Category: Taxes
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Philly wage tax drops
City of Philadelphia wage tax rates drop slightly after June 30. For most people, residents and non-residents, the small increase in net pay will be automatically made. If not, call me because you need a better payroll service. There are too many excellent dirt-cheap payroll companies now to put up with one that is not…
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Tax planning for same sex couples
In 2013 the Supreme Court ruled on a case that effectively put same-sex couples on equal tax and financial footing with other couples. I summarized the financial planning impact in this June 27 2013 blog post. Five significant financial planning effects of the legal change were: 1) transfer of property to a spouse during one’s…
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Small payments by nonprofit LLC for summer events
Community organizations often sponsor seasonal events that require the use of short term labor. When volunteer labor is not available, there may be tax implications of paid services. Even though the dollar amount per worker is small, the total cost can be a significant portion of the organization’s overall budget. A single-member LLC is managed…
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Still waiting for tax refund?
If you are still waiting for a federal tax refund and have not received a CP05 notice from the IRS, it makes sense to check the status of your return. IRS sends notice CP05 when they are reviewing a tax return to verify: The income reported The income tax withholding amounts The claims for tax credits The withholding claimed…
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Trump Accounting: cooking the books at the expense of the rest of us
Details are slowly emerging about Trump’s methods of accounting that place vastly different values on assets depending on the purpose of the report. One example cited by the Washington Post is the Trump National Golf Club in In Ossining, New York: The municipal tax assessor values the golf club at roughly $15 million. Trump’s attorneys…
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The worst mistake a business owner can make
The worst mistake a small business owner can make is to pay employee wage taxes that were withheld from employee salary. The second worst mistake, in my observation, is to try to handle the problem yourself. I see cases where the business owners or managers are damaged for more than a decade as a result of mishandling…
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Tax planning for young high income individuals
Our tax system is designed to limit the tax reducing opportunities for high income individuals. The higher our income, the more difficult it it to reduce our taxes through traditional tax planning tools. First, to help frame the discussion, I use the term “tax efficiency” rather than “tax savings”. The difference is subtle but better…
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IRS admits erroneous tax penalties
IRS announced today that a software error is causing some small business taxpayers to receive a tax penalty notice for late filing and payment of second quarter payroll taxes. IRS is working to resolve the issue and it will correct the erroneous penalty assessments in the near future. Those affected will receive correspondence when the…
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A change to my income tax service agreement
IRS knows that if five different tax professionals prepare the same moderately complicated income tax return, there will be 5 different returns with 5 different outcomes in terms of the amounts of income tax liability. IRS also knows that it will receive at least 4 of these 5 submitted returns as filed and accepted tax…
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How to get a copy of your tax return
If you need a copy of your tax return the fastest, easiest, cheapest solution is to order a transcript from IRS. This is free but delivered only by mail for security reasons. Put in an online request at https://www.irs.gov/Individuals/Get-Transcript . A transcript is a printed version of the electronic data contained in your tax return. It is formatted differently…