In this episode, I discuss my five reasons for why you should use tax planning

 

1.  Not all advice is equal or useful when it comes tax planning.

2.  You have a chance to limit your tax liability of you do tax planning..

3.  No surprises at year end when it comes to your tax liability

4.  What creates a taxable event  

5.  Manage Your Finances / Income / Life changing events  

 

5 Itemized Deductions that Lower Your Taxable Income

 

     1.   Sales Tax/Income Tax

     2.   Property Taxes

     3.   Mortgage Interest Deduction

     4.   Charitable Deductions

     5.   Miscellaneous Deductions  (> 2% of AGI)

               1.  Tax Preparation    

               2.  Unreimbursed Business Expenses

               3.  Investment Fees

               4.  Safe Deposit Box

               5.  Estate Planning

      1.   Affordable Healthcare Act

      2.   Children who turned 24 in 2014

      3.   Estimated Taxes

      4.   Income from Pass-through entities

      5.   Qualified Dividend Tax Calculation

Website Updates

Video Updates

Webinars

Payroll Taxes

 

    Tax on Email April Fool's from TaxGirl Kelly Phillips Erb

 

 

1.  Less than two weeks to the April 15th Deadline.  Have you considered an extension.

 

 

 

     AL - Pay as You Go for companies wanting to relocate to Alabama

 

     CA - Sales Taxes going up in some cities

 

     DC - Introduces E-cigarette tax bill in the budget

 

     TN - Judge rules that the State of Tennessee can keep it's tax study a secret

 

 

Everybody wants to make money but nobody wants to pay taxes

 

     Ways to reduce your tax liability

 

      1.  Decrease your income

               Quit working

 

      2. Change  Marital Status

 

      3.  Make Bad Investment Decisions

                 Increase your losses on Schedule C, D, and E

 

     4.  Social Security and Disability

 

     5.  Reduce Your Itemized Deductions

 

     6.  Give more charitable donations

 

     7.  Participate in an IRA or SEP

 

     8.  Have all your income in dividends and capital gains.

 

     9.   Increase your tax credits

 

In this week's episode, I discuss:

 

 

     March Madness isn't just for basketball

     Three and half weeks until April 15th

    

     Affordable Healthcare Check Boxes

 

     Free Tax Filing Software on the IRS site (working on videos)

 

     More people filing tax extensions since \they are waiting on K-1s.  In 2013, 13 million taxpayers filed a tax extension up 25% from 2011.

 

     Minority leaders call for the end of the death tax.

 

     Navajo Nation first to have a junk food tax of 2 percent sales tax on pastries, chips, soda, desserts, fried foods, sweetened beverages, and other products with “minimal-to-no-nutritional value.”.  It is estimated to generate $1M a year

 

 

     Texas Senate passes the Lt. Dan Patrick's tax cut bill to return $4.6 billion over two years to taxpayers of which $2.4B is for a homestead exemption from property taxes. The homestead exemption if passed into law will raise the exemption to 25% from 15%.  For businesses, the franchise tax is cut by 15% under the proposal.

 

 

     1.  Income went up

     2.  Itemized deductions went down

               1.  Mortgage Interest

               2.  Charitable Contributions

               3.  Property Taxes

     3.  Capital Gains on sale of investments

     4.  Partnership (K-1) Income

     5.  Changes in child credit 

     6.  Sales Tax Itemized Deduction tables changed

     7.  Marital Status Changed

     8.  Changes in dependent

     9.  Affordable Healthcare Act

     10. Self-employment Income

 

 

 

 Maryland - Senate votes to no longer mandate some counties to charge a rain tax 

 

    Delaware - Lawsuit to dismiss the unclaimed property state estimation survives

          http://www.pwc.com/us/en/state-local-tax/newsletters/salt-insights/delaware-unclaimed-property-estimation-methodology-under-scrutiny.jhtml

 

Main Swamp -

 

    Can I take that deduction on Schedule A?

In this week's episode:

 

 

Sales Tax Deduction

 

Tax Extensions

 

Simplified Home Business Deduction (Capped at $1,500 per year based on $5 a square foot for a up to 300 square feet.

 

Bigger tax refund or bigger paycheck

Incorrect W-2 or 1099Misc

 

President of the United States Capital Gains / Dividends taxes on wealthy would raise $230 billion over 10 years

 

Alabama Legislator introduces broad unitary combined reporting bill

(No 50% common ownership test)

 

Illinois HB 2813 would create a whistleblower program

 

Mississippi tax reform proposal

    

Lt Governor's Plan

 Phase out of the .25 franchise tax over 10 years

     Phase out income taxation of the first $5,000 of taxable income over five years

     Increase the self-employment deduction to allow self-individuals to deduct one half of their self employment taxes 

 

Speaker Gunn Proposal

    Eliminate the state's individual income tax - eliminates one tax bracket a time over 5 years

 

Eliminates one third of the Mississippi Dept of Revenue

 

Some states are sending refund checks by mail

 

 

Overlooked Itemized Tax Deductions:

 

Charitable Contributions

Account Maintenance Expenses

Charitable Contributions Mileage Deduction

Sales Tax Deduction / Income Tax Deduction

and many more deductions

 

Who's to blame when tax scammers file false tax returns

IRS may have your 2011 tax refund and the three year rule

 

 

Amazon's short lived victory at the Supreme Court - The Colorado Case requiring out of State of Companies to report Colorado individuals who purchased products to the State of Colorado for use tax.

 

 

For the main topic, I discuss

 

Tax Avoidance

Tax Evasion

Tax Fraud

 

In the discussion, I discuss the differences and the consequences of each.

 

 

Top 2014 Tax Fraud Cases

 

http://www.irs.gov/uac/Newsroom/IRS%E2%80%99s-Top-Ten-Identity-Theft-Prosecutions

 

Who's to blame on identity theft and Turbo Tax

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/get-there/wp/2015/03/04/unprecedented-surge-in-online-tax-scams-raises-questions-about-turbotax/