Archives

Nov
08
2018

Year End Tax Planning





Year-end tax planning can ease the tax bite of capital gains and losses. While many people have made money on the stock market this year, there are others who’ve recognized losses on securities. The right year-end tax planning strategy for an individual’s capital gains and losses will depend on a series of factors, including the amount of regular taxable income, the tax rate that applies to the individual’s “adjusted net capital gain,” whether recognized capital gains are long- or short-term,

Nov
07
2018

Year-end Tax Planning 2018


Most businesses are affected by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. That’s why the IRS is reminding business owners to be aware of the many significant changes before this year ends. These include the new qualified business income deduction, which could reduce taxes for pass-throughs, and the temporary 100% expensing for certain business assets. Also affected is the tax treatment of employee fringe benefits such as the deductibility of transportation benefits, moving expense reimbursements and more.

Nov
06
2018

Mt. Lemmon

A view of Tucson from the top of Mt. Lemmon!

Nov
06
2018

Passive Activity Losses





Passive activity losses (PALs) can generally only offset passive activity income, not employment income, unless the taxpayer is a real estate professional. One married couple had income from his job as an engineer, and PALs from her managing their rental properties. They claimed the PALs against his employment income and submitted time logs to show she materially participated in the rental activities. The IRS found her time logged fell short of the 750-hour threshold to qualify as a real estate pro and denied the PALs.

Nov
05
2018

Could “bunching” medical expenses into 2018 save you tax?





Some of your medical expenses may be tax deductible, but only if you itemize deductions and have enough expenses to exceed the applicable floor for deductibility. With proper planning, you may be able to time controllable medical expenses to your tax advantage. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) could make bunching such expenses into 2018 beneficial for some taxpayers. At the same time, certain taxpayers who’ve benefited from the deduction in previous years might no longer benefit because of the TCJA’s increase to the standard deduction.

Nov
02
2018

The fine art of valuing donated property





Not-for-profits often struggle with valuing noncash and in-kind donations. Although the amount that a donor can deduct generally is based on the donation’s fair market value (FMV), there’s no single formula for calculating it. FMV is the price that property would sell for on the open market. There are three particularly relevant FMV factors: 1) original cost or selling price of the donated item, 2) sales price of property similar to the donated item and 3) replacement cost.