The Small Business Watchdog

On February 22, a review by Sara Sclaroff of Penelope Leach’s book, Child Care Today: Getting it Right for Everyone, appeared in the Outlook section of The Washington Post.  Sclaroff noted that balancing work and child care is something we haven’t quite figured out as a nation. Despite the new First Lady’s commendable first priority [...]

[Read more →]

The numbers we’ve seen recently reveal a small-business-dominated construction sector flat on its back. New housing starts for fourth quarter 2008 were down to just 550,000 units (on an annual basis) in December, just one-quarter of the 2005 level . And in January, housing starts sank to the lowest level since these numbers began to [...]

[Read more →]

            February 12-14, the National Small Business Association (NSBA) held its Small Business Congress (SBC) in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.  Participants at the event included current and past Advocacy leaders, including former Chief Counsels Jere Glover and Tom Sullivan and Acting Chief Counsel Shawne McGibbon.
 
            Advocacy Chief Economist Dr. Chad Moutray led a Small Business Economic [...]

[Read more →]

            The Connecticut House Commerce Committee met this week to hear testimony on HB 5930 An Act Requiring Small Business Analysis for Proposed Regulation.  Representative Diana Urban, a strong voice for small business in the state as well as trade groups and individuals, voiced her support.
 
            The proposed legislation would require that a state agency, [...]

[Read more →]

            Today, President Obama will sign the American Recovery and Investment Act of 2009.  I thought that it might be helpful to state what is in this Act for small business.  Here is a run-down of some of the larger items:
 
·      $720 million to help support a number of programs at the U.S. Small Business [...]

[Read more →]

            Advocacy has had many calls lately about how small businesses are weathering the current recession.  The hard answers about how they fared in this recession, compared with earlier ones, will have to wait for data that are not yet available.
 
            At the same time, much talk is in the air in Washington about [...]

[Read more →]

 
The National Small Business Association (NSBA) is holding its annual Small Business Congress (SBC) February 12-14, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.  On Thursday, February 12, Advocacy Chief Economist Dr. Chad Moutray will lead a Small Business Economic Forum and will release the 2008 edition of the Office of Advocacy’s Small Business Economy report.  This year’s report [...]

[Read more →]

Yesterday Advocacy hosted a roundtable on important tax issues.  Officials from the Internal Revenue Service made presentations on several topics, followed by Q&A from small business representatives. The topics discussed included the last-in, first-out (LIFO) accounting method, the revised Form 990 (which tax-exempt organizations have to file), and the home office business deduction. A representative [...]

[Read more →]

            On Friday January 30, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it will delay the requirement for businesses to use a new Form I-9 until April 3, 2009.  Previous versions of Form I-9 will no longer be valid after this date, and employers using the old forms will be subject to applicable penalties [...]

[Read more →]