With the ability to reach out so widely and effectively online comes the burden of having to monitor and manage this open communication about your business. To help with this, a new crop of social media management technologies has emerged. These technologies troll the Internet and sort, consolidate, streamline, and store information about your business found on social media sites. Not only can this save precious time, it can be crucial for helping to monitor and manage your online branding and marketing.

People are also starting to appreciate the possible legal significance of sorting and saving this information.  As stated in a recent New York Times article by Tanzina Vega, "Someone may get sued for the content of their social media or the information in the social media may be relevant to the suit . . . If you haven't preserved it, you've lost it."

The ADA defines "disability" as a "physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a major life activity." The new regulations do not change the definition itself, but make it clear that the government will interpret the ADA more broadly than in the past.

For instance, the new regulations provide that, in almost every case, disabled status is to be evaluated without consideration of ameliorative measures, such as medication, even if the employee can function without limitations with appropriate medication or other mitigating measures. The only exception is that an employee is not considered disabled on the basis of a vision impairment, so long as the impairment can be corrected with ordinary eyeglasses or contact lenses.

Similarly, the new regulations state that an impairment that is episodic or in remission nevertheless qualifies as a disability if it would substantially limit a major life activity when active. For example, an employee with lung cancer might be considered disabled even if the cancer has been in remission for years.

In addition, the EEOC has taken the guesswork out of determining whether certain employees are disabled. The amendments provide that in most cases, employees with the following conditions are covered by the ADA: deafness, blindness, intellectual disabilities, partially or completely missing limbs, mobility impairments requiring the use of a wheelchair, autism, diabetes, epilepsy, HIV, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, and schizophrenia.

If your small business has 15 or more employees, it is covered by the ADA. You should take note of the new regulations and consider training your officers and managers to ensure that all of the company's decision-makers know that your employees might be considered disabled under the ADA, even if the disability is not immediately obvious.

By: Guest blogger Steven Koprince, an attorney with PilieroMazza PLLC in Washington D.C. Mr. Koprince's practice emphasizes government contracts and small business law.

More information about the repeal can be found here and here.

One option for cash-strapped businesses has always been factoring, or selling outstanding invoices to a third-party investor. But there are downsides. Invoices are often sold for a sharp discount. And the collections process is taken over by the purchaser of the invoice, who most likely doesn't care about retaining good customer relations with your clients.

A company called The Receivables Exchange now offers a twist to the age-old process of factoring, largely remedying those downsides. According to the article "How Small Businesses Can Beat Deadbeats," by Dyan Machan in SmartMoney Magazine, The Receivables Exchange works as follows: You list your unpaid invoices on the exchange, and financial institutions bid on those invoices. The winner of the bid sends you a cash advance (usually 80% to 90% of the value of the invoice, although businesses new to the exchange may receive much less) in return for a monthly payment of one to two percent. You get an immediate infusion of cash--allowing you to pay your bills and keep your business afloat--and the bidder gets what amounts to an 18% annual return on its investment. Businesses who have listed on The Receivables Exchange say they raise more cash through the exchange than with traditional factors, and they retain control over customer contact.

Unlike traditional factoring, the risk of the invoice never getting paid stays with you, the small business owner. You still need to go through the collections process with your client. And if your client never pays up, you'd be on the hook to repay your bidder. But still, The Receivables Exchange can be an attractive option for some small businesses--particularly if they're at risk of becoming deadbeat clients themselves.

The IRS has asked employers to adjust their systems as soon as possible but no later than January 31, 2011. Many employees may not see these changes until their first paycheck in February 2011.

In addition, because of the year-end tax changes signed into law in December 2010, some people will have to wait until mid- or late February before they file their returns. The IRS needs to make changes to its systems before it can process certain types of returns. Taxpayers who can't file their returns until the IRS changes its systems include:

• taxpayers who claim itemized deductions on Form 1040 Schedule A

• taxpayers who claim higher education deductions on Form 8917, and

• teachers who claim a $250 deduction for classroom expenses.

Bonus Depreciation Increased to 100% for 2011 and 50% for 2012

Bonus depreciation was first enacted in 2008 as a temporary measure to help our ailing economy. As first enacted and then extended for two years, the deduction was a first-year 50% bonus deduction. It allowed taxpayers to depreciate 50% of the cost of qualified property during the first year the property was placed in service. It was scheduled to expire at the end of 2010.

Under the tax laws passed in December 2010, bonus depreciation is extended and increased to 100 percent for qualified investments made after September 8, 2010 through the end of 2011. In addition, 50% bonus depreciation will be available in calendar year 2012.

Section 179 Expensing Increased to $125,000 for 2012

Section 179 allows you to currently deduct in one year the cost of long-term assets purchased that year instead of deducting the cost over time under regular depreciation rules. For 2010 and 2011, the maximum annual amount you could deduct under Section 179 was $500,000, subject to a phase-out once your total expenditures exceeded $2 million. The annual deduction limit was scheduled to go down to $25,000 in 2012, with a $200,000 overall property value limit. Under the new tax laws passed in December 2010, the Section 179 deduction limit is increased to $125,000 and the overall property value limit to $500,000.

The new guidance clarifies that the credit is available in situations where small employers cover their workers through insured multiemployer health and welfare plans, or where they subsidize their employees' health care costs through a broad range of contribution arrangements.

Small businesses can claim the credit for 2010 through 2013 and for any two years after that. For tax years 2010 to 2013, the maximum credit is 35 percent of premiums paid by eligible small businesses. The maximum credit will increase to 50 percent in 2014.

The maximum credit goes to the smallest employers--those with 10 or fewer full-time equivalent (FTE) employees--paying annual average wages of $25,000 or less. The credit is completely phased out for employers that have 25 or more FTEs or that pay average wages of $50,000 or more per year.

There is a new IRS form--Form 8941, Credit for Small Employer Health Insurance Premiums--that employers use to claim the credit. The IRS has the instructions to Form 8941 on its website which are designed to help small employers correctly figure and claim the credit.

See the IRS website for more information about the credit, including a step-by-step guide to claiming the credit and answers to frequently asked questions.