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Parents who own businesses have a few tax incentives for hiring their children to work in their business: Shifting income to a lower (or 0%) tax bracket: If you hire your child to work in the business, any wages paid to him/her will be deductible by the business. Suppose that your combined federal and state...Read More

Note: This piece was originally meant to be included in my Year-end business Tax Planning post, but I broke it out separately due to the length and complexity of the subject. One of the biggest changes for 2018 is the new qualified business income deduction. If you are a sole proprietor, a partner in a...Read More

As I’m sure you’re aware, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA) was enacted at the end of last year. It’s the largest tax overhaul since the 1986 Tax Reform Act and will affect almost every business in the United States. In light of all the changes that took effect this year, I...Read More

Just as the daylight hours are getting shorter, so is the time for fine-tuning any last-minute strategies to lower your 2018 tax bill. Unlike recent years, in which the tax rules have been fairly stable, 2018 brings extensive changes as a result of a large tax overhaul that passed Congress last December. These changes will...Read More

Did you know that if you’re self-employed you may be able to set up a retirement plan that allows you to contribute much more than you can contribute to an IRA or even an employer-sponsored 401(k)? There’s still time to set up such a plan for 2018, and it generally isn’t hard to do. So...Read More

A potential downside of tax-deferred saving through a traditional retirement plan is that you’ll have to pay taxes when you make withdrawals at retirement. Roth plans, on the other hand, allow tax-free distributions; the tradeoff is that contributions to these plans don’t reduce your current-year taxable income. Unfortunately, your employer might not offer a Roth...Read More

The Senate passed the “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act” early this morning, and the revote in the House looks like a formality, so soon there will a new law of the land. Regardless of the downstream economic affects of the new law, taxpayers should be aware the provisions that affect them in the near term. What...Read More

As the end of the year approaches, most of us have a lot of things on our to-do lists, from gift shopping to donating to our favorite charities to making New Year’s Eve plans. For taxpayers “of a certain age” with a tax-advantaged retirement account, as well as younger taxpayers who’ve inherited such an account,...Read More

Updated 12/21/17 — The TCJA has eliminated like-kind exchanges for personal property of all types. Like-kind exchanges can now only be utilized on real property (real estate) exchanges. Like many business owners, you might also own highly appreciated business or investment real estate. Fortunately, there’s an effective tax planning strategy at your disposal: the Section...Read More