If you are self employed or if you have a job where you drive a lot and don’t get reimbursed for mileage by your employer, make sure you keep a log of your automobile mileage each year. You need to calculate your business miles as a percentage of total miles annually, then use either the business miles at 56 cents a mile in 2014 or use the percentage to calculate your actual auto expense. If you get audited, your auto log (complete with beginning and ending odometer readings and the purpose of all the business travel daily) is the only piece of taxpayer prepared information that the IRS auditor is supposed to accept (but it doesn’t hurt to give the auditor a couple of auto repair bills that tie the odeometer readings that are in the log). I have been involved in many IRS audits where the automobile expenses were looked at by the auditor and I am pleased to say that to date I have never had a change to taxpayer auto expenses because of the mileage percentages (once we had a problem with some of the actual auto expense documentation, but if the taxpayer took the standard mileage [...]
Tax Musings of a Burbank CPA: Who’s paying the new Obamacare tax? You!
Now the story is coming out – some of the biggest payers of the Affordable Card Act are state and federal governments; taxpayer money going back into the ACA Health Insurer Fees. See this posting in USA Today by Phil Galewitz, Kaiser Health News for the details: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/08/30/obamacare-tax-healthcare-taxpayers-eight-billion/14861405/ The problem is that the money was going to have to come from somewhere; with health insurers, hospitals, device makers and pharmaceutical companies required to share in the cost because of new business, there is still a shortfall. So far not enough young healthy people have bought insurance to help pay the costs of the older people with more health problems, and the medicare tax increases on wealthier taxpayers haven’t closed the gap enough, so we get to zero out the shortfall. The worst part is, this problem may get worse over time, not better. For financial, accounting and tax musings, You can count on us to count for you! Email: bstonercpa@sbcglobal.net Phone: 818-317-6035 Website: www.briantstonercpa.com Android and the IPhone: Has been Featured On https://twitter.com/bstonercpa
CPA Tax Musings: Tax-Smart Philanthropy Made Easy
Charitable gift trusts and donor advised gift funds are a great way to get a current tax deduction while postphoning what charity the gift goes to, while the money grows tax free until the donation is made. See this posting in The Wall Street Journal by Laura Saunders for the details: http://online.wsj.com/articles/tax-smart-philanthropy-made-easy-1408728248 Higher income investors have used these funds and trusts for a long time to reap the benefits of a private charitable foundation without the expenses and hassles, and now the smaller income people can use these funds, with $50 dollar minimum investments making them accessable to almost anyone. For financial, accounting and tax musings, You can count on us to count for you! Email: bstonercpa@sbcglobal.net Phone: 818-317-6035 Website: www.briantstonercpa.com Android and the IPhone: Has been Featured On https://twitter.com/bstonercpa