Category: Blog

Here it is: the list. This is what you’ll need to bring in for your tax appointment. Certain deductions went away this year, that we’re used to handling on behalf of our clients. And some that you might be used to as well. This list has changed a little from past years, and we’ve notated additional changes coming down the pike.

If your family has trouble with the kiddie tax, you face some new wrinkles for tax years 2018 through 2025 thanks to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) tax reform. This is one of the many areas where tax planning can pay off. For 2018–2025, the TCJA tax reform changes the kiddie tax rules to tax a portion of an affected child’s or young adult’s unearned income at the federal income tax rates paid by trusts and estates. Trust tax rates can be as high as 37 percent or, for long-term capital...

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) tax reform added an amazing limit on larger business losses that can attack you where it hurts—right in your cash flow. And this new law works in some unusual ways that can tax you even when you have no real income for the year. When you know how this ugly new rule works, you have some planning opportunities to dodge the problem. Over the years, lawmakers have implemented rules that limit your ability to use your business or rental losses against other...

The Internal Revenue Service has issued final rules on the 20 percent business income deduction (Sec. 199A of the Tax Code) that was enacted in late 2017 as part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.Among other things, the rules confirm that the deduction applies to your business income, as a real estate agent or broker, if you operate as a sole proprietor or owner of a partnership, S corporation, or limited liability company. It applies even if your income exceeds a threshold set in the law...

Americans love puzzles, games, and brain teasers. Newspapers publish crossword puzzles, word-search puzzles, and word jumbles. Bookstores sell jigsaw puzzles. And airport gift shops stock Sudoku puzzles to pass the hours in the sky. We love puzzles so much that someone found their way to a basement office in Washington where the Department of Bogus Holidays litters our calendars with junk celebrations like National Talk Like Yoda Day (May 21) and National Eat Your Beans Day (July 3), and made...

For most small businesses and the self-employed, the 20 percent tax deduction from new tax code Section 199A is the most valuable tax deduction to come out of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act tax reform. The Section 199A tax deduction is complicated, and many questions remain unanswered even after the IRS issued its proposed regulations on the provision. And to further complicate matters, there’s also a lot of misinformation out there about Section 199A. I’m going to give you answers to six common...

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service announced today that it is waiving the estimated tax penalty for many taxpayers whose 2018 federal income tax withholding and estimated tax payments fell short of their total tax liability for the year. The IRS is generally waiving the penalty for any taxpayer who paid at least 85 percent of their total tax liability during the year through federal income tax withholding, quarterly estimated tax payments or a combination of the two. The usual percentage...

There’s a provision in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that we believe is terribly unfair to business start-ups and struggling business owners. You see, the rule prevents you from using all your business losses against non-business income if the losses are considered to be too large. (That determination is made by Congress.) If you want to find out how this onerous new law can affect your business, take a minute and read my new article titled TCJA Tax Reform Sticks It to...

Before tax reform, the de minimis safe harbor election was the best way to immediately expense the entire cost of your small-business assets for federal income tax purposes. Now that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act tax reform gives you 100 percent bonus depreciation through 2022, you have three possible reasons to use 100 percent bonus depreciation as your federal income tax default expensing method: If you are filing Schedule C for your business activity, there is no self-employment tax...

Imagine this: your Schedule C business buys a home at the beach, uses it solely as an entertainment facility for business, pays off the mortgage, and deducts all the expenses. Next, say, 10 years later, without any tax consequence to you, you start using the beach home as your own. Is this possible? Yes. Are there some rules on this? Yes. Are the rules difficult? No. Okay, so could I achieve the same result if I operate my business as a corporation? Yes, but the corporation needs to...