributes of several popular income streams.

Last year, Washington, D.C. updated its regulations with the Restaurant Revitalization and Dram Shop Clarification Amendment Act of 2024. The updated legislation went into effect last month, and includes a number of changes and updates to DC’s Dram Shop laws as well as a handful of gestures toward easing the pain of the chaos that is the protracted end of DC’s tipped minimum wage.

This is your friendly, regular reminder that as of January 1 this year, the US Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, has been accepting Beneficial Ownership Information Reports, or BOI Reports. These reports are part of the Corporate Transparency Act, or CTA, which went into effect in 2024.

LFTL covers some suggested reading this month spanning the FLSA Minimum Salary increases, Starbucks, Grimace, and more.

The recent changes to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) White Collar exemption bring substantial implications for small businesses. As of 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has implemented a raise in the minimum salary threshold for the majority of employees not paid hourly but paid a salary. The current exemption threshold is $684 per week ($35,568 per year) – but is set to increase by a whopping 64% over the next six months!

Wonder is the latest in a long line of Venure Capital driven claims to revolutionize the restaurant indstry. We have some questions.

A tax extension provides additional time to file your tax return, not to pay any taxes owed. The IRS offers an automatic six-month extension for those who cannot file their tax by the due date. We handle this service for our clients but if you’re doing your taxes yourself here’s a handy guide (and reminder to call us next year!).

“ ‘Are my labor increase fees compliant? Will I be sued? I can’t afford to defend myself—what should we do?’ ” Hetrick recalls hearing from owners. “They read that there are lawsuits and believe they have to rush off to switch their comp models to unsustainable structures or they’ll be sued into oblivion in the coming months.”

As an operator solving cost of goods challenges can be challenging but the positive news is that 90% cost of goods problems come from 1 of 3 areas: pricing problems, waste, and shrink. Today in Lessons From the Line we’re examining a useful tool to address these issues: the Declining Balance Budget.

The concept of the "marriage tax penalty" is a critical issue for many couples, affecting their financial planning and tax filings. The marriage tax penalty occurs when a married couple pays more in taxes than they would if they were filing as single individuals. Learn how to navigate this tax issue in this month’s Commonsense CPA.

With laws like DC’s Initiative 82 and Chicago’s “One Fair Wage” ordinance passing nationwide eliminating the tip credit, some restaurateurs are left scratching their heads about how to cover increased labor charges. Service charges have now come under fire from a variety of angles, so this month’s LFTL explores some service charge alternatives.

Uber is shutting down the alcohol delivery service it acquired for north of $1.1 billion to fold it into the main UberEats app. There were other issues with Drizly, and the company line is that Uber wanted to deliver everything under one brand, but to shutter a $1B acquisition dovetails with a larger market shift that can be constructive to small business owners.