Passed last year, The Inflation Reduction Act includes $80 billion in increased funding for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), much of which is intended for increased enforcement and audits. The "tax gap" is the difference between taxes paid and taxes owed by law. The...

Beginning in 2022, major changes made to section 174 of the Internal Revenue Code by the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act went into effect that will require businesses to amortize R&D expenses over a five year period.  Previously, these expenses were allowed to be...

While no American small business has been unscathed by the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent economic downturn, it has affected certain industries and locales more than others and disproportionately harmed minority-owned businesses. Access to credit can help small businesses...

The complexity of applying for a government contract can discourage many small-business owners from competing in a government bid. Despite the federal government meeting its small-business contracting goals in recent years, more can and should be done to ensure...

In recent years, the issue of paid family leave has garnered attention from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. Along with the COVID-19 pandemic, three recent developments have pushed the debate forward: 1) the increasing patchwork of state and local paid leave law...

A small business that makes good hiring decisions tends to have higher productivity and lower turnover, which positively affects the bottom line. Hiring the wrong people can have a negative impact on employee morale and management time and can waste valuable training and...

As a result of growing partisanship, Congress is not doing the job it was elected to do: passing budgets, responsibly managing the nation’s finances, and making the decisions necessary to ensure that government functions at a basic level of efficiency. Political...

America’s small businesses are facing the ever-growing financial and time burden of dealing with federal regulations. Despite the vital importance of small businesses to the U.S. economy, federal laws and unnecessary regulations have often disproportionately burdened them...

The considerable free rein federal agencies have over how to interpret and enforce laws passed by Congress is too often done in a way that harms America’s small businesses. While various regulatory reform initiatives have prohibited the enactment of a range of onerous rules...

Self-employed individuals, unlike large corporations, cannot fully deduct the cost of their health insurance as a business expense. At issue is the 15.3 percent tax that self-employed individuals must pay on their employer-provided health insurance costs to which nobody...

Despite some short-term improvements made in recent years, long-term debt challenges remain, and in the coming decades, the debt will squeeze budgetary resources that are vital to our economic success and competitiveness will be stymied. The COVID-19 pandemic and the...

Small businesses rely on information technology more than ever, yet the very tools that make small businesses competitive have also put them in the crosshairs of cyber attackers. The security of our online data and finances is a huge concern for America’s small businesses,...

Governments both domestically and internationally are enacting internet privacy rules that could prove complex and burdensome for many unsuspecting small businesses. Several states have passes various data privacy regulations, and all 50 states have enacted breach...

The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs are set to expire on Sept. 30, 2022, after the last five-year reauthorization. Lawmakers are likely to begin the reauthorization process again sometime this year. More must...

The capital gains tax is a fee that the federal government imposes on profits made from the sale of assets such as real estate, stock, the sale of businesses, collectibles, and other assets with increased value—the “gain.” Capital gains taxes become due when one sells an...

One of the most prominent challenges for small businesses is raising adequate capital to launch new ventures. Entrepreneurs have traditionally relied upon funding from capital providers such as banks, venture capitalists, angel investors, or contributions from friends and...

The current federal income tax system is broken—unfair, overly complex, and almost impossible for most Americans to understand. The Fair Tax is a reasonable, nonpartisan alternative before Congress that is both fair and easy to understand. A system that allows taxpayers to...

President Biden has pledged to support many policy initiatives endorsed by organized labor. Yet many of these initiatives threaten to negatively impact small businesses, the self-employed, and the economy. The 180-degree turn in regulatory employment policy priorities that...

Small-business owners, as well as their employees, are faced with the challenging task of juggling their personal lives with their careers. In order to allow the greatest amount of freedom while maintaining productivity, flexible scheduling—including flexible credit hour...

For the past half century, the U.S. has led the world in breaking down barriers to trade and in creating a fairer and freer international trading system based on market economics and the rule of law that has generated more American jobs and helped the growth of small and...

The Biden presidency will likely be friendlier to business immigration needs, however, there still may be challenges facing employers who supplement their work force with high-skilled foreign labor. President Biden has said he will work with Congress to first reform...

E-commerce provides businesses with access to much larger markets, but it also complicates even the simplest of retail transactions. One of the most challenging aspects can be figuring out which sales taxes apply to individual sales, especially when selling to out-of-state...

Health care costs remain one of the main concerns for small businesses in terms of providing health insurance to their employees and their families. The costs of medical malpractice–both direct and indirect–are a significant component of the health care system that is...

Net neutrality is the principle that an internet service provider (ISP) must provide access to all sites, content and applications at the same speed, under the same conditions without blocking or preferencing any content.  In 2015, the Federal Communications...

With the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, Congress created the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to ensure safe and healthful working conditions for workers. Due to a complex set of regulations, many small-business owners simply do not know of...

Abusive patent litigation continues to undermine the U.S. patent system. It discourages and deters investments in jobs and new technologies, stifles innovation, and weakens our intellectual property system.  Technology-focused small businesses contribute new...

When a small-business owner is considering his or her retirement needs and those of his employees, there are myriad different plans to consider with countless requirements and stipulations. Navigating an employee pension plan can be extremely complex and cumbersome and can...

ot since 1995 has an administration assembled a White House Conference on Small Business (WHCSB). It has been more than 25 years since the last WHCSB and it is time to convene a gathering to develop a cohesive small-business agenda to ensure the government is...

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has played a crucial role in supporting small businesses throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. SBA offers several different relief options to help small businesses recover from the impacts of COVID-19. In 2020, the agency backed more...

Small businesses continue to face significant challenges when it comes to volatile energy costs. Yet, small firms are the main source of breakthrough innovation in America and are a driving force of improvements in the clean energy sector. These companies are developing...

Earlier this week, U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Administrator Isabella Guzman announced SBA would be filling  a handful of open positions at the SBA. Unfortunately, there remain three key openings that require immediate action: the SBA Deputy...

The National Small Business Association (NSBA) is seeking leaders from the small business community to become part of NSBA’s Leadership Council. This is a great way to get involved in small business...