Qualified Business Income Deduction

Starting in tax year 2018 the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act provides for a 20% deduction on qualified business income from pass through entities such as partnerships, S corporations and sole proprietorships. Generally, qualified business income refers to the net profits of the business. The threshold for the basic formula is taxable income under $157,500[…]

Changes to the Estate Tax

Under the new tax law far fewer estates will be subject to the estate tax. The Tax Cut and Jobs Act more than doubles the combined gift and estate tax exemption and generation skipping transfer tax exemption to $11.18 million for 2018. For married couples it is twice that to $22.36 million. The annual gift[…]

Update: 529 Plans under the new tax law

Families now have the option to use up to $10,000 per year of tax free withdrawals from their 529 plans to pay for elementary and high school qualified educational expenses. Though this offers a degree of flexibility for parents, there is not a whole lot of benefit to putting money into a plan, then taking[…]

New 2018 Income Tax Brackets

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 changed the federal income tax brackets starting 2018. Below is a comparison of the old 2017 vs. the new 2018 brackets for single and married filing joint statuses. If you’d like to know how the change in tax law will affect your income taxes please feel free[…]

New Tax Law on Expensing Equipment Purchases

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 made favorable revisions to the laws on expensing equipment purchases by increasing the deduction limits and expanding the types of equipment that are eligible to be expensed. Before this new law was enacted the maximum Section 179 deduction was $510,000 with a phase out of $2,030,000. Beginning[…]

Sale of Personal Residence

Taxpayers who purchase a primary home generally know there is a $250,000/$500,000 exclusion from income for capital gains on the eventual sale of the home. $250,000 if you are single, $500,000 if you are married filing joint. The recently enacted Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 left this generous tax break intact so let’s[…]

Individual Estimated Taxes

Pay as you go so you won’t owe. In a nutshell, that’s how the IRS wants you to pay your income taxes. If you are on the payroll of an employer, income taxes will be withheld from each paycheck and remitted to the IRS by your employer. If you are self-employed or otherwise receive income[…]

Phone Scams: How to Avoid Being A Victim

Internal Revenue Service phone scams have been consistently on the rise over the past few years. These phone scammers are calling innocent people and asking for money and/or green dot cards to satisfy fictitious outstanding debts. The number one rule to avoid being a victim of phone scams is to know that the Internal Revenue[…]