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Businesses can deduct 100% of restaurant meals in 2021 and 2022. The late 2020 stimulus law provides temporary relief from the 50% haircut that normally applies to the business meals write-off. The easing applies only to food and beverages purchased at a restaurant for takeout or dining in at the establishment.  Client meals and meals […]

December 13, 2020 Don’t waste the annual gift tax exclusion. You can give up to $15,000 to each child, grandchild, or any other person in 2020 without having to pay gift tax or tap your lifetime estate and gift tax exemption. Your spouse can also give $15,000 to the same donee, making the tax-free gift

The one-year suspension of required minimum distributions can be a blessing to some retirees who don’t otherwise need the funds. The money can continue to grow  tax-free in the IRA, 401(k) or other defined-contribution plan for another year. But it also puts a glitch in a popular income tax withholding strategy. Tax withheld at any

 Want to convert a traditional IRA to a Roth? Now might be a good time to consider it.  You’ll have to pay income tax on the converted funds for the year of the switch, but once the money is in the Roth IRA, future earnings, and distributions that you take from the account are tax-free.

Have income from rental properties you own? You may be eligible to take a juicy tax break: The 20% qualified business income deduction., Subject to a litany of rules, self-employed individuals and owners of S corporations, partnerships and LLCs can write off 20% of their qualified business income. QBI is your allocable share of income

A small business owner often wears many different hats. They might have to wear their boss hat one day, and the employee hat the next. When tax season comes around, it might be their tax hat. They may think of doing their taxes as just another item to quickly cross off their to-do list. However,

Taking higher-than-average deductions. IRS may pull a return for audit if the deductions shown are disproportionately large, compared with reported income. Writing off alimony. The rules on deducting alimony are complicated, and IRS knows that some filers who claim this write-off don’t meet the requirements, so it pulls suspicious returns for audit. Look for the

Very few people are put in jail for not filing a tax return, but it does happen occasionally.  A willful failure to file tax returns is a misdemeanor if you owe taxes.  You can be sentenced for up to a year in jail and a $25,000 fine for each year of non-filing (Internal Revenue Code

The income levels to qualify for the health premium credit in 2019 go up. The credit is available for people with household incomes ranging from 100% to 400% of the federal poverty level…$12,140 to $48,560 for singles and $25,100 to $100,400 for a family of four…who buy health insurance through one of the exchanges.  Individuals

The IRS can seize your assets as long as you owe any part of a tax debt and the 10 year statute on collections has not expired.  Generally, levies are one-shot affairs.  The government must prepare and send a new levy notice every time it wants to seize an asset. EXAMPLE:  If the IRS levies