Article Highlights: Interest Categories Category Deductibility Interest Tracing Rules A frequent question that arises when borrowing money is whether or not the interest will be tax deductible. That can be a complicated question, and unfortunately not all interest an individual pays is deductible. The rules for deducting interest vary, depending on whether the loan proceeds [...]
Article Highlights: Proposed Tax Reform Framework Filing Status Personal Exemptions Itemized Deductions Individual Tax Rates Child Tax Credit Alternative Minimum Tax Estate Tax Top Tax Rate for Small Businesses Expensing Business Purchases As Congress begins debating tax reform, you might be interested in an overview of the GOP’s proposed changes so you’ll have an [...]
Article Highlights: American Opportunity Tax Credit Lifetime Learning Credit Refundable Credit Which Credit to Take Post-secondary Education 3-month Rule Maximizing the Credit Qualified Expenses Who Claims the Credit Qualified Educational Institutions Gift Tax Issues There are actually two higher-education tax credits. The American Opportunity Tax Credit (AOTC) provides up to $2,500 worth of credit for [...]
Article Highlights: Capital Gains Rates Zero Tax Rate Wash Sale Tax Bracket Thresholds Loser Stocks Taxpayers whose top marginal tax bracket is lower than 25% enjoy a long-term capital gain tax rate of zero. Yes, you read correctly: the tax on any long-term capital gains for taxpayers within the 10% or 15% tax bracket is [...]
Article Highlight: Converting Traditional IRA Funds to a Roth IRA Recharacterizations - Undoing the Conversion Benefits of Recharacterizations Recharacterization Timing When you convert a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA, you have to pay the tax on the conversion. However, individuals frequently do that this so they can take advantage of future tax-free accumulations. Distributions [...]
Article Highlights: IRS Informational Forms Computer Matching IRS Correspondence Procrastination Need for Professional Review Remember those 1099s, W-2s, K-1s and other informational forms you receive each year reporting your interest, dividends, sales, wages, retirement income, IRA withdrawals, health insurance forms and other items having to do with your tax return? Well, the IRS also gets [...]
Article Highlights: Away-from-home travel Lodging and meals Entertaining for charity Automobile travel Uniforms Substantiation requirements If you volunteered your time for a charity in the aftermath of a natural disaster, you probably qualify for some tax breaks. Although no tax deduction is allowed for the value of services performed for a qualified charity or federal, [...]
Let’s say you have a regular customer who used to pay on time, but he’s been hit-and-miss lately. How do you get him caught up? Or, one of your customers thinks she’s paid you more than she owes. How do you straighten out this account? Both of these situations have a similar solution. QuickBooks’ statements [...]
Article Highlights: Potential Damage to Key Records Duplicating and Storing Remotely Digitizing Records and Storing Them on a Remote Server Protecting Key Photographs You may think a natural or man-made disaster will never happen to you, but it can be a nightmare when it does. The 2017 hurricane season is a good example, not [...]
Article Highlights: Reverse Mortgages Reverse Mortgage Terms Who Deducts the Interest? When Is the Interest Deductible? Many retirees have insufficient financial resources to keep up with inflation and the ever-increasing costs of medical care. What options do these seniors have, especially if they have a mortgage on their home and their retirement income is too [...]
