Whether it is your first or tenth year running a business, now is a good time to begin thinking about your 2015 tax return. Familiarizing yourself with some basic year-end tax planning strategies will build confidence with 2016 nearing. One common tax planning strategy used by individual and business taxpayers alike is an Installment Sale. […]
Year-End Tax Planning Strategies For Individuals
With year-end quickly approaching and tax season just around the corner, we thought it’s a good opportunity to brush up on a few basic tax-planning strategies. For any taxpayer, an important strategy is deduction planning. Deduction planning is extremely complex, but some things to remember if you are a cash basis tax payer are: Expenses […]
Think About Year-End NOW
As we approach the end of the year, it’s a good time to reflect on how your business has performed thus far. A good first step would be to determine how profitable your business has been. Then ask yourself the following questions: How does the profitability meet with my expectations for the year? Should I […]
Health Savings Accounts
Despite being less popular than investments such as 401(k) plans, individual retirement accounts, and 529 college savings plans, Health Savings Accounts provide tax benefits to its’ beneficiaries. The first advantage of an HSA is that contributions made are tax-deductible. Second, any interest or other earnings on the account are tax free. Lastly, owners of the […]
Tips To Know if You Get a Letter From the IRS
The IRS recently issued Tax Tip 2015-65: Top 10 Tips to Know if You Get a Letter from the IRS. In it, they outline what you should do when you receive a notice. Some examples include: Don’t panic. You often can take care of a notice simply by responding to it. Each notice has specific […]
Track Your Mileage
We’ve had many clients ask us how to keep track of miles driven for business purposes. IRS Publication 463 includes a table showing the required information for proper recordkeeping: Date Destination Business Purpose Beginning and Ending Odometer Total Miles It’s not too late to have the best 2015 mileage log ever. Try one of these […]
Completed W-9 Forms Ease 1099-MISC Preparation
Were you caught off guard when it was time to prepare 1099-MISC forms for your vendors? You should have a completed Form W-9 on file for all vendors that you do business with. A Form W-9 will give you the Federal ID number of the vendor, type of entity, and the correct company name and […]
Form 1095-A Update
Last week, it was announced that 800,000 taxpayers who received health care coverage through HealthCare.gov were sent incorrect Form 1095-A statements. If you are not sure if your Form 1095-A was affected, check your HealthCare.gov account. You should see a message that informs you if your Form 1095-A was affected. If you were affected by […]
Health Insurance Marketplace Statements
If you or anyone in your household purchased health insurance through the Health Insurance Marketplace in 2014, you will be receiving a Form 1095-A. You will need this form to prepare your tax return. What do you need to know about Form 1095-A? You will receive this form from your Marketplace, not the IRS. You should be […]
Frequently Asked Questions – Tax Season Resources
As we enter into tax filing season, we’d like to take this opportunity to address some frequently asked questions. You can check your Federal refund status by visiting their Where’s My Refund? page. The State of Michigan also offers a Where’s My Refund? page. We often get asked: Are my Social Security benefits taxable? Click […]