After spending a decade as CEO of eBay Inc., Meg Whitman is preparing to retire. According to The Wall Street Journal, Whitman is working on a plan of succession, and a decision about her departure could be made within weeks. According to the paper, John Donahoe, head of eBay's auction business unit, is her most likely successor. When Whitman joined eBay in 1998, the company had revenues of $86 million that year, compared to $5.97 billion in revenues in 2007. However, the company's auction business has experienced slowing growth rates for the past few years.

If you get stressed at the mere thought of filing your taxes, you're not alone. According to a Gallup Poll, 62 percent of small-business owners named taxes as their top concern. If you're looking for some guidance this tax season, check out this interview with Barbara Weltman, author of J.K. Lasser's Small Business Taxes 2008. Weltman, an attorney and expert on tax and small business, shares tips for simplifying the filing process and names some of the most commonly overlooked small-biz deductions. Here are Weltman's tips for beginning the filing process:

• Gather your tax records. Organize your business receipts and canceled checks according to expense categories, like travel and entertainment costs and supplies. Update your books and accounts (enter all transactions through the end of the year and reconcile your bank statement through year-end). If you work as an independent contractor, make sure you've receive a Form 1099 reporting your earnings to the IRS.
• Learn about new tax breaks on 2007 returns, so you won't overlook any deduction or tax credit opportunity. For example, the standard mileage rate for business use of your personal vehicle is 48.5 cents per mile in 2007 (up from 44.5 cents per mile in 2006) if you don't deduct the actual cost of using your vehicle for business. The domestic production activities deduction--a write-off for businesses that produce things in the U.S.--is 6 percent of qualifying business net income in 2007, double the deduction rate allowed in 2006. Husbands and wives who co-own a venture and who file a joint return can opt to file Schedule Cs instead of filing partnership returns and Schedule K-1s.
• Decide how to prepare your return. If you use an accountant to prepare your return, arrange a meeting as soon as possible; don't leave this until April, or you'll probably need to request a filing extension, which will delay receipt of any refund. Or, if you prepare the return yourself using tax software or an online solution, make your choice now so you can begin to input your information and avoid any last-minute rush.

Today's under-10-year-old crowd makes up one-third of digital music player users. According to Advertising Age, that means there's a new market for specialized players and other products, in addition to a growing demand for kid-appropriate video and music content. "By third grade, half of the kid population in grade school has an MP3 player," said Paul Metz, senior VP at C&R Research. Their player of choice? The iPod Nano.

So far, accessory makers haven't flooded the market yet with cartoon-themed iPod cases, despite an estimate from the Consumer Electronics Association that the market will top $1 billion this year, increasing 45 percent from 2007. Forrester analyst James McQuivey believes marketers may be hesitant to push products to young children. But, he suggests they take a different approach--marketing with a positive parenting angle. "Smaller headphones with limits on audio [volume] for children could be beneficial, as well as things like packaging appropriate music for children. I would expect that we'll see more things like that by next holiday," said McQuivey. Don't forget about what goes inside those iPods--children will also be on the lookout for more kid-themed content, from videos to podcasts.

Though MBAs are crucial to certain career paths, many entrepreneurs say they're not worth it. A recent survey of small-business owners conducted by SurePayroll discovered that 70 percent of entrepreneurs don't think an MBA is essential to entrepreneurial success. Of those surveyed, 44 percent said that formal education is very important in preparing entrepreneurs for future success, while 51 percent said education is only somewhat important, and 5 percent said it's not important. However, 57 percent of respondents agreed that having an undergraduate degree is more important than having an MBA. A whopping 91 percent of small-biz owners surveyed said entrepreneurs who receive MBAs from Ivy League schools have no advantage over those who receive them from any other schools.

SurePayroll president, Michael Alter, said the results weren't surprising. "That's the beauty of entrepreneurship," he said. "Anybody can go into business regardless of their education. A person's level of education isn't a big determinant of success. The things that matter are having a good business plan, finding a niche, being passionate about what you do and working hard and smart to achieve your business goals."

When asked what factors were important to achieving entrepreneurial success, participants agreed upon a person's drive and ambition (27.2 percent); a person's passion for a specific business venture (14.9 percent); and hands-on experience in the industry (13.5 percent).