Correctly calculating your estimated tax payments and/or withholding is even more important as the year end approaches. Accurate calculations are especially important as third and fourth quarter payments become due, and your income and expenses for the rest of the year can be more accurately projected.
Businesses of all sizes are preparing for a possible avalanche of information reporting after 2011. To help pay for health care reform, lawmakers tacked on expanded information reporting to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). The health care reform law generally requires all businesses, charities and state and local governments will file an information return for all payments aggregating $600 or more in a calendar year to a single provider of goods or services.
It is no secret to students, working individuals going back to school, and their families that the cost of education is becoming continuously more expensive year after year. The Tax Code provides a variety of significant tax breaks to help pay for the rising costs of education, from elementary and secondary school to college and graduate school. Individuals may be surprised to learn the many different ways the tax laws can help make education more affordable these days. In addition to scholarships, loans and work-study grants, or simply by themselves, these incentives can provide valuable cost savings.
While the economy continues to slowly recover, many businesses continue to face customers struggling to pay outstanding bills for services or goods. The Tax Code provides relief to businesses faced with the inability to collect on accounts receivable. Businesses that are unable to get customers to pay the bill can claim a deduction for the “bad debt.”
The IRS has taken another step forward in final implementation of sweeping information return requirements. As required by law, it has formally asked for comments from the public on how to best write the final rules with the least amount of trouble for businesses and other “reporting” entities. “Good luck in minimizing trouble,” many taxpayers are already complaining.
Many small employers want to offer their employees the opportunity to save for retirement but are unsure of how to go about setting up a retirement plan. In this article, we’ll explore three options that are widely used by small businesses: payroll deduction IRAs, SEP plans, and SIMPLE IRAs.
A package of small business tax incentives, as part of the larger Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 (H.R. 5297) has been slowly making its way through Congress over the past several months. However, on July 29 members of the Senate effectively blocked a final vote on the H.R. 5297, pushing the prospects for passage of bill by both chambers of Congress into September (when Congress returns from its August recess).
In less than six months, unless Congress acts, the individual marginal income tax rate reductions under the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 (EGTRRA) will expire. While the timetable for addressing the EGTRRA tax cuts is not certain, the approaching sunset of the individual rate reductions, the possibility for their extension, and the fate of the limit on itemized deductions and the personal exemption phase-out will touch all taxpayers. The potential rate change makes tax planning all the more important.
It appears unlikely that Congress will pass any transfer tax reform in 2010. As a result, 2010 could be the best of times for gifting by affluent clients. Part I of this article on gifting in 2010 by noted author and planning expert John J. Scroggin considered the multiple factors that encourage making gifts this year. Part II covered select gift planning opportunities available this year. Part III of the article, below, covers 2010 strategies and planning for terminally ill clients.
The following is a summary of the most important tax developments that have occurred in the past three months that may affect you, your family, your investments or your business.
