At this time of year many people who were getting a refund have already filed their tax return. It leaves the remaining majority of folks who, despite having withholdings, are still going to owe additional tax. We talk a great deal about tax planning and changing behaviors to achieve better outcomes in the future, but many are faced right now with a tax bill for the past (2018 tax year). So what can be done? Anything? The answer is YES! It’s actually simple and easy for most folks to substantially reduce the tax liability they are facing by opening a prior year IRA! It is one of the very few ways the IRS allows you to retroactively affect your taxes.[…]
In the great Northeast, three quarters of the way through February, the snow piles are getting higher and higher in the mall parking lots and at that intersection you can’t see around that everyone hates. It didn’t happen all at once. Our first snow was in October this year. It didn’t stay, but it set the pace for five months of winter. As each storm leaves it’s trace, some melts away, some gets rained away, but overall it accumulates. We might get ten inches, but only three really ends up on the pile. Then another five inches, but this time all five end up on the pile, etc. Your tax burdens build up the exact same way. And there isn’t some magical button you[…]
Not that we get much surfing here in the Northeast, but we have seen plenty of footage all the way back to the competitions on ABC’s Wild World of Sports. Yup I’m that old. The surfers sit and look at the horizon and anticipate the size of the waves. It’s not an exact science, but they make their choice and then, the most important part, the proactively paddle like crazy toward the oncoming wave crest well ahead of its arival. This allows them to meet the wave on their own terms, rather than seeing what they get when it gets to them, as they sit and do nothing. Because of this action, they turn in time to ride the wave, and show off[…]
There are many types of taxpayers, but three common categories are: A. Those who are getting a refund which is “our money” back. B. Those who are getting their own money back and think it’s a refund but it’s really not. C. Those who are paying in, and not getting a refund. The first are the group of Americans we support as a society and for whatever reason, and whether they are hard working or not are earning under a livable wage, so we supplement their annual income with credits. Depending on the number of children and other factors, we give them more back than they have paid or had withheld. The next group have worked and had withholding or[…]
During tax season an often overlooked opportunity comes from not fully understanding how you can use your cars as a tax deduction on your tax return. It is very common for people who have a Schedule C sole proprietor type business to claim their mileage on automobiles, but the privilege of using personal deductions on a tax return is not limited to someone who is filing a Schedule C. For instance, a landlord might own three apartment buildings and file a schedule E on his personal tax return and not feel like he is “self-employed” as he has a full-time W-2 job. However, the use of his personal car on that schedule E is just as deductible as it is[…]
WASHINGTON ― Despite the government shutdown, the Internal Revenue Service today confirmed that it will process tax returns beginning January 28, 2019 and provide refunds to taxpayers as scheduled. “We are committed to ensuring that taxpayers receive their refunds notwithstanding the government shutdown. I appreciate the hard work of the employees and their commitment to the taxpayers during this period,” said IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig. Congress directed the payment of all tax refunds through a permanent, indefinite appropriation (31 U.S.C. 1324), and the IRS has consistently been of the view that it has authority to pay refunds despite a lapse in annual appropriations. Although in 2011 the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) directed the IRS not to pay refunds[…]
This will be an interesting year to say the least when you go to file your tax returns. Most will be surprised, some good and some bad. From the tax return structure itself looking different, to a long list of deduction changes, everyone will be seeing something new. All year we tried to give our readers a few pearls of wisdom on planning, sometimes how to act from a tax perspective and sometimes to offer alternative paths to take in behavior that would potentially end in additional tax savings. An example of that is having IRA “required minimum distributions” go from your IRA directly to the charity of your choosing if you are over 70, instead of coming to you[…]
Tis’ the season! Take the time to celebrate the holidays with family and friends. Happy holidays from the Tax What-If Doctor!
There are only three weeks left to make something great happen with this year’s tax bill. If you are over 70, save the time you would have spent getting clothes together and boxing them and driving in the holiday traffic to a charity for the tax deduction (this can be done January 3rd), and instead have your investment advisor set up a direct gift from your IRA to the same charity. It still satisfies “RMD” (minimum IRA withdrawal requirements) but takes that amount completely off your taxable income total! If you’re a small business owner that files on a Schedule C , set up your kids to receive payroll from your company and get checks issued and then cashed from[…]
It’s that time of year again and many businesses with fat bottom lines, or even just with joy in their hearts, are getting ready to rinse and repeat what they have always done; buying tickets and food (perhaps adult beverages also) to celebrate and appreciate their work force. The new rules generally allow the holiday party if it’s at the office, but the IRS has set new nondeductible guidelines for entertainment. It’s not clear, for instance, if you usually take you entire office to a holiday show, sporting event or concert, whether that part will still be deductible. More time and guidance will shake that all out, but at the moment it’s possible that it’s not, so you may want[…]
People love to vacation. Some do it often, while others hold on all year for that one great week and live day by day until that magical start date on the calendar! A new wave in our digital age is to only take three or four day weekends, but do it more often. However you “vacation”, they do have one common thread, and that is that they are not free. Furthermore, when you are officially vacationing (which becomes a mind set as well….I am officially on vacation as of right now!) you spend more freely, often with a disregard for cost shopping. “I’m stopping at Starbucks for the Mocha Frappuccino, not Dunkin, cause I’m on vacation!”. What if next vacation[…]
This time it’s clarification of the home equity mortgage deduction, and as with the business meals issue, it’s not as bad as it had first seemed! The more the details from the broad rules last February have come out, the more we are liking the news! When business meals were first named as no longer deductible, we thought it would be changing the landscape of the power lunch. But, details released later softened the blow and it came to light that what the IRS was actually after was a much more targeted class of meals inside entertainment and around employee cafeterias and the like. Now, the details have come out on another headline item that made people groan when first announced:[…]
Part of giving good tax planning advice is understanding short term emergency needs, but also human nature. Often, before TCJA (Tax Cuts & Jobs Act) people in a cash crunch or in other emergencies would look to their 401(k) for a loan. After all, that’s where a great deal, if not all, of their “savings” are accumulated. However, there are several problems with that thought. First, a 401(k) isn’t “savings”, it’s a “retirement” plan, and the structure of the assets inside are not generally cash, so taking a loan could mean selling an asset and losing growth opportunity that could be critical to the fund’s objectives. Secondly, the rules on repayment to the 401(k) account might be fine while you[…]
Some do it often while others hold on all year for that one great week and live day by day until that magical start date on the calendar! A new wave in our digital age is to only take three or four day weekends, but do it more often. However you “vacation”, they do have one common thread, and that is that they are not free. Furthermore, when you are officially vacationing (which becomes a mindset as well….I am officially on vacation as of right now!) you spend more freely, often with a disregard for cost shopping. “I’m stopping at Starbucks for the mocha frappe latte, not Dunkin, cause I’m on vacation!”. What if next vacation you could upgrade to[…]
Late last year the government changed the tax code substantially and, among other things, created a new code section 199A for small business owners. This created a buzz as many business owners were made aware they would be getting a huge tax break. They also announced simplifications, like doing away with personal exemptions and instead increasing standard deductions. In the long run, it should make it easier for people to understand their numbers, although for many it will mean an uptick in what they are paying in tax. One of the perceived losses was the deduction for many kinds of business meals and entertainment, which was generally “shoulder shrugged” off as a “cost” of simplification. “If we are getting[…]
Every year the IRS gets together and starts looking at economic news and forecasts and works with several departments of the government to tweak our tax code. They look at the leading economic indicators, they decide what they need to change, and the collection of tax revenue often changes by year end. Will they do that this year after the most sweeping changes in a very long time? In the past, they would create a lot of temporary tax rules to steer the ship, but it’s a new course and we have only been sailing a short time! These new rules will be a very big surprise to many Americans, both winners and losers, as next year’s tax collection shakes[…]
Many people don’t really think about their taxes until the snow is flying and the first document arrives in the mail. Why would you, right? Year in and year out people often get into a set of habits around getting things together for their preparer. That`s usually not a bad thing, but in a year like 2018 when so many things have changed we see on the horizon a sea of surprised faces when they find out their usual $1,200 refund is now a $500 balance owed to the IRS. Or their usual $1,000 tax bill is now $1,900. Of course, like any changes there will also be winners receiving happy surprises. But what side will you be on? If[…]
The IRS just gave guidance that a nondeductible IRA may still in fact be converted into a Roth IRA. For those who didn’t know about that planning strategy in the past, at a certain level of income people were no longer allowed to deduct their IRA contributions. Many advisors thought that the rule was that the higher income earner could not open an IRA, which was incorrect. You simply lost the ability to deduct them. Why would I open an IRA that I could not deduct? It was still tax deferred growth after it was opened, so a “tax deferred annuity” that could be invested in any way an IRA could be. Later, with the creation of a Roth IRA[…]
There is so much good in the business world from the new tax laws that we feel bad to even mention this, but we did lose some deductions that had become automatic in so many minds that we feel we must! As business people ourselves and for as long as we can remember, taking a client or prospect out to eat or to a round of golf or a concert has always been how business is done! Then tax deducting it is also how business got done…NOT ANY MORE! It’s time to review the old and new tax rules, and perhaps nothing changes, as business getting done first always trumps (no pun intended), and deducting it was a pleasant after-effect. Perhaps the fact that deducting meals with prospects was allowed you to splurge[…]
It is soon to be celebration time all across the U.S. Our Independence Day, our birthday is on the horizon. It is summer, Veterans day and Memorial Day and even the 4th of July make us all think about all of the sacrifices that were made to get us here. We are very, very thankful. Everyone should be. When celebrating most folks focus more about everything that happened in the Colonial period. The Revolutionary War was the gateway to our independence. The desire for independence was fought over many things but mainly about taxation. The Boston Tea Party and many parts of the revolution were spurred in part from being levied and taxed on every single thing that we did. The quote “taxation without representation is tyranny” was[…]
It’s June, and people will be filing their 2018 tax return in another 7 months with a recurring moan and groan. Now is the time to take your preventative medicine and avoid the pain! We all form habits, we are human. We try to develop good ones to replace the bad ones and often we are successful, but most successes don’t come without a coach, cheerleader or some kind of support. Tax time is usually a time of regret over not being successful at last year’s promise to oneself, “I’m not going to pay this much again, I’m going to keep better records and search out a tax plan or some professional help and get smarter about this!” Then, summer[…]
Now that spring has sprung, it’s easy for people and advisors alike to drop the subject and not want to think about taxes for a while. That is unfortunate, as most tax advice needs to be given by May or June to have long enough to help your clients when it’s time to file their next tax return. Send them a contact like this one below and help them plant tax saving seeds they will enjoy next New Year! Tax Planning has often been misunderstood because the advice that our parents gave us is theoretical and absent the consequences from the tax code. What do I mean by that? There are general principles in life that have been passed down[…]
With tax season now behind us, except for all of those who are on extension, tax planning takes a new turn. People are going to senior fairs, home shows, boat shows. It’s great to get out of the house and start getting out into the world again and everybody has some kind of wish list and plan for the summer; it is so short after all. If you’re about to invest in a boat (I use the word invest with tongue in cheek as a boat as a whole and the ocean that you pour money into) or in landscaping for your home, new windows, new roofs, whatever you’re up to, there just may be a tax component involved. Many[…]
There’s a lot going on in the world right now, and a lot of new platforms to look at it on, but the best policy is to focus on tasks and don’t get distracted. Since the invention of the Internet, people have become overloaded with information, and much of it is not necessarily true, or at least it’s slanted to create an opinion that has a business purpose behind it; fake news and many other ways that people can twist the truth. Meaning that you have to be very careful about taking action on something after you hear about it without a little further digging. This is especially difficult to do when people’s attention spans have shortened. The other day, I had a[…]
There are a lot of things that have changed about the tax code. Things that were deductible before that will no longer be, as well as things that could not be done in the past that now can be. There’s a lot of confusion and it will take time for the public to slowly get used to things that they have turned into habits, keeping medical receipts, keeping traveling expenses, deducting moving expenses. There is a lot that has changed, but the most important things haven’t changed Organizing and record keeping are more than ever extremely important, and that’s the place that most of the people who are confused about the new tax rules have already got an ongoing deficit that they should[…]
A tax extension is a request for more time to send returns to the federal and/or state taxing authorities in which you owe tax. A request for more time is not an extension of more time to pay any tax due. The federal and/or state taxing authorities need to receive 100% of all tax due by April 15th (or the actual filing deadline, if adjusted by weekend/holiday) each year in order to avoid penalties and interest charges. Therefore, you the taxpayer has the responsibility of estimating whether you might owe tax. How could people know how much they will owe before the taxes are calculated? You are the only one who knows what you have earned, what has changed about[…]
At this time of year many people who were getting a refund have already filed their tax return. It leaves the remaining majority of folks who, despite having withholdings, are still going to owe additional tax. We talk a great deal about tax planning and changing behaviors to achieve better outcomes in the future, but many are faced right now with a tax bill for the past (2017 tax year). So what can be done? Anything? The answer is YES! It’s actually simple and easy for most folks to substantially reduce the tax liability they are facing by opening a prior year IRA! It’s is one of the very few ways the IRS allows you to retroactively affect your taxes.[…]
The deadline for filing Partnership and S-Corporation tax returns is approaching quickly. The deadline to file your business returns is March 15th, 2018 and unless they are filed by then they will be subject to fees and penalties. An extension will give you an additional six months to file business returns, so a business would not need to file until September 15th, 2018. The extension does not extend when the payment for taxes is due, if applicable in their state. The payment of the taxes from pass through filings is due no later than April 15th, 2018.
Today’s blog, though, is actually not part of the new rules, it’s part of the undoing of the thought process that comes with the tax collection and reporting system that we have created here in the U.S. (said tongue in cheek, as I had very little to do with it. In fact, nothing at all, I don’t believe). This is the time of year where people are getting documents in the mail and the self-created mental pressure starts to build. The required documents are mailed to you and the IRS says that you have to file your return by April 15th…hardly any time!!!!!! However, they also offer you an extension, and the extension is: A. free, B. always granted under all[…]
Last week we looked at how businesses could potentially save more by tax planning changes than what they would get from the 20% QBI (qualified business Income) deduction next year. The week before that we talked about mortgage deductions and planning tips. This week we are getting down to the “core” of the changes (cute right?) and what the taxpaying public really needs to get their arms around. The talking heads on CNBC and some of the other more neutral media outlets are talking about the signs we are already seeing of confidence in the economy. People are starting to see a little more in their paychecks this week, which brings a nice warm feeling this time of year. Even[…]