A while back I reviewed Eva Rosenberg’s book: “Deduct Everything” about how to save on taxes. Now I recently bought and finished “You Can Deduct That?” a book written by fifteen Certified Tax Coaches about how small business owners can increase deductions and save taxes. A friend and associate of mine, Amit Chandrel, who is a CPA as well as a CTC, wrote chapter 15. In fact, many of the CTCs writing chapters in the book are CPAs, Enrolled Agents, Chartered Financial Consultants, and one is a Certified Financial Planner. Anyway, after reading the book I was impressed with the wide range of information available to help get more tax deductions and generate maximum cash flow for businesses, including: 1. Using the Affordable Care Act to create opportunities 2. Tax planning and income shifting 3. Hidden business deductions 4. Estate planning opportunities 5. Retirement planning 6. Real estate wealth generating strategies 7. Protecting yourself from an IRS audit 8. Ways to keep your hard earned money ..and much more including a comparison of business entities. I would recommend this book to people who have a business and don’t feel they are getting enough cash flow through tax savings and [...]
Tax Musings of a Burbank CPA: How to Calculate Your Gain or Loss On Real Estate Sale
If you have real estate you are planning to sell, calculating any income taxes due on the sale becomes a priority. Whether you are selling a residence, a rental or an investment property (different taxes rules apply to each), calculating the gain or loss on the real estate is the first step to figuring out the taxes. The gain or loss is calculated by subtracting your tax basis and selling expenses from the gross sales price of the property. You calculate your tax basis by taking the original purchase price of the real estate plus any additional costs that were paid through the escrow (except real estate taxes, insurance and prepaid interest), then add any capital improvements made to the property (like adding a roof, pool, modernizing a kitchen, anything that improves the value of the property; regular maintenance doesn’t count) and any fixing up expenses made to the property to sell it. If you have a rental, you have to deduct depreciation expense taken each year you rented the property. This will give you your tax basis in the property. Now look at your escrow – commissions, transfer taxes, escrow fees and any other expenses you are not [...]
Tax Musings of a Burbank CPA: If You File W2s and 1099MISCs, Watch Out For 2017!
If you own a business and prepare payroll taxes and/or have independent contractors, when you get ready to file the 2016 W2s and 1099MISCs, be aware that the rules have changed. The IRS is trying to prevent identity theft and so is trying to get information sooner so items can be looked over quicker. So they have changed the filing date for W2s (and some of their equivalents) and forms 1099MISC when line 7 is filled out. In the past the employees and independent contractors were supposed to receive their forms by January 31, and you would file the W2s with the Social Security Administration and the 1099s with the Internal Revenue Service by the end of February. Now everything has to be filed by the end of January starting January 1, 2017. There is still a 30 day extension to file these forms that you can file on form 8809; however in the past you could get a 30 day automatic extension (till the end of March). This “automatic” extension has disappeared! In 2017 you can file a 30 day extension until the end of February on form 8809, but it is no longer automatic. The extensions are granted [...]