Author: Tony Novak
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Goodbye miscellaneous tax deductions
These miscellaneous tax deductions were eliminated a year ago (effective January 1, 2018) by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act but some people are just leaning about the change now: Appraisal fees Casualty and theft losses for personal property Expenses incurred in performing services as an employee Clerical help for investments Office rent for investments…
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Corporation or partnership? File an extension now.
If you need to file a tax return for a corporation or a partnership, time is running short before the March 15 filing deadline. The easiest thing is to ask us to file an extension and follow-up with the documentation available. The extension filing fee is $40 and $25 of that (the e-file fee) is…
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Text messaging for income tax filing
We notice that a growing portion of our tax clients prefer to communicate by text message over other methods like live in-person, telephone, fax, email, and video call. It is clear that texting is the #1 tax communication method now, exceeding the combined use of all other methods. The IRS and state tax authorities do…
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Tax filing trends indicate future direction for professionals
We are only half way through the tax filing season but so far the IRS reports that tax filer behaviors are significantly different than a year ago. The number of tax returns filed has dropped by more than 12% and the number of paid preparer returns (often including the more complicated tax returns) dropped even…
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Strippers draw attention to changing tax law
Who would have guessed that strippers would be on the cutting edge of changing tax law? The laws that distinguish between contractors and employees are changing in some states. California’s strippers are in the spotlight. Yesterday strippers protested the new state law in San Diego. They like the independence of being classified as contractors yet…
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Continuing the tax planning conversation
A big part of the tax and financial planning conversation I’m having lately with local upper middle class people my age and older is questioning the wisdom of keeping multiple houses especially those big vacation places at the Jersey shore. (Some have houses and condos elsewhere but shore houses seem to dominate life for many…
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New Jersey payroll services
I offer these small business payroll services in New Jersey: Weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, twice a month, or as manually requested payroll schedule New Jersey Employer Report of Wages Paid (NJ WR-30) New Jersey Employer’s Quarterly Report (NJ-927) New Jersey Employer’s Quarterly Report for Weekly Filers (NJ-927W) New Jersey Submitter Form NJ-ERW2-S New Jersey Annual Withholding…
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Break down the tax filing process
Any complex task is easier when broken down into small pieces. Tax filing is no different. While there are plenty of different options, we break it down and pull out the best methods. Ways to collect information: BEST: Cell phone scanner with tax organizer OK: Flatbed scanner batch documents ALTERNATE: Photos or papers Ways to…
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Predicting success of small business crowdfunding campaigns
The ability to forecast success of a proposed crowdfunding campaign is becoming more important in the practice of advising small businesses today in both the for-profit and nonprofit sectors. I spend an increasing portion of my available reading time on this topic, including a book on my iPad right now “Social Startup Success” by Kathleen…
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Why are tax writers missing the #1 tax-saving opportunity?
“The perfect tax plan or tax shelter, if such a thing exists, would allow us to do most or all of these things: receive or gain control money without paying taxes, take a tax deduction for the amount invested, allow that money to grow and accumulate without paying taxes, and then allow us to disperse,…