As the driving force in today’s economy, small businesses benefit from numerous tax breaks in the tax code. One of these, the Qualified Small Business Stock (QSBS), was made permanent by the PATH Act (Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act of 2015). If you’re a small business investor, here’s what you need to know about this often-overlooked tax break. Continue reading
Earlier is better when it comes to working on your taxes, but many people find preparing their tax return to be stressful and frustrating and wait until the last minute. Complicating matters this year is tax reform and the newly redesigned Form 1040. If you’ve been procrastinating on filing your tax return this year, here are six tips that might help. Continue reading
Obtaining a 6-month extension to file is relatively easy and there are legitimate reasons for doing so; however, there are also a few downsides. If you need more time to file your tax return this year, here’s what you need to know about filing an extension. Continue reading
Social Security benefits include monthly retirement, survivor, and disability benefits; they do not include Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments, which are not taxable. Continue reading
If you’re a small business owner with fewer than 25 full-time equivalent employees, you may be eligible for the small business health care credit.
Tax reform eliminated a number of deductions that many taxpayers counted on to reduce their taxable income. Here are four that could affect you. Continue reading
Most people file a tax return because they have to, but even if you don’t, there are times when you should–because you might be eligible for a tax refund and not know it. The six tax tips below should help you determine whether you’re one of them. Continue reading
Many people use IRAs, SEP Plans, SIMPLE IRA plans, and employee-sponsored retirement savings plans such as the 401(k) to save money for their retirement years, but what if you need to tap that money before age 59 1/2? The bad news is that you generally have to pay a 10 percent penalty for early withdrawal of your funds. While that may seem unfair (after all, most of it is probably your money), you need to remember that the purpose of these types of plans is to save money for the years when you are no longer working. Continue reading
The complexity of the tax code generates a lot of folklore and misinformation that could lead to costly mistakes such as penalties for failing to file on time or, on the flip side, not taking advantage of deductions you are legally entitled to take and giving the IRS more money than you need to. With this in mind, let’s take a look at seven common small business tax myths. Continue reading
January 28, 2019, marked the start of this year’s tax filing season, and it’s the first time taxpayers will be filing under the new tax reform laws, most of which became effective in 2018. Complicating matters is a newly revised Form 1040, U.S. Individual Income Tax Return, as well as the partial shutdown of the federal government. With more than 150 million individual tax returns expected to be filed for the 2018 tax year, here’s what individual taxpayers can expect: Continue reading
