Income tax, payroll tax, capital gains tax – the fiscal-cliff law passed in January changed many areas of the Internal Revenue Code, including one you might not have focused on lately: estate and gift taxes. Here’s what you need to know. What’s the current estate and gift tax exclusion? The exclusion is the amount you can transfer during your lifetime and via your will before estate or gift tax is due. It consists of two items.

Regardless of the type of business you’re running – whether it’s selling electronics, making furniture, or servicing automobiles – monitoring a few key financial indicators is often all that’s needed to keep your company growing and prosperous. On the other hand, neglecting a firm’s vital signs can lead to management by crisis and corrective action that’s too little, too late. A prudent business owner won’t wait until the end of the year (or even the end

October 1 – Generally, the deadline for businesses to adopt a SIMPLE retirement plan for 2013. October 15 – Filing deadline for 2012 individual tax returns on automatic six-month extension of the April 15 deadline. October 15 – If you converted a regular IRA to a Roth in 2012 and now want to switch back to a regular IRA, you have until October 15, 2013, to do so without penalty.