Estimated tax is the method used to pay tax on income that is not subject to withholding, including income from self-employment, interest, dividends, alimony, rent, and gains from the sale of assets, prizes, and awards. You also may have to pay estimated tax if the amount of income tax being withheld from your salary, pension, or other income is not enough.
Is Your College Student’s Scholarship Taxable?
May 1st is the traditional deadline for undergraduate students to commit to their college of choice, which means tuition payments are not far behind. If you’re wondering if your child’s scholarships are taxable, here’s what you should know.
What To Know About Tax-related Identity Theft
Tax-related identity theft occurs when someone uses a taxpayer’s stolen SSN to file a tax return claiming a fraudulent refund. In the vast majority of tax-related identity theft cases, the IRS identifies a suspicious tax return and pulls the suspicious return for review. The IRS then sends a letter to the taxpayer and won’t process the tax return until the taxpayer responds.
Tips for Getting Paid on Time
For many business owners, collecting on your accounts receivables can be challenging especially as more people switch from established collection procedures to online payment methods. The good news is that you can take positive action to improve collection rates, shorten the aging days of your accounts receivable, help your business improve its cash flow and tighten up its credit and collections policies. While some of the tips discussed here may not be suitable for every business most can serve as general guidelines to give your company more financial stability.
Tax Tips: Obtaining Prior-Year Tax Information
Tax season may be over, but you still need to hang onto your tax returns and other tax records for at least three years. However, if the IRS believes you have significantly underreported your income (by 25 percent or more), or believes there may be an indication of fraud they have the authority to go back six years in an audit. Furthermore, some documents including those related to real estate sales should be kept for three years after filing the return on which they reported the transaction.
File on Time Even if You Can’t Pay
Generally, taxpayers should file their tax returns by the deadline even if they cannot pay the total amount due, but if you can’t, there are several options. Let’s take a look at a few scenarios:
Reminder: Rules for Depreciation and Expensing
As part of final guidance issued that pertains to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, new rules and limitations are in effect for taxpayers who deduct depreciation for qualified property acquired after September 27, 2017. As a business owner, they could affect your tax situation. Let’s take a closer look:
The Tax Consequences of Crowdfunding
With the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, crowdfunding websites such as Kickstarter and GoFundMe have become an increasingly popular way for small business owners to stay afloat. The upside is that it’s often possible to raise the cash you need; the downside is that the IRS considers that money taxable income. Let’s take a closer look at how crowdfunding works and how it could affect your tax situation.
Tax Credits To Help Cover Costs of Higher Education
Whether your child attends trade school, private college, or public university, you already know that higher education in the United States is expensive. The good news is that many taxpayers are able to take advantage of two education tax credits to help offset these costs: the American opportunity tax credit and the lifetime learning credit. Taxpayers, their spouses, or their dependents who take post-high school coursework, may be eligible for this tax benefit.
Got Debt? How To Improve Your Financial Situation
Being debt-free is a worthwhile goal; unfortunately, for most people, it is unrealistic – especially for those of pre-retirement age with children, a car payment or two, and a mortgage. As such, most people need to focus on managing their debt first since it’s likely to be there for much of their adult life. With inflation on the rise (and subsequent interest rate hikes), your credit card debt could be even more difficult to pay off.