January 4 - Time to Call for Your Tax Appointment - January is the beginning of tax season. If you have not made an appointment to have your taxes prepared, we encourage you do so before the calendar becomes too crowded. If you are an employee who works for tips and received more than $20 [...]
Congress has reached a bipartisan agreement on tax extenders, aptly named “Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act of 2015”. Much to everyone’s surprise, some were made permanent while others were only extended for a period of time. Congress also modified several provisions and added new ones to reduce tax fraud. Here is a look at [...]
Thieves use taxpayers' natural fear of the IRS and other government entities to ply their scams, including e-mail and phone scams, to steal your money. They also use phishing schemes to trick you into divulging your SSN, date of birth, account numbers, passwords and other personal data that allow them to scam the IRS and [...]
Article Highlights: Long-Form Itemization Required Qualified Charities Only Cash Donations Non-cash Donations Year-End Donations During the holidays, many charities solicit gifts of money or property. This article includes tips for documenting your charitable gifts so that you can claim a deduction on your tax return and advice for how not to be scammed by criminals [...]
Article Highlights: Conversion Timing Why Convert? When to Convert? Undoing A Conversion Issues to Consider Before Making the Decision The tax provision that allows taxpayers to convert a Traditional IRA to a Roth IRA is a great tax-planning tool when used properly, and timing is everything. To make a conversion, you must pay income [...]
The President has signed the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act of 2015 (PATH Act). Below is more information on the Act's provisions. Made permanent: Enhanced Child Tax Credit Enhanced American Opportunity Tax Credit Enhanced Earned Income Tax Credit Above-the-line educator deduction Sales tax deduction Enhanced mass transit and parking pass benefits IRA-to-charity — California automatically [...]
Through 2016, taxpayers can get a 30% tax credit on their federal tax returns for installing certain power-generating systems in their homes. The credit is non-refundable, which means it can only be used to offset a taxpayer's current tax liability, but any excess can be carried forward to offset tax through 2016. Systems that qualify [...]
Prior to the recent economic downturn, flipping real estate was popular. With mortgage interest rates low and home prices at historical lows, flipping appears to be on the rise again. House flipping is, essentially, purchasing a cheaper, slightly run-down house or property, spending time redoing the interior of the house, changing up the landscaping, even [...]
Congress passed legislation, which President Obama indicated he would sign, to avoid the fiscal cliff. The legislation would allow tax rates to rise on the nation's highest earners while also extending dozens of tax cuts for individuals and businesses. Specifically, the bill: Raises the top tax rate to 39.6% for married couples earning $450,000; single [...]
Unclaimed property refers to accounts in financial institutions and companies that have had no activity generated or contact with the owner for a period of one year or longer (depending upon state law). Common forms of unclaimed property include savings or checking accounts, stocks, uncashed dividends or payroll checks, refunds, traveler’s checks, trust distributions, unredeemed [...]
