It’s Time to Review Your Payroll Withholding Recently, I visited my friends at the IRS for our Stakeholder Liaison meeting. This group of representatives from a variety of tax associations is privileged to exchange ideas with the IRS. The IRS updates us on current changes, laws, and procedures—and solicits suggestions for simplifying or improving procedures. [...]
Weird Taxes Affecting You Right Now As you probably learned in middle school history class, the formation of the United States of America was precipitated by just one tax too many from the British—the Stamp Act led to an infamous Tea Party and, ultimately, a revolting situation. Watch out! We may be on the verge [...]
Estate Tax Update: How Will the Estate Tax Affect You? It’s safe to die this year—but what about next year? This year, some very wealthy people have died: Mitch Miller, George Steinbrenner, John Wooden, Senator Robert Byrd, General Alexander Haig, and Walter Frederick Morrison, inventor of the Frisbee. What do they have in common, aside [...]
The Nanny Tax: How to Pay Nannies, Babysitters, and Home Help When it comes to small businesses, there are about a million tax and licensing laws designed to stifle productivity, creativity, and enthusiasm. But those are nothing compared to the traps ordinary people face in trying to comply with rules of the so-called nanny tax. [...]
Tax Repercussions of Divorce The worst time in your life is when you face a divorce. All logic flies out the window. Emotions rage and rule. Nobody gets a fair deal. There are a million stories—and you probably know many of them personally. Setting emotions aside for the moment, let’s look at tax repercussions that [...]
Tax Consequences of Unemployment In Bell, Calif., the city manager, assistant city manager, and chief of police recently resigned in the government wage scandal of the decade. While they may collect unreasonably generous pensions, they won’t be collecting unemployment insurance (UI) benefits. In California, as in most states, in order to collect unemployment benefits you [...]
Before one of my EA Exam Review classes recently, a student asked the class for guidance. Rosie said that her client had a house that was underwater. Considering the hurricanes, floods, and storms we’ve been having, I thought she meant it literally. But no—Rosie’s client’s home loan was upside down: the mortgage balance was higher [...]
New Tax Increase for Wealthy Americans: Will You Pay More? In March, Congress passed landmark legislation that will affect taxpayers in good ways and bad. It’s called the Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act of 2010. You’ve heard talk about the benefits for folks with average and lower incomes. But what about the wealthy? [...]
Tax Tips for Commercial Real Estate Owners Once upon a time, TaxMama handled taxes and accounting for a small empire of commercial real estate projects around the country. Tax laws and business structures were much simpler then, before the Tax Reform Act of 1986 simplified the Internal Revenue Code. Today, commercial real estate owners have [...]
Hired anyone lately? Oh, my! It’s a daunting prospect. Have you read the National Taxpayer Advocate Report to Congress that was released in July? In it, National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson describes hiring hardships faced by the average small-business owner: Consider an individual without a college degree who becomes a successful plumber or electrician [...]
