Category: Tax Debt

Business Taxes, General Information, General Tax Topics, Self Employed, Small Business, Tax Debt, Tax Deductions, Tax Planning, Tax Reduction, Uncategorized

Staying Out Of Trouble With “Gigs”

Howard Tax Prep LLC
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In our Chicago South Loop Tax Preparation office, we often help people with tax bills through our tax debt help services. After seeing so many get into tax trouble with their side gigs, we decided to give some pointers on how to stay out of trouble for those with side gigs.

Let me give you a scenario: You’ve got a great job, and you’re moonlighting as a graphics designer on a freelancer website. All your clients are paying you through PayPal & CashApp, and honestly, you’re cleaning up. An easy extra couple thousand dollars each month. How do you report that income?

Legally, you’re bound to report ANY income you have, but these days, with so many folks doing their side gigs, are you actually reporting it? There’s actually even a darker side to this, though, and it’s nothing really new. Tipped employees – those like servers and bartenders who have for years existed on tips from their customers, have had this challenge for decades. Legally, they, too, are required to report all their income. Do they?
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So what happens when you don’t report all of your income? You could get audited, if you earn over a certain amount the third party vendor can report your income to the IRs, but sometimes, the real place where not reporting your income can trip you up is… when you want FINANCE anything. In many cases, your ability to borrow money is based strongly not only on your repayment history, but also on your income. Guess where the bank or lender gets that information? Your tax returns, especially if you are a W2 employee.

Now, before you go and fall on your sword and claim every dime, understand there are a myriad of ways in which you can mitigate your tax bill even as you claim every dime you make. It could be by forming a S-corp, funding a retirement account, or shifting your income, starting a nonprofit, trust, or any one of a number of ways. As a result, though, especially if you create a so-called “pass-through” entity, you’ll have the ability to claim the income you’re legally responsible for AND make use of the deductions and protections afforded to these types of entities.

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More importantly, it’s not expensive to set these up and the bookkeeping and tax preparation is very simple in such a small business. In the end, you’ll have the best of both worlds.

Although we’ve given you the basics, this is not an all-inclusive article. Should you have questions, or need business tax preparation, business entity creation, business insurance, or business compliance assistance please contact us online, or call our office at 855-743-5765. Make sure to join our newsletter for more tips on reducing taxes, and increasing your wealth.

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Business Taxes, cannabis, Chicago cannabis, Family Taxes, General Information, General Tax Topics, Self Employed, Small Business, Tax Debt, Tax Deductions, Tax Planning, Tax Reduction, Uncategorized

Impact of Death, Retirement, & Disability on the 179 Tax Deduction

Howard Tax Prep LLC

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What tax effect would death, retirement, or disability have on you or your business?

Here’s an easy example to illustrate.

Let’s say that in 2017, you purchased (for business use) a pickup truck with a gross vehicle weight rating greater than 6,000 pounds. Asserting that you use the pickup 100 percent for business, you expensed the entire $55,000 cost.

What happens to that $55,000 expensed amount if you die, retire, or become disabled before the end of the vehicle’s five-year depreciation period?

Death

If your heirs are not going to pay estate taxes, your death is about as good as it gets. Here’s why:

  • You get to keep your Section 179 deduction. (It goes to the grave with you.)
  • Your pickup truck gets marked up to fair market value. (Remember, you expensed it to zero, but now at your death, the fair market value is the new basis to your heir or heirs.)

Example. Using Section 179, you expensed the entire cost of your $55,000 pickup truck. You die. Your daughter Amy inherits the pickup at its fair market value, which is now $31,000, and sells it immediately for $31,000. Here are the results:

  • You get to keep your Section 179 deduction—no recapture applies.
  • Amy pays zero tax on her sale of the pickup truck.
  • Your estate includes the $31,000 fair market value of the pickup, and if your estate is less than $11.4 million, your estate pays no estate taxes.

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Disability

This is ugly. If you become disabled and you allow your business use of the pickup to fall to 50 percent or below during its five-year depreciable life, you must recapture and pay taxes on the excess deductions generated by the Section 179 deduction.

To make matters worse, you must use straight-line depreciation in making the excess-deduction calculation.

Retirement

With retirement, you have exactly the same problem as you would have if you became disabled. In fact, with retirement, you disable your business involvement, and that makes your pickup truck fail the more-than-50-percent-business-use test, resulting in recapture of the excess benefit over straight-line depreciation.

Takeaways

You need to consider what happens should you become disabled, or retire, or die.

Although we’ve given you the basics, this is not an all-inclusive article. Should you have tax debt help questions, need Chicago business tax preparation, business entity creation, business insurance, or business compliance assistance please contact us online, or call our office toll free at 1-855-743-5765 or locally in Chicago or Indiana at 1-708-529-6604. Make sure to join our newsletter for more tips on reducing taxes, and increasing your wealth.

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Never miss another tip again! Join our newsletter, to receive tax reduction/wealth building tips delivered right to your inbox!

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Business Taxes, Family Taxes, General Information, General Tax Topics, Self Employed, Small Business, Tax Debt, Tax Deductions, Tax Planning, Tax Reduction, Uncategorized

IRS PUBLISHES SUMMERTIME TAX TIPS.

Howard Tax Prep LLC

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Buying a home? Working a summer job? Volunteering? Activities that are common in the summer often qualify for tax credits or deductions. And, while summertime and part-time workers may not earn enough to owe federal income tax, they should remember to file a return to get a refund for taxes withheld early next year.

Here are some summertime tax tips from the IRS that can help taxpayers during tax season next year:

Marital tax bliss. Newlyweds should report any name change to the Social Security Administration before filing next year’s tax return. Then, report any address change to the United States Postal Service, employers and the IRS to ensure receipt of tax-related items.

Cash back for summer day camp. Unlike overnight camps, the cost of summer day camp may count as an expense towards the Child and Dependent Care Credit. See IRS Publication 503, Child and Dependent Care Expenses, for more information.
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Part-time and summer work. Employers usually must withhold Social Security and Medicare taxes from pay for part-time and season workers even if the employees don’t earn enough to meet the federal income tax filing threshold. Self-employed workers or independent contractors need to pay their own Social Security and Medicare taxes, even if they have no income tax liability.

Worker classification matters. Business owners must correctly determine whether summer workers are employees or independent contractors. Independent contractors are not subject to withholding, making them responsible for paying their own income taxes plus Social Security and Medicare taxes. Workers can avoid higher tax bills and lost benefits if they know their proper status.

Though the higher standard deduction means fewer taxpayers are itemizing their deductions, those that still plan to itemize next year should keep these tips in mind:

Deducting state and local income, sales and property taxes. The total deduction that taxpayers can deduct for state and local income, sales and property taxes is limited to a combined, total deduction of $10,000 or $5,000 if married filing separately. Any state and local taxes paid above this amount cannot be deducted.

Refinancing a home. The deduction for mortgage interest is limited to interest paid on a loan secured by the taxpayer’s main home or second home that they used to buy, build, or substantially improve their main home or second home.
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Buying a home.

New homeowners buying after Dec. 15, 2017, can only deduct mortgage interest they pay on a total of $750,000, or $375,000 if married filing separately, in qualifying debt for a first and second home.

For existing mortgages if the loan originated on or before Dec. 15, 2017, taxpayers continue to deduct interest on a total of $1 million in qualifying debt secured by first and second homes.

Donate items. Deduct money. Those long-unused items in good condition found during a summer cleaning and donated to a qualified charity may qualify for a tax deduction. Taxpayers must itemize deductions to deduct charitable contributions and have proof of all donations.

Donate time. Deduct mileage. Driving a personal vehicle while donating services on a trip sponsored by a qualified charity could qualify for a tax break. Itemizers can deduct 14 cents per mile for charitable mileage driven in 2019.

Reporting gambling winnings and claiming gambling losses. Taxpayers who itemize can deduct gambling losses up to the amount of gambling winnings.
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The last two tips are for taxpayers who have not yet filed but may be due a refund and those who may need to adjust their withholding.

Refunds require a tax return.

 Although workers may not have earned enough money from a summer job to require filing a tax return, they may still want to file when tax time comes around.

It is essential to file a return to get a refund of any income tax withheld. There is no penalty for filing a late return for those receiving refunds, however, by law, a return must be filed within three years to get the refund. See the Interactive Tax Assistant, Do I need to file a tax return?

Check withholding. Newlyweds, summertime workers, homeowners and every taxpayer in between should take some time this summer to check their tax withholding to make sure they are paying the right amount of tax as they earn it throughout the year.  Taxpayers should remember that, if needed, they should submit their new W-4 to their employer, not the IRS.

Although we’ve given you the basics, this is not an all-inclusive article. Should you have questions, or need business tax preparation, business entity creation, business insurance, or business compliance assistance please contact us online, or call our office at 855-743-5765. Make sure to join our newsletter for more tips on reducing taxes, and increasing your wealth.

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Never miss another tip again! Join our newsletter, to receive tax reduction/wealth building tips delivered right to your inbox!

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Business Taxes, cannabis, Chicago cannabis, Family Taxes, General Information, General Tax Topics, notary, Self Employed, signing agent, Small Business, Tax Debt, Tax Deductions, Tax Planning, Tax Reduction, Uncategorized

Proprietors and Partners Mistakenly Pay Themselves Illegal W-2 Wages

Howard Tax Prep LLC

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In our Chicago South Loop Tax Preparation office, we often see sole proprietors, single member LLC members, and partners who are above the Section 199A thresholds look for W-2 wages as a means to salvage the 20 percent deduction allowed by Section 199A. They also often look enviously at the fringe benefits that are available to employees and not to them as sole proprietors, single member LLC members, or partners.

To overcome getting shorted on the Section 199A deduction or being denied fringe benefits, some sole proprietors, single member LLC members, and partners instruct their payroll services to make them W-2 employees. When the payroll services do this, the proprietors, single member LLC members, and partners believe they are now legitimate employees of their proprietorships/disregarded entities (the IRS regards single member LLC’s as a sole proprietorship/disregarded entity for tax purposes), and partnerships. This belief is wrong; Totally wrong!

  • The sole proprietor/single member LLC member, may not be a W-2 employee of his or her sole proprietorship/disregarded entity UNLESS they have elected to have their single member LLC taxed as S-corp, or C-corp.
  • A partner may not be a W-2 employee of a partnership.
  • Some sole proprietors, single member LLC members, and partners have had their Certified Professional Employer Organization (CPEO) treat them as employees; this is also, wrong!
  • Using a CPEO does not create the possibility of paying a W-2 wage to a partner, single member LLC member, or a sole proprietor.

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Takeaways

The sole proprietor, nor the single member LLC member is a W-2 employee of the proprietorship/disregarded entity. He or she is self-employed and operates under the IRS rules for the self-employed. The partner is not a W-2 employee of the partnership. He or she is a partner and is treated as a partner under the tax rules. Partners receive remuneration for services as guaranteed payments, which are subject to self employment taxes.

The single-member LLC is viewed as a disregarded entity, and taxed as a sole proprietorship unless the member elects treatment as an S or a C corporation. Similarly, a multi member LLC is a partnership.

If you are looking to setup single member LLC payroll in Chicago, and learn how to pay yourself through your business, please look into our service of changing your LLC to be taxed as a S-Corp, or C-Corp.

Although we’ve given you the basics, this is not an all-inclusive article. Should you have tax debt help questions, need Chicago business tax preparation, business entity creation, business insurance, or business compliance assistance please contact us online, or call our office toll free at 1-855-743-5765 or locally in Chicago or Indiana at 1-708-529-6604. Make sure to join our newsletter for more tips on reducing taxes, and increasing your wealth.

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Never miss another tip again! Join our newsletter, to receive tax reduction/wealth building tips delivered right to your inbox!

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cannabis, Chicago cannabis, General Information, General Tax Topics, Self Employed, Small Business, Tax Debt, Tax Deductions, Tax Reduction, Uncategorized

ILLINOIS CANNABIS LICENSE DEEP DIVE CLASS.

Howard Tax Prep LLC

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Most recently, Illinois became the second most-populous state to legalize recreational marijuana. Cannabis licenses in Illinois will be issued in 2 groups. In the first wave in mid-2020, the state will award licenses for up to 75 stores, 40 processors and 40 craft growers. In a second wave in December 2021, the state could issue licenses for 110 stores, 60 craft growers and 60 processors.

Although Cannabis is legal on the state level, Federally, the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) still list cannabis as a schedule 1 drug. Those wanting to enter the cannabis business need to understand that the cannabis business doesn’t allow the same tax deductions as other business.

Class attendees will learn the following:

  • The different types of licensing offered.
  • How to maximize the point system.
  • The best entities for Cannabis businesses.
  • Complicated Taxation 280E Rules.
  • Software companies & bookkeeping options.

COMMON CANNABIS FAQ’S

  • What is the state of Illinois looking for in cannabis license candidates?

  • Can I start a home based recreational cannabis business?

  • What are my banking options?

  • What strategies can I use to reduce my Federal tax bill?

  • What type of license will be offered?

  • What must I include in a partnership agreement to protect myself?

  • What’s entity is used the most in the Cannabis business?

  • Is there funding available for s socially and economically disadvantaged small businesses & persons?

Get the answers to these questions and more on August 4th 2019! We have teamed up with Chicago Cannabis Consultants to educate consumers about the 4 types of recreational cannabis licenses, funding for social equity applicants, required insurance, and how to reduce Federal taxation. Chicago Cannabis Consultants have served the cannabis industry for the last 5 years in Denver, Nevada, and California. Chicago cannabis consultants have developed effective marketing, management, product development, and distribution techniques which they will be sharing with us during this class.

Light refreshments & small plates will be served until exhausted. 1 TICKET PER PERSON ANY DUPLICATE EMAILS WILL BE KICKED OUT OF THE SYSTEM AND WILL NOT BE ALLOWED ENTRY. To purchase a ticket, you must sign up for our email list here.