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July/August Dates to Remember

July 16 Employers. For Social Security, Medicare, withheld income tax, and nonpayroll withholding, deposit the tax for payments in June, if the monthly rule applies. July 31 Employers. For Social Security, Medicare, and withheld income tax, file Form 941 for the second quarter of 2018. Deposit any undeposited tax. If your tax liability is less than $2,500, you can pay it in full with a timely filed... Read More

Moving Your Business to Avoid the SALT Cap

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 has put a cap on state and local tax (SALT) deductions. Beginning with your 2018 tax return, if you itemize deductions, you can count no more than $10,000 a year of SALT deductions for income and property tax on a single or joint tax return (you can choose to include sales tax instead of income tax). SALT deductions (other than those for state and local income taxes) are not... Read More

Don't Neglect Estate Planning

The federal estate tax exemption now exceeds $11 million per person. Accordingly, few individuals or married couples will owe this tax. Nevertheless, there is more to successful wealth transfer than reducing or eliminating estate tax. Ideally, you’ll want your assets to pass to the desired recipients with a minimum of turmoil and expense. To start, you should have a will prepared by an experienced... Read More

More Give in the Gift Tax

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 increased the federal estate tax exemption to $11.18 million for 2018. That’s per person, so the combined exemption for a married couple can be as much as $22,360,000 worth of assets this year. The same ceilings apply to the federal gift tax, which offsets the estate tax. Example 1: Mona McAfee plans to give $20,000 to her son Luke this year. Does that mean that... Read More

Supreme Court Decision on Sales Tax for Online Retailers

Earlier today, the Supreme Court of the United States released its highly anticipated decision on South Dakota v. Wayfair. The court upheld South Dakota’s ability to collect and remit sales tax from online retailers that do not have a physical presence in the state. The decision effectively reverses the ‘physical test’ precedent set in Quill Corp. v. North Dakota (1992), which... Read More

Deducting Expenses for Business Use of your Home

The home office deduction is one of the most overlooked deductions by small business owners and those that are self-employed. If the expenses associated with the business use of your home qualify for the deduction, it can prove to be beneficial. Various criteria must be met in order for a taxpayer to take the Home Office Deduction. In order to deduct expenses for the business use of a home those... Read More

Tax Cuts and Jobs Act – Foreign-Derived Intangible Income

In our most recent blog about The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (“the Act”) with an international focus, we had to talk about mandatory repatriation which is one of the few provisions effective for the 2017 tax year. However, we are back with some good news! For C Corporations, the Act introduces IRC Section 250 that provides for a deduction centered around Foreign-Derived Intangible Income. What exactly... Read More

Now Is the Time to Review Your Tax Outlook With the TCJA in Mind

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act has brought about many changes to exemptions and deductions that were once so advantageous to individual taxpayers. These modifications mean that individuals with more complex tax situations, such as two income providers or multiple sources of income, really need to evaluate their withholding and/or estimated tax payments for the 2018 filing year. These types of taxpayers may be more... Read More

Goodwill Contributions - Donation Receipts versus Tax Receipts

Many of us make donations to Goodwill of clothing, appliance and other miscellaneous household items. Typically as you are dropping off the items you get a Donation Receipt from Goodwill. If you look closely at the Donation Receipt it tells you, “To obtain your Tax Receipt, please register your donation at www.GWdonate.org. You will need to enter the donation receipt ID Number listed above” (on the... Read More