Although Congress threatened to reduce the benefits of the home sale exclusion, the final version of the new Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) did not include a crackdown. As a result, if you sell your home at a huge profit and qualify under the existing rules, you can still exclude up to $250,000 [...]
The new Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2017 is designed to stimulate business growth by cutting corporate tax rates and enhancing tax benefits for acquiring business property. Under the TCJA, your company may be able to deduct the full cost of property placed in service in 2018 through a combination of rules relating [...]
The Alabama Department of Revenue (ADOR) has launched alabamataxamnesty.com, a website dedicated to the Alabama Tax Delinquency Amnesty Program of 2018. The program begins July 1st and runs through September 30, 2018. Please note that to be eligible, the taxpayer may not have been previously contacted by ADOR (within the last two years) to file returns. Most [...]
The new tax law enacted at the end of last year—the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA)—provides numerous tax changes for individuals, including tax rate cuts and a higher standard deduction. Significantly, the TCJA also eliminates or modifies certain deductions, including the majority of itemized deductions, beginning in 2018. As a result, fewer taxpayers are [...]
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) repeals or cuts back many deductions on personal returns, but the medical expense deduction survived the chopping block. In fact, the new law temporarily enhances the deduction, retroactive to the 2017 tax year. In other words, you can benefit from this tax-favored treatment on the 2017 return you [...]
The Alabama Legislature passed HB 384 last week and Governor signed it into law. This bill is the "Moody fix”. Basically, the law codifies the form changes ADOR made in 2013 based on a Regulation change rather than a change in the Statute. The bill also provides for taxpayers to receive refunds for 2013 (assuming [...]
Reports of the death of the federal estate tax are premature. Significantly, the TCJA retains the federal estate- and gift-tax systems but doubles the federal estate tax exemption to $11.2 million for 2018. (The $5 million exemption was scheduled to be indexed to $5.6 million in 2018.) This increase will vanish after 2025. As a [...]
As we mentioned in this blog in December, certain Alabama AMT taxpayers should consider donating to the Alabama Opportunity Scholarship Fund. The same process can be used to maximize your State and Local Tax Deduction. Alabama has allocated $30,000,000 to this program for 2018. Currently, there is just over $6.5M remaining for 2018 and [...]
One sure sign that spring is coming: It is time to prepare to file your annual tax return. You can alleviate some of the usual stress if you have your 2017 return professionally prepared, but you still have some work to do. Here are seven practical suggestions to help you spring into action: 1. Assemble [...]
The Social Security Administration (SSA) announced that the Social Security wage base is increasing in 2018, but not by much. It says the 6.2% Social Security tax will apply to $128,700 of wages in 2018, up from $127,200 in 2017. That’s an increase of slightly more than 1% as compared with the increase of more [...]