August can be a slow time for businesses.

Where I live in Pennsylvania, parents are spending the last few weeks before their kids go back to school at the shore, the Poconos or sometimes Europe! You send out emails and get messages stating that the recipient will be out of office for the next two weeks on vacation.

I don’t fault anyone for this! In fact I recently went on a spur-of-the-moment trip to Boston, to visit some family and my friend from Maine. It was the only day that she could get off. I woke up at 5 am on a Friday and just drove. I was able to go blueberry and blackberry picking, and although I did a bit of work that day, I was really glad that I took the time to be present with my family.

Here’s the thing about August, though – you can’t lose yourself in the beautiful weather, because a lot of important dates are just around the corner for you and your business. Take a look at the fall and winter holidays. Is your business covered during this time? When have your employees requested vacation time? Do they overlap? Are you planning to try something different in the fourth quarter? Are you planning to start something new in January? January is five months away, so start planning now.

Speaking of upcoming dates – there are several important tax dates to be aware of:
September 15: S Corp and Partnership returns are due if you had an extension
October 16: Personal returns and C Corp returns are due with extension
November 15: Nonprofits with form 990 extensions are due.

I hope you all have a wonderful end to your summer, and let’s all look forward to a productive end of the year!

Where’s Amy:
August 22 – Beacon – MAC Meeting
August 23 – Upper Main Line Rotary weekly meeting
August 31 – Main Line Chamber of Commerce – Chamber Connect Group
August 31 – Upper Main Line Board of Directors Meeting and Happy Hour
September 4 – Labor Day Holiday
September 6 – Upper Main Line Rotary weekly meeting
September 7 – Main Line Chamber of Commerce – Ambassador Committee
September 10 – Main Line Chamber of Commerce – Main Line Run – Volunteering with Upper Main Line Rotary Club
September 13 – Upper Main Line Rotary weekly meeting
September 21 – Beacon – Delaware and the Professional Services Subgroups joint meeting – Independent Contractors!