tax credit

Pisgah Legal opens Waynesville office, offers program to help working families

The nonprofit covers the 18 counties that make up Western North Carolina, but sometimes the seven westernmost counties can be a bit tougher to navigate, considering they are the most rugged, and some are sparsely populated and offer few resources.

However, that problem may have been slightly alleviated as a new office has opened within Mountain Projects’ Waynesville building.

New digs

In addition to bolstering Pisgah Legal Services’ presence in the western counties, the nonprofit also hopes it will ease the burden that can fall on clients who have to drive long distances amid record-high gas prices.

Staffing the Waynesville office is Jessi Stone, Regional Director of Health and Economic Opportunity for the western counties. Stone, who was previously The Smoky Mountain News’ news editor, has been on the job about five months, the last two of which she’s spent in her new digs.

Stone, who noted Pisgah Legal Services is also looking at setting up offices in Sylva and Franklin, said that while she spends plenty of time traveling around Western North Carolina, her new spot gives her the opportunity to do something she couldn’t when working from home.

“Now I can have office hours here,” she said. “People can call and make an appointment, and they can bring in documents.”

“I can do evening hours too if someone needs an appointment after 5,” she added.

If someone doesn’t have time for a long meeting, they can drop off forms for Stone to scan remotely so she can work without them having to be present.

“I can call them when their return is ready or if I have questions during the process,” she said.

The new office builds on an existing partnership between Pisgah Legal Services and Mountain Projects.

“It’s good to be in the same building as our

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Life Insurance, Annuities and R&D Tax Credits

What You Need to Know

  • The PATH Act of 2015 extended the tax credit to startups and small businesses.
  • Insurtech firms can use the credit to eliminate up to $250,000 in federal payroll taxes.
  • One challenge is documenting compliance.

The life insurance and annuities industries are changing with the times and becoming more tech-savvy.

Insurance technology advances make life easier for both customers and agents, from customers reporting a claim to agents interfacing with clients.

Insurtech also helps insurance companies stay visible in a crowded market.

As a result, digital experiences, technology solutions, operational efficiencies, and process automation are all on strategic roadmaps for insurtechs.

Fortunately, America’s largest tax incentive, the research and development (R&D) tax credit, applies to life insurance and annuity distributors developing software and other technology solutions.

Unfortunately, there are companies that either don’t embrace the creation of innovative proprietary technologies or are unaware of how best to handle the R&D tax credit process.

Here are three important pieces of the R&D puzzle that every company should know to optimize and defend their R&D tax credits:

1. The History

Each year, the federal government provides billions of dollars to innovative businesses for developing and improving technologies, products, and processes.

The R&D tax credit was created in 1981, as part of the Economic Recovery Tax Act.

The original version allowed for a temporary tax credit, of up to 13%, on spending for qualified research on products and processes that had been developed or improved through the application of the principles of either the physical sciences, biological sciences, computer science, or engineering.

This spending could include costs associated with developing a patent, a new product or service offering, or even a new technology that was sold to third parties.

Then, in 2015, the Protecting Americans from

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