Category: Taxes
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Big tax savings for New Jersey small businesses
Today New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed into law the Pass-Through Business Alternative Income Tax Act. This new law allows flow-through businesses in New Jersey to elect to pay income taxes at the entity level instead of at the personal income tax level. Since there is no limit on deductions on the federal level for…
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TurboTax is great! but…
The most common question I get this time of year is “Hey Tony, I was wondering how much you charge to do taxes? I usually use TurboTax but …”. In the ‘old days’ at my former firm I used to just politely decline these requests without offering explanation. But over time I realized that I’m…
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Report foreign gifts received over $100,000
Clients with international financial transactions, specifically those with family overseas, need to keep this in mind. To keep it simple, we could focus on three points: Gifts received from a foreign source over $100,000 require disclosure to IRS even if not taxable. There is a specific procedure for reporting omitted reports from past years. The…
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Taxes for ministers: Summary of federal income tax planning issues
Planning the federal income tax treatment for ministers1 must consider several topics that are unique to ministers. Employee status A minister is considered an employee under the common law rules and yet payments for services as a minister are considered income from self employment pursuant to IRC §§ 1402(c ) and 3121(b)(8). This is the…
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Why the changes to NJ S4202 ( employee vs contractor) are no big deal
Keep it simple: if you primarily provide your labor to someone for pay then you are an employee. If you run a licensed business, with typical business features like a business plan, advertising, business insurance, and pay business taxes then you likely work as an independent contractor. I’m aware that some people are making a…
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Small business sales tax update
I see evidence that some electronic payment processors are charging small business service providers even when no tax is due.
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Trump v. Vance Supreme Court case preview
Our matter-of-survival national crisis aside, this is an interesting legal case for Constitutional law hobbyists like me. To be clear, I blog on Supreme Court cases from time to time here as an interested hobbyist, not as an adviser and not meant to imply any level of expertise. Accounting Today did a great job of…
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IRS just got serious about cryptocurrency
The just-released draft copy of Form 1040 Schedule 1 that starts off with the question: “At any time during 2019, did you receive, sell, send, exchange, or otherwise acquire any financial interest in any virtual currency?” I’m sure much discussion will follow about the potential consequences of answering with a false negative. Responding with an affirmative,…
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How to protect yourself from IRS Collections and Private Collection Agencies
IRS is expanding the use of private collection agencies to collect tax debt. If you are among the 1 in 15 adults who owes tax debt then there are specific steps that you should take to protect your money and your privacy. 1. You have rights. But it is up to you to know those…