New York SBDC Research Network

Compensation for civilian workers rose 0.7%, wages and salaries rose 0.4%, and benefit costs rose 1.3%, seasonally adjusted, from March to June 2011. Over the year, compensation rose 2.2%, wages and salaries 1.6%, and benefits 3.6%

Annual report on businesses without paid employees in nearly 300 industries for the nation, states, counties and metropolitan areas. Most who own such businesses are self-employed and operate very small businesses (for example, real estate agents or beauticians) that may or may not be their primary source of income. The number of nonemployer businesses...declined by more than 260,000 between 2008 and 2009 across the United States, according to new data from the U.S. Census Bureau...In 2009, there were 21.1 million nonemployer firms, a decrease of about 1.2 percent from 2008. This continues a decline first noted in 2008 — following the beginning of the recession at the end of 2007 — when the total number fell by more than 350,000 from a peak of 21.7 million firms in 2007. “Nonemployer firms generate a small percentage of total U.S. business receipts, but they constitute the majority of U.S. businesses...”

Someone asked me about finding an online seminar about a particular topic, and I found a couple that I had used before. But then I came across www.finervista.com ; "Find best online seminars and webcasts by industry experts." A useful site for a variety of topics.

From the state tax department: Many businesses and tax practitioners used Sales Tax Web File for the first time in June 2011, in response to the recent mandate to web file quarterly returns. Close to 70% of the sales tax returns due on June 20 were filed electronically, a significant increase over 20% one year ago. Some sales tax vendors and practitioners experienced difficulties filing or reaching a representative to assist them with the new web filing requirements. The tax folks apologize for the inconvenience. They are training additional staff to make sure that your calls are answered promptly in the future. Although they'd prefer that all taxpayers use Sales Tax Web File, they know that some can't. Taxpayers who prepare their own returns without computers or who don't have broadband access aren't required to file online.

Don McMillan with a few pointers on how not to use PowerPoint: Life After Death PowerPoint from EMT Media on Vimeo .

Virginia Heffernan writes about the growing incidence of misspellings and errors in publishing. She supposes that the editorial process has sped up in recent years and involves more computers and fewer humans which explains why this may be. It is very annoying and distracting to be enjoying a book and finding the wrong form of a word used or to find spelling errors. Heffernan's article suggests that perhaps poor spellers think differently and should not be judged harshly. It also points out that poor spelling can actually hurt business beyond making a bad impression. While the idea that sloppy spelling can sink whole businesses seems far-fetched, even casual bloggers recognize the imperative to spell well online. This is because search engines look for strings of characters in sequence, and if your site has misspellings, Google is less likely to list it at the top of search results. With misspellings, according to the tech site Geekosystem, “You aren’t going to get nearly as many h...

Thanks to a comment in a previous post, I've discovered that the IRS is offering transitional relief for small revoked NFP groups. As the letter writer notes, "If you can honestly say there is still a need for your non-profit, and you feel you can muster the human and other resources needed to sustain it, don't pass up this opportunity to regain your tax exempt status." Fill out a new exemption application and pay an IRS User Fee. But for organizations with annual gross receipts normally less than $50,000, the User Fee will be reduced to only $100 and reinstatement will be retroactive. The offer is only good through December 31, 2012. You can find the details here [PDF] .