Peter Scalise

The Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act of 2015 (hereinafter the “PATH Act”) significantly enhanced the Federal-Level R&D Tax Credit Program (hereinafter “RTC Program”) under I.R.C. § 41 on a myriad of levels for both eligible “Small Businesses” and eligible “Start-Up Companies”. More specifically, the enhanced RTC Program has been considerably restructured for these aforementioned eligible companies to now:

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For the past few years, year-end tax planning has been challenging due to the lateness of action by Congress. This year is no different because of uncertainty over whether Congress will extend any of the many expired or expiring tax provisions. However, regardless of what Congress does later this year, solid tax savings can still be realized by taking advantage of tax breaks that are still on the books for 2015. For individuals and small businesses, these include:

• Capital Gains and Losses – You can employ several strategies to suit your particular tax circumstances. If your income is low this year and your tax bracket is 15% or lower, you can take advantage of the zero percent capital gains bracket benefit, resulting in no tax for part or all of your long-term gains. Others, affected by the market downturn earlier this year, should review their portfolio with an eye to offsetting gains Read More

Closely-held companies that export have a tax-savings opportunity by creating an Interest Charge – Domestic International Sales Corporation (IC-DISC). While about 6,000 small and medium businesses take advantage of the tax incentives of an IC-DISC, the IRS statistics suggest that only about 25 percent of the potential IC-DISC benefits that are available are actually being captured.

Understanding IC-DISCs

The IC-DISC is a creature of the Internal Revenue Code that provides a significant tax incentive for business owners who manufacture and export. Small to mid-size businesses can set up a separate corporation that elects to be treated as an IC-DISC. Businesses can allocate approximately half of the profits from export sales to this entity. Read More

A CEO of a privately-held company contacted me recently about their Head of Tax retiring. I call the Head of Tax or VP Tax by the acronym “HOT” because the great ones are really on fire when it comes to saving a company revenue that otherwise would be lost forever. In this case, the company CEO hired the Head of Tax many years ago and what was remarkable was the CEO deeply appreciated and valued their work. He recognized the VP Tax saved the company hundreds of millions over the years; he recognized the value the VP Tax brought to the organization overall. It was refreshing to be part of this conversation and listening to the CEO discuss his sincere appreciation for the outstanding contributions of the VP Tax. Frankly, it is not too often that I hear a CEO talk about how much they appreciated and admired their Head of Tax. Whenever I do hear these Read More

Valentine’s Day is all about that special someone in your life, but have you ever wondered if your date across the dinner table might actually be able to save you money on your tax return or if the two of you now decide to get married, whether you can deduct any portion of the wedding and thereafter pay less in taxes?

In Part 1 of this blog, I discussed what you need to know about who qualifies as a dependent and what you need to know on deducting gifts to your staff.

Can you get a Tax Write-Off for your wedding?

Tax write-offs are usually the last thing a bride and groom think about when planning a wedding. To the surprise of many, however, wedding purchases and/or rentals can Read More

Valentine’s Day is all about that special someone in your life, but have you ever wondered if your date across the dinner table might actually be able to save you money on your tax return or if the two of you now decide to get married, whether you can deduct any portion of the wedding and thereafter pay less in taxes?

What you need to know about who qualifies as a dependent.

Dependents, which can range from a girlfriend to a child or even a friend, are often an area where tax deductions are either missed or misstated on tax returns. To help taxpayers navigate this gray area, here are the tests necessary to claim someone as your dependent—and some of the tax benefits available for claiming the one you love: Read More

Year-end tax planning could be especially productive this year because timely action could nail down a host of tax breaks that won’t be around next year unless Congress acts to extend them, which, at the present time, looks doubtful. These include, for individuals: the option to deduct state and local sales and use taxes instead of state and local income taxes; the above-the-line deduction for qualified higher education expenses; and tax-free distributions by those age 70-1/2 or older from IRAs for charitable purposes.

Some areas to draw your attention are listed below:

NEW HIGH INCOME SURCHARGES

High-income-earners have other factors to keep in mind when mapping out year-end plans. Read More