Tag: top 10 small business ideas

New money laundering rules hurt small businesses

As if the impact of the pandemic, high inflation, high interest rates and supply chain shortages weren’t enough of a drag, the Trudeau government has jumped in with a thick new layer of red tape that will hold small businesses back all across the country .

Here’s the deal. When businesses across the country set up shop and start a new relationship with a bank, they have to go through a long and detailed screening process for the sake of preventing money laundering.

Until very recently, payroll software programs like Quickbooks and FreshBooks could deposit payroll funds into a business’s

…
Read More

Filing taxes? Small businesses are right to be wary of beefed up IRS

As Tax Day arrives Tuesday, America’s small businesses are worried that their own government will treat them like suspected criminals, even as they hire workers, raise wages and strengthen their communities.

The Biden administration and Congress recently gave the IRS nearly $80 billion in additional funding over 10 years. Much of that funding is being directed at enforcement activities.

Main Street needs help making sense of complicated tax laws. It doesn’t need to be hurt by IRS agents second-guessing every small-business move.

The administration insists that small businesses will not be the target of this massive new IRS enforcement focus,

…
Read More

No more plastic? It’s fantastic, say Peterborough small businesses that have moved on from plastic bags

Megan Meyer holds a reusable shopping bag for a customer at Cottage Toys, a downtown Peterborough store. More stores have moved away from single-use plastic bags to reusable or paper options.Megan Meyer holds a reusable shopping bag for a customer at Cottage Toys, a downtown Peterborough store. More stores have moved away from single-use plastic bags to reusable or paper options.

Shoppers at Cottage Toys in Peterborough haven’t been handed a plastic bag in many years, says employee Megan Meyer, and they never will.

Meyer has been working at the store, located on Charlotte Street in the downtown area for two years, but has been shopping there for 30, and for as long as she can remember the store has offered alternatives to plastic.

“It’s horrifying how much plastic goes out,” said Meyer.

In December, Canada’s new rules on single-use plastics went into effect, and the import or manufacture of bags, straws, stir sticks, utensils and other products were outright banned.

…
Read More

Small business budget wish list: level the field on credit card fees

Giancarlo Trimarchi is used to his bigger competitors paying less for fruits and vegetables.

The owner of Vince’s Market, however, is frustrated that they’re also paying a lower rate for credit card transaction fees.

“If I’m buying apples, and I’ve only got to get two cases from you and the big guy’s going to order two trailer loads, I get it. He’s going to get a better price,” said Trimarchi, whose four-store family-run mini chain began as an open-air produce stand in Sharon, Ont.

That principle shouldn’t, says Trimarchi, apply to interchange fees — the cut of every credit card

…
Read More

6 Steps for Your Small Business to Avoid a Financial Crisis

Disclosure: Our goal is to feature products and services that we think you’ll find interesting and useful. If you purchase them, Entrepreneurs may get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our commerce partners.

The Main Street economy is facing some stiff headwinds.

The Federal Reserve is expected to keep boosting interest rates this year. That could push the rate on Small Business Administration loans to 10%, the highest in 15 years. Add in higher wages and supply costs, and small business owners are feeling the pain.

Heavier borrowing costs weigh down the entire economy. They sabotage

…
Read More

Gov’t to start looking for bias in small business lending

NEW YORK (AP) — Banks will need to start reporting the demographics and income of small business loan applicants under new rules published by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Thursday.

It’s a move that policymakers hope will lead to less discrimination and more transparency in the small business lending market, similar to how other laws have regulated the residential mortgage market for decades.

Under the Dodd-Frank Act, Congress mandated the bureau to start collecting data on small business lending decisions to look for patterns of discrimination. Implementation of the rule has taken more

…
Read More

Women are changing the tone in Washington: We’re all better for it

“Hey, I’m a governor, too,” she joked. I had struck up a conversation with New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) at the annual dinner hosted by the journalistic organization, the Gridiron Club and Foundation, earlier this month, only to be warmly interrupted by Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly (D).

Later in March, I had the privilege of attending the White House Women’s History Month celebration, and this past week I went to President Biden’s announcement in support of women small business owners and a subsequent panel of women CEOs moderated by Small Business Administration administrator Isabella Guzman .

Perhaps it took

…
Read More

Grants to help spur small business growth on LI

Boosting the sales of small businesses on Long Island, particularly those owned by members of minority groups, is the goal of a $42,500 grant to be used by three business organizations, officials said.

The Long Island Community Foundation, a Melville-based nonprofit, awarded the grant to the Long Island Association. The money will be used to draft a plan to spur the growth of businesses with 100 or fewer employees.

The LIA, working with the Long Island African American Chamber of Commerce and the Long Island Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, will collect information from the business community in Nassau and Suffolk

…
Read More