Social Security retirement benefits are based on the following: Lifetime earnings. Age at time of retirement. Lifetime Earnings Higher lifetime earning result in higher benefits. The highest 35 years are used to calculate average monthly earnings. Each year is indexed for inflation to approximate what earnings for that year would be in today's dollars. Earnings for each year are also capped by the Social Security maximum earnings subject to Social Security tax for that year. … [Read more...]
Rental Income and Expenses
Rental income includes any payment received for the use or occupancy of property. In addition to normal rent payments, the following items are reported as rental income... Read More... Rental Income & Expenses … [Read more...]
Recordkeeping for Tax Purposes
Which records should you keep? You should keep information that you and the IRS need to determine your correct tax. Everyone should keep the following records... Read More... Recordkeeping for Tax Purposes … [Read more...]
Individual Retirement Accounts – Roth IRAs
A Roth IRA is an individual retirement arrangement. It is a personal savings plan that gives you tax advantages for setting aside money for retirement. An account must be designated as a Roth IRA when opened. Read More... IRAs, Roth … [Read more...]
Individual Retirement Accounts – Kinds of IRAs and Prohibited Transactions
You can open different kinds of IRAs with a variety of organizations. You can open an IRA at a bank or other financial institution or with a mutual fund or life insurance company. You can also open an IRA through your stockbroker. Any IRA must meet Internal Revenue Code requirements, which are listed below for various arrangements. Read More... IRAs - Types of … [Read more...]
Individual Retirement Accounts – Backdoor Roth IRA
Generally, you can only contribute to a Roth IRA if you have taxable compensation and income less than the top of the phaseout range for your filing status (see chart below). If your income is greater than that threshold amount, you are prohibited from contributing directly to a Roth IRA. A "backdoor Roth IRA" allows a taxpayer to bypass income limitations by first making a nondeductible contribution to a traditional IRA and then converting it into a Roth IRA. If the conversion happens soon … [Read more...]
Identity Theft and Your Taxes
Your identity an money can be stolen in a tax-related scam via email ("phishing"), fax, phone, or letters. Some recent examples of identity theft scams are: Phone Scam... Email phishing scam... tax transcript... IRS refunds... Read More... Identity Theft and Your Taxes … [Read more...]
Health Savings Accounts (HSAs)
A health savings account (HSA) is a tax-exempt or custodial account set up with a qualified HSA trustee to pay or reimburse certain medical expenses incurred by an individual, his or her spouse, and qualified dependents. The medical expenses must not be reimbursable by insurance or other sources, and distributions from HSA funds will not give rise to a medical expense deduction on the individual's tax return. Read More... HSA Client Handout … [Read more...]
Hobby vs. Business?
If an individual, partnership, estate, trust, or an S corporation engages in an activity that is not conducted as a for-profit business, expenses (other than cost of goods sold) are not deductible. This rule does not apply to corporations, other than S corporations. if an activity is considered a for-profit business, deductions can exceed income, allowing the resulting loss to offset other income. Read More... Hobby vs. Business … [Read more...]
Death of a Taxpayer
When a taxpayer dies, there are certain returns that still need to be filed, a responsibility that falls onto the personal representative. Personal Representative Under state law, a personal representative is the person appointed by a court to administer an estate. The term includes both executors (appointed when decedent has a will) and administrators (appointed in the absence of a will). A personal representative nominated in a will has no authority over estate assets unless appointed … [Read more...]
