Archive for the ‘General Business’ Category
Tuesday, May 8th, 2012
It happens every year. A client wanders in with a shoe box and a prayer and wants me to put a miracle out of my hat. Then they get depressed or angry or both because they have to pay tax, sometimes a lot of tax.
So you wanna know the secret to getting every stinking tax deduction you are entitled to? Rule No. 1. Keep good records. It is as simple as that. (more…)
Tags: best practices, business taxes, co-mingled finances, digital copies of receipts, digital record keeping, digital records, financial fitness, follow a system, hire professionals, hire professionals before you need them, keep a schedule, limitations of professional services, mileage log, organize, personal responsibility, personal taxes, record keeping, separate business and personal bank accounts, separate business and personal credit cards, separate business and personal records, separate finances, tax deductions, tax records, taxation, taxes, US tax, use a mileage log, you are responsible
Posted in Business Taxes, General Business, General Individual, Individual Taxes | No Comments »
Monday, June 20th, 2011
S-corporations, sometime when you were setting up your business, you chose, or someone advised you to choose S-corporation as your business form. One advantage is they avoid the “double taxation” of the C-corporation; the government does not usually tax S-corporations. The S-corporation passes income through to you, a shareholder, and you pay the taxes on your share. Another advantage is that only part of the income passes through to you as self-employment income, reducing the amount of self-employment tax you pay. It is that second advantage where the audit risk lies. Get greedy and the IRS will slaughter you. (more…)
Tags: 2011 AZ minimum wage, audit risks, AZ payroll frequency, co-mingle funds, commingle funds, director salary, loss of S-corporation status, loss of S-status, officer salary, payroll taxes, s-corporation, S-corporation advantages, S-corporation minutes, S-corporation verses C-corporation, salaries & wages, Salary verses dividends, shareholder distributions, taking no pay, tax penalty, wages verses dividends, what are reasonable wages, what is a reasonable salary
Posted in Business Taxes, General Business | No Comments »
Friday, June 17th, 2011
Last year I spent a lot of time writing about how the US Congress had done nothing with respect to resolving tax issues. Why is it important for Congress to pass tax law? It is very hard to do tax planning before the end of the year, when you do not know what taxes you have to pay. In 2010, the extenders package, AKA the 2010 Tax Relief Act, finally passed and was signed on December 17 of 2010-which meant the average taxpayer had very little time to engage in tax planning for 2010. Furthermore many of the provisions in that act expire at the end of this year or the next. In otherwords the 111th Congress punted and left these issues to be resolved after the next presidential election. Why should the 112 Congress be any different? (more…)
Tags: 2011 Legislative update, AMT, AMT Exemption, Energy Efficient Appliances Tax Credit, expiring tax breaks, FUTA Surtax, leasehold improvement depreciation, legislative update, R&D Tax Credit, R&E Tax Credit, tax credits, tax laws, taxes, US Congress, Work Opportunity Tax Credit
Posted in General Business, General Individual, Other Information | No Comments »
Sunday, June 12th, 2011
If you are involved in trade or business you should be cheering. On April 14, 2011 President Obama signed the Comprehensive 1099 Taxpayer Protection and Repayment of Exchange Subsidy Overpayments Act of 2011 into law. It repealed the expanded 1099 information reporting requirements that were included in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. (more…)
Tags: 1099, 1099 reporting, 1099-MISC, 1099-MISC information reporting requirements, expanded 1099 information reporting, increased 1099 reporting, legislative update, repeal, who gets 1099
Posted in General Business, Other Information | 1 Comment »
Monday, January 31st, 2011
You wanna get socked with a tax penalty in addition to paying extra taxes? Its easy. Just don’t keep any records. As a recent tax court case reveals you not only could get your deductions denied, but also have the fraud penalty imposed. (more…)
Tags: badges of fraud, books, Daoud v commissioner, deductions denied, denied deductions, estimated tax, failure to pay estimated tax, fraud penalty, how NOT to conduct business, inadequate record keeping, insubstantiated expenses, IRS, receipts, record keeping, tax court case, tax penalty, taxpayer, understatement of income
Posted in General Business, Other Information | No Comments »
