ooking 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…
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…
Going to college, and figuring out how to pay for it, can be stressful for students and parents. In recent years, Congress has provided a variety of tax incentives to help defray the cost of education. Some require long-term planning to become beneficial, while others provide current tax deductions or credits. The benefits may even…
The most effective way for small business owners to be sure that they are aware of their company’s financial status is to have an accurate balance sheet that reflects the most current information available. By keeping this information up to date every quarter, you can help yourself avoid a lot of problems and surprises down…
On July 29. 2015, the House Ways and Means Committee announced that some members had drafted a bill calling for an innovation box (aka patent box), similar to what is used in a few others countries, such as the UK. Chairman Ryan praised the bill as relevant to international tax reform and helping US companies…
If you’re preparing for summer nuptials, make sure you do some tax planning as well. A few steps taken now can make tax time easier next year. Here are some tips from the IRS to help keep tax issues that may arise from your marriage to a minimum: • Change of name. All the names…
On June 26, the Supreme Court ruled that the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution requires all states to license marriages between two people of the same sex and to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states. This comes approximately two years after the Supreme Court overturned the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) enacted by Congress…
There are many tax benefits for members of the military and their families, including disabled veterans. IRS Publication 3, Armed Forces’ Tax Guide, is a free booklet packed with valuable information and tips designed to help service members and their families take advantage of all tax benefits allowed by law. Information available in this publication…
Working from home promises big benefits: extra income, flexible hours and a dress code of slippers and sweatpants. The trick, of course, is finding legitimate, well-paid positions because work-at-home scams abound. To assemble our list of top work-at-home jobs, we combed through employment data to identify occupations with good hourly wages and promising growth prospects.…
The Internal Revenue Service has issued proposed regulations to implement a recent federal law authorizing states to offer specially designed tax-favored ABLE accounts to people with disabilities who became disabled before age 26. The Achieving a Better Life Experience, or ABLE, account provision was signed into law in December 2014 as part of the tax…
