Author: Tony Novak
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Federal income taxes for farmers and fishermen
Most businesses are subject to quarterly estimated tax payment requirements. A failure to make these required payments on time results in a penalty. The final estimated tax payment deadline for the prior calendar year is January 15 of the current year. Many small businesses, struggling to keep up with government paperwork demands, miss the deadline…
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Five types of tax shelters
There are five categories of tax shelters that benefit many individual U.S. taxpayers and account for most of the tax savings available to us. Four of those categories of tax shelters are potentially on the chopping block this month with Congressional tax reform discussions. This post is simply a brief overview of the five categories…
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A business cannot deduct personal auto expense
Again today a business owner asked me to deduct his auto mileage expense on his business tax return. That’s not how it works! A partnership, S-Corp or C-Corp generally can not deduct the cost of personal auto expense. There are workarounds but we need to discuss and actually set it up. I covered the topic…
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Coping with loss of security in the gig economy
Forbes published an article yesterday on the important topic of the gig economy and, in general, the loss of financial security and employment benefits that accompanies this trend. This is a huge issue in out lives that, in my opinion, is not getting nearly the attention required by advisers like me. It is foolish for…
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Great advice from IRS
This comes directly from an IRS email: “Offering time-saving alternatives to a telephone call, the Internal Revenue Service reminds taxpayers they can get fast answers to their refund questions by using the “Where’s My Refund?” tool available on IRS.gov and through the IRS2Go app. The IRS issues nine out of 10 refunds in less than…
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Employee vs contractor; more misclassification risks
“Employee misclassification is a major issue. Employers who misclassify employees are failing to provide unemployment insurance and workers’ compensation. Those employers can also leave workers with large employment tax liabilities.“ This new article delivers information on even more risks. Correct handling of worker compensation is not so difficult or expensive. It doesn’t make sense to shortcut this…
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Getting your taxes filed is as easy as sending a text!
Clients increasingly prefer to contact me and send tax documents via text message. That’s fine. SMS text messages and attachments are considered secure for most purposes. I just want you to know that there is a more secure delivery method available if you prefer. I offer, at no charge, a secure online portal for transmitting and…
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Professionalism still counts!
“Hey online friends I just got this gig to build a house for a client. Does anybody know if I need plans or anything or should I just go out and buy the lumber? By the way what kind of lumber will I need?” Silly and absurd! Yet this week I saw a few posts…
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Don’t get angry, get tax free
A wave of recent media reports indicates that a large number of taxpayers are angry this filing season. Some people point out that the public reaction is illogical because the total amount of income taxes actually is actually lower for most people. Yet there may be good underlying reason for that anger. Originally we read…