Now that your children are back in school, you might consider the available tax breaks for higher education expenses. Following extensions and modifications under the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes (PATH) Act of 2015, there are three primary tax provisions that may benefit parents: the American Opportunity Tax Credit (AOTC), the Lifetime Learning Credit (LLC) [...]
By: Janet Moore, Shareholder, CPA Janet is the co-manager of the JMF Tax Department, runs the Birmingham office, and serves on the Executive Board. With more than 30 years of experience in public accounting, she assists closely-held businesses and owners with corporate, partnership, and individual income tax planning and reporting, as well as complex issues [...]
Tax rules may affect your donations Do you own shares of stock that you want to contribute to charity? Before you pull the trigger on the donation, make sure that you give away the “right kind” of securities instead of the “wrong kind.” It can make a big difference on your tax return. The conventional [...]
By: Kim Smith, CPA, Tax Shareholder Kim is a shareholder, a member of the JMF Tax Department and in charge of the JMF State and Local Tax (SALT) group. With over 20 years of experience, she assists clients with corporate, partnership, and individual income tax reporting as well as complex multi-state income and sales tax [...]
Paying income tax is bad enough, but insult is added to injury if you are assessed any tax penalties. There are numerous no-nos for individuals and small-business owners to avoid, but here are five of the major offenses in the tax code. 1. Payroll taxes: If a business willfully fails to deposit payroll taxes, the “responsible [...]
As evidenced by the list of the “Dirty Dozen” tax scams recently released by the IRS, the tax swindlers are getting smarter every year. Here is a summary of the 12 notorious scams to watch out for in 2016. 1. Identity theft: A crook can steal your Social Security number and use it to file [...]
If you have been reading the tax press or even this blog, you will know plenty about the problems taxpayers are having with phone and email scams posing as the IRS. Well, now the IRS has announced that they will stop initiating field audits by telephone. So, the examiner will send a letter and then [...]
The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 ended two popular Social Security retirement benefit claiming strategies, “File-and-Suspend” and “Restricted Application.” Many married couples use the file-and-suspend strategy by having the higher wage earner file for benefits and then immediately suspend them so that the lower earning spouse can claim spousal benefits while letting their own Social [...]
The IRS has announced the standard mileage rates that may be used in 2016 instead of deducting actual expenses. The new rates, which have decreased or stayed the same, are as follows: For business driving, the rate is 54 cents per business mile (it was 57.5 cents in 2015). For medical and moving expenses, the [...]
1) Set up a file (or box) for your 2015 taxes. Put a label on it and drop in your Form W-2 and 1099s as they come in the mail. 2) Open the envelope with your JMF organizer. Please use the organizer as a guide to make sure you have everything that you had last [...]