Time For a Year-End Tax Review
An important part of our service to you is to help identify actions you can take before year-end to minimize your 2011 income tax bill. Accelerating or delaying income and deductions, contributing to retirement plans, and taking investment losses are just a few of the strategies you might want to consider. There are also tax [...]
Continue Reading →Charitable Contributions: More than just cash might be deductible
Many taxpayers give much more than just cash to their favorite charity. Many also provide their time, travel, meals, and other “out of pocket” expenses in order to assist the charity in doing good work. And while you can’t take a charitable deduction for your time, you are allowed to deduct other expenses incurred in [...]
Continue Reading →Four Tax-Smart Ways to Save for College
The cost of sending a child to college is daunting. According to the latest figures from the independent College Board, the total average cost for the 2010/2011 academic year – including tuition and fees, room and board, books and supplies, transportation and other sundries – for in-state students at four-year public colleges was $20,339. For [...]
Continue Reading →IRS increases mileage rates
The IRS has increased the standard mileage rates to be used for computing the deductible costs of operating a vehicle for business or for driving for medical or moving reasons. The new rates will apply to driving from July 1, 2011, through December 31, 2011. The revised rates are 55.5¢ per mile for business driving [...]
Continue Reading →Are you watching your company’s cash?
Do you regularly monitor your company’s cash accounts? You should. Even if you leave the job to your bookkeeper or accountant, you should stay aware of where the cash is going and how the spending is approved. Along with inventory “shrinkage,” theft or improper expenditures of cash are among the chief sources of loss for [...]
Continue Reading →Are you loaning your hard-earned money to the government interest-free?
Have you taken the time to check your income tax withholding for 2011? Although there were no major changes in tax rates or deductions for this yea, there are still several reasons why you might want to adjust your withholding. For example, maybe you’ve bought a house for the first time. Did you know that [...]
Continue Reading →Changing Jobs? What to do with your 401(k) savings…
If you change jobs, you may have an important decision to make – what to do with your 401(k) plan. You’ll have several choices. Unfortunately, the easiest choice is the worst choice: that is, to take a distribution from the old plan and put it in the bank. It may be tempting, because who couldn’t [...]
Continue Reading →Look into the benefits of a solo 401(k)
Have you heard about solo 401(k) plans? The traditional type of 401(k) retirement plan is now available for self-employed individuals. And it lets you save more than other types of plans. In the past, 401(k) plans were typically offered by larger corporations. Employees could make pre-tax contributions by payroll deduction. The company would then usually [...]
Continue Reading →A critical business question: Should you incorporate or not?
One of the first decisions you face as a new business owner is whether or not to incorporate your business. The biggest advantage of incorporating is limitation of your liability. The responsibility for debts and other liabilities incurred by a corporation is generally limited to the assets of the business. Your personal assets are not [...]
Continue Reading →Summertime Tax Tips
Summertime fun can be made even more enjoyable by adding tax savings. Here are some tax-saving ideas to consider: * If you have summer travel plans and the primary purpose of your trip is business, you can deduct all the travel costs to and from your business destination and all other business-related costs even if [...]
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