You may think a natural or man-made disaster will never happen to you, but it can be a nightmare when it does. The 2017 hurricane season is a good example, not to mention the wildfires in the West, the tornados in the Midwest, plus the potential for inevitable earthquakes. You could lose all of your […]
An often asked question is: are meals and entertainment deductible in the course of one’s business, and if so, under what circumstances? This type of expense requires you to comply with some pretty complicated qualifications, and if you can jump through the hoops, the expenses may be deductible in certain cases. But before we go […]
A commonly overlooked requirement of taking a tax deduction for donating clothing and household goods to charity is the substantiation requirement, for both what is donated and the value placed on the donation. Because the IRS has encountered so much abuse in this area, it has increased the donation verification requirements over the years, and […]
As they have done before in the wake of disasters, including Hurricane Katrina and Superstorm Sandy, the Internal Revenue Service is providing special relief that allows employees to donate their unused paid vacation, sick leave, and personal leave time to Hurricane Harvey and Irma relief efforts. Here is how it works: if your employer is […]
If you volunteered your time for a charity in the aftermath of a natural disaster, you probably qualify for some tax breaks. Although no tax deduction is allowed for the value of services performed for a qualified charity or federal, state or local governmental agency, some deductions are permitted for out-of-pocket costs incurred while performing […]
Now that the honeymoon is over, there is a number of tax and financial issues newlyweds need to consider and take action on. Some are simply administrative while others can have significant impact on the couple’s tax returns. If you’ve recently married, take some time to review the information below and avoid unpleasant surprises when […]
If you are in the midst of a divorce, if one is on the horizon, or if you are involved in a dispute with an ex-spouse over the terms of your divorce, you need to be aware that divorce agreements establish your rights related to each other under state law but do not bind those […]
With the historic flooding and damage caused by recent hurricanes, President Trump has declared the affected areas disaster areas. If you were an unlucky victim and suffered a loss as a result of these disasters, you may be able to recoup a portion of that loss through a tax deduction. When you suffer a casualty […]
A little-known tax benefit for new, qualified small businesses is the ability to apply a portion of their research credit – no more than $250,000 – to pay the employer’s share of their employees’ FICA withholding requirement (the 6.2% payroll tax). This can be quite a benefit, as in their early years, start-up companies generally […]