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7 Tax Tips for Small Business

February 3, 2010 by Tushar Mathur with 581 views

Small businesses have an especially hard time when it comes to taxes. Here are seven tips that will help keep you focused and could help save you money. 1. Deductions – Make the Most of Them While reviewing your expenditures, remember that ‘ordinary and necessary’ business expenses aren’t just equipment and rent. Business losses can... [read more]

2009's final 1040-ES is due 1/15

January 13, 2010 by Kay Bell with 192 views

Why does this sneak up on me every January? It's right over there in the ol' blog's tax calendar to your left. Still, boom! I almost forget about it year after year. I'm talking, of course, about the previous year's final estimated tax payment. Yep, it's 1040-ES time again. Voucher number four needs to be on its way to the IRS by... [read more]

Little or No Relief for Some Small Businesses through Bankruptcy

January 7, 2010 by Barbara Weltman with 151 views

The Associated Press reported that bankruptcies increased by 32% in 2009; filings in December alone were up 22% over the same period in 2008. A number of these filings are small business owners who have thrown in the towel. For some owners — sole proprietors and usually partners — when the business goes under so does the owner. Surprise... [read more]

READING YOUR K-1: EXAMPLES

March 30, 2008 by Joe Kristan with 224 views

In the last few days we have provided an overview of what a Form K-1 does, reviewed why your basis in your partnership or S corporation investment is important, and discussed how the at-risk rules can limit your K-1 losses. Today we will go through two simple examples on how K-1 items can go on your return. EXAMPLE 1. Hillary and Barack... [read more]

Beware these bad tax eggs

March 23, 2008 by Kay Bell with 116 views

By now on this Easter Sunday, the kids probably have already dived into their Easter baskets, consuming way too much chocolate, in the form of hollow-eared rabbits, and sugar, courtesy of those gooey little Peeps. And, of course, there are the Easter eggs. There are many explanations as to why the thing of omelets came to be "hunted" on... [read more]

Withholding lessons from filing stats

March 9, 2008 by Kay Bell with 55 views

For the last few years, electronic tax filing has set records as more of us choose this method to get our returns to the IRS. It looks like the 2008 filing season will continue that trend. Through Feb. 22, more than 38 million returns have been e-filed. That's a 5 percent increase over the same period last year. One of the biggest... [read more]

Children's ages, rebates and credits

February 29, 2008 by Kay Bell with 58 views

I know a lot of parents are looking forward to getting some extra rebate cash based on little Jimmy or Janie. So I wanted to make sure everyone's aware of the age limit here. Yes, it's unfair that you can't get the $300 per child bonus rebate for your older, but still dependent (in many ways) college kid. But c'est la taxes. To... [read more]

Can S-Corporations Make Charitable Contributions

February 29, 2008 by Ryan Ellis with 36 views

Q: Can S-corporations make charitable contributions? Does the same 10% of income limit apply that corporations have? Melissa A: S-corporations can make charitable contributions. Like all other items of income and expense, it flows through to the S-corp owners, where it gets populated as an itemized charitable contribution on the... [read more]

Taxes on your tax rebate

February 27, 2008 by Kay Bell with 60 views

One of the questions that keeps coming up about the stimulus package checks, commonly referred to as rebates, is, "Will I owe taxes on my rebate money?"I am happy to report that the stimulus checks will not count as taxable federal income. The IRS says so in this section (fourth "other" Q&A) of its FAQs page. So you won't have to... [read more]

Rebate plan is official

February 14, 2008 by Kay Bell with 55 views

Dubya signed the economic stimulus bill today, so the rebate/advance credit checks are now the law. Get to work on your return so your check will be in the first batch mailed! The IRS also announced (in FS-2008-15) how it's going to issue the checks. A couple of important notes: Folks who don't usually file a return because their... [read more]

Tax Carnival #30: Ever-changing taxes

February 11, 2008 by Kay Bell with 55 views

Welcome to Tax Carnival #30. In this edition we celebrate the one tax law constant: They are always changing!Take today, for example. Feb. 11 is phase two of the 2008 filing season. Most folks were able to fill out (or at least start working on) their 1040s as soon as they got their 2007 tax statements. And many have even sent them in... [read more]

Mileage reimbursement rate lags vehicle operating costs

February 5, 2008 by Diane Stafford with 862 views

Effective Jan. 1, the Internal Revenue Service raised what people call the "mileage reimbursement rate" to 50.5 cents a mile. Officially, that's the standard mileage rate set by the IRS for calculating the deductible costs of operating a vehicle for business purposes. It's also the rate used by some -- but certainly not all --... [read more]

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