July 2008
Stimulus
Act Tax Opportunities for Your Practice
This
year's Economic Stimulus Act does more than send individual taxpayers
federal income tax rebates. The law also presents opportunities for reducing
the taxes your medical practice will owe for 2008.
Section 179 of the tax code now may allow your practice to immediately
deduct as an expense,
rather than depreciate over a period of years,
up
to $250,000 of the cost of new or used medical equipment and other eligible
business assets that you purchase and start using during the 2008 tax year.
Before the law change, the expensing limit for 2008 was $128,000.
Read more...
Creating a Budget
for Your Practice 101
For any size medical practice, a budget is a useful financial control tool
because it can help you improve financial performance and ensure ongoing
profitability. An annual budget makes it easy to track your practice’s
expenditures and collected income, as well as evaluate your profitability by
comparing actual spending and income generated to anticipated amounts.
Read more...
Federal Minimum Wage Rate Increase
As of July 24, 2008, the federal minimum wage rate
increased to $6.55 per hour, up from $5.85. This is the second of three
increases provided for by the enactment of the Fair Minimum Wage Act of
2007. A third minimum wage increase to $7.25 per hour becomes effective on
July 24, 2009. Indiana minimum wage laws follow the federal rate, but many
states have minimum wage laws with provisions that differ from the federal
law. To find out about applicable minimum wage laws for your state, visit
the
U.S. Department of Labor's website.
A Hearty New System for Indiana Heart Associates,
P.C.
Located in Indianapolis, Indiana
Heart Associates is comprised of 23 physicians, 137 employees and nine
locations. It is a leader in cardiac care and has been serving Indianapolis
and surrounding areas for more than ten years. After working with
Somerset on implementing Sage MAS 90, Tammy Steinbrook, Accounting
Supervisor, said "We eliminated 20 hours per month of manual data entry by
automating the transfer of information into MAS 90 from our practice
management application, outside payroll provider and physicians' credit card
transactions."
Read more...
Reduction in Length of
Extension for Partnerships, Trusts and
Estates Tax The IRS has issued regulations reducing the
length of time partnerships, trusts and estates can extend the filing of
their annual tax returns from six months to five months. For example, in the
case of a calendar-year partnership that files an extension, Form 1065 will
need to be filed by
September 15, rather than October 15. This change should
enable individual taxpayers to obtain the Schedule K-1 information necessary
to complete their tax returns by their October 15 six-month extended due
date. This one-month reduction in the six-month extension period is
effective for returns due on or after January 1, 2009. Please
contact us if you have any questions regarding this change.
Somerset
Health Care Team News
RBMA 2008 Fall Educational
Conference. The Somerset Health Care Team will be exhibiting at this
Radiology Business Management Association
event that is being held September 14 to 16 in San Antonio, TX. Jeff
Boomershine and David Wolfe hope to
see you there.
OAASC 2008 Annual Educational Conference. Cathy Weaver will be presenting at this conference for the Ohio Association of Ambulatory Surgery Centers. The conference is being held September 17 and 18 in Columbus, OH.
Association of Otolaryngology Administrators Annual Conference. Mike McCaslin will be presenting "Strategic Planning: A Way of Life" and "Physician Compensation Models" at this meeting being held September 17 to 20 in Chicago, IL.
American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology 50th Annual Meeting. This conference is being held in Boston, MA from September 21 to 25. If you are attending, please stop by to speak with Jeff Boomershine and David Wolfe at Booth 1129.
Financial Literacy for Women Seminar Series. Kathy Rokita and Cathy Weaver will be co-presenting "Cash Flow and Budgeting for Women" on Wednesday, October 1 as part of Somerset's Financial Literacy for Women series. This will be held in Somerset's Conference Center in Indianapolis, IN. Please view our video about the series and visit our web site for additional information.
Annual MGMA Conference. Cathy Weaver will be speaking at the annual Medical Group Management Association conference in San Diego, CA. Her presentation will be on October 21, and the topic is "High Deductible Health Plans and Health Savings Accounts: How to Understand and Manage These Emerging Products That Have Patients and Providers Mutually-Mystified." During the conference, the Somerset Health Care Team will be hosting a reception on Monday, October 20 at a restaurant across from the San Diego Convention Center. If you would like to attend, please contact us.
AAOS Conferences. Mike McCaslin will be presenting "Retirement Planning" at the conference being held in Tucson, AZ from October 10 to 12. He will be presenting "Ancillary Services: Whether and When" at the orthopaedic practice management conference in Washington, DC from October 17 to 19.
15th Annual Improving
Profitability of ASCs Business and Legal Issues Conference. This
conference is being presented by ASC Communications, Inc., and Ambulatory
Surgery Foundation from October 23 to 25 in Chicago, IL. On the 24th, Steve
Dobias will co-present "Which Back-Office Services Can You Effectively
Outsource? What Works; What Doesn’t Work? What Are the Costs and Benefits?"
Also on the 24th, Cathy Weaver will co-present "Current Strategies to Handle
Out-of-Network and High Deductible Patients" For more information about the
conference,
visit the Becker's ASC Review site.
Health Care Commentaries is provided by Somerset’s Health Care Team for our clients and other interested persons upon request. Since technical information is presented in generalized fashion, no final conclusion on these topics should be made without further review. For additional information on the issues discussed, please contact a member of our Health Care Team. This document is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, for the purpose of avoiding tax penalties that may be imposed on the taxpayer.
Somerset CPAs, P.C.
3925 River Crossing Parkway, Third Floor
Indianapolis, Indiana 46240
317.472.2200 • 800.469.7206 • FAX 317.208.1200
http://healthcare.somersetcpas.com
info@somersetcpas.com