Five Things to Know About Employing Your Spouse
Hiring your spouse to work as an employee in your business can save you big on taxes. The savings can be particularly great if you are a sole proprietor or have a single-member LLC taxed as a sole proprietorship or as a partnership (as long as your spouse is not a partner). But this arrangement […]
New IRS Efforts to Destroy Tax Deductions for PPP Paid Expenses
From what we know, when lawmakers originally passed the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), they thought that under its provisions you did not pay taxes on the forgiveness amount, and you also could deduct the expenses that you paid with the PPP money. Fly in the Ointment In late April, the IRS issued Notice 2020-32, which […]
Be Sure to Pay the PCORI Fee if You Have an HRA
If you own your business and have at least one employee, a great way to obtain the maximum tax deductions possible for health care insurance and other medical expenses is to establish a health reimbursement arrangement for your employees, which can include you and/or your spouse. There are three types: 105-HRAs, which are available where […]
2020 Last-Minute Year-End Medical Plan Strategies
All small-business owners with one to 49 employees should have a medical plan in their business. Sure, the tax law does not require you to have a plan, but you should. Most of the tax rules that apply to medical plans are straightforward when you have fewer than 50 employees. And then there’s a great […]
2020 Last-Minute Year-End Retirement Deductions
The clock continues to tick. Your retirement is one year closer. You have time before December 31 to take steps that will help you fund the retirement you desire. Take a few minutes to review the four retirement plan tax-reduction strategies in this article. You might find several thousand dollars (and maybe much more) in […]
2020 Last-Minute Year-End Tax Strategies for Your Stock Portfolio
Here’s the basic strategy: Avoid the high taxes (up to 40.8 percent) on short-term capital gains and ordinary income. Lower the taxes to zero—or if you can’t do that, then lower them to 23.8 percent or less by making the profits subject to long-term capital gains. Think of this: you are paying taxes at a […]
2020 Last-Minute Section 199A Tax Reduction Strategies
With all that’s happened in 2020, it’s easy to forget about your Section 199A deduction.
You may remember that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) gave many pass-through businesses the Section 199Adeduction as a no-effort, do-nothing 20 percent tax deduction based on defined business income.
2020 Last-Minute Vehicle Purchases to Save on Taxes
Do you need a replacement business car, SUV, van, or pickup truck? Do you need tax deductions this year? If you answered yes to both questions, you need to examine this article and get ready to smile. Thanks to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) tax reform, you can write off the cost of […]
New Law Kneecaps Stretch IRA—Here’s What You Can Do About It
Last December, the imaginatively named Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act (SECURE Act) became law. The SECURE Act was intended mainly to expand opportunities for individuals to increase their retirement savings and to simplify the administration of retirement plans. Fine. Good. But the act also included a big unfavorable change that kneecapped the […]
The Latest Payroll Tax Deferral: An Offer You Should Refuse?
If you have employees, you must withhold their 6.2 percent share of the Social Security (OASDI) tax from their wages up to an annual wage ceiling ($137,700 for 2020). You pay the money to the IRS along with your matching 6.2 percent employer share of the tax. The combined 12.4percent Social Security tax is one […]
2020 Last-Minute Year-End Tax Deductions for Existing Vehicles
It’s time to examine your existing business and personal (yes, personal) cars, SUVs, trucks, and vans for some profitable year-end business tax deductions. In this article, we will first look at your prior and existing business vehicles that you or your pass-through business owns. Then, we will take a look at your personal vehicles as […]
2020 Last-Minute Vehicle Purchases to Save on Taxes
Do you need a replacement business car, SUV, van, or pickup truck? Do you need tax deductions this year? If you answered yes to both questions, you need to examine this article and get ready to smile. Thanks to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) tax reform, you can write off the cost of […]