Should You Switch Your Business to C Corporation Status?
Thanks to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), the federal income tax rate on C corporations is now a flat 21%, for tax years beginning in 2018 and beyond. [...]
I-9 Audits Are On the Rise: Be Prepared
Audits of I-9 records quadrupled in 2018 over the prior year (the federal fiscal year). That means nearly 6,000 employers were audited, which led to several dozen civil and criminal [...]
Beware the Ides of March — If You Own a Pass-Through Entity
Shakespeare’s words don’t apply just to Julius Caesar; they also apply to calendar-year partnerships, S corporations and limited liability companies (LLCs) treated as partnerships or S corporations for tax purposes. [...]
Some of Your Deductions May Be Smaller (or nonexistent) When You File Your 2018 Tax Return
While the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) reduces most income tax rates and expands some tax breaks, it limits or eliminates several itemized deductions that have been valuable to [...]
Surviving an Earnout Provision in a Business Sale
If you are selling a business, the buyer may want to pay part of the price through an earnout provision. This is a contractual arrangement in which the seller receives [...]
3 Big TCJA Changes Affecting 2018 Individual Tax Returns and Beyond
When you file your 2018 income tax return, you’ll likely find that some big tax law changes affect you — besides the much-discussed tax rate cuts and reduced itemized deductions. [...]
2018 Income Tax Withholdings: Too Much, Too Little or Just Right?
Did you withhold enough money from your regular paychecks in 2018? If you withheld too little — or, didn't pay enough estimated taxes if you're self-employed — you could have [...]
Why You Shouldn’t Wait to File Your 2018 Income Tax Return
The IRS opened the 2018 income tax return filing season on January 28. Even if you typically don’t file until much closer to the April 15 deadline, this year consider [...]
Stop Wasting Money
Benjamin Franklin once said, "a penny saved is a penny earned."¹ The modern upgrade to that observation might be that $100 not spent is more like $143.² One way to [...]
Depreciation-related Breaks on Business Real Estate: What You Need to Know When You File Your 2018 Return
Commercial buildings and improvements generally are depreciated over 39 years, which essentially means you can deduct a portion of the cost every year over the depreciation period. (Land isn’t depreciable.) [...]
Pull the Plug on Employee Theft
Not all crooks roam the streets at night. Some might be roaming your company hallways, stealing cash, forging or altering checks, and pilfering your inventory and property. Even worse, they [...]
What Will Your Marginal Income Tax Rate Be?
While the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) generally reduced individual tax rates for 2018 through 2025, some taxpayers could see their taxes go up due to reductions or eliminations [...]
There’s Still Time to Get Substantiation for 2018 Donations
If you’re like many Americans, letters from your favorite charities have been appearing in your mailbox in recent weeks acknowledging your 2018 year-end donations. But what happens if you haven’t [...]
What’s Happened to My Tax-Free Transportation Fringe Benefits?
Over the years, Congress has established some nice tax breaks for transportation-related employee fringe benefits to encourage taxpayers to be more ecology-minded when commuting to work. But, the Tax Cuts [...]
Dealing with Child Support Withholding Orders
A whopping 75% of all child support is collected through employer-based income withholding orders (IWOs), according to the federal Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE). In the most recent year [...]