December 1 - Time for Year-End Tax Planning December is the month to take final actions that can affect your tax result for 2011. Taxpayers with substantial increases or decreases in income, changes in marital status or dependent status, and those who sold property during 2011 should call for a tax planning consultation appointment. December 10 - Report Tips to Employer If … [Read more...] about December 2011 Individual Due Dates
Unmarried Couples and Home Mortgage Interest
It is becoming increasingly common for couples to live together and remain unmarried, which can lead to potential tax problems when they share the expenses of a home but only one of the couple is liable for the debt on that home. Home mortgage interest can generally be deducted only by a person who is legally obligated to pay the mortgage (in other words, a person who is … [Read more...] about Unmarried Couples and Home Mortgage Interest
Misclassifying Workers Can Be Costly!
Hiring independent contractors instead of employees can save a lot of money in employment taxes and employee benefits. And it can be a mine field of tax problems if workers are misclassified as independent contractors when they should have been treated as employees. The three primary characteristics the IRS uses to determine the relationship between businesses and workers are … [Read more...] about Misclassifying Workers Can Be Costly!
Report Those Foreign Financial Connections!
FinCEN is the acronym for the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. FinCEN is a government-wide, multisource, financial intelligence and analysis network tasked with detecting money laundering, terrorist financing, tax evasion, and other financial crimes. To do its job, FinCEN must collect financial data from a multitude of sources, including each U.S. … [Read more...] about Report Those Foreign Financial Connections!
Year-end Capital Gains Strategies
2011 has produced some significant gyrations in the financial markets that have had an impact on everyone’s portfolios. But for tax purposes, gains and losses are not measured by the increased or decreased value of your portfolio, but by gains and losses recognized from the sale of capital assets during the year. So you still have until the end of the year to structure your … [Read more...] about Year-end Capital Gains Strategies