Archives for December 2013

TAX HOLIDAY

December 24, 2013 by Frank

As the 2013 Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, and Diwali holidays have passed and the Christmas, Kwanzaa and New Year holidays are upon us, let’s hope that Washington D.C. and our state legislators will surprise us with a tax holiday (a temporary reduction or the elimination of a tax). Dare you not snicker, as we all can dream, regardless of age.

In observance of the holiday season, we will not be posting a blog for the next two weeks and our next blog will be on January 7, 2014.

Naturally if there is an announcement of a tax holiday, we will immediately post that to our blog rather than wait until January 7.

Wishing our readers the very best during the holiday season!

MEDICARE SURCHARGE PREMIUM – RETIREMENT PLANNING NEEDS TO BEGIN BEFORE RETIREMENT

December 17, 2013 by Frank

Working with an experienced tax professional for tax preparation and tax planning can often result in reducing one’s tax bills or avoiding unnecessary surcharges. How often does an individual decide to retire without first consulting with their CPA? Far too often. There are many decisions that need to be considered when retiring, such as [Read more…] about MEDICARE SURCHARGE PREMIUM – RETIREMENT PLANNING NEEDS TO BEGIN BEFORE RETIREMENT

ENERGIZE YOUR TAX RETURN – WITH RESIDENTIAL & NON-BUSINESS ENERGY TAX CREDITS

December 11, 2013 by Frank

ENERGIZE YOUR TAX RETURN – WITH RESIDENTIAL & NON-BUSINESS ENERGY TAX CREDITS

While politicians say that they are energy conscious, the tax credits associated with home improvements comes and goes, the rules change, and the credit is not the easiest to compute because of dollar limitations, percentages of property eligible for the credit, and prior years’ adjustments.

Working with an experienced tax professional for tax preparation and tax planning can often result in reducing one’s tax bills as the tax professional is reading and keeping abreast of IRS announcements. In Notice 2013-70 the IRS provided guidance for claiming tax credits for non-business energy property (IRC Sec. 25C) and residential efficient property (IRC Sec. 25D) for the 2013 tax year.

While the content of this notice is far too broad to cover in this post, we have commented on just a few points of interest. Any person who has installed energy efficient property in 2013 or plans to do so should read this IRS notice which can be found on the IRSs’ website, www.irs.gov and then speak with their tax professional for guidance.

Since not all improvements will qualify for the energy credit, an unscrupulous contractor may mention to the homeowner that the IRS allows energy credits hoping that the homeowner will think that a tax credit is available for the work being done. Unfortunately, not all energy home improvement projects qualify for the IRS tax credit.

How can the homeowner protect themselves to ensure that they are entitled to the tax credit? The IRS states that taxpayers can usually rely upon [Read more…] about ENERGIZE YOUR TAX RETURN – WITH RESIDENTIAL & NON-BUSINESS ENERGY TAX CREDITS

HOBBY VS. BUSINESS – PROFIT MOTIVE NEEDED

December 3, 2013 by Frank

Starting a new business has many challenges. One of the more significant challenges is generating sufficient cash flows to sustain the business. Working with an experienced tax professional for tax preparation and tax planning when creating a new business entity, one can minimize or avoid these challenges.

One of the major sources of cash flows is revenues. If expenses of the business exceed revenues, then the business owner has negative cash flows, a potential liquidity problem, and perhaps an IRS problem. Why an IRS problem? [Read more…] about HOBBY VS. BUSINESS – PROFIT MOTIVE NEEDED