Article Highlights: Early-Withdrawal Penalties Reduction in Retirement Savings Exceptions from the Early-Withdrawal Penalty If you are looking for cash for a specific purpose, your retirement savings may be a tempting source. However, if you are under age 59½ and plan to withdraw money from a traditional ira or qualified retirement account, you will likely pay [...]
Article Highlights: Schedule A Travel Expenses Résumé Preparation Job-Placement Services Unemployment Income Health Insurance If you are looking for work, some of the expenses you incur may be tax-deductible, provided that you are looking for work within the same field. Unfortunately, expenses incurred when searching for a job in a new field or a first [...]
Article Highlights: Failure to File Failure to Pay Borrowing from Family Home-Equity Loans Credit Cards Installment Agreements Pension Plans If you are unable to pay your tax liability for 2016, here is some information that you need to know. Most importantly, you should not let your inability to pay your tax liability in full keep [...]
Article Highlights: Crowdfunding Sites Gifts Charitable Gifts Business Ventures SEC Registration Raising money through Internet crowdfunding sites like GoFundMe is a great way to gather together funds for something. However, this prompts questions about the taxability of the money raised. A number of sites host money-raising projects for fees ranging from 5 to 9%, including [...]
Article Highlights: Repeal of Individual Mandate Repeal of Employer Mandate Recapture and Repeal of the Premium Tax Credit Catastrophic Insurance Refundable Tax Credit for Health Insurance Health Savings Accounts Medical Deduction Income Limitation Repeal of Net Investment Income Tax Repeal of FSA Contribution Limits Repeal of Increased Medicare Tax Other Provisions On March 6, the [...]
Article Summary: Foreign Account Reporting Requirement Financial Crimes Enforcement Network Penalties for Failure to File Type of Accounts Affected Form 8938 Filing Requirements U.S. citizens and residents with a financial interest in or signature or other authority over any foreign financial account need to report that relationship by fling FinCEN Form 114 by April 18, [...]
Article Highlights: Fraudsters Urgent Appeals Tips to Avoid Scams & ID Theft Cash Contribution Tax Documentation Each year at this time, the IRS publishes its list of the “dirty dozen” tax scams. Among the dirty dozen are groups that masquerade as charitable organizations to attract donations from unsuspecting contributors. Before you write a check, be [...]
Article Highlights: Balance due payments Contributions to a Roth or traditional IRA Estimated tax payments for the first quarter of 2017 Individual refund claims for tax year 2013 Just a reminder to those who have not yet filed their 2016 tax return that April 18, 2017 is the due date to either file your return [...]
Article Highlights: Joint & Several Liability Exemptions Itemizing Deductions Social Security Income Section 179 Deduction Special Passive Loss Allowance Traditional IRA Deduction Phase-Out Roth IRA Contribution Phase-Out Coverdell Education Accounts Education Tax Credits Higher Education Interest Education Exclusion for U.S. Savings Bond Interest Premium Tax Credit Earned Income Tax Credit Child Care Credit Halved Deductions [...]
Article Highlights: Affected Credits Retroactive Claims Disallowance Periods for Improper Credit Claims Preparer Due-Diligence Requirements 1098-T Requirement to Claim Education Credits Refunds from AOTC and CTC Returns Will Be Purposely Delayed In an effort to rein in tax fraud, which is costing the government billions of tax dollars, some new laws that take effect in [...]
