President Biden Signs Inflation Reduction Act into Law
On August 16, President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) into law. The enormous bill—clocking in at 725 pages—contains a wide range of provisions and comes with a nearly $750 billion price tag. “The bill is fighting inflation and has a whole lot of collateral benefits as well,” said former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, who reportedly helped craft the legislation. Read on for an overview of the key items contained in the new act. [Read More]
Don’t Overlook Your Charitable Contributions
Your charitable contributions include a wide variety of tax-saving opportunities, some you may not be aware of, and some that are frequently overlooked. And there are some contributions that you may believe are deductible that really are not. Being knowledgeable of what is and is not a qualified charity, a qualified charitable contribution, and charitable giving strategies can go a long way toward maximizing your charitable tax deduction. To be deductible the contributions must be [Read More]
Will Your Planned Retirement Income Be Enough after Taxes?
That is an important question because the actual money you have to spend when you retire depends upon the after-tax sources of your retirement income. Thus it is important to understand how the various retirement vehicles are taxed. There is significant diversity in taxation since a retiree must consider both Federal and state taxes on retirement income. Of all the states one might consider retiring to, there are eight that have no state income tax. [Read More]
Divorce and Taxes – What Are the Implications?
This article explains the precautions to take when getting a divorce, and several tax concerns that need to be addressed to ensure that taxes are kept to a minimum and important tax-related decisions are properly made. Five issues to consider in the process of divorce include alimony or support payments, child support, personal residence, pension benefits, and business interests. Each spouse could save thousands on their home, up to $500,000 of avoidable tax, if they [Read More]
Does Your Small Business Have the Right Tech Tools for the Future?
This article explains that the current state of the economy and the Covid-19 pandemic has drastically changed the way consumers behave. It’s extremely important for small businesses to capitalize on digital transformations. A Bill.com survey showed that “75% of SMBs took actions ranging from price changes, new business models, new customer outreach, and new product offerings and services.” The rise of e-commerce is significant, especially for those ages 65 and up, because, by January of [Read More]
Requesting Penalty Abatements from the IRS
At some point or other, most taxpayers will receive a notice from the IRS stating that they paid their taxes late, missed a filing deadline, or performed some other infraction. These mistakes usually result in penalties and additional interest. The IRS uses penalties to deter noncompliance, according to the IRS Internal Revenue Manual Section 20.1.1.2. Taxpayers often pay these penalties without realizing that it is sometimes possible to have them removed. The most common type [Read More]
Changes to Bonus Depreciation Rules
This article explains that bonus depreciation rules have been changed over several years. In 2016 and 2017, under the IRS Revenue Proclamation (Rev. Proc.) 2019-33, Section 5.02 Section – Deemed Election states: “a taxpayer that timely filed its federal tax return for the 2016 taxable year or the 2017 taxable year also will be treated as making the §168(k)(7) election for a class of property that is qualified property acquired after September 27, 2017 by [Read More]
Transparency in Coverage (TIC) Rule
This link leads to the machine-readable files that are made available in response to the federal Transparency in Coverage Rule and includes negotiated service rates and out-of-network allowed amounts between health plans and healthcare providers. The machine readable files are formatted to allow researchers, regulators, and application developers to more easily access and analyze data. Please click here to access the link.
4 Tips to Save at the Pump With or Without a Gas Tax Holiday
This article explains that the Biden Administration has proposed a federal gas tax holiday in order to help US citizens with the current gasoline prices. Unfortunately, Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said “if a gas tax holiday coincides with rising wholesale fuel prices, consumers won’t see much of an impact at the pump because the tax move would be offset by the higher cost.” The national average for gas was over [Read More]
Tax-Avoiding Schemes Are at the Top of the 2022 “Dirty Dozen” List
This article explains some tax-avoiding strategies that the IRS will be flagging down. Some strategies include “concealing assets in offshore accounts and improper reporting of digital assets, non-filing of income tax returns by high-income individuals, abusive syndicated conservation easements, and abusive micro captive insurance arrangements.” The article proceeds to categorize other sources of taxable income, all of which the IRS will punish if found to be abused. To view this article, click here to access [Read More]