You’re slogging through paperwork, gathering and organizing information to prepare your tax return. Take heart – you can make your hard work do double duty by using those same records to improve your financial well-being. Here are suggestions to get you started. Write down your financial goals. How much money will you need to meet [...]
Are you deciding whether to make your business an S corporation for 2016? Here are tax considerations to review before the March 15 due date of the election. When you make an S election, you’re opting to have your business’s income or loss “passed through” to you and other shareholders. That means you’ll report the [...]
The late-year 2015 tax extenders law grabbed headlines, but two other federal laws enacted in 2015 may also have an impact on your tax planning. Here’s an overview of selected provisions of the Bipartisan Budget Act and the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act. Bipartisan Budget Act. This law includes changes in the way the IRS [...]
When you acquire tangible property to use in your business, you have to determine whether the costs should be expensed or capitalized. You probably prefer expensing so you can deduct the entire cost in the year of purchase. Otherwise, you’d need to capitalize the costs, meaning you’d get a partial deduction in the first year, [...]
Do you need to file a federal income tax return this year? Your age, income level, and filing status will usually point you to the right answer. But special rules apply in certain situations. Here are the general filing rules for 2015 tax returns. Single taxpayers (including those who are divorced or legally separated): If [...]
