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December 10 Employees who work for tips – If you received $20 or more in tips during November, report them to your employer. You can use Form 4070. December 17 Corporations – Deposit the fourth installment of estimated income tax for 2018. A worksheet, Form 1120-W, is available to help you...

If you gave money or property to someone as a gift, you might owe federal gift tax. Many gifts are not subject to the gift tax, but there are exceptions. Here are eight tips you can use to figure out whether your gift is taxable. 1. Most gifts are...

You may have noticed recently that business bill-paying is undergoing a transition. While some paper bills still come via the U.S. Mail, you may also be getting some of those bills via email. Sometimes, you might get a reminder email, but then must go to the vendor’s site to...

FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) has declared a number of counties in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia disaster areas due to hurricanes Michael and Florence. Any area declared a major disaster as designated by FEMA qualifies for individual or public assistance. As such, individuals and residing...

Farmers and ranchers who were forced to sell livestock due to drought may get extra time to replace the livestock and defer tax on any gains from the forced sales. Here are some facts about this to help farmers understand how the deferral works and if they are eligible....

Businesses often need to hire workers on a seasonal or part-time basis. For example, some businesses may need seasonal help for holidays, harvest seasons, commercial fishing, or sporting events. Whether you are getting paid or paying someone else, questions often arise over whether these seasonal workers affect employers with...

As the end of year approaches, taxpayers should be reminded that business expense deduction for meals and entertainment have changed due to tax law changes in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). Until proposed regulations clarifying when business meal expenses are deductible and what constitutes entertainment are in...

Thanks to tax reform legislation passed in December 2017, eligible taxpayers may now deduct up to 20 percent of certain business income from qualified domestic businesses, as well as certain dividends. Eligible taxpayers can claim the deduction for the first time on the 2018 federal income tax return they...

Lending money to a cash-strapped friend or family member is a noble and generous offer that just might make a difference. But before you hand over the cash, you need to plan ahead to avoid tax complications for yourself down the road. Take a look at this example: Let’s...

While similar to FSAs (Flexible Savings Plans) in that both allow pre-tax contributions, Health Savings Accounts or HSAs offer taxpayers several additional tax benefits such as contributions that roll over from year to year (i.e., no “use it or lose it”), tax-free interest on earnings, and when used for...

There are a number of end of year tax planning strategies that businesses can use to reduce their tax burden for 2018. Here are a few of them: Deferring Income Businesses using the cash method of accounting can defer income into 2019 by delaying end-of-year invoices, so payment is...

Once again, tax planning for the year ahead presents a number of challenges, this year, primarily due to tax laws changes brought about the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2018. These changes include the nearly doubling of the standard deduction, elimination of personal exemptions, and...