Problem Solver: Advice from the Experts

Q: How can I help an employee who is under a lot of stress

stemming from problems outside work?

Libby Anderson, a Naples-based human resources consultant

and trainer, answers:

Consider providing an Employee Assistance Plan. EAPs have

become popular because they provide confidential help to troubled employees,

which reduces absenteeism and improves work performance. Employers who have sponsored

an EAP program also indicated that they have experienced reduced health,

disability and worker’s compensation costs. The EAP can provide assistance with

everything from addiction recovery to resolving mental health, work-life

balance or domestic issues. The employee can request the services without any

involvement from the employer, who establishes an EAP arrangement with a

provider.

Some employers contract directly with EAPs for a variety of

services and pay fees based on the number of employees, regardless of how many

actually use it. Other employers only pay when employees use the services. And

large corporations often employ an EAP site to work on-site with employees. An

EAP results in a win-win for a business and its staff.

Anderson can be reached via e-mail at edahrsvcs@aol.com. Her

Web site is www.edahr.com.

Q: Nearly 99 percent of my business is local. Why would I

need a Web site?

William Earnest Waites, former chairman and co-creative

director of Spiro & Waites Advertising, Marketing & Public Relations,

answers:

Do you print a brochure? If you do, you recognize the need

to tell the story about your company and its services to current and potential

customers. A Web site is like a printed brochure, except that it is less costly

(nothing to print), more flexible (you can change it every day, if you want),

and it can appear in front of people who never visit your store or office yet

are looking for a local vendor. More than half a billion people worldwide have

online access. Tens of thousands of them live within your service area. A Web

site lets you reach these people the moment they want to know about you with

information that is colorful and up-to-date. A Web site even gives the customer

the opportunity to reach you instantly and cheaply—through e-mail.

Spiro & Waites can be reached at (239) 481-5511.

Q: I've filed an extension on my tax return. Can any new

laws give me additional tax breaks?

David Schultz and Richard Shield, certified public

accountants with Schultz, Chaipel & Co., answer:

Yes. The Job Creation and Worker Assistance Act of 2002

contains several generous tax breaks for businesses. Among these new provisions

is a special first-year depreciation “bonus” on eligible property placed in

service on or after Sept. 11, 2001.

Under the new rules, businesses must claim an additional 30

percent depreciation amount on eligible property. Eligible property includes

tangible property with a useful life of 20 years or less, certain water utility

property, leasehold improvements and computer software. Additionally, the

maximum first-year depreciation deduction allowable for luxury autos has been

increased from $3,060 to $7,660. This bonus depreciation is in addition to the

$24,000 expensing allowance for the 2001 and 2002 tax years.

This additional depreciation is not optional. All businesses

must either take the additional depreciation or elect out. If an election is

not filed, the business is deemed to have taken the additional expense and must

reduce the depreciable basis of each qualifying asset accordingly, whether or

not the expense was actually deducted on the return.

For returns that have not yet been filed, the IRS Web site

www.irs.gov/ pub/irs-pdf/f4562.pdf has

a new Form 4562, which includes a special line for the additional depreciation.

However, for returns that have already been filed and contained eligible

property but which did not account for the new law, the IRS has not yet

determined how to correct the problem. We hope that they will establish

procedures so that a failure to take the additional depreciation on returns

already filed will be deemed an election out of the new provision. If not, many

businesses will be required to amend their returns to avoid unfavorable

treatment. Businesses that have already filed their 2001 returns may wish to

review this situation and amend if it could be beneficial.

Schultz, Chaipel & Co. can be reached in Fort Myers at

(239) 939-5333.