Community Purchasing

[Mike D]

I have an idea that may ultimately save all of us some money and with this economy we could all use a break. I am not certain how many of us there are on this board and what type of products we use. For example:

Tax software

Accounting software

Payroll software

Computers

Printers

Toner

Paper and supplies

Service contracts, networks, etc.

Insurance

Cell phones

I think you get the idea?

Once this data is available, we can see if there is any clout to bring to negotiate deals with providers of these services.

Let's assume for argument sake that 250 of us are presently using ATX, and let’s further assume that there are many disparities in the individual pricing, I believe that we could negotiate a better deal with them and /or convince many of you to change your tax software to a competitor that will negotiate and save us all money!

Socialism at it's best.

Please let me hear your thoughts on this subject and see if it has any teeth?

Thanks for your participation.

Mike Dubin CPA

[Kea]

Sounds like the basic idea behind TRX.

But I'm up for trying to get some kind of group health insurance! Other negotiations would be good, too, but insurance is my biggest expense.

[NECPA in NEBRASKA]

I will also be trying to find health insurance after our COBRA runs out next year. My husband will probably have to go on our state's health insurance plan for people with illnesses and I will have to find something for myself and our son. I'm sure that it will be worse than the $1,100 per month that we pay now.

[Kea]

Good luck finding the insurance.

In Texas we can't get in the high risk pool state insurance until we've shown that we can't get insurance anywhere else & have been without insurance for 6 months. So my husband joined my business so that we could get a group policy. Price isn't bad, but the $5000 deductible each makes it almost like we don't have insurance.

[NECPA in NEBRASKA]

That is terrible! I would be petrified if we had to go bare for six months. With our luck, something would go wrong with my husband's ICD in that time period.

[Lion EA]

If you have a high-deductible health plan, do you pair it with an HSA? It hurts to get it funded the first year, but you get some help at tax time. And once it's in the pipeline, each successive year feels smoother.

[Kea]

Yes, ours is funded through an HSA. That account is paying around 0.2% (if I remember correctly). I do have the option to put it in a mutual fund. That used to seem like a good idea, but after the way the market has been acting the last few years, I'm not going to take a chance that there will be a big sell-off right before I have a major medical incident.

But I really would like to have the option of having insurance that is not based on our business. We might want to retire one of these days. (I know my clients will probably never let me "completely" retire, but it would be nice to have the option to slow down.)

[WITAXLADY]

if you are in your own business why wouldn't you do a Sec 105 and deduct off the Sch C  so as to reduce the SE tax rather than an HSA?

A number of issues to consider but generally the best option...

[michaelmars]

Sounds like the basic idea behind TRX.

But I'm up for trying to get some kind of group health insurance! Other negotiations would be good, too, but insurance is my biggest expense.

can't due group buy for insurance until congress allows you to purchase across state lines.

[Kea]

But now I can get an individual policy on my own.  No longer need to worry about getting a policy from a group!