An Overlooked Tax Deduction for Mileage-Reimbursed Employees
If you receive mileage reimbursements from your employer or your corporation, you may face an unexpected tax result when you sell or trade your vehicle. Many employees assume that mileage reimbursements end the tax story. That assumption often leads taxpayers to miss a valuable deduction—or to get blindsided by a taxable gain. Hopefully this positive example […]
Buying a Business That Doesn’t Close? Here’s How the Tax Rules Apply
If you’re considering buying a business, it’s important to understand how the related investigation and acquisition costs are treated for federal income tax purposes—especially if a deal falls through. A recent example illustrates how these rules work. Jim, an employee looking to become a business owner, spent $15,000 researching an industry and identifying a target […]
Optimizing Tax Strategy: Should Your Business Elect PTET?
Do you own a business organized as a pass-through entity (PTE)—such as a partnership, a limited partnership, an S corporation, or a multimember LLC taxed as a partnership or an S corporation? If so, you face an important tax decision: Should your business elect pass-through entity taxes (PTET)? For the past several years, many PTE […]
Essential Tax Insights for Businesses Operating Multiple Corporations
If you operate multiple corporations, you might assume each one entitles you to its own set of tax benefits, including separate Section 179 limits, additional credits, or even expanded retirement plan flexibility. Unfortunately, under controlled group corporation tax rules, the tax code doesn’t see it that way. Hidden within IRC Section 1563 are rules that […]
Protect Your Business with Section 530
It can cost you a bundle if you misclassify a worker as an independent contractor instead of an employee for federal employment tax purposes. Read further about that in our article about Worker Classifications & Why It Matters. The IRS can make you pay back payroll taxes plus penalties. In some cases, these can equal […]
Tax Code – Defined Statutory Employees are Hybrid Self-Employed
When you hire a worker, one of the most important decisions you’ll make is classifying the worker as either an employee or an independent contractor for tax purposes. If you correctly classify a worker as an independent contractor, you’re not required to pay the employer’s share of Social Security and Medicare taxes or to withhold […]
Retirement Plan Options for a Single-Owned C or S Corporation
Because you operate your business as a solely owned corporation (C or S) with no employees, several excellent retirement plans are available to you that can provide significant tax deductions and help you build wealth for retirement. The options for single-owned corporation retirement are varied and can be tailored to your needs. Some of the […]
How to Correctly Pay Yourself and Take Cash from your Business
A common question among business owners is how to pay themselves from their businesses properly. The correct method depends on your business structure, so I wanted to give you this quick guide to help you navigate this issue and manage paying yourself cash from your business. Sole Proprietors and Single-Member LLCs Partnerships and Multimember LLCs […]
Real Estate Professional Status & Passive Losses
Deducting your rental property tax losses against your other income is tricky, as you likely know. You have to get the tax law to treat you—say, a computer engineer—as a tax-code–defined real estate professional (IRS publication 925 discusses passive activity and At-Risk Rules and page 8 further explains Real Estate Professional Status). Let’s say you […]
2024 Last-Minute Tax Tips For Your Stock Portfolio
When you take advantage of the tax code’s offset game, your stock market portfolio can represent a little gold mine of opportunities to reduce your 2024 income taxes. The tax code contains the basic rules for this game, and once you know the rules, you can apply the correct strategies. Here’s the gist: Think of […]