Why Some Business Owners Prefer Individual HSAs

Tax-favored Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) Are More Popular Than Ever One reason: when enacted, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) eliminated all two-or-more-employee, small-business health plans that reimbursed individually purchased health insurance. The alternatives chosen by most business owners with fewer than 50 employees were to offer either: No health coverage, or HSAs in some form [...]

12 Answers to Questions on Proving Expenses for Business Travel

Q&A 1: Corporation or proprietorship?   Question. Are the business travel documentation rules different if I operate my business as a corporation versus as a proprietorship? Answer. Yes and no. Not different. Regarding deductions for lodging, meals, or other travel expenses, the rules governing receipts, business reasons, and canceled checks are the same for corporations, proprietorships, individuals, and employees. Different. If you operate as a corporation, the corporation is a separate legal entity from you. You are an employee of that corporation. To get the best tax results, you need the corporation to reimburse you for the travel expenses, or have the [...]

IRS warns of new scam involving unclaimed refunds

The Internal Revenue Service and its Security Summit partners are cautioning taxpayers and tax professionals to beware of a new scam in which fraudsters are sending out cardboard envelopes from a delivery service asking people to send photos and bank account information so they can receive an unclaimed tax refund. The envelope has a letter […]

Tax-Saving Tips

Is Your Sideline Activity a Business or a Hobby? Do you have a sideline activity that you think of as a business? From this sideline activity, are you claiming tax losses on your Form 1040? Will the IRS consider your sideline a business and allow your loss deductions? The IRS likes to claim that money-losing […]

Make Extra “Catch-Up” Contributions to Retirement Accounts: We Quantify the Benefit

After reaching age 50, you can make additional “catch-up” contributions to certain types of tax-advantaged retirement accounts. For the 2021 tax year, this opportunity is available if you’ll be age 50 or older on Friday, December 31, 2021. Specifically, with an employer-sponsored 401(k), 403(b), 457, or SIMPLE plan, you can make extra salary-reduction catch-up contributions […]

You Took Coronavirus-Related IRA Money Last Year: What Now?

If you’re a traditional IRA owner who was adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic last year (2020), you may have been eligible to takea tax-favored coronavirus-related distribution from a traditional IRA.If so, that privilege was thanks to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act).In this analysis, we will call these tax-favored traditional […]

The Work Opportunity Tax Credit rewards your good deeds

The Work Opportunity Tax Credit rewards your good deeds. And now, because of new legislation, the rules are in place for longer than usual. If you need to hire workers in your business, this dollar-for-dollar reducer of your taxes is one to know about. Suppose your business hires a member of a targeted group. In […]