
Regardless how hot your little red dress is for Valentine’s Day, you just can’t nail the picture-perfect look without a killer mani. I mean, can you think of another major holiday that revolves so much around hand holding? So prime your digits by busting out your fave pink and red hues and brace your nails for the slew of flirty heart designs they’re destined to flash before February 14th: we’ve got 20 Valentine’s Day manis you’ll definitely fall hard for.
1. White Heart Nails: A classic red mani is fabulous, but one that’s amped up with white hearts is seriously hard to beat. Grab yourself a handy nail art pen to get the look. (via Julie Ann Art)
2. Nude and Neon Hearts: What a modern way to rock a nude mani! Those two-toned neon hearts are electrifying. (via So Nailicious)
3. Girly and Gilded Mix and Match: Why decide on one awesome nail look when you can wear TEN AT ONCE? Sleek nail wraps and jewel embellishments are a playful way to break up properly polished tips. (via Chalkboard Nails)
4. Pink French Manicure: Even without any hearts or arrows, this hot pink mani is unmistakably fit for Valentine’s Day. The angled gradients are absolutely eye catching. (via So Nailicious)
5. Hot Red With Lace: Here’s another awesome way to trick out a traditional red mani. Lace print nail decals add an intricate touch to the bold allover color. (via Live Life Beautifully)
6. Hearts and Bows Nail Art: Have a hot date somewhere super formal? Make sure your nails dress up too! The red, gold, and black bow tie design is too freakin’ cute. (via Small Good Things)
7. Heart Tipped Nails: It just takes three brush strokes to get this flirty take on a French mani. Add gold glitter to a nail or two to take it up a notch. (via …love Maegan)
8. Pink and Red Color Block Nails: These color block nails are clean, modern, and totally fine to wear way beyond Valentine’s Day. Who knows? It might even become your go-to Spring nail art! (via Isla Everywhere)
9. Valentine’s Nails: WHAT! These heart candy-inspired nails are insane! We think we found what nail art design we’re rockin’ on this year’s big night out. (via Miss KL Blog)
10. Pink Glitter Nails: This might be the dreamiest V-day nail art design we’ve set eyes on. It’s safe to say that we’re in love with the combo of blush polish and gold glittery half moons. (via Born in 82)
11. Tainted Love Valentine’s Nails: Here’s a look for all you anti-Valentine’s dudettess out there: the appropriately named “Tainted Love” mani. The pretty peach base coat keeps the black hearts from being completely goth. (via So Nailicious)
12. Blue Violet Hearts: While we hope your actual Valentine’s Day is as far from blue as it can be, we do hope you mix up the expected color palette with this vibrant violet polish, you wild thing, you! (via Pshiiit)
13. Holiday Nails: Could you blame us for bringing this glittery holiday mani back into the mix? There might not be a more posh design out there. (via Wonderfrost)
14. Sparkle and Faux Lace Nails: Ace a faux lace effect on your nails by using scraps of the real deal as a stencil. Yet another genius nail art design from Maegan Tintari! (via …love Maegan)
15. Handpainted Hearts: We’re nuts about this festive take on ombre nails. Learn a fuss-free way to freehand each of these floating hearts. (via Ink + Adventure)
16. Pink and Neon Yellow Triangle Tips: Sometimes, you can’t take the geo out of the girl, no matter what the occasion ;) Get a terrific tribal look with this pink and gold mani that would look dashing with a long sleeved maxi. (via Lana Red Studio)
17. Ombre Nails: Embrace double digits with this vibrant ombre mani. We’d wear any of those nail polish shades as lip stick colors in an instant! (via Miss Renaissance)
18. Dot to Dot Nails: We love how bold black dots pop against this mellow orchid polish. It turns the dainty ballerina nail into something much hipper. (via Glamour)
19. Nail Stencils: Who needs paper Valentines when you can stencil love notes on your nails? We’re obsessed! (via Lipstick Powder and Paint)
20. Heart Balloons: It’s true: you can nail this quirky balloon design in four easy steps. Be sure to peek at the three other must-try nail art designs this blogger created especially for Valentine’s Day! (via Gillty Pleasure)
Seen any awesome Valentine’s Day nail art recently? What designs are you planning for your digits? Tell us in the comments below.
Welcome to Selfmade Finance School, our new money series with Block Advisors to help small business owners with their tax, bookkeeping, and payroll needs year-round. This week, we explore the tax implications of bringing family members into your business.
The question for today is this: Does hiring your family members make sense for your business? Let me be clear. This is not a piece about whether hiring your family members makes sense for your relationships with those family members. As someone who is part of a family business, I could fill up a lot more than 600 words on my opinions about that. For today's purposes, we focus on whether it makes sense from an overall "good business and tax implication" perspective. As it turns out, there is a decent amount of tax nuance when it comes to employing your family. Let's break it down based on relationship to the employee:
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Spouses Who Are In Business Together
Personally, if I had to be in business with my husband, it would not go well. However, many couples build viable, strong businesses together and I say, good for them! Depending on how you have your business entity structured, it will make a big difference on the tax treatment of you and your spouse working as partners. Because a business jointly owned and operated by a married couple is generally treated as a partnership for Federal tax purposes, the spouses must comply with filing and record keeping requirements imposed on partnerships and their partners. The election to file two Schedule C (Form 1040) forms, (one for each spouse) permits certain married co-owners to avoid filing partnership returns, provided that each spouse separately reports a share of all the businesses' items of income, gain, loss, deduction, and credit. Under the election, both spouses will be subject to self-employment tax and on net earnings from self-employment and receive credit for Social Security earnings.
One Spouse Employs Another
If you have a dynamic where your spouse is an employee of your business, then your spouse's wages are subject to income tax withholding, Social Security and Medicare taxes. If you are self-employed (not a corporation or a partnership), your spouse's pay does not have to be included in your federal unemployment tax account (FUTA) contributions and payments. However, if your business is a corporation or a partnership you must include that spouse's pay in your unemployment tax contribution calculation.
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You Employ Your Child
First, let's be clear. I work in my family business, but I am an adult, so I am treated just like a normal employee. However, if you, for example, run a family restaurant and want to hire your children under 18 to work for you, there are some tax benefits. But first, you should check with your state for rules on how many hours minors can work (in non-agricultural jobs) and reference the Fair Labor Standards Act for information on limitations on the kinds of work children can perform.
"This is an often overlooked or under-utilized strategy. Paying your children for true services they provide in your business can be a powerful tax-saving tool," says Cathi Reed, Block Advisors Regional Director. "If you are a sole-proprietorship or single member LLC, and the child is less than 18 years of age, the business is not required to withhold FICA or payroll taxes. The child can use his or her standard deduction against income you pay."
You Hire Your Parent
Oh dear. If you are brave enough to do this, know that you will need to pay Social Security and Medicare taxes on your parent's wages and make the appropriate withholdings, but you don't have to pay unemployment taxes. Now all you have to do is convince your parent that you are the boss. Have fun with that!
Is Hiring Family Members Worth It For The Tax Benefits?
"There are some positive tax advantages to hiring family members. It's important to treat a family member like any other employee. Hiring your children can result in substantial savings for businesses. Make sure your child has real, age-appropriate work to do and a reasonable pay rate, comparable to other employees. Consult with a Block Advisors small business certified tax pro to ensure that you are complying with all requirements," advises Reed. "Block Advisors, a team within H&R Block, is dedicated to meeting the tax, bookkeeping and payroll needs of small business owners year-round. To start working with the tax experts at Block Advisors, visit blockadvisors.com."
In my opinion, you should not hire a family member solely because of the tax benefits. You should always hire based on whether that person is right for the job and keep in mind how this hire could materially impact your relationship with that person and others in your family. Finally, as I mentioned, make sure you have a tax professional on your team when making these determinations. As you can see, things can get a little tricky!
*All details were sourced from IRS.gov and blockadvisors.com
The opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and may not necessarily reflect those held by Kestra Investment Services, LLC or Kestra Advisory Services, LLC. This is for general information only and is not intended to provide specific investment advice or recommendations for any individual. It is suggested that you consult your financial professional, attorney, or tax advisor with regards to your individual situation. Comments concerning the past performance are not intended to be forward looking and should not be viewed as an indication of future results. Securities offered through Kestra Investment Services, LLC (Kestra IS), member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through Kestra Advisory Services, LLC (Kestra AS), an affiliate of Kestra IS. O'Keeffe Financial Partners and any other entity listed herein is not affiliated with Kestra IS or Kestra AS Investor Disclosures: https://bit.ly/KF-Disclosures