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Do You Need a Tax Professional?
In today’s day and age, there are many options available to help prepare your taxes. Many people rely on “canned” software to easily and cheaply get their returns completed. But is this the right way to go? The United States Tax Code has become increasingly complicated over the years. Between 1955 and the present, the Tax Code increased from 409,000 words to more than 2.4 million words. This is double what existed after the major tax reform of 1985. There are over 60,000 pages of tax-related cases in the US court system records. In 2014, the number of taxpayers paying
Let me remind you, planning is crucial
As year end approaches, I want to remind you once again that now is the time to get ready for the tax season -- for us and you. We're prepping now by staffing up, training and getting organizers out to clients. You can prep too. One of the first things you should do is perform an overall financial checkup. The end of the year is always a good time to assess your current financial situation and plan for the future. You should think about cash flow, health care, retirement, investment and estate planning. Check wills, powers of attorney and health
Are you ABLE to handle the HEET?
Caring for our children and grandchildren and ensuring they receive a good education are paramount issues for most of us. However cumbersome the IRS tax code might be, there are some bright spots recently added and possibly disappearing to help us make sure we're providing both in an effective tax-oriented manner. Let us take a look at a couple. ABLE Recently, most states have finalized a new option for those with special needs children. The ABLE accounts provide an individual way to fund the future care of a loved one who is disabled by providing them with tax free funds,
College Tuition & Your Finances
A large majority of the future workforce will attend college at some point. Unfortunately, a college education is far from cheap. Many students attending college are taking on debt or, if they are lucky, finding scholarships to help defray the ever-increasing costs. Thanks to our tax code, most taxpayers are afforded some small deductions for those costs in the way of tuition deduction credit ($2,500 annual maximum credit) and student loan interest deduction ($2,500 annual maximum deduction). For most people, that is where the focus stops, but not for the Internal Revenue Service. The receipt of scholarship funds could be
Replacing The Income Tax System
As elected officials continue to debate how to fix the tax code, we all know that what is best is often not what gets put onto the books by Washington. All too often bills and ideas start with the greatest of intention – but the end product is not what was planned. So how do we fix what many Americans think is a broken tax system? A lot of people have ideas that have been presented. Does the European nation have a better plan? Is a national sales tax (or VAT style tax) the answer? Based on the most recent
Five Tips to Avoid Hurricane Relief Scams
There has been an enormous wave of support across the country for the victims of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. However, there are also criminals who try to take advantage of people’s generosity. Fraudulent schemes often involve telephone, social media, e-mail or even in-person scams. Criminals may also send emails using false websites that appear to be legitimate charitable causes. These sites frequently use names similar to legitimate charities, or claim to be affiliated with legitimate charities, when their only goal is to scam money or obtain personal financial information that can be used for identity theft. To help you avoid
Tax credits available for innovative businesses and for those with green practices
We continue our series on proper tax planning this month by switching over and looking into the 179D deduction and R&D tax credits for business available under the current tax regulations. Consumers are concerned more and more about the environment and are being selective with their purchases to prove it. Businesses that have realized this can use the Section 179D regulations to their advantage. By taking steps to improve their systems or to make their products more energy efficient or green (and thereby enticing the consumer to buy their products), they are eligible to earn tax credit under Section 179D. The
Can Freebies For Professional Athletes Help You Too?
The Boston Bruins made history recently, but not on the ice. The Tax Court recently ruled in favor of the team as they argued with the Internal Revenue Service that the meals provided to its players at hotels while playing “away games” should qualify as non-taxable fringe benefits. The tax code allows for an employer to provide its employees with meals on its premises while the employee is working (or directly before or after working) and exclude the cost of those meals from the employee’s taxable income. Furthermore, the cost of these meals would then be 100% deductible for the
Those Items Are Tax FREE, Right?
We’ve all seen the ads and sales claims telling you to buy online because it’s tax free. In most cases, this is too good to be true. For the most part, when a seller is not physically present in a state, they are not required to charge sales tax to customers in those states. This does not mean that sales taxes are not due, but rather it means that it is not the seller’s responsibility to collect and remit it. The onus falls on the buyer to “self-report” the taxes on any items they purchase that are delivered to their
Out With The Old, In With The Unknown
As we are all well aware, this past election has the potential to lead to many changes in our government, especially the areas of taxation. The president elect has made it clear that his intention is to drastically overhaul the tax system. Many experts believe this will be the largest change to the tax code since the Tax Reform of 1986 by the Reagan Administration. We see an increasing number of experts voicing their guesses that the proposed income tax rates will, in some manner, be lowered with the inevitable tax change. Some believe ObamaCare will be repealed, but most
