The Tax Impact as Your Children Grow Up – Prepare now for potential income tax hits As your children age, you can easily be surprised by a larger tax bill. To help ease the possible burden, here are some possible tax hits to prepare for as your children age A higher tax bill in your future At age 13: loss of your Dependent Care Credit. If your children are in daycare …Read More
Ten Commonly Overlooked Deductions Don’t forget these ideas to lower your taxes The tax code is about 75,000 pages long, so it’s not surprising there are many overlooked money-saving deductions hidden within it. Check out this list of commonly overlooked deductions. You might wind up with a bigger refund than you expected. State sales tax alternative You can choose to deduct state and local sales taxes rather than state income …Read More
Small Business Filing Deadline Approaching Fast Form W-2s and 1099-MISCs are Due Jan. 31 If you own your own business or have a side business in addition to your regular job, you may need to send out several IRS forms by Jan. 31 this year. The deadline is for forms you issue to employees and others who were paid as part of your business activities throughout the year. These W-2 …Read More
There’s Still Time to Fund Your IRA Looking for a last minute way to reduce last year’s taxable income? Consider funding a Traditional IRA or Roth IRA. Here is what you need to know Remember that you have until you file your tax return to make a contribution to a Traditional IRA or Roth IRA for the 2016 tax year. The annual maximum contribution amount is $5,500 or $6,500 if …Read More
Reminder. 4th Quarter Estimated Taxes are Now Due – Now is the time to make your estimated tax payment Plan now to make your 4th quarter estimated tax payment If you have not already done so, now is the time to review your tax situation and make an estimated quarterly tax payment using Form 1040-ES. The fourth quarter due date is now here. Normal due date: Tuesday, January 17, 2017 …Read More
Tips to Organize Your Tax Records – Creating order out of chaos Looking for some ideas to make filing your taxes less cumbersome? Here are some tips As important tax records start filling mailboxes, how can you make sure your tax preparation goes smoothly and efficiently this year? Here are some tips. 1. Keep it all in one place. It seems obvious, but how often have you found yourself going …Read More
The IRS Grilling – IRS applies more scrutiny to child-related tax credits Get ready to answer additional questions this year if you claim some tax credits related to children and college costs Get ready to answer additional questions this year if you claim some tax credits related to children and college costs. You may already be familiar with the additional questions and documentation required when you use the Earned Income …Read More
2017 Mileage Rates – New mileage rates announced by the IRS Here are the standard mileage rates for 2017 2017 Mileage Rates The IRS recently announced mileage rates to be used for travel in 2017. The Business mileage rate decreases by 0.5 cents while Medical and Moving mileage rates are lowered by 2 cents. Charitable mileage rates are unchanged. 2017 New Mileage Rates Standard Mileage Rates Mileage Rate/Mile Business Travel …Read More
Research Your Preferred Charities Often during an audit, what you thought was a qualified deduction to a charitable organization is ruled non-deductable Research Your Preferred Charities November and December seem to be the months we are rained upon with charitable organization solicitations. Some of the groups, such as the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army, United Way, and the American Cancer Society are household names. Others are less known. Here …Read More
Those Darn Kids – The risk of having kids file their own tax returns One of the worst surprises you can have at tax time is discovering a dependent files their own tax return. It can create a tax filing mess. Here’s why Those Darn Kids If you have children younger than 19 years old (or 24 if a full-time student) coordinate the filing of their taxes with yours. How …Read More