Archives for April 2021

Sleep is something that many, if not most, anticipate during the work week. The incentive of sleep in on those short weekends is enough to get us through the monotonous work hours. Based on the huge success of a handful of pop songs about staying in bed on Sunday mornings, I have to assume that most of us can relate to this.

Sleep may be an enjoyable experience, but it also plays a huge part in the health and longevity of our mental health. According to Harvard Medical School, there is a positive correlation between insomnia and strengthening a number of mental health conditions including depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

For those of us who struggle with sleep, the Mental Health Foundation suggests a simple acronym to assist with “healing” poor sleep. HEAL represents “Health,” “Environment,” “Attitude” and “Lifestyle.”

Health encourages people to stay on top of their physical and mental health by seeing respective professionals, as lack of sleep and poor health are linked. Environment involves making the most of your place of sleep, avoiding screen time and lights when trying to reach a state of deep sleep. Attitude encourages relaxation, letting go of the stressors of the past day. Finally, Lifestyle is similar to sleep in that it promotes healthy habits such as proper diet and regular exercise.

With all of these facts and suggestions in mind, you may find yourself wondering where you may fit in. Perhaps you yourself do not experience a mental health condition, nor do you even particularly struggle with sleep.  Maybe sleep is just another mundane task that you have gotten into a routine. You know it is important, but do not know or care about its high value.

Most of us struggle with stress, certainly during the workday. Despite the stereotypical encouragement proverb of “leave work at work,” this is easier said than done. Even when engaging in activities that we enjoy, that deadline or that email continuing to be put off remains in the back of our minds. What can we do to escape this?

The answer is sleep.

As per the wise advice of the HEAL acronym, setting your environment is one of the most important components of getting a good night’s rest, as well as achieving REM (rapid eye movement). Harvard Medical School also reports that this state of REM sleep assists in the enhancement of cognitive performance, memory, learning and emotional health. Setting the mood by winding down and quieting your racing mind makes all the difference.

Letting your stressors go can seem impossible at times. You may be holding onto it like driftwood in the tumultuous storm of life, and releasing that hold may be terrifying due to the fear that you might drown. However, if you allow yourself to abandon that pressure and just let go, you may find that the water is more shallow than expected. Additionally, letting everything go to get a good night’s rest has been proven to help you tackle those mountainous challenges in the coming day. Sometimes, consenting to not overwhelm yourself by spreading your tasks out makes all the difference.

No matter where you are in life, everyone could use some extra help. The Employee Assistance Program is here to assist you with getting to the place you need to be, to perform your best! Some may need mental health counseling with a clinician; some may need to address their finances with a professional; others may have a pending legal issue that they’ve been anxious to address with a lawyer. Perhaps these pending matters are the very things keeping you tossing and turning in bed. If so, the EAP is here to help you say “goodbye” to your troubles, not “good night.”

Call the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) Access Line at 877-252-8550 for more information on the services allotted to help you. Do not sleep on this, call today!

About the Author

Bobby Jepson is a clinician with the Employee Assistance Pr. Erica Conover serves as the Business Development Liaison for LifeWork Strategies at Adventist HealthCare. They can be reached at rjepson2@adventisthealthcare.com

This article is intended to briefly introduce a few tax credits that may be applicable to
small to midsize businesses. These tax credits range from those related to COVID-19,
with short expiry dates, to credits that are available over a longer duration.

Sick and Family Leave Credit

The government essentially is covering these employee wages if an employer paid for employees during when the employee took sick or family leave for COVID-19 related reasons for periods of leave from April 1, 2020, through September 30, 2021. Depending on the reason the employee was out (sick him or herself or to take care of a family member), the credit is based on the sick wages paid (capped at certain daily limits and hours), certain health insurance amounts, as well as the eligible employer Medicare paid portion for the related wages. The credit funds can be obtained by filing an amended Form 941 for the applicable quarter or by filing for a quick advance on the tax credit with Form 7200, Advance of Employer Credits Due To COVID-19.

Employee Retention Credit

This credit has two pieces – one that applies to 2020 tax year and the other that applies to 2021.

For 2020, If the employer had full or partial shutdown due to a state or federal government
order or a 50% or more reduction in gross receipts, they could get up to $5k per employee in tax credits for wages paid between March 12, 2020 and before January 1, 2021. The credit can include certain health insurance payments also. The cash for the tax credit can be applied for by filing an amended Form 941X for each applicable quarter of 2020.

For 2021, the ERC eligibility criteria of full or partial government ordered shut down remains the same. If the employer is eligible based on gross receipts reduction criteria, then for the 2021 ERC, gross receipts only need to have gone down by 20%. The tax credit can be claimed against the employer share of matching payroll taxes and is equal to 70% of the qualified wages they pay to employees in 2021.

Qualified wages are limited to $10,000 per employee per calendar quarter in 2021. Thus, the
maximum ERC amount available is $7,000 per employee per calendar quarter, for a total of $28,000 in 2021! The manner for obtaining the cash for the credit remains the same as that for 2020 above.

You can learn more about the Employee Retention Tax Credit on a prior article I wrote here.

Research and Development (R&D) Credit

This is one of the most overlooked credits out there. The R&D credit may be claimed by taxpaying businesses that develop, design, or improve products, processes, formulas, or software. What constitutes R&D with regard to the credit is much more expansive than business owners realize, with activities related to applied sciences and other technical projects qualifying companies from numerous industries and can be applied for businesses of all sizes, not just major corporations with research.

If your business develops or designs new products or processes or enhances existing products or processes or develops or improves upon existing prototypes and software, you can claim the credit. The credit may be claimed for both current and prior tax years.

To claim the credit, the taxpayer must contemporaneously evaluate and document their research activities to establish the amount of qualified research expenses paid for each qualified research activity. Expenses such as wages paid to employees, amounts paid for supplies used in the qualified research or amounts paid to subcontractors engaged in the qualified research work – all of these can be used to claim the R&D credit. IRS Form 6765 is used to claim the credit.

Other Tax Credits Commonly Missed

Health care credit (If you employ fewer than 25 full-time equivalent employees and pay at least half of the premiums for single health insurance coverage for employees); retirement plan set up tax credit (the credit is up to the greater of $500; or the lesser of $250 multiplied by the number of non-highly compensated employees eligible to participate in the plan, or $5,000); the disabled access credit or the alternative energy sources credit.

These are just some of the federal tax credits available to businesses – essentially cash that the government wants to give to businesses that qualify. In addition to these federal tax credits, there are numerous state tax credits may apply. Please be sure you review your businesses’ tax credit situation closely so as not to leave eligible money on the table.

ABOUT

Samreen Sadiq is a CPA with Taksey, Neff, & Associates, LLC.

She can be reached at (301) 294-1100 ext 105