WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service has updated the tax year 2018 annual inflation adjustments to reflect changes from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). The tax year 2018 adjustments are generally used on tax returns filed in 2019.
The tax items affected by TCJA for tax year 2018 of greatest interest to most taxpayers include the following dollar amounts: Read More
Eating out can take several different forms:
Unfortunately slightly different tax rules apply to each.
Buying Refreshments For Yourself
The rule here is that if the food/drink is associated with travel then it is allowable. So, if you travel to London and stay the night in a hotel for the purposes of business, your evening meal is subsistence and so is a deductible expense. Read More
For years, IRS audit rates have been declining as Congress has cut the IRS budget and its workforce has shrunk. The agency has relapsed its audit statistics for 2017, which marked the sixth consecutive year that audit rates have gone down.
The number of people audited by the IRS in 2016 dropped to just over 1 million. The last time so few people were audited was 2004. Since then, the U.S. has added about 30 million people. Read More
This month we travel to the southern state of Arkansas, the Natural State. It is known for its abundant parks and wilderness areas, with terrain encompassing mountains, caves, rivers and hot springs. The rugged Ozarks region in the northwest portion of the state has hiking trails and limestone caves, such as Blanchard Springs Caverns.
The state’s diverse geography varies from mountain ranges from the Ozark and the Ouachita Mountains, which make up the U.S. Interior Highlands, to the densely forested land in the south known as the Arkansas Timberlands, to the eastern lowlands along the Mississippi River and the Arkansas Delta. Read More
For most new businesses and business owners, keeping it simple is key. After all, launching a new business requires attention to detail and doing many things right. For that reason, most new businesses start out simply as a sole proprietorship or a Limited Liability Company (LLC). As a successful business matures, however, the savvy owner should call time out to consider the S Corporation form of business.
The owners of an active business operating as a S Corporation enjoy a distinct tax advantage over other types of tax entities, particularly sole proprietors, partnerships and LLCs. For the owner of a profitable sole proprietorship, partnership or LLC, the earnings are subject to both income tax and the 15.3% self-employment (SE) tax, which funds Social Security benefits and the Medicare health system. This SE tax is often unanticipated, particularly for new entrepreneurs, and can cause havoc with cash flow at tax time. Read More
In some instances, tax liabilities can be discharged by filing bankruptcy. There are two main types of bankruptcy available (Chapter 7 and Chapter 13), each with definitive and complicated rules regarding discharging tax liabilities. In both instances, the following must be true:
WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service today reminded taxpayers that they may request an extension of time to file their tax return, but certain taxpayers get extra time without asking. The IRS said nearly 14 million taxpayers are expected to get an extension this filing season.
Anyone can receive a six-month extension to file their tax return by using Form 4868, Application for Automatic Extension of Time to File U.S. Individual Income Tax Return. Even with an extension, taxpayers should remember that the extension does not affect any tax they owe. Tax payments are due on or before the April 17 tax deadline. Read More
National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson testified before the House Subcommittee on Health Care, Benefits, and Administrative Rules and Subcommittee on Government Operations Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on Oversight today at a hearing entitled, “Continued Oversight Over the Internal Revenue Service.”
As you know, I lead the Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS), an independent organization within the IRS that advocates for taxpayers. TAS has two main functions – “case advocacy” and “systemic advocacy.” In most years our case advocacy operations
assist more than 200,000 taxpayers in resolving account problems with the IRS.2 On the systemic side, TAS identifies problems that are harming groups of taxpayers, and we make administrative and legislative recommendations to mitigate those problems.
WASHINGTON – Many U.S. corporations elect to use a fiscal year end and not a calendar year end for federal income tax reporting purposes. Due to a provision in the recently enacted Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), a corporation with a fiscal year that includes Jan. 1, 2018 will pay federal income tax using a blended tax rate and not the flat 21 percent tax rate under the TCJA that would generally apply to taxable years beginning after Dec. 31, 2017.
Corporations determine their federal income tax for fiscal years that include Jan. 1, 2018, by first calculating their tax for the entire taxable year using the tax rates in effect prior to TCJA and then calculating their tax using the new 21 percent rate, subsequently proportioning each tax amount based on the number of days in the taxable year when the different rates were in effect. Read More
For this year’s 2018 Depreciation Limits, business use vehicles offer opportunities and challenges. Claiming depreciation as a business expense for personally available vehicles is a clear advantage. As is common, a “but” is included due to special rules known as “Listed Property” attributes. These rules recognize there are both personal and business attributes associated with the same asset; the vehicle has a value to the individual and their business using the vehicle which has necessitated specific 2018 Car and Truck Depreciation Limits.
The conceptual challenge is that there are differences between a business van say, for a “Construction Person”, and the “Executive” with a new Mercedes, known as Listed Property. Read More
Complimentary eBook For You: 250+ Best Tax Jokes, Quotes And Fun Tax Forms
LIFO Accounting FAQs: What Is LIFO Accounting?
Preparing For A Sales Tax Audit: Tips And Best Practices For Middle Market Owners
Treasury, IRS Issue Frequently Asked Questions Regarding Disaster Relief Related To Retirement Plans And IRAs
Bidens Call For The Expiration Of The Tax Cuts And Jobs Act Increases Taxes For The Average Family $1500 Per Year
Recent Comments