Most Americans spend less than $200 on New Year's Eve. However, parents of young children usually pay more as do revelers in pricey cities. (This is Blog Post #679)...
Are you charitably minded and have a significant amount of money in an IRA? If you’re age 70½ or older, and don’t need the money from required minimum distributions, you may benefit by giving these amounts to charity. They're called Qualified IRA Charitable Distributions (QCDs). IRA distribution basics A popular way to transfer IRA assets to charity is through a tax provision that allows IRA owners who are 70½ or older to give up to $100,000 per year of their IRA distributions to charity. These distributions are called qualified charitable distributions, or QCDs. The money given to charity counts toward the donor’s required minimum distributions (RMDs), but doesn’t increase the donor’s adjusted gross income or generate a tax bill. So while QCDs are exempt from federal income taxes,...
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Don’t let the holiday rush keep you from taking some important steps to cut your 2019 taxes. You still have time to execute a few strategies, including: Buying Assets Thinking about purchasing new or used heavy vehicles, heavy equipment, machinery or office equipment in the new year? Buy it and place it in service by December 31, and you can deduct 100% of the cost as bonus depreciation. Although “qualified improvement property” (QIP) — generally, interior improvements to nonresidential real property — doesn’t qualify for bonus depreciation, it’s eligible for §179 immediate expensing. And QIP now includes roofs, HVAC, fire protection systems, alarm systems and security systems placed in service after the building was placed in service. You can deduct as much as $1.02 million for QIP and other...
You can reduce taxes and save for retirement by contributing to a tax-advantaged retirement plan. If your employer offers a 401k or Roth 401k plan, contributing to it is a taxwise way to build a nest egg. If you’re not already contributing the maximum allowed, consider increasing your contribution rate between now and year end. Because of tax-deferred compounding (tax-free in the case of Roth accounts), boosting contributions sooner rather than later can have a significant impact on the size of your nest egg at retirement. With a 401k, an employee elects to have a certain amount of pay deferred and contributed by an employer on his or her behalf to the plan. The contribution limit for 2019 is $19,000. Employees age 50 or older by year...
At this time of year, many business owners ask if there’s any year end tax saving tools they can implement. Under current tax law, there are two valuable depreciation-related tax breaks that may help your business reduce its 2019 tax liability. To benefit from these deductions, you must buy eligible machinery, equipment, furniture or other assets and place them into service by the end of the tax year. In other words, you can claim a full deduction for 2019 even if you acquire assets and place them in service during the last days of the year. The §179 deduction Under §179, you can deduct (or expense) up to 100% of the cost of qualifying assets in Year 1 instead of depreciating the cost over a number of...
The U.S. economy depends on import and export markets to run as designed. After all, revenue from trade tariffs and duties contribute $30 billion annually to federal government coffers. Unfortunately, fraud regularly throws a wrench in the works of global trade, and individual businesses suffer. Your company might, for example, lose money if a seller ships substandard goods or it could get fleeced if it turns out that a shipment doesn’t exist. Be vigilent in protecting against international trade fraud. The problem with letters of credit To facilitate international trade, buyers and sellers often rely on documentary letters of credit (DLCs). For a fee, banks issue DLCs that pay sellers from buyers once the specified terms of the DLC are fulfilled. These documents theoretically shift risk to...
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) reduced individual income tax rates, but it left the 3.8% net investment income tax (NIIT) in place. It’s important to address the NIIT in your estate plan, because it can erode your earnings from interest, dividends, capital gains and other investments, leaving less for your heirs. Net Investment Income Tax: How it works The NIIT applies to individuals with modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) over $200,000. The threshold is $250,000 for joint filers and qualifying widows or widowers and $125,000 for married taxpayers filing separately. The tax is equal to 3.8% of 1) your net investment income, or 2) the amount by which your MAGI exceeds the threshold, whichever is less. Suppose, for example, that you’re married filing jointly and you...
The right entity choice can make a difference in the tax bill you owe for your business. Although S corporations can provide substantial tax advantages over C corporations in some circumstances, there are plenty of potentially expensive tax problems that you should assess before making the decision to initiate a C to S corporation conversion. Here’s a quick rundown of four issues to consider: (1) LIFO inventories C corporations that use last-in, first-out (LIFO) inventories must pay tax on the benefits they derived by using LIFO if they convert to S corporations. The tax can be spread over four years. This cost must be weighed against the potential tax gains from converting to S status. (2) Built-in gains tax Although S corporations generally aren’t subject to tax, those that were...
As posted to the FightMediocrity YouTube Channel on 6/30/15 (Run time: 4 min, 39 sec) In this thought provoking clip, FightMediocrity provides a quick review and recommendation of "The Willpower Instinct" by Kelly McGonigal. The book reports that 3 scientifically proven ways to have more willpower are: Get enough sleep Meditate Do important things first (This is Blog Post #670) FightMediocrity is dedicated to fighting mediocrity through big ideas. The artist picks some of his favorite books in self-improvement and self-help that he has found useful on his personal development journey, animates them, and shares them with his audience....