Diesel hit a record national average of $5.85 a gallon this week, up more than $2 since January. Farm bankruptcy filings nationally reached a six-year monthly high in April. South Jersey owners feel this before the headlines do, and most have no one to call who knows both the numbers and the law.
Here is the pattern I see repeat. An owner who cannot cover payroll pays the net wages, holds back the withheld taxes, and plans to catch up next month. Those withheld dollars were never company money. The IRS can assess them personally against the owner under the trust fund recovery penalty, they survive bankruptcy, and a long enough pattern stops being treated as a cash-flow problem and starts being treated as intent.
Every one of those stages has an exit, and the exit is widest at the beginning. Installment agreements, penalty relief, and a documented change of course are all still available to an owner who moves early. They narrow considerably for an owner who waits.
This past week I heard stories from two local business owners who wasted money on expensive legal solutions that will not solve their problems. They did not want to talk with anyone about their business problems, and this led to poor, emotionally-driven actions that hurt rather than helped.
If your business is under this kind of pressure, text me the words BUSINESS STRESS to 856-314-5625. Please send no details by text. I will call you, at no cost and with no obligation, and if what you describe belongs with an attorney first, a business change, debt restructuring, or tax resolution. If I think you should consider something else, I will tell you that too.
You don’t have to deal with business stress alone
Tony Novak, CPA
Thirty years of tax planning for South Jersey business owners, mostly contractors and closely held companies. My work happens before the year ends, when there is still something to change.
If something here applies to your situation, text PLAN to 856-314-5625.