Tax Planning

Congratulations, you made it to half a century! Your fifties can be a tumultuous time: Not having to work anymore sounds like a dream, but you might be concerned you don’t have enough saved for retirement. Those concerns definitely aren’t unfounded as 40 million households in America have no retirement savings at all. Additionally, the Federal…

Article Highlights: Medical Threshold Electric Vehicle Credit Phaseout Alimony Finalization of State- and Local-Tax Deduction Limitation Penalty for Not Being Insured Qualified Opportunity Funds Seniors’ Special Tax Form Family and Medical Leave Credit Inflation Adjustments Form W-4 Revision As the end of the year approaches, now is a good time to review the various changes…

Article Highlights: Employee Gifts Gifts of College Tuition College Student Supplies Electric Car Credit Work Equipment Solar Electric Credit Charitable Gifts Some holiday gifts you provide to members of your family, employees, and others may also yield tax benefits. Here are some examples: Employee Gifts – It is common practice this time of year for…

Article Highlights: Exercise Stock Options Convert a Traditional IRA to a Roth IRA Maximize IRA Distributions Sell Appreciated Stock Delay Business Expenditures Release Dependency Delay Personal Deductible Expenditures People generally assume that tax planning only applies to individuals with the big bucks. But think again, as some tax moves benefit lower-income taxpayers and those who…

Article Highlights: Itemized Deductions Above-the-Line Deductions Business Deductions Asset-Sale Deductions Refundable Credits Nonrefundable Credits Carryover Credits Business Tax Credits  People often say that an expense is “a tax write-off”; most everyone interprets this to mean that the expense will have a tax benefit. Generally, such a benefit takes the form of either a deduction or…

Article Highlights: Self-employed Individuals Estimated Taxes Self-Employment Tax Estimated Tax Safe Harbors 1099-MISC and 1099-K Others Subject to Self-employment Tax income Not Subject to Self-employment Tax Self-employed individuals, unlike employees, don’t have someone withholding Social Security or Medicare (FICA) taxes along with pre-payments toward their federal (and state, where applicable) income tax from their wages…

Article Highlights: Solar Credit Plug-In Electric Vehicle Credit Penalty for Not Having Health Insurance Medical Deduction Restrictions New Alimony Rules Standard Deduction Increase Increased Retirement Contributions Federal Tax Brackets Increase You have your 2018 tax return filed, or perhaps on extension, and now it is time to look forward to the changes that will impact…

Article Highlights Higher Standard Deduction IRA Options Self-Employed Parent Employing Your Child Tax Benefits Children who are dependents of their parents are subject to what is commonly referred to as the kiddie tax. This generally applies to children under the age of 19 and full-time students over the age of 18 and under the age…