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Tax Filing Season Begins January 27, 2020, marked the start of this year’s tax filing season. Complicating matters is a newly revised Form 1040, U.S. Individual Income Tax Return. With more than 150 million individual tax returns expected to be filed for the 2019 tax year, here’s what individual taxpayers...

Watch Out for Gift Card Scams There’s never an off-season when it comes to scammers and thieves who want to trick people to scam them out of money, steal their personal information, or talk them into engaging in questionable behavior with their taxes. While scam attempts typically peak during...

Tax Due Dates for February 2020 February 10 Employees – who work for tips. If you received $20 or more in tips during January, report them to your employer. You can use Form 4070. Employers – Social Security, Medicare, and withheld income tax. File Form 941 for the fourth quarter of...

How to Clean up QuickBooks for 2020 Yes, it’s here again: a new year. You may have a lengthy to-do list full of tasks that must be done before you close out the books for 2019, but there’s one task – or rather, a series of tasks – that...

Tax Planning Includes Keeping Good Records It’s January and tax season is right around the corner. For many people that means scrambling to collect receipts, mileage logs, and other tax-related documents needed to prepare their tax returns. If this describes you, chances are, you’re wishing you’d kept on top...

Opportunity Zone Guidance Finalized Final regulations were recently issued regarding details about investment in qualified opportunity zones (QOZ) that modified and finalized proposed regulations for QOFs and QOZ businesses that were previously issued on October 28, 2018, and May 1, 2019. The final regulations provide additional guidance for taxpayers...

Standard Mileage Rates for 2020 Starting January 1, 2020, the standard mileage rates for the use of a car, van, pickup or panel truck are as follows: 57.5 cents per mile driven for business use, down one half of a cent from the rate for 2019 17 cents per...

Starting a Home-Based Business More than half of all businesses today are home-based. Every day, people are striking out and achieving economic and creative independence by turning their skills into dollars. Garages, basements, and attics are being transformed into the corporate headquarters of the newest entrepreneurs – home-based business...

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...