Archives for April 2018

Phony Email Targets Small Business Owners

April 17, 2018 by Frank

Phony Email Targets Small Business Owners

Warning by Better Business Bureau (BBB)

Small business owners are always looking for new business leads. The BBB warned business owners to be wary of scam emails that appear to be a Request for a Proposal (RFP) but are really targeting your business to separate you from your money or to tarnish your reputation.

The scam works as follows: The business owner receives an email with the subject “RFP Proposal” or something similar. It appears that a possible customer is asking you to bid on a contract. If you open the message, you will be able to download the attached RFP file. You may be asked for personal information to demonstrate that your company has the financial resources to handle the contract or it may include a link to a malware-infected file. You may have just [Read more…] about Phony Email Targets Small Business Owners

SOCIAL SECURITY AGE CONSIDERATION: DOES WORKING AFFECT BENEFITS?

April 10, 2018 by Frank

SOCIAL SECURITY AGE CONSIDERATIONS

DOES WORKING AFFECT BENEFITS?

Some individuals retire and begin to collect their hard-earned Social Security retirement benefits. What happens if they decide to work in their retirement years?

First, the individual is allowed to receive Social Security retirement benefits and work at the same time. However, if the person is younger than full retirement age and makes more than the yearly earnings limit, the Social Security Administration (SSA) will reduce the recipient’s monthly benefit. Here is how the reduction works. [Read more…] about SOCIAL SECURITY AGE CONSIDERATION: DOES WORKING AFFECT BENEFITS?

DOES IT MAKE SENSE TO PAY DOWN YOUR MORTGAGE?

April 3, 2018 by Frank

DOES IT MAKE SENSE TO PAY DOWN YOUR MORTGAGE?

Effective with the 2018 tax year, the Tax Cut and Jobs Act (ACT) reduced the allowable deductions for individual taxpayers who itemized their deductions on Schedule A. While that is true, one also needs to focus on the increased standard deduction.

The ACT, effective for the 2018 tax year, increases the standard deduction to $12,000 for single taxpayers and $24,000 for married couples filing a joint tax return (MFJ).

For this exercise, let’s focus on MFJ returns. In 2017, the standard deduction was $12,700. If a married couple had itemized deductions that exceeded the standard deduction of $12,700, they would itemize their tax deductions on their 2017 Form 1040.

Looking at the increase in the standard deduction, MFJ returns that have less than $24,000 of itemized deductions in 2018 (taxes capped at $10,000, mortgage interest, & charitable deductions) would claim the standard deduction rather than itemize.

If your itemized tax deductions had included mortgage interest, [Read more…] about DOES IT MAKE SENSE TO PAY DOWN YOUR MORTGAGE?