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“GJM Pistol Team?  What’s that, exactly?”

Exactly what it sounds like!

Let me introduce to you this year’s co-captains of the Gilmore Jasion Mahler Pistol Team: Stacie Heitmeyer, defending champion Hannah Nowak, and yours truly.

We always strive to make GJM a fun place to work – people do their best work when they’re happy at the office. One way we do that is with a pretty unique offering: we are the only accounting firm in Northwest Ohio (or anywhere?) that sponsors an official firm Pistol Team.

A little history

In 2012, a handful of us who enjoy some target shooting in our spare time looked around at the various softball, bowling, kickball, and other team building fun outings, and thought “what a great idea if we did a pistol team.”  Cleland’s Outdoor World runs winter and fall pistol leagues every year, and the format of the league makes for a lot of fun. In addition to traditional bullseye targets, the league uses some variants like Bingo cards, word scrambles, etc., and some truly silly stuff like saltines, candy Valentine hearts, and once even an apple on top of a mannequin’s head. Results on the little candy hearts are usually pretty mixed but most of us do a good job on the saltines.

The league format also allows for substitutes – so we would bring five different shooters every week to get as many people involved as possible. This doesn’t always produce great team scores but it does give us a chance to involve folks from all the departments, so auditors and tax associates and consultants and administrative folks all get to play together outside the office. This builds some comradery among the departments and allows some friendships to form among people who otherwise might not have occasion to work together often.

We started challenging ourselves as to how many different shooters we could involve each year. The 2017 team fielded 26 different associates and interns at least one time, many of them first-timer shooters.  We all find teaching newcomers how to shoot fun and rewarding – its outreach for a sport we all love and who doesn’t love learning new stuff?!

We also get the sweet uniform shirts you see above, which is a fun souvenir of the experience, and draws lots of attention out on the streets or on campus. We’re a different kind of accounting firm, both for our clients and for our associates and interns. I love answering the question at the top – “Pistol Team?” – because it’s one more way to show we are outside the box.

But we’re accountants, so we have to compete

If you’re not keeping score, there’s almost no point in playing, right? So we do track and award both team and individual awards. The team award is the coveted Grand Interdepartmental Pistol Championship™.  Turns out that historically, the audit department is fairly awesome at this and has won three trophies in the six years we’ve fielded a team. Our healthcare group has won two and our tax team has won once.

Maybe 2018 will be the year tax gets back in the winner’s circle, where they haven’t been since 2014. Tax’s own Hannah “Shooter” Nowak has won two of the last three Individual Pistol Champion trophies, including last year when she won the championship on the final shot of the night, by plinking a peppermint lifesaver one-handed from 50 feet away, which will be a story re-told and probably embellished for a thousand years.  Also the annual Most Valuable Intern award will be up for grabs – our overwhelming two-time winner Jess Knepper has joined the firm full-time and is no longer eligible for intern awards!

Look for updates throughout the 2018 season, pull for your favorite to win one of the coveted awards, and maybe you’ll see us on some bubblegum cards come springtime. Happy winter meantime!

J Kenneth Saggese contributed this blog. Ken is a partner in the Audit Department of Gilmore Jasion Mahler. With the Firm since 2006, Ken is a member of GJM’s Construction and Real Estate Specialist Group. His area of expertise is affordable housing.

Do you know when you want to retire from running your own business? Planning for the future of your business with you out of the picture can be tough. Gilmore Jasion Mahler Audit Partner Greg Taylor says many businesses drag their feet when it comes to future planning. He says you need to plan ahead and you need to start talking with your trusted advisors.

If you're interested in receiving more informational articles and tax strategy ideas direct to your inbox, be sure to sign up for our free GJM tax newsletter Focus. You may also want to consider signing up for some of our free quarterly industry newsletters, including The Manufacturer (for those in manufacturing & distribution), On-Site (construction & real estate industry), Practice Management Advisor (physician practices and other healthcare practices) and The Expert (with a focus on business valuation and litigation support). Sign up here for any of GJM's free newsletters.

Established in 1996, Gilmore Jasion Mahler, LTD (GJM) is the largest public accounting firm in Northwest Ohio, with offices in Maumee and Findlay. Locally owned, GJM offers cloud-based accounting services and provides comprehensive services including assurance, business advisory, tax, risk advisory and healthcare management. The Firm's professionals specialize in industries including construction & real estate, healthcare, manufacturing & distribution and utilities. 

With a new corporate tax rate of 21% now in place, many businesses are asking if perhaps they should change their business classification with the federal government from an “S” Corp to a corporation (sometimes referred to as a “C” Corp) to take advantage of the lower corporate tax rate. Your window for making that decision (and having it take effect for the entire 2018 calendar year) closed on March 15, but you can still make the change.

An S Corp is a “pass-through” entity that passes its income through to the individual level for the purposes of taxation. A corporation would be subject to taxation at the new corporate tax rate of 21%.

Gilmore Jasion Mahler (GJM) tax experts are fielding this S Corp vs. C Corp question from many clients across multiple industries. While it may sound like an obvious move to make, they will tell you that each business must examine the pros and cons of such a move with a trusted tax advisor.

GJM held an education event on the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and examined the S Corp vs. Corporation question, citing some examples that showed remaining an S Corporation could actually mean lower taxation for some businesses (versus taxation at the new 21% corporate rate).

If your business wanted to revoke your S Corporation election effective January 1, 2018, then you needed to make that decision by March 15, 2018. Now that the deadline has passed, you can still make the change, but you need to be aware that your revocation would be effective on the date indicated in your revocation election to the IRS. For example, if you elect to revoke your S Corporation election on June 30, 2018, you would file a short period S Corporation return for January 1-June 30, 2018. You would then file a Corporation return from July 1-December 31, 2018.

Now is the time to have this important discussion with your tax advisor, as such a move could have significant financial implications for your business. 

Tax Partner Deanna Hall contributed this blog. Learn about GJM’s expertise in Tax and meet our team. If you're interested in receiving more informational articles and tax strategy ideas direct to your inbox, be sure to sign up for our free GJM tax newsletter Focus. You may also want to consider signing up for some of GJM's free quarterly industry newsletters, including The Manufacturer (for those in manufacturing & distribution), On-Site (construction & real estate), Practice Management Advisor (physician practices and other healthcare entities) and The Expert (with a focus on business valuation and litigation support). You can sign up here for any of GJM's free newsletters.

Established in 1996, Gilmore Jasion Mahler, LTD (GJM) is the largest public accounting firm in Northwest Ohio, with offices in Maumee and Findlay. Locally owned, GJM offers cloud-based accounting services and provides comprehensive services including assurance, business advisory, tax, risk advisory and healthcare management. The Firm’s professionals specialize in industries including construction & real estate, healthcare, manufacturing & distribution and utilities. 

Are you a contractor about to start a new project? Partner Bob Bobek, CPA leads GJM's Construction & Real Estate team and says there are some critical questions to ask before moving forward.

Bob works closely with many construction businesses as a trusted advisor in key business decisions. Interested in learning more about issues, regulations and tax strategy specific to the construction industry? Sign up for GJM's free industry newsletter On-Site. Established in 1996, Gilmore Jasion Mahler, LTD (GJM) is the largest public accounting firm in Northwest Ohio, with offices in Maumee and Findlay. Locally owned, GJM offers cloud-based accounting services and provides comprehensive services including assurance, business advisory, tax, risk advisory and healthcare management. The Firm's professionals specialize in industries including construction & real estate, healthcare, manufacturing & distribution and utilities.

What is WOTC?

WOTC, or the Work Opportunity Tax Credit, is a federal tax credit. It’s available to employers in the healthcare field and in other industries who hire and retain veterans and other people who face significant barriers to employment. Employers claim about a billion dollars in tax credits every year under the WOTC program. There is no limit to how many people an employer can hire to qualify to claim the tax credit, and there are a few simple steps to follow to apply for WOTC.

How Does WOTC Work?

The tax credit that employers can claim depends upon the target group of the person hired, the wages paid to that person in their first year with the company, and the number of hours worked. There is also a maximum tax credit that can be earned.

For the long-term Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) target group only, the credit is available to employers who hire members of this group for up to a two-year period.

TANF Target Group:

The employer can claim a tax credit equal to 40% of the first-year wages, up to the maximum tax credit, if the employee works at least 400 hours.

The tax credit grows to 50% of the second-year wages, up to the maximum tax credit. Again, the employee must have worked at least 400 hours.

For all other target groups, the credit is available to employers who hire members of these groups, based on the employee’s hours worked and wages earned in the first year of employment.

Other Target Groups:

If the employee works at least 120 hours, the employer can claim a tax credit that’s 25% of first year wages, up to the maximum tax credit.

The tax credit goes up to 40% of first year wages (up to the maximum tax credit) if the employee works at least 400 hours.

Who can I Hire?

• Veterans
• TANF recipients
• SNAP (Food Stamp) recipients
• Designated Community Residents (living in Empowerment Zones or Rural Renewal Counties)
• Vocational rehabilitation referral
• Ex-felons
• Supplemental Security Income Recipients
• Summer Youth Employee (living in Empowerment Zones)

How do I Apply for WOTC?

In order to apply, you need to fill out IRS form 8850. Application instructions are also available to help guide you through the process.

Jamie Dixon is a member of the Gilmore Jasion Mahler Healthcare Specialist Team, with an expertise in long-term care, home health care and hospice. A member of the Ohio Council for Home Care and Hospice, he has been a member of the Financial Issues Committee for close to 20 years.