News

Got Debt? Tips to Improve Your Financial Situation If you are having trouble paying your debts, it is important to take action sooner rather than later. Doing nothing leads to much larger problems in the future, whether it’s a bad credit record or bankruptcy resulting in the loss of...

Tax Breaks for Taxpayers Who Itemize Many taxpayers opt for the standard deduction because it is easier, but sometimes itemizing your deductions is the better choice – often resulting in a lower tax bill. Whether you bought a house, refinanced your current home, or had extensive gambling losses, you...

What’s New for the 2020 Tax Filing Season While the 2020 tax filing season promises to be less confusing than 2019, there are still a number of changes that taxpayers should be aware of. New, Revised or Updated Tax Forms Form 1040: Revised and Redesigned The IRS released a...

Important Tax Changes for Individuals and Businesses Every year, it’s a sure bet that there will be changes to current tax law and this year is no different. From standard deductions to health savings accounts and tax rate schedules, here’s a checklist of tax changes to help you plan...

Tax Due Dates for January 2020 During January All employers – Give your employees their copies of Form W-2 for 2019 by January 31, 2020. If an employee agreed to receive Form W-2 electronically, post it on a website accessible to the employee and notify the employee of the posting...

Setting up Sales Tax in QuickBooks, Part 2 Last month, the focus was on the process of setting up sales taxes in QuickBooks. As you may recall, the first step is to go to Edit | Preferences | Sales Tax and make sure the software is set up correctly for this...

Retirement Contributions Limits Announced for 2020 Cost of living adjustments affecting dollar limitations for pension plans and other retirement-related items for 2020 are as follows: 401(k), 403(b), 457 plans, and Thrift Savings Plan. Contribution limits for employees who participate in 401(k), 403(b), most 457 plans, and the federal government’s Thrift...

Deferred Tax on Gains From Forced Sales of Livestock Farmers and ranchers who were forced to sell livestock due to drought may get extra time to replace the livestock and defer tax on any gains from the forced sales. Here are some facts about this to help farmers understand...

Employer Benefits of Using the EFTPS Small business owners who are also employers should remember that the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS) has features that make it easier to meet their tax obligations – whether they prepare and submit payroll taxes themselves or hire an outside payroll service...

Take Retirement Plan Distributions by December 31 Taxpayers born before July 1, 1949, generally must receive payments from their individual retirement arrangements (IRAs) and workplace retirement plans by December 31. Known as required minimum distributions (RMDs), typically these distributions must be made by the end of the tax year....

Updated Rules: Deductible Business & Other Expenses Taxpayers using optional standard mileage rates in computing the deductible costs of operating an automobile for business, charitable, medical or moving expense purposes should be aware of an updated set of rules. The updated rules reflect changes to certain deductible expenses resulting...

Tax Benefits of Health Savings Accounts While similar to FSAs (Flexible Savings Plans) in that both allow pretax contributions, Health Savings Accounts or HSAs offer taxpayers several additional tax benefits such as contributions that roll over from year to year (i.e., no “use it or lose it”), tax-free interest...