If you’re fortunate enough to have a vacation or second home, you should consider some basic tax laws that will allow you to make the best tax use of your vacation home. You may consider taking advantage of tax free rental income, rental income deductions or a tax free sale of the home. For more information on these tax advantages and the rules that apply, read this C.P.A. Insight.
Inevitably, you may incur a financial loss in your business or personal life. If this loss is due to a loan that cannot be repaid, it may be considered bad debt. From a tax standpoint, how you handle the bad debt is a complicated situation. For more information on determining if you have a bad debt and how it may offset your income, read this C.P.A. Insight.
Everyone knows about death and taxes, and if your estate is large enough, sometimes they go hand in hand. Estate tax is the transfer of property from one individual to another at the time of death. For more information on how estate tax is derived and the deductions and credits available to reduce the gross estate, read this Financial Strategy.
If you take tax deductions for any activity that is not your full-time job, you need to meet certain criteria to ensure the IRS does not consider your activity a hobby rather than a for-profit business. The IRS has nine factors they consider when determining if your activity is a hobby or a viable business. For more information on these factors, read this week’s C.P.A. Insight.
Before you make a purchase, you should check your budget, not your checkbook balance.
As a taxpayer, you are obligated to keep records to substantiate your deductions and tax basis.
There is good reason to save all of your receipts, as you may never know what might end up being a deducible expense come tax time.
There are several steps you can and should take to protect yourself if you are a victim of identity theft. Read this C.P.A. Insight to learn what they are.
Fourth quarter can be a busy time for businesses, so we suggest businesses begin in early August to plan the needed year-end tax processes.
Your subscription to The Wall Street Journal might be tax deductible if there is a credible relation between the advice garnered from your reading the paper to your investment activity.
