When two people fall in love, they tend to be blind to life’s realities. The last thing they want to do is bring up issues that might generate conflict, and let’s face it, the topic of taxes is definitely turbulent.
Ask these tough tax questions before you get married – to avoid an inevitable divorce.
What is Foreign Accrual Property Income (FAPI) and what affect does it have on my corporate taxes?
If you are a Canadian resident and own a foreign corporation that earns passive income, the income needs to be reported on your Canadian tax return even if you never received the funds. However, if the foreign corporation has a loss, the loss is not allowed to offset any other income you have for the year. Instead, the loss can be carried back three years against previous FAPI or forward 20 years against future FAPI.
Partly in response to the problem faced by dealers in medical marijuana or those in states where marijuana sales are legal, the IRS has partnered with PayNearMe to allow taxpayers to make cash payment on their taxes at participating 7-Eleven stores in 34 states. This allows anyone without a bank account a more Read More
In recent years, the use of medical marijuana has been on the increase. Indeed, at least 24 states plus the District of Columbia have made medical marijuana legal with more likely to follow. Can the widespread sale of recreational marijuana be far behind? It is already legal for recreational use in four states plus DC. This is not about whether or not marijuana should be legal for medical or recreational use, it is about the tax hurdles faced by businesses that sell marijuana. Read More
When you leave your tax preparer’s office each year, there are two very important questions you should probably be asking yourself.
Question #1:
How secure is your personal information after you leave it with your tax preparer? Probably not very secure! Do they leave your paperwork lying about the place, accessible to all, after they have completed your taxes? Are their computers adequately protected by firewalls and effective anti-virus software? Is there adequate background checks done on their employees, who obviously will have unlimited access to your sensitive personal information? The honest truth is that you really don’t know.
Also, you should be concerned about hackers. These criminals have been successful in hacking into supposedly very secure government computer systems; the Office of Personnel Management, and even the IRS itself come to mind immediately. These people know that they will have access to a treasure trove of personal information if they were to hack into the computers of H&R Block, Liberty Tax, or any CPA or other tax preparation office. So what is to stop them from hacking into your tax preparer’s computer, which obviously will be a lot less protected than the government’s computers? Read More
When an employer withholds Social Security and income taxes from an employee, those funds are the property of the government, and the employer must hold those funds in “trust” until the funds are turned over to the government. Failure to do so could lead to the so-called trust fund penalty, which is equal to 100% of the withholding from the employees’ wages. The penalty applies to any willful failure to collect, account for and pay over Social Security and income taxes required to be withheld from employee wages.
A recent report issued by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration has made recommendations to the IRS for timely assessing and collecting the responsible person penalty, and the IRS is adopting the recommendations. The government has always been very aggressive about collecting trust fund Read More
A little humor with some tax jokes on TaxConnections Tax Blogs.
♦ A tax attorney defended a case of tax evasion for an affluent client. He devoted over a year to the case, familiarizing himself with every loophole and angle of current legislation, and made a brilliant argument before the court. His client was called out of town when the jury returned with its verdict, a sweeping victory for his client on every count. Flushed with victory, the lawyer exuberantly sent an email to his client, “Justice has triumphed!” The client immediately emailed back, “Appeal at once!”
♦ “Ignore them and they’ll go away” is great advice for some of life’s annoyances. Unfortunately, it doesn’t apply to taxes. – Martha C. White
♦ I’ll tell you some tax jokes because I think you’d depreciate them! Read More
Following is the tax responsibility for individuals for November, 2015.
If you are an employee who works for tips and received more than $20 in tips during October, you are required to report them to your employer on the Internal Revenue Service Form 4070 no later than November 10. Your employer is required to withhold FICA taxes and income tax withholding for these tips from your regular wages. If your regular wages are insufficient to cover the FICA and tax withholding, the employer will report the amount of the uncollected withholding in box 12 of your W-2 for the year. You will be required to pay the uncollected withholding when your return for the year is filed.
Looking ahead to the filing season for this year’s tax returns, a frequent question is whether you should keep track of tax-deductible expenditures or simply settle for the standard deduction amount.
Whether you can itemize deductions on your tax return depends on how much you spent on certain expenses during the year. Money paid for medical care, mortgage interest, taxes, charitable contributions, casualty losses and miscellaneous deductions (usually job or investment related) can reduce your taxes. If the total amount spent on those categories is more than the standard deduction, you can usually benefit by itemizing.
The standard deduction amounts are based on your filing status, your age and whether or Read More
There is an interesting article in the San Jose Mercury News – “Silicon Valley’s stealthy, selfish war on taxes,” by Michelle Quinn (9/11/15). She looks at some of the assessed values high tech firms have noted for their equipment, including $1. She reports that some companies argue that the machine has no value to anyone else. That seems odd. But, it is a problem with a valuation tax, such as the property tax.
What is business personal property, such as equipment, worth each year? Arguably, when purchased, it is worth what you paid for it, but it isn’t worth that much after that. The valuation approach used does allow for adjustments down for subsequent years. The system also allows for lower values and appeals when necessary. Read More
You may be tempted to forget about your taxes once you’ve filed your tax return, but did you know that if you start your tax planning now, you may be able to avoid a tax surprise when you file next year?
That’s right. Now is a good time to set up a system so you can keep your tax records safe and easy to find. Here are six tips to give you a leg up on next year’s taxes:
1. Take action when life changes occur. Some life events such as a change in marital status or the birth of a child can change the amount of tax you pay. When they happen, you may need to change the amount of tax withheld from your pay. To do that, file a new Form W-4, Employee’s Withholding Allowance Certificate, with your employer. Read More
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