More than 100,000 small businesses have closed due to COVID-19. If yours is one of them, you should be aware that there is more to closing a business than laying off employees, selling office furniture, and closing the doors – you must also take certain actions as required by the IRS to fulfill your tax obligations. For example, if you have employees, you must file final employment tax returns as well as make final federal tax deposits of these taxes.
Answers to Questions about Economic Impact Payments
COVID Tax Tip 2020-44, April 22, 2020
The IRS is issuing Economic Impact Payments. These payments are being issued automatically for most individuals. However, some people who don’t usually file a tax return will need to submit basic information to the IRS to receive their payment.
Home Equity Loan Interest Still Deductible
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act has resulted in questions from taxpayers about many tax provisions including whether interest paid on home equity loans is still deductible. The good news is that despite newly-enacted restrictions on home mortgages, taxpayers can often still deduct interest on a home equity loan, home equity line of credit (HELOC) or second mortgage, regardless of how the loan is labeled.
Form 8962: Reconciling the Premium Tax Credit
Form 8962, Premium Tax Credit, reconciles 2019 advance payments of the premium tax credit and may also affect a taxpayer’s ability to get advance payments of the premium tax credit or cost-sharing reductions. Taxpayers who don’t file and reconcile their 2019 advance credit payments may not be eligible for advance payments of the premium tax credit in the future. Furthermore, filing Form 8962, with a return avoids possible delays in processing tax returns and subsequent delays in receiving tax refunds.
New Tax Law Affects Tax-Exempt Organizations
The Taxpayer Certainty and Disaster Tax Relief Act, passed on December 20, 2019, includes several provisions that may apply to tax-exempt organizations’ current and previous tax years. As such, tax-exempt organizations should understand how these recent tax law changes might affect them. With this in mind, let’s take a look at three key pieces of legislation that affect nonprofit organizations:
Are Tips Taxable? | Reporting Tip Income: The Basics
The short answer is yes, tips are taxable. If you work at a hair salon, barbershop, casino, golf course, hotel, or restaurant, or drive a taxicab, then the tip income you receive as an employee from those services is taxable income. Here are a few other tips about tips:
Opportunity Zone Guidance Finalized
Final regulations were recently issued regarding details about investment in qualified opportunity zones (QOZ) that modified and finalized proposed regulations for QOFs and QOZ businesses that were previously issued on October 28, 2018, and May 1, 2019.
The final regulations provide additional guidance for taxpayers who are eligible to make an election to temporarily defer the inclusion in gross income of certain eligible gain. The final regulations also address the ability of such taxpayers’ eligibility to increase the basis in their qualifying investment equal to the fair market value of the investment on the date that it is sold, after holding the equity interest for at least 10 years.
Tax Planning Includes Keeping Good Records | Seven Helpful Tips
It’s January and tax season is right around the corner. For many people that means scrambling to collect receipts, mileage logs, and other tax-related documents needed to prepare their tax returns. If this describes you, chances are, you’re wishing you’d kept on top of it during the year so you could avoid this scenario yet again. With this in mind, here are seven suggestions to help taxpayers like you keep good records throughout the year:
Watch Out for Gift Card Scams and Taxpayer Fraud
There’s never an off-season when it comes to scammers and thieves who want to trick people to scam them out of money, steal their personal information, or talk them into engaging in questionable behavior with their taxes. While scam attempts typically peak during tax season, taxpayers need to remain vigilant all year long. For example, gift card scams are currently on the rise and there are many reports of taxpayers being asked to pay a fake tax bill through the purchase of gift cards.