You work hard for your money. Strong internal controls can keep it from disappearing unnecessarily. You trust your employees or you wouldn’t have hired them. That’s what everyone says as they watch a valued staff member being hauled off in handcuffs. But I trusted him. Whether your accounting tasks are done on one PC or [...]
The IRS has announced cost-of-living adjustments affecting the dollar limitations for retirement plans, deductions, and other items. Several of the limitations are higher for 2013 because the increase in the cost-of-living index met the statutory threshold. However, some limitations did not meet that threshold and remain unchanged from 2012. The elective deferral (contribution) limit [...]
Self-employed individuals, including qualifying sole proprietors, partners, and more-than-2% S corporation shareholder-employees, can deduct premiums paid for qualified health insurance (within limits) in computing their adjusted gross incomes (AGI). There had been some confusion concerning whether certain Medicare premiums counted for this rule. Recent IRS guidance indicates that premiums for all parts of Medicare [...]
For married taxpayers, the implications of filing a joint or separate return extend beyond tax rates and the standard deduction. Like many aspects of income taxation, there is usually more than one approach to finding the optimal solution. We have listed some of the more common implications of filing either a joint or separate return. [...]
January 15—Individual taxpayers’ final 2012 estimated tax payment is due unless Form 1040 is filed by January 31, 2013, and any tax due is paid with the return. January 31—Most employers must file Form 941 (Employer’s Quarterly Federal Tax Return) to report Medicare, social security, and income taxes withheld in the fourth quarter of [...]
The political debate on federal tax reform touches many topics, including the tax deduction for interest on home mortgage loans. At the time of publication, there was no way to determine if this deduction will continue or at what level, but we thought it would be a good time to review current federal law on [...]