IT tax deductions: Section 179 bonus depreciation cybersecurity software.
It’s that time of year, business owners need to start thinking about tax deductions and ways to maximize profit protection. One area not to be overlooked is IT expenses since IT plays a crucial role in every business. The good news is that many IT expenses can be deducted from your taxes. From hardware and software purchases to cybersecurity measures and cloud services, there are several essential IT tax deductions that can help you lower your tax bill and keep more money in your profit column.
IT Tax Deductions for Business Owners
As a business owner, it is crucial to recognize the importance of taking advantage of IT tax deductions before the end of the year. These deductions can significantly impact your bottom line. By deducting IT expenses, you are not only reducing your tax liability but also creating funds to re-invest in the growth of your business and upgrading to the latest technology, which positions your business for long-term success.
IT Tax Deductions to Maximize Your Savings
Take advantage of these IT tax deductions to maximize their profit savings:
Software and Hardware Expenses: Deducting the cost of industry specific software and hardware purchases is an excellent way to save on taxes. Whether you invested in new computer systems or upgraded your existing software, remember to include these expenses in your deductions as capital expenditures. Profit savings can be compounded by taking the amount saved through IT tax deductions and spending it on further software and hardware purchases.
Cybersecurity Measures: With the increasing threat of cyberattacks, investing in cybersecurity measures is crucial. These expenses can also be deducted from your taxes. From firewalls to antivirus software, make sure to claim any cybersecurity investments you have made throughout the year.
Cloud Services: Many businesses have moved to using cloud services for their storage and daily operations. These operational expenses are also eligible for tax deductions. Whether you use cloud computing, backup services, or cloud-based software, remember to include these costs in your deductions.
By focusing on these essential IT tax deductions, you will minimize your tax liability and position your business for success in the coming year.
Consulting with a Certified Public Accountant
While it’s important to have a basic understanding of the IT tax deductions for your business, it is equally important to consult with a certified public accountant. A knowledgeable CPA can provide you with personalized financial advice and guidance based on your company’s unique situation.
Tax laws and regulations are constantly changing, and it can be challenging to keep up with all the updates. By working closely with a CPA, you can stay updated on the latest deductions and strategies to maximize your savings while staying compliant with the law. They can review your financial records, identify missed deductions, and help you make informed decisions that positively impact your bottom line.
Remember, seeking advice from a tax professional will not only help you optimize your profit savings but also give you peace of mind knowing that your tax returns are accurate and in line with the regulations.
Keeping Detailed Records
One essential practice for maximizing your IT tax deductions is keeping detailed records of your IT expenses. Maintaining accurate and organized records throughout the year can help you claim all eligible deductions at tax time.
Start by creating a system to track and categorize your IT expenses. This can include items like software and hardware purchases, IT services, website development costs, and data storage fees. Keep receipts, invoices, and any supporting documents for each expense. Having detailed records allows you to easily identify and calculate eligible deductions. It also provides evidence and documentation if you ever face an audit or need to justify your deductions to the IRS.
Consider using accounting software or cloud-based platforms to streamline the record-keeping process. These tools can help you track expenses, generate reports, and ensure accuracy in your financial records. By maintaining detailed records of your IT expenses, you not only ensure that you are taking full advantage of available deductions, but you also create a solid foundation for your overall tax strategy.
Utilizing Section 179 Deductions
Section 179 of the tax code allows businesses to deduct the full purchase price of qualifying equipment and software purchased or financed during the tax year. By utilizing Section 179, you can deduct the entire cost of eligible technology investments in the year they are purchased. This deduction can help reduce your overall tax liability, allowing you to maximize your profit savings.
To qualify for Section 179 deductions, the equipment or software must be used for business purposes more than 50% of the time. This deduction is particularly beneficial for businesses investing in technology upgrades or replacements, as it encourages the adoption of new and improved IT systems. Be sure to consult with a tax professional to determine the eligibility of your IT investments for Section 179 deductions and to ensure you are maximizing this deduction for your business.
Bonus Depreciation for IT Purchases
Business owners can also benefit from bonus depreciation for their IT purchases. Bonus depreciation allows businesses to deduct a percentage of the cost of qualifying assets in the year they are placed in service. Under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, businesses can take an 80% bonus depreciation deduction for qualified property acquired and placed into service in 2023, then depreciate the remaining 20% over the course of several years.
To qualify for bonus depreciation, the property must have a recovery period of 20 years or less and be purchased for business use. This deduction is particularly valuable for businesses that are investing in new IT equipment or upgrading their existing technology infrastructure.
By timing your IT purchases strategically, you can take full advantage of bonus depreciation and significantly reduce your tax liability. However, it’s important to note that bonus depreciation is subject to change based on tax laws and regulations, so consulting with a CPA is crucial to ensure compliance and maximize your savings.
Research and Development Tax Credit
While bonus depreciation and Section 179 deductions are great for maximizing your tax deductions when it comes to IT purchases, there is another valuable tax credit that often goes unnoticed – the Research and Development (R&D) tax credit.
The R&D tax credit is designed to incentivize businesses to invest in innovation and development activities. Many business owners mistakenly believe that this credit is only applicable to scientific or technological research. However, the R&D tax credit is much broader than that and can apply to a wide range of industries and activities.
To make the most of the R&D tax credit, it’s important to keep detailed records of your qualifying activities and expenses. Consult with a tax professional who specializes in this area to ensure that you are maximizing your tax savings while staying compliant with the IRS requirements.
To make best use of your IT tax deduction spending, contact us to discuss new purchases and upgrades.
Organized browser tabs grouped by project with pinned essentials.
No matter whether its Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome, users can maximize their productivity through powerful tab management capabilities. In this blog post, we will explore how you can leverage Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome tabs to boost your efficiency and stay organized.
Tab Groups for Enhanced Organization
One of the standout features of Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome is the ability to create tab groups. This feature allows you to group related tabs together, enabling you to focus on specific tasks and declutter your workspace. To create a tab group, simply right-click on any open tab, select “Add to new group,” and choose a color to represent the group. You can customize each group according to your preferences, such as work-related tabs, personal tabs, or tabs for a specific project. With tab groups, finding and switching between tabs becomes effortless, saving you valuable time and mental effort.
Vertical Tabs for Optimal Space Management
Another valuable feature of Microsoft Edge is the vertical tabs option. Traditionally, tabs are aligned horizontally, occupying a significant portion of your browser’s horizontal space. However, with vertical tabs, you can move your tab bar to the left side of the browser window. This vertical arrangement allows you to view more tab titles at a glance and optimizes your screen real estate. To access vertical tabs, simply click on the vertical arrow icon on the left side of your tab bar, or use the shortcut Ctrl+Shift+X. Vertical tabs are particularly useful for those who frequently work with numerous tabs simultaneously.
Quick Controls for Efficient Tab Navigation
Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome offers several quick controls to enhance your tab navigation experience. For instance, you can use the “Ctrl+Tab” shortcut to cycle through your opened tabs, or “Ctrl+Shift+Tab” to navigate in reverse order. Additionally, right-clicking on the Forward and Back buttons in the browser toolbar provides a drop-down menu featuring a list of recently visited pages, enabling you to quickly revisit previously accessed content. These simple shortcuts and navigation tools can significantly streamline your browsing experience and save you from unnecessary clicks and searching.
Collections to Consolidate Your Research
If you frequently conduct online research or gather information from various sources, Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome’s Collections feature is a game-changer. Collections allow you to consolidate related content, including text, images, links, and notes, into a single organized space. You can create different collections for different projects, making it easy to revisit and share your findings. Whether you are planning a trip, working on a report, or researching a hobby, Collections simplify the process of organizing and accessing your research.
In today’s fast-paced digital world, it is crucial to leverage the tools at your disposal to maximize productivity. With powerful tab management features, including tab groups, vertical tabs, quick controls, and collections, you can streamline your browsing experience, stay organized, and accomplish your tasks more efficiently. Take advantage of these productivity-boosting features, and unlock the full potential of your web browsing experience!
If your company is looking for more ways to improve efficiency in the office, then contact us for assistance.
Farmhouse Networking virtualizes small office servers reducing hardware footprint while improving uptime and disaster recovery for Oregon SMBs.
Had a client recently who had a smaller office network (they have up to 6 concurrent users) with a server to process orders from their website using a software called StoneEdge. This software is SQL-based database with a Microsoft Access front-end. It was time to upgrade their server to new hardware and cost was definitely an issue based on their size and order volume. In this case we chose to use a Synology device to act as the virtual machine host and create a new virtual server on the host. Here are some details:
4x Seagate 4TB IronWolf Pro 7200 rpm SATA III 3.5″ Internal NAS HDD
Picked the Synology based on the expandability of RAM to 32 GB, the capability to use cache drives, and storage growth over time. It also has a 4-core 2.2 Ghz Ryzen processor which was plenty based on their old servers CPU usage.
Basics of Setup
Assembled parts
Installed Synology OS
Setup HDDs in Synology SHR2 RAID
Added M.2 drives as cache
Installed the Virtual Machine Manager app
Created a VM with the max CPU available and max Memory available
Uploaded the ISO for the server OS
Installed the server OS
Setup the StoneEdge application
Migrated data
This build did not increase performance dramatically, but it did allow them to spend about half the cost of a full server to accomplish the same purpose. It also reduced costs by using the Synology for backup of the server locally and into S3 storage in the cloud for redundancy.
If your company is looking to move their servers to a virtual environment or into the cloud, then contact usto start the process
This is the eighth in a series about the concept of Zero Trust, which means in the IT sense that you trust nothing and always verify everything surrounding and connected to your network. Today’s discussion will be on Application Whitelisting.
Application Whitelisting
Application Whitelisting is a process of determining which software programs the company absolutely needs to do business, marking them as safe, and blocking any other program that tries to run on company computers. This methodology has the distinct advantage of blocking almost all forms of malware on computers. Pairing this with a good next-gen antivirus creates an impenetrable wall against malware threats. It also prevents users from accidentally or intentionally running something that should not be on company computers. Here are some questions to ask:
Do you know all software on your computers?
Do your users spend time on company computers listening to music?
Have any of your users ever downloaded software without asking?
Do you have a computer use policy? How is that enforced?
If your company is wanting to lock down what is running on company computers, then contact us for assistance.
This is the seventh in a series about the concept of Zero Trust, which means in the IT sense that you trust nothing and always verify everything surrounding and connected to your network. Today’s discussion will be on software patching.
Software Patching
Software patching is a neccesity because no person who writes code is perfect and hackers are actively looking for these mistakes. The hackers find the mistakes and then develop ways of using these to exploit the software, computer, or whatever else they can gain access to. The only way to combat both the mistakes and the exploits is to discover them before the hackers do and patch the hole in the software. This patch can however lead to unforseen consequences to the software, so a plan for testing and deployment of patches is needed to avoid unexpected downtime to businesses.Here are some questions to ask:
Do you know all of the hardware and software on your network?
Do you check for hardware, operating system, and other software regularly?
How do you check for updates, patches, or upgrades to software?
How do you install these patches? Is it automated?
Are these patches tested before installation?
What happens if a patch causes problems?
Do you have a log of all installed updates?
Are any systems or software on your network no longer supported for updates?
If your company is going to use full disk encryption or has compliance requirements that you need consulting for, then contact us for assistance.
Farmhouse Networking secures vendor access with zero trust verification for Grants Pass businesses, protecting against supply chain threats.
This is the second in a series about the concept of Zero Trust, which means in the IT sense that you trust nothing and always verify everything surrounding and connected to your network. Today’s discussion will be on the vendors you purchase network equipment from.
Trusted Vendors
Trusted vendors are those who supply workstations, servers, routers, switches, power protection, software, and anything else connected to your network. Here are some questions that you should be asking yourself:
Do you know who makes your network equipment, servers, computers, and software?
Do you know the way to contact their support and have current account access information?
Do you have current warranties / support contracts on hardware and software?
Is the hardware able to perform at the level needed?
Are you purchasing software from those who meets industry standards?
If a subscription, how much are you paying and are you on the correct plan for your needs?
When is the last time you upgraded your software and hardware?
Have you budgeted for the next upgrade?
Take time to think about these questions and decide where changes can be made to better protect your IT investments, or contact us to do the thinking for you.
RapidDeploy creates its Cloud Aided Dispatch systems to help first responders act quickly to protect the public. There’s a lot at stake, and the company’s cloud-native platform must be secure against an array of serious cybersecurity threats. So, when RapidDeploy implemented a Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) system, it chose Microsoft Azure Sentinel, one of the world’s first cloud-native SIEMs. See the full story in the video below.
Convert PPP payroll protection into permanent IT infrastructure gains
A bill in Congress has been brewing since October 2020 and finally passed in December 2020. Representative David Scott introduced H.R.8620 which is stated to:
“To permit payments for certain business software or cloud computing services as allowable uses of a loan made under the Paycheck Protection Program of the Small Business Administration.”
What PPP can do for you
This bill was an amendment to the Small Business Act that changes the definition of how PPP loan moneys can be used. The changes are as follows:
“the term ‘covered operations expenditure’ means a payment for any business software or cloud computing service that facilitates business operations, product or service delivery, the processing, payment, or tracking of payroll expenses, human resources, sales and billing functions, or accounting or tracking of supplies, inventory, records and expenses”
So what does this mean for your business? That you can apply for the PPP funds then use them to upgrade your out-of-date software that runs your company or use the funds to move your business into the cloud. There has never been a better time or excuse to discuss the possibilities of moving your business to the cloud and implementing those upgrades that have waited so long. By doing so you will position your company better for the Work From Home trend and be prepared for business expansion once the pandemic is over.
Many of our customers have been experiencing some of their users having Outlook crashing immediately after opening. We even had other tech companies call to find out how we were fixing it, so we investigated and found the following known issue from Microsoft:
Users experiencing Outlook connection issues and crashes EX218604, Exchange Online, Last updated: July 15, 2020 10:12 AM Start time: July 15, 2020 9:18 AM User impact: Users may experience crashes or may be unable to access Exchange Online via Outlook. Current status: Our initial review of the available data indicates that recently deployed updates are the likely source of the problem. We’re performing an analysis of all recent service updates to isolate the underlying cause of the problem and to determine the most expedient means to restore service.
We will be keeping our monthly clients up to date on this issue.
And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others. As the Scriptures say,
“They share freely and give generously to the poor. Their good deeds will be remembered forever.”
For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you. - 2 Corinthians 9:8-10
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